Meet the Wolskis, the Downs true country Christmas icons
Meet the Western Downs couple who have been creating magical wonderlands for 20 years, through sickness and health.
Chinchilla
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NOT even a kidney transplant could hold these Christmas light lovers back from creating a magical display for the young and young at heart to enjoy this year.
In what has become a beloved Christmas tradition in Chinchilla for two decades this year, Yvonne and Brian Wolski are force to reckon with when it comes to Christmas lights.
Mrs Wolski said they weren’t entirely sure if it was all going to come together this year after facing a number of setbacks and complications as a result of her kidnet transplant surgery, but the Christmas light veteran said she’s glad they managed to pull it off once more.
“We’ve got parents coming with their children who used to come when they were little ones themselves,” Mrs Wolski said.
“It’s just so rewarding to see their little faces light up when they wander around the garden, discovering all the secret areas you can’t see from the car.
“For us, this is what Christmas is all about.”
Mrs Wolksi said she started purchasing Christmas lights back in 1996 but didn’t start showing their Boonarga property’s Christmas wonderland to the public until 1999 as she didn’t feel they “had enough of a collection”.
Having downsized and relocated to Chinchilla Wondai Road a few years back, she admits the display has been scaled back from what it used to be.
“Out at Boonarga we used to have train sets and toys for the children, and I still might set some of them up closer to Christmas, but this year the lights were enough of an undertaking for us.”
Decorating their entire yard does take a fair bit of planning and forethought, the Wolskis said this year’s lights took about a fortnight to set up and they’ve had to contend with several unwanted visitors making trouble.
“We had a lot of help from our daughter, Melissa so we are extremely lucky she was able to do that otherwise they might not have made it out of the storage box this year,” Mrs Wolski said.
“As you can see from all the droppings, this year we’ve had a real problem with the kangaroos.
“They have come through and knocked a bunch of decorations over so I’ve had to leave them a little laneway free of lights so they can get through to the grassy paddock out the back.”
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