Met an old timer here who had lived in Gladstone all of his life, and he gave us over an hour history lesson and info session on what was what in town. He had certainly seen some changes, with the population increasing from 7,000 to over 60,000 during his life. Lots of activity going on in town, with 3 gas plants being built, the alumina plant and smelter, the coal loading facility, and the cement works too. Next stop was a quick drive along the spit to Spinnaker Park. On the return trip, passed 2 guys in a Patrol bogged on the footpath, so hooked up the snatch strap and yanked them out - didn't even need my Superman undies. Then went to the highest spot in town, Round Hill lookout, where you can walk around the communications towers for a 360 degree view. Stopped in the park for lunch, and then onto the botanic gardens (a bit lame). Back to Tannum Sands, and then walked to the pub for dinner - massive plate of ribs almost stopped me.
Tuesday - left Tannum Sands, and headed for Rockhampton. Drove along the tourist drive out to the coast, stopping at Emu Park for the Captain Cook memorial - singing ship out on the headland looking out over Great Keppel Island.
Then drove along the coast north, and stopped again at the Rosslyn marina for some info, and then through Yeppoon and 30km's out of town to Byfield National Park where we camped the night, along with some grey nomads and a family travelling around for 8 months with their 3 kids - it can be done.
Wednesday - chatted to the family for a while before heading off again, this time into the town of Byfield for a coffee. Then back to Yeppoon, stopping at some lookouts
and then the marina for a look at some boats we will never be able to afford.
Back to Yeppoon for lunch and supplies, before heading 35km's north of Rocky to Yaamba rest area. A nice spot right beside the Bruce Hwy. Went to the pub for dinner and met many in the pub, including "giggling George" - a funny old codger.
Thursday - Drove back into Rockhampton, and went to Mt Archer lookout, but the clouds had set in, and we could see nothing. Then into the centre of town to the art gallery, but this was closed for renovations - a bad start to the day. Then onto the zoo (smiling goanna!!!)
and botanic gardens.
Lunch down in the park overlooking the lake. Started heading for Emerald, stopping the night in Duaringa at the free rest area beside the park and info centre - nice place with free showers. Had a quick walk around town before dinner.
Friday - on the way to Emerald, we stopped in at Blackdown Tablelands National Park, and went for a walk along the Mook Mook track out to the lookout.
The creek running beside the walking track had carved out some amazing deep holes in the rocks,
and then it dropped off the edge over a large waterfall. Very impressive - hope the photos show how nice it was. Decided it would be too cold to stay here the night - over 800 metres above sea level - so headed into Blackwater, and then north to Bedford Weir - another free camping area run by the council that had hot showers. Now this was a fantastic spot to stay, and we ended up staying for 3 nights.
Saturday - a nice lazy relaxing day, with Di doing a painting of the weir.
Then back for lunch, before a walk down to the lake and went for a swim - temp was nice, but the water was very cloudy.
As we couldn't have a fire, the caretakers had offered to cook our roast in their oven - they even made gravy for us - how lucky are we!!!!
Sunday - woke up to another nice day, but it was also to be a lazy day too. Spent some time looking at the caretakers photos, and Di did a drawing of some brolgas. Then Lyn (the caretaker) showed us through her photos of the area on her laptop, and burned us a dvd of lots of them. Went for a walk before dinner down to the weir. Sunday (and Wednesday) nights are happy hour, where the caretakers cook 4 kinds of soup and cornbread and damper, and then provide 4 types of desserts for $10 per person - what a great deal - and we dragged lots of the oldies into a game of bocce on the grass. Then they put on a movie to watch into the evening. Spent some time chatting to our neighbours, Margaret and Jeff - a lovely couple in their 80's who tease each other like we do.
Monday - left Bedford Weir, and back into Blackwater to do some washing and shopping, before heading for Emerald. Had lunch in the park, and then went for a walk to see the BIG painting of a sunflower by Van Gogh,
and the mosaic pathway. Then a short walk to the railway station, and finally drove to the free campsite beside the botanic gardens, but also beside the highway. Had a stroll thru the gardens, and then had a coffee at the shops. Decided to have another night out on the town, with dinner at the Star Hotel. Just happened to be skimpy waitress night - what a shame!!!
Tuesday - headed a bit further west, turning at Anakie for Sapphire and Rubyvale. Stopped at the Bobby Dazzler mine, and did an underground tour.
Had a coffee in town overlooking the park, then decided to fossick for some gems by buying a bucket of wash for $10 each and putting this thru a sieve to look for the sparkly bits. Managed to find some green and blue sapphires, and a zircon or 2 - not quite enough to retire yet, but given we had no idea what we were doing, not a bad result. Lunch back in the park, before heading north to Theresa Creek dam camping area.
Di managed to get a photo of some small turtles in the lake.
Met up with some people from Bedford Weir, and chatted to them over happy hour - they kindly offered us some of their red claw to nibble on.
Who's the hottie with short hair????
More soon
The Hammo's
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