Rockhampton 16th - 23rd July

It was good to see Bruce and Elaine with Josh and Jess as we passed on the road. Jess is often in my thoughts as I write up the blog. Jess showed me a report of the cruise the kids did with their parents earlier this year. Unfortunately her teacher had provided some quite positive feedback in the margins so I am consciously trying not to overdo phrases like ‘the next day’ etc....

Lots of Bulls at Rocky, the Tourist Bureau maps out the venues of six statues to Bulls and does not include the blue one outside, the two just up the road at the ‘Blue Heeler Motel’ or any of the many others.  Anne here... The meat we have purchased since arriving in Rockhampton has been absolutely mouth watering tender-just Woolies, but bet they would not be game to sell tough meat to the residents who claim to live in the beef capital of Australia.

Interesting big wide streets and some very narrow ones with parallel and median centre parking – one street has a working train line right along the centre of it. The shirt and shorts racks outside the menswear stores had lots of 3X, 4X and 5X large sizes unlike the normal fare down south where you get little choice in those sizes, if they are even available. The botanic gardens and zoo is free so one can get close to some native fauna and flora.

Our Rockhampton caravan park was quite good but very close to the railway line where we had some shunting activity one night. Anne here...Good job he sleeps like a log – the trains passed all night some times 40 coal trucks then a loco then another 40 trucks on their way to Gladstone. The planes stopped at a reasonable hour, but the highway didn’t.  I was complaining about same to someone at this caravan park and his only comment was ’sounds like Townsville!’   We are hanging out for a quiet caravan park... Incidentally our Coromal Caravan Club of NSW features in the Caravan and Motorhome Magazine Number 160 out this month at the Kiama rally we attended last December. We have a subscription so will read it with interest when we get home.

Our car, van and annex set up amidst blue skies and palm trees at the Southside Holiday Village Rockhampton

Anne again... We missed Gladstone on the way through as we wanted to meet up with the Aitchisons.  So Monday saw us back there.  The tourist bureau told us the industry tours were booked out and we weren’t sorry as felt our lungs could do without the extra pollution, although it isn’t bad really. The lookouts round the town have information boards that let one work out the process of bauxite to alumina to aluminium and watch it being loaded onto large ships. 

The bauxite stockpile on the left and the plant in which it is processed into alumina

The alumina stockpile at Gladstone

I have wanted to visit Gladstone since I worked as a photographic librarian for the Australian News and Information Bureau (ANIB and later the Australian Information Service) in the late 60s and saw pictures of the port being built and the huge trucks being built at Blair Athol mine I think. It is easy to see why they picked Gladstone – the surrounding large islands protect the port very well.  We also had a look at Boyne Island and Tannum sands – encountered our first ‘Beware of crocodiles’ sign here.

Locals enjoying Tannum Sands Beach

So, Day three Jim visits a doctor, who passed him as fit but needing some rest and recuperation time. We reckoned the same would apply to Anne so have decided to see the Botanic Gardens and zoo. For a change we took the guided walk with the ranger and an apprentice. It was very cosy as we were the only ones on the tour. The ranger is a former gardener who started as a gardener some 12 years ago, loves the place and is in awe of the history and the earlier curators – interesting combination to have as a guide. The apprentice is an interesting woman of islander descent who quietly contributed to the tour especially when we were at the tropical fruit tree area 9 where we were given a few star fruit. We got to see, and name, a number of the tropical plants we have been seeing on the way here and were given additional information on growth patterns and ageing processes. Some of these plants are remarkable for their shade and for the way they support their enormous weighty branches by sending down aerial roots that then form stems under particularly heavy branches, while others buttress their trunks like the figs.  One of the oldest trees there forms almost a natural chapel, which is used often for local weddings.

The zoo was a bit of an anticlimax as we missed the feeding times and the whole area is in need of some financial assistance. Still the native wildlife was there and very accessible to the visitors.

Crocodile at Rockhampton zoo

One of a pair of cassowaries at the zoo

There is no doubt that we like driving through the seaside villages and looking at seascapes. Our day doing the tourist route to Yeppoon, Capricorn Resort, Rosslyn Bay and down to Zilzie brought our first sighting of lot of whistling ducks and the first of the brolgas. We were blown away by the scenery at Yeppoon and thereabouts. Anne had a plot picked out in Zilzie for her future house with something like 300 degrees of views from the distant ranges to wide views of the ocean in glorious blues and greens.  Anne again... As we came down over the hill into Yeppoon and saw our first glimpse of the ocean I thought ‘It is true, tropical seascapes do look like that’ - sand, blue-green shallow water and then the deeper true blue as the continental shelf falls away.

our luncheon views of Yeppoon

rutile colours the sand black

Marina from which ferry to islands leaves

brolgas on the golf course at the Capricorn Waters Resort

Tiny crabs make these marbles in the sand - looks like a quilting pattern!

Singing ship at Emu Park - sounds like an orchestra tuning up.

One of the views from the site for Anne's new house 

Friday 21 July saw us at Mount Hope looking through a great collection of rocks of the lapidary and thunder-egg types. These are volcanic rocks that have contained minerals which solidified on cooling, sometimes leaving hollow cavities within the stone and sometimes simply filling the stone with another colourful substance or substances. On our first camper holiday in 1974 we went rock hounding to a few places, including Nundle, where we searched unsuccessfully for the elusive thunder-eggs. Just about every time I have mentioned the Nundle experience to someone they have suggested that I go to Mount Hope – “because that’s where they really are!”  For $20.00 I got the hammer, bucket of water and scrubbing brush and plastic bag some directions to the ‘dump’ and how to find thunder-eggs. After some time we knocked off for lunch and then after a bit more rummaging we dumped the lot on the counter in the workshop where the woman quickly sorted them out and told me she would cut two of them for me. Part of the $20 deal was that she would cut one – but she wanted to see what was in the other one too so I got the extra one cut. We have some smaller uncut ones packed away.

The prospector

The last day in Rocky saw us doing the usual stuff, taking down the annex, cooking and washing.  We have also been doing a lot of reading and computer stuff, but not much else as crossing the Tropic of Capricorn seems to have induced the ‘Manyana’ factor – so if we owe you an email, please don’t sweat on an answer as it may be a long time getting there.