Rockhampton

We left Bedford Weir to drive appox 300klm to Rockhampton, the country side changed from Coal Mines to Beef grazing land. Upon arrival at Rockhampton it is evident that it is beef country due to the many statues of cattle that you see around the town. We are staying at the Big 4 Discovery Holiday Park on the Bruce Hwy as we are meeting up with Alan & Fay who we met 2yrs ago when we were crossing the Savana Develepmental Hwy. Since we have been here we have been out with them for the last couple of nights, and last night we went to see the Bull Riding that is held every Friday night at an indoor arena attached to the Great Western Hotel which Lee Kenaghan used to own. The Bull Riding is very entertaining especially when the big bulls come out, they average in weight between 700 - 1000 kilograms. I am sure some of those cowboys are very sore today after being bucked off, stomped on and kicked. There were many young children there with their big cowboy hats on and some were even wearing spurs.

Today we had a look around the town and then went to the Botanical Gardens which has a Zoo within the grounds, with many animals, birds and reptiles to view.

Emerald - Bedford Weir

Our second day at Emerald we took a drive out to Fairbairn Dam, it is huge and a very popular spot for camping and fishing. On the way into the dam the roadway takes you over the spillway, I would not like to be going along it when they open the gates. We then decided we would go back out to Sapphire & Rubyvale to check out around the townships a little more and get an opinion on the Sapphire that Bazza acquired. After speaking with a couple of gemologist's it seems the stone is worth around $200 as it is a little cloudy, if it was a clear stone, then it's value would have been around $2,000. We also visited the Heritage Mine and watched while some tourist did some fossicking from the buckets of wash they buy for $10, they didn't seem to be having a lot of luck. We think next time we came out this way we will stay out at Gemfield which is close to gemfield's when you can fossick for yourself. While we were in Emerald we went out for an Indian meal at the Golf Club, where we had a very friendly cat rubbing around our legs while we were eating, good thing it was not "Chinese", as we became quiet attached to the cat by the time we left.
We left Emerald on Wednesday and travelled out as far as Bedford Weir which is about 20klm's in from Blackwell. We met up with some friends there that we had met at Seaforth and had a lovely happy hour with them. Don dropped his pots that night but only caught a couple of small Red Claw.

The extent of the coal mining in this area that we have travelled through is massive, evident by huge dump piles that we could see in the distance. We passed many coal trains which were on an average 1.5klms long also on the road we often had to pull over for over width mining machinery of up to 5 mtrs wide.

Emerald

We left Seaforth last Thursday after a days delay due to rain, we had about 90mm overnight so thought it best to delay our departure some of the tents had water running through them during the night. Heading inland from Mackay to Clermont we left the sugar canes behind to then travel into Coal Mining country, we also saw many coal trains that were so long they had to have a second engine in the middle of the train. We stayed 4 nights out at the Theresa Creek Dam which is about 20klms out from Clermont. We had great weather while we were there and Bazza was even able to put his pots in and get a feed of Red Claw. It is a very pretty spot to camp and only $10 per night, no power but there are good amenities and access to water. The caretakers there run a karaoke night and sausage sizzle on Sunday nights, a prize is given for the best singer, joke teller or bush poet a fun time had by all. Camping in the park was a gem fossicker who sold jewelry and cut stones, we bought a nice green Sapphire from him. Later in the day we helped him look for a stone that he had dropped on the ground but did not have any luck, he was lucky enough to find it the next day when the morning sun made it sparkle. That night all the campers were seated around the fire pit for the karaoke when the gem guy decided he would toss the Sapphire that he had found that morning amongst them, Bazza was alert enough to see where it landed, and after crawling around on his hands and knees for some minutes he found it. Most of the other campers did not realise what he had thrown, so only a couple were looking for the stone, Bazza thinks it is alright getting something for nothing.
We left Theresa Creek Dam this morning and headed for Rubyvale and Sapphire stopping at Rubyvale to check out the gems and have morning tea. We decided we would go on a further 45klm to Emerald, where we are staying at caravan park to catch up with all the washing and charge all our rechargeable items as we have been existing without power for the last month.

Seaforth.......cont

We are having a lovely relaxing time here at Seaforth, have now been here for two weeks. The days are slipping by very quickly, we have less than a week left before we leave and go inland again heading for Emerald. We have been into Mackay a couple of times for supplies and to use the Laundromat as there are not any washing machines here at the campground, my hand washing skills do not include sheets and towels ! Tuesday we went for a day trip to the Eungella National Park and Broken River where you can view Platypus in the river, unfortunately we did not spot any but did see lots of Turtles. We went through acres and acres of cane fields and some lovely little towns on the way, then the last part of the road going up to Eungella was very steep with a gradient of 12 degrees in parts, was not looking forward to coming back down but it did not seem as bad on the descent.
Tomorrow we are off to bowls again, lets hope they pull the shade covers across as we played last Sunday with the covers on and it was quiet pleasant. We have been making good use of our bikes here as it is lovely and flat and very easy riding, so the car has been having a well earned rest. Bazza has even been to the beach to get a little sand between his toes !

Seaforth

After leaving paradise at Airlie Beach we continued a little further south to our next destination of Seaforth, it is a little seaside town that we found 2 years ago when we were passing this way. We have now been here for six days and have already spent two days at bowls. The last couple of days have been overcast so not so good for the solar panels to recharge our Battery, and as you are not allowed to use a generator here at the campground looks like my TV & computer days are severely limited. I am currently up in the laundry area where there are a couple of power points so I am making use of the 240V, thought I would also catch up on the blog. Today I had a very nice massage from one of the local bowlers, it was very good value 1hr massage $30 I have booked another one for next Monday. We hope to stay here until about the 11th August then it will be moving south heading for home in September.

Airlie Beach

We arrived here at Airlie Beach on Sunday by 10am, after getting away nice and early from Home Hill. The caravan park that we picked is truly lovely with lush tropical gardens, concrete slab and green grass, the pool area is beautiful it is a lagoon pool and has water slides and spa areas, just a little cool when you first get in but once your body temp drops down it is very refreshing.
Today we had to be at Marina by 7.30am as we were going sailing on an 85ft Catamaran out to Whitehaven Beach and around the Whitsunday Islands. Bazza as usual does not like to rush so he set the alarm for 5.30am just to make sure we had plenty of time to get ready and drive 5 mins down the road to the marina, Denise didn't get out of bed until 6.30am and was still ready on time ! The weather was just great a little early fog but cleared to a beautiful blue sky and very little wind to start with, so we had to motor for a while until the breeze picked up. We arrived at Whitehave Beach a little before 12 and were taken ashore in the tender, where there was a good supply of balls and Frisbee's for the young energetic ones. I had an exhilarating swim in the beautiful clear aqua water while Bazza exercised his eyes feasting on the lush little bodies in their bikinis. The sand on Whitehaven is brilliant white and so very fine, just like course powder, the beach and surroundings are magnificent. While we were relaxing on the beach the crew were preparing a delicious BBQ on board for when we returned, and then we were on our way again heading towards Hook Island where we dropped anchor and again loaded into the tender and taken to the reef where we were able to snorkel and see the coral and beautiful tropical fish. Once again Bazza did not get salty elected to stay on board, with a few other pikers. The wind had picked up nicely for the return trip home so we sailed back at around 11knot's, it was truly an exceptional day out on the water.

Home Hill

Saturday we left Townsville and travelled 100klm to Home Hill, where we decided to spend the night at the Comfort Stop free camp. We had been told how good it is there with very nice toilets and showers but they had neglected to tell us about the many trains that pass through, someone said there had been 8 train overnight! It is very popular with the grey nomads as there was about 30 vans stopped there by dark, we were a couple of tired old Nomads on Sunday.

Just before Aye there was a fisho on the side of the road, so we stopped and brought some prawns, so that kept us busy peeling and eating them. Will have to remember to buy large prawns next time, as these were medium and it was too many to peel.