September 7 Bundaberg

Ian McNamara’s concert last night was thoroughly enjoyable – we had a great time and going by his comments on the radio this morning, he and the cast did too. It was a mixture of singing, instrumental items and story-telling. Author, Hugh Lunn, was one of the performers and he entertained us with some humorous tales. One of Maccas accompanying band members was a part of Slim Dusty’s “Travelling Country Band” and he and Ian did a banjo/guitar duel which was just brilliant. Macca provided an opportunity for a blind guitarist to present a couple of items but for me the highlight was the songs sung by Digger Revell. Lord knows how old he is (60++?) but his voice and energy were exceptional. I was impressed by Macca himself too. All in all a great night! We succeeded in getting away from Rocky a bit earlier than our usual departure time because we wanted to do a detour and have at look at Agnes Water and Town of 1770 on the way to Bundaberg. Both places were worth a look but I don’t think either would attract me back for any length of time. Nice places to visit if you wanted to do nothing, unless of course you’re into fishing. The Town of 1770 got its name from the fact that Cook landed there. Certainly an original name for a town! It was an enjoyable and pleasant drive from Rockhampton through quite hilly and attractive country. As we travelled along a back-road the bitumen was quite rough in places and things in the van got tossed around a bit. Even allowing for the detour, we made pretty good time getting here. About 30 km out the sugar cane fields reappeared along with mango and macadamia trees. Other types of horticulture (eg strawberries and tomatoes) were evident along the road. I really find it hard to understand the lack of Sunday trading in Queensland. The CBD in every place we’ve been is as dead as a dodo on Sundays. Even cafes and coffee shops are closed.

September 6 Rockhampton

What a great day - cloudless sky, cool breeze – perfect for a drive!

We’d set today aside for a drive along the Capricorn Coast, so set out for Yeppoon. Yeppoon is a popular holiday destination in itself and is also the “jumping-off point” for Great Keppel Island. We were very impressed with the town, the beaches and the surrounding area.

While it’s only a reasonably small place it had all the facilities holidaymakers would require and Rockhampton is only 36 km away if anything more substantial is needed. We had a look at a caravan park with beach frontage and decided that if we were ever back this way we could quite easily fill in a week or two lazing around there.

Stretching along the coast south of Yeppoon are a number of small villages all with their own appeal. Emu Park is home to the “Singing Ship.” It was built as a memorial to Captain Cook who named Keppel Bay in 1770 and consists of a number of tubes which produce a variety of sounds when the wind blows, hence the name “Singing Ship.” The stronger the wind blows, the louder and more variable the sounds.

We were astounded by the number of islands visible along the coast. The two larger ones were Great Keppel and North Keppel but there were lots and lots of others.

We’ve been pestered by small black ants while we’ve been in this park and regular ant hunts have kept mum busy. We can’t find where they’re attacking us from and are bit suspicious they might be coming from an overhanging tree.

We’ve enjoyed Rockhampton, even with the couple of wet days. Of the coastal cities/towns it rates number two behind Townsville.

September 5 Rockhampton

We were woken this morning about 3.00 am by torrential rain. There’s no way you can sleep with rain on the roof of the caravan however it eased a bit later in the morning. Today was cattle sales day at the Gracemere saleyards so we decided to go and have a look. The bull sales ring, which wasn’t in use, wouldn’t be out of place as an entertainment venue. It was very impressive. The actual saleyards however were a bit primitive in comparison. As we’d never been to sales before we found the process interesting. We saw both steers and heifers being sold but apparently the numbers were down because of the wet weather. Fortunately we didn’t come away as owners of a pen of cattle as we were very cautious about any actions we made. Mum had her last training swim here and has done really well. Even though we’re staying one more day she’s opted to have a rest day tomorrow. After lunch we went to have a look inside the Great Western Hotel. In particular we were curious about the indoor rodeo arena. The hotel is very much into country and western music with a female group performing there tonight. The entertainment area/rodeo arena is actually under a large “shed” at the back of the pub. The rodeo ring had four chutes with drafting yards at the back. While driving around we also found another bull sculpture near the airport – that makes a total of five scattered around the city in addition to those perched on roofs and awnings. We returned “home” to wait around until we heard from Graeme and were both becoming more anxious as the hours passed. Needless to say we were delighted and relieved to get the news that both Nayte and Renee were well. Mum shouted me dinner at Sizzlers for Fathers’ Day and we toasted our new grandson (with softdrink).

September 4 Rockhampton

Another wet day, except that it didn’t clear up for long before it came down again. Not to worry, we had a low activity lay-day.

We decided to stay one more night so we’ll now leave here for Bundaberg early on Sunday. One of the things we want to do is head out to Yeppoon and do a round trip along the coast. The forecast is for good weather on Saturday. Ian McNamara is also putting on a concert here on Saturday night and we’d like to attend that as well. Maccas, “Australia All Over” program on ABC radio on Sunday mornings is an institution and one we always try to listen to. Two good reasons for hanging around a bit longer.

We went to the theatre to book two seats for the concert and ran into the man himself. Talk about a coincidence. We were able to have a chat with him for a few minutes.

Another shopping expedition after lunch and we found a couple of things to send to Jack. His favourite lollies are soft grubs and ice-creams and we left a supply behind when we came away but that’s disappeared. Hopefully he’ll like the substitutes we found.

Tomorrow’s a big day for Renee and Graeme so our thoughts will be with them. Hopefully everything will go well.

September 3 Rockhampton

“A Wet Day in September.” Didn’t someone write a song with those words? It started raining early this morning and continued through until just before lunch. With not much to do, mum ran through a load of washing and we headed off to check out the local shopping centre – Stocklands Rockhampton. It leaves Shellharbour Square for dead and even has a 25 m pool in the basement car park. The main tenants are Woolworths, Big W and Target. We didn’t actually do much shopping but treated ourselves to Gloria Jeans (with scones, jam and cream). Very decadent! Just across the creek/storm water drain from Stocklands is a Centro shopping centre with Coles and K-Mart. We’re saving a visit there for tomorrow when it’s again supposed to be wet but just having all these major outlets in such close proximity makes for a massive complex. When the weather cleared we ventured outside to visit the Dreamtime Cultural Centre. We’re never too sure what to expect with some of these but this one was quite good. The tour was led by two guides who were very informative and spoke extremely well. As a result our knowledge increased significantly. The centre covered the Central Qld Sandstone Belt to the west/south west of here which includes Carnarvon Gorge and the Torres Strait islands. Two types of artwork were explained. The “cross-hatching” looked like it had been formed by continuous lines but in actual fact was a composite artwork made up of single pieces. The artist placed his hands fingers extended, palms facing away and thumbs crossed so there was a space between the index fingers. Ochre was then blown from his mouth into the space to form a line. Moving the hands enabled the original line to be extended while turning the hands sideways enabled a horizontal line to be formed. Another artwork consisted of a series of vertical lines. These were produced by the artist forming a diamond by placing tips of the index and first fingers of both hands together. Ochre was then blown into the space. One of the guides demonstrated playing the didgeridoo and while I’ve heard a lot of these over the years, this guy was sensational because of the variety he was able to produce. This was followed by boomerang throwing using the returning boomerang. Mum and I proved to be quite competent. (Instructions: Hold the boomerang above the shoulder, slightly off the vertical to the right and aim the throw at 45 degrees to the oncoming wind direction. Throw with a strong flick of the wrist and the boomerang should do the rest.) The second guide explained the culture of the Torres Strait islands. The most fascinating thing for us here was the construction of the native hut which was made by weaving coconut palm fronds. The frond was split down the stem and then the leaves on that side woven together. The photo shows the end result. Tonight we went out for dinner to the Cambridge Hotel. Very disappointing food quality. We’d have been better off paying a few dollars more and going to Sizzlers. Live and learn!

September 2 Rockhampton

With the forecast for the next couple of days indicating a good chance of rain, we decided to make today an outdoor “look-around”.

Kershaw Gardens are just a short distance away so we started there. It looked quite spectacular when we drove past yesterday but was a little tacky close up. What appeared from the road to be a very pretty waterfall was spoilt by a pond with quite unsightly algae. The idea of the park is to showcase Australian plants and it did that but the whole garden needs to be refurbished – paved paths were quite dangerous and signage just about non-existent. We did however get a couple of kilometres of exercise. One of the interesting trees we saw was a Silk Cotton Tree. The flowers are quite distinctive but we were amazed at the spiky nature of the bark. Definitely not a tree for kids to climb.

Mt Archer, which is part of a National Park overlooks Rockhampton so we decided to head up there next to check out the view. It was a steep 5 km drive but the view was worth it.

After lunch we took advantage of the bright sunshine and walked along Quay St and the Fitzroy River walk. Quay St was one of the first settled parts of Rockhampton and has many beautiful buildings with a heritage aspect. Custom House dates back to the days prior to Federation when all goods coming to Rockhampton had to come via water and were subject to import duties charged by the colony. It’s currently the home of the Information Centre and a museum and is a magnificent sandstone building. Rockhampton is fortunate to have a lot of buildings which are historically and architecturally impressive.

After mum had a swim, we headed to the Botanic Gardens for some more exercise. We’ve now visited the Botanic Gardens in Townsville and Mackay but the gardens here are the best we’ve seen. They’ve been in existence longer so that also helps as the trees are majestic is size. It was very picturesque with lots of shade, picnic areas, BBQs and playgrounds. Unfortunately one section of the gardens has been invaded by cormorants, egrets and ibis. This part has been fouled by the droppings and the trees damaged. There doesn’t seem to be any solution. A couple of weeks back we heard that the head of the city’s Parks and Recreation Dept had been stood down because he allowed/encouraged ibis chicks to be destroyed. Having seen the mess the birds have made they should give him a medal.

September 1 Rockhampton

A good trip to Rockhampton beginning with an early departure, enabled us to arrive here just after midday. We passed through more sugar cane country and about half way along the main industry became cattle grazing. Rockhampton is the Beef Capital of Queensland – there’s definitely a lot of bull in the place. Lots of buildings have a bull sitting on the awning or nearby and there are a number of sculptures of different types like the photo of the one I’m posting. It’s a Braford – Brahman/Hereford cross. Now I’m going to become an expert on bulls! Lots of live cattle exports go through here, the largest saleyards in the Southern hemisphere are just out of town while the highway to the west links to Longreach and the cattle grazing areas beyond. The Great Western Hotel was owned by Country & Western singer Lee Kernaghan and contains an indoor rodeo arena. Notice the bull on the roof! Mum and I will definitely have to pay a visit to this establishment. While mum had a swim at a 25m indoor heated pool in a gym complex, I went for a street walk and took a photo of the Heritage Hotel with its beautiful wrought iron lace work. Absolutely stunning! On first impressions Rockhampton is a nicer city than Mackay and with a more tropical feel to it – lots more palm trees and tropical vegetation for example. Any rate tomorrow we’ll begin to explore the place properly, although rain is also forecast. PS While driving around this afternoon we spotted a Sizzlers. Woo hoo! That’s another place we’ll have to visit.