Rockhampton Qld August 10, 2024

 Rockhampton Qld August 10, 2024

Before we left Sarina, we drove back up to Mackay so I could do a Parkrun. Actually the third time I've done this, although the course has been changed this year, and for the better I’d say. Didn’t beat my PB from 2021 but came mighty close.

After breakfast we packed and headed to Rockhampton, some 300km away. As opposed to previous years, the Mighty Bruce is in pretty good condition. I think we saw one roadwork in the entire length. Bit bumpy in some areas but basically not so bad.

Bit of a surprise at the caravan park, we’ve been shuffled up to the other end, which we didn’t even know existed. Its OK though, just different from our previous visits. Mind you, the main train line is about 10 metres on the other side of the back fence and the big long freight trains are a wee bit noisy as first the engines roar and groan past and then the hundred or so carriages clunk and clank over the gaps in the rails. Oh, here’s one now, you can tell from the mighty fog-horn blast as they come over the railway crossing. Every time. Surprising how often that is!

Tropic of Capricorn. Rockhampton Qld

Sunday morning we dragged ourselves out of bed and wandered downtown, or at least to the old central part of town, which in its hay day was a bustling sea port. The wharves went in 1967 and the whole area fell into decay, but has now been tarted up and is quite a pleasant place to stroll around. We came across this grand old stone building, once the home of the Queensland National Bank, back in 1880, but now a really delightful cafe called the Riveston Tea Rooms. Naturally we had to sample the fare just to make sure it was OK. Which it was, I'm pleased to say.

Riveston Tea Rooms. Rockhampton Qld

Riveston Tea Rooms. Rockhampton Qld

One time bustling Port of Rockhampton on the Fitzroy River

Customs House. Rockhampton Qld

OMG it's an Art Work. Rockhampton Qld

Rockhampton Qld August 18th 2023

Rockhampton Qld August 18th 2023

No, not a time warp, more like Ground Hog Day. All the things I've written about this stretch of the Bruce are still true, The road surface is just OK, but the road is windy and undulating and narrow. No roadworks to talk about, just hundreds of caravans that think doing 82 1/2 kph on a 110 stretch of road is OK. It’s not. It’s just very frustrating and when the very rare overtaking lane appears, I find myself ‘going for it’ instead of letting the stream cars and trucks past, because the snails all speed up to 105 because it’s a nice straight road... 

I incurred the wrath of one truck driving cowboy because I passed a van instead of letting the truck go around both of us first. He then proceeded to tailgate me, attempting, and finally overtaking in the most dangerous of manners. Not happy with that, he then proceeded to do the same thing with all the other vans in front of him. Too bad if you were coming the other way, or that there wasn’t room in between the two vehicles in front, he just rammed his way through. We could see the taillights of the vans come on and the swerve to the left to let him back in each time. Idiotic driving.

Now, an hour later and we rolled into Rockhampton, and guess what? we pulled up next to him at the traffic lights.....

Bull, image borrowed from internet. Rockhampton Qld

 

Rockhampton to Agnes Water Qld 27 Aug 2107

Finally, we had to leave the Big4 Adventure Airlie Beach and head down to Rockhampton. We weren't looking forward to this drive as apart from Mackay, about 140 km from Airlie Beach, there’s not much else on this 480km run down the coast. First there is Sarina, which is 20km south of Mackay, but its too soon to stop and we don't need fuel yet. So we push on through a raft of places that are not on the map and barely exist in the flesh; they are mostly off the road toward the coast. 

Last year we stopped at Camila for fuel and a cuppa, but forwent it this time and pushed on. After 300km I was starting to get a bit weary and hungry, so the signs for an up coming roadhouse looked enticing, but, it was closed and has been replaced with two self-help pumps attached to a container which I suppose holds the tanks. We didn't stop and headed for St Lawrence 20km further on, except it’s 6km off the road and once you get there its not a much to look at. It had a campground on the outskirts, which was surprising full, and a tired and mostly dead-looking swimming pool and toilets on the other side of town. We parked under a tree and had a drink and rest. We did one lap of the one street and were impressed by just how run down building could be and still be used, such as the pub, which might have once been a shearing shed or some other farm type building.

Back on the road we headed for Marlborough which itself is off the road somewhere, but did have a fuel stop, so we did just that, stopped and fuelled, the car, not us, we could wait until Rockhampton rolled around.

Which it did in due course, just 6 hours or so after we left Airlie Beach. I have to say, having reread previous things I’ve said about this trip that today was fairly pleasant by comparison; not one roadwork to be seen almost no traffic, probably because it’s Sunday.

I had another look at our dodgy van brakes, and finally found the broken wire that just had to be there; right in the exact middle of the van and hidden behind the chassis member. I tossed the connector away and soldered the three wires together, let’s hope that helps things in the braking department.

A park on the south side of Rockhampton, right near the van park. Rockhampton Qld

No rush to get going this morning, but soon enough we are back out on the Bruce and right into roadworks! The traffic was heavy as can be and we crawled along. We resigned ourselves to a long day to cover the 200 odd kilometres and just drove with the flow. Surprisingly, the roadworks only went for about 20km, but the traffic got worse if anything. The problem turned out to be this pair of clowns taking a load of new caravans from the recent show in Rockhampton back to wherever they had come from. One was a truck with van on the tray and another hooked on the back, the second vehicle was another smaller truck towing a medium sized van, but they were doing 80kph flat out except up the hills, and they left exactly no space between them. Needless to say, the string of six other caravanners behind them had no chance to overtake and the few cars showed no inclination either.

Finally I let it rip up one of the overtaking lanes, no more Mr Nice Guy and letting cars passed - we finally got clear of these two idiots and frankly they should be ashamed of themselves. Later on even their mates from the show were talking about them on the radio...

Anyhow, we turned off and stopped for a cuppa at Miriamvale as does everyone, before heading down to Agnes Water proper. We were a bit nervous about what to expect, even though you book, you never know. But or fears were unfounded and here we are settled in. *Sigh* It's tough, but someone has to do it.

Our spot. Agnes Water, Qld

Townsville Qld August 7, 2015

Rockhampton Qld August 7, 2015

Actually, I’ll start with a late note from Airlie Beach. One of the nice things to do here is stroll along the boardwalk which runs 3.6km around the edge of the water, through the resorts, across the parks, through the marina and into Airlie Beach town proper. Apart from the zillion dollars’ worth of  floating collateral to be ogled at and drooled over, there is one standout that just begs to have its snap taken.

Whitsunday Magic. Airlie Beach Qld

It is called Whitsunday Magic, and was used for luxury sailing tours up and down the coast. We are talking $700 a night cabins. Its fate is sad: It survived sinking at its mooring in Shute Harbour in 2011, to be rescued by a fellow who spend millions on it, only to have it caught in a gale in 2013 while making passage from Cairns to the Gold Coast (coincidentally while outside Airlie Beach), and was washed up here. At first it was still afloat, but the owner baulked at the $60,000 recovery cost. Its fate was sealed when it again started to sink and it quickly became stuck in the mud. Now he’s been in and out of court and his company is in liquidation because he and / or the insurance company can't, or won't,  stump-up the $250,000 required to ‘remove’ it as directed by the council and maritime services. Such a shame, but you cant help but wonder if, with its sinking record, that the well-heeled sailing tourist has been saved from a worse fate. 

Last night we did something a bit out of character for me: we went along to the caravan park dinner with 99 other inmates. It was for a good cause - to support a local child with some dreadful illness - and at $15 head for a full roast dinner and deserts, it was pretty damn good.

Sadly we had to leave Airlie Beach this morning after a very relaxing week. Must pencil this place in again for next year: maybe two weeks.

We are now heading south toward Agnes Water, which is about 600+ km away, so naturally we were planning to stop somewhere in the middle. The only town in or near the middle is a place called Marlborough, which appeared to have a Roadhouse / motel / caravan park. When we got there it quickly became evident that if the place was actually open, that it wasn’t going to be for us. As it was lunchtime, we doubled back to the only other sign of life which was a servo, just off the road. We had lunch and considered our options. Stay here: No. Go back to the free camp we saw, just cant remember how far back it was: No not really, or drive on the extra 103 km to Townsville. 

Definitely a yes, provided they had a space, which they did. So on and on we went, 470km in all and quite pleased to have made it. We have been to this park before and I had a ‘dislike’ in my head, but it turns out to be quite Ok, we even had a dip in the ‘heated’ pool. Not as warm as Airlie Beach, but quite refreshing after a long day in the car. Speaking of warm, we came back up to dry ourself off and sit in the sun next to the van, which was quite pleasant, right up until right now! The sun has dipped behind a tree and it’s instantly quite cool.