Judy & Brian Tour Oz

  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 t...

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 i...

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 out...

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 ...