Tuesday 30th August – Day 38
We had quite a lot of rain in the evening after we got back from the Tavern, and it rained all night long. Mark and Wendy had to take Margie to the airport his morning so had to get up at 5:20am to make sure she was there by 6:45.
In the afternoon, we all went for a drive up the north coast a bit (40kms), and ended up in Nob Creek Pottery in Byfield. Wendy bought a couple of things, and Beryl bought some stuff too. We then went back down the coast calling in at Yeppoon to take some photos of the fruit bats nesting in the dead trees in the middle of town. From the bats we headed down to Rosslyn Bay to take some photos from the lookout. Mark and I climbed up the very steep hill to get to the top and look at the amazing view.
From Rosslyn Bay we then headed south to Emu Park to look at the Singing Ship. This is a memorial to Capt James Cook who was in this area and named the Keppel group of islands in 1770. From there, we came home and decided to leave the chicken in the freezer and head back to the Tavern for the 2 for 1 Pizza deal. It was good too.
Wednesday 31st August – Day 39
We planned to leave early as we had a long day today in the car. We headed south to Rockhampton for re-fuelling and then onto the Bruce Highway. Heading south was nothing special. The only thing that kept us ‘amused’ were the bad drivers on the road. One particular B-double driver was a lunatic as he overtook lots of vehicles on crests or curves and over unbroken lines. We don’t know if he had vision over the vehicles and could see that no cars were coming, but he was scary. We also had a woman driver in a Magna that kept roaming from side to side, including across the middle unbroken lines. She also overtook dangerously. Just after she overtook us, we came into a town and we were glad to see she pulled off the road into a side area. We were also pleased to know that the truck was stopped there with a police car, with flashing lights, parked behind it, and the cop was ‘chatting’ to the driver. There was also another driver towing a box trailer with motor bikes on it. He too overtook over double yellow lines and forced oncoming cars to have to veer off the road to avoid accidents. Even cars going the same way as us were forced to pull off the road to let him in so he didn’t hit anyone! It was sheer arrogance and stupidity.
We had a quick lunch on the side of the road and then on the road again. We didn’t stop anywhere until we hit Bauple which is where my sister Silvia lives with her husband Colin, and our camp for two nights. We arrived about 3:30 and she showed us around their property of 42 acres. They had all sorts of fruit tree – various mango varieties, lychees, oranges, mandarins, different types of berries, star fruit, jack fruit, and lots of others. She also has horses, including one in foal due in a couple of weeks. We walked up and down, and all over a small portion of their property. We saw wallabies, bush turkeys, hares, and lots of birds. It is a nice property.
Thursday 1st September – Day 40
Today Col was taking us fishing on the Mary River. It was a beautiful day and it was nice to be on such a wide river that was full of life. It was very muddy, but just being on the river was great. We fished for an hour or so but only caught 1 large catfish. We also saw a platypus and a couple of large tortoises. We drove right down to the barrage (weir) which is a 2m drop from the fresh water down to the tidal salt water. It took us 40 mins to get back to the boat ramp and then we had to drive the 20kms back to the house.
Later in the afternoon, Wendy and Beryl wanted to go into Rockhampton to visit some patchwork shops. I offered to drive them in, although they would have much time as they closed in less than an hour and it was a 30min drive. On the way into Rockhampton we stopped in Tairo, which is only about 15 kms from the house, as we had been told they had an excellent butcher who served up the best Cattleman’s Cutlets. We decided to buy some for our dinner. They were huge, and very expensive. Six cutlets for $52.
The cutlets were magnificent! The meat just melted in your mouth. We sat around for ages talking of old stories and whatever came to mind. We finally went to bed knowing that we would be packing up in the morning, once again heading south.
Friday 2nd September – Day 41
We ended up leaving about 10:15 and drove towards Marks brother and sister in law, Garry and Chris, at a steady pace. The traffic seemed a bit heavier than it had been, but I suppose that is understandable as we are now back in the more populated areas, and the traffic on the coast road was always going to be a pain.
We stopped in Gympie at an antiques store, and again at Yandina for lunch. Just after lunch Garry rang us to see where we were as they were waiting for us for lunch! So, about 20 mins later we pulled into their house for the night.