Gladston Part 2

21 st Sept
  We arrived at the wharf area for our 2 hour coffee cruise along with almost 100 other people. We boarded our passenger & vehicle barge & found seats up the top . Unfortunately the weather wasn't kind & we had a shower or two so retreated inside when coffee was served with a Sara Lee muffin & biscuit packet.

This was one of the three natural gas plants which converts the gas to LNG ready for shipping. There are still 2,500 workers on the island completing the third plant.

The huge ship on the left was just leaving & had many tugs guiding it out of the harbour. They take no chances here as certainly don't want accidents with the Great Barrier Reef.

This photo shows part of an 8 kilometre rock wall which is being filled from continual dredging of the shipping lanes.

The cruise was excellent with a lady doing the very interesting commentary. The facts & figures were mind blowing. We saw ships being loaded with coal, cement & chemicals.

The weather cleared as we arrived back after a very enjoyable 2 hours & excellent value for $24 each. Later we walked up the main street in town but very quiet & the shop keepers had no customers. Obviously the malls have had an effect as well as the downturn in the economy. Love Bev & Allan.

Gladstone

We had 3 nights in Rockhampton & on our second day went into the city which was very quiet except for where a food festival was setting up on the river banks. Some great old buildings & lots of money spent with excellent bike & walking paths along the water. This old pub was fantastic & under going alterations.

19th Sept.
          Only 107 klms to Gladstone & arrived at the Kin Kora Lifestyle park by 10.30am! A large shopping mall nearby which I walked back to later while Allan explored around a lake area.The next day we booked to do a coffee cruise at the info centre for wednesday & had a look around the town. I found a scrapbook shop & spent time drooling after a 4 month drought. We went up a look out & were lucky enough to find a guy with great knowledge of Gladstone. It is a huge industrial town although at present going through a quieter time like lots of places.

The guy we talked to was at the lookout to check on how they could improve the views by chopping down a few trees. He said night time was spectacular with lights from the coal loaders, aluminum smelter, cement works & three gas plants. Love Bev & Allan.

Rockhampton

16th Sept.
    A short 60klm drive to Gracemere caravan park on the outskirts of Rockhampton from Yeppoon. We settled in & had a coffee & decided to take a picnic lunch & explore.
  We headed for the Botanical Gardens & ended up parking outside the entrance to the zoo which is also part of the gardens. We spent an hour wandering around the zoo which was free & an excellent place to visit.

This really large snake was happily sleeping in the sun.

This monitor was really rather gorgeous.

The crocodile was well cadged but signs around warning not to go near the lakes edge not far from here as crocs in there that had their freedom! There were koalas & chimps all in a lush tropical setting & a wonderful legacy from some prominent businessman & a great attraction for the town.
  We drove down to the lake for our picnic & sat under huge very old trees & could see golfers playing on the other side. Love Bev & Allan

Test Blog From Grafton

Hello,
   Three weeks ago I tried to post a blog several times but no success so gave up. We have had quite a busy time since but wanted to see if I could post anything now. Be in touch. Bev & Allan.

Yeppoon [Part 1]

Arrived around lunchtime & nasty small outside. The coral spore had arrived early & washed up on the beach & sure was smelly. We had a beachfront site but the tide was way out & the sand a strange colour & not picture post card. We had a chat to another Retreat owner & ended up walking back from town with them later. Anne & Paul from near Newcastle & left home two weeks before us to do much the same trip.
14 th Sept.
  A nice morning so set off to explore Emu Park which someone had said to visit. We loved it & were sitting outside at a cafe when Anne & Paul walked by so we spent a pleasant hour talking to them. It was a modern place & very nice.

We wandered up to the singing ship but not very musical!

We carried on around the nice boardwalk & admired the War Memorials which looked very new.

This was certainly very different.

We were reluctant to leave but had bought bread from the bakery for lunch so after finding tomatoes in the car frig we visited the supermarket for a couple of things & sat in the park & had a picnic. Much nicer than the fish & chips our neighbours were eating.Leaving the picnic basket in the car all the time is a good idea for us.

The trees were beautiful but don't know why the big red leaves were falling at this time of the year. A very enjoyable day & later had drinks with Anne & Paul who free camp mainly so interesting to hear about it. Love Bev & Allan.

Final days in MacKay

12th Sept
   Having leg problems so didn't want to overdo thing with lots of walking so I got dropped off at the big mall. It was massive but guess who managed to find me well before my time was up! We actually found a Gloria Jeans & enjoyed the coffee as only about one other on the whole trip1 Allan went walking to fill in his time & spoke to a lady in a RACQ caravan who plied him with maps & mentioned more things to do.

A visit to the Botanical Gardens was next & very enjoyable covering a huge area. Lots of butterflies & loved the blue ones. I did manage a good walk here & a well cared for place.

We were going to eat our picnic lunch but decided to move on to a park where we didn't have to cart our stuff so far. Before we left we went thru a very tropical type garden with huge hibiscus & a sign saying to be careful as could be snakes on the path.

However we settled for these which were very well done.
13th Sept
    We were on the road before 7.30 am as a 380klm drive to Yeppoon & meant we were ahead of the slow motor homes & small caravans. A good road with much longer passing lanes & interesting scenery as very green to start with & lots of sugar cane. The first stop was at 9am for a picnic coffee at Clairview & was really nice there & did have a caravan park we didn't know about.

Many Islands off the coast all the way down the coast & had no idea there were so many. We had one more stop after discovering our new Garmin will actually show us where they are which is really handy. Love Bev & Allan.

Mackay

9th Sept
  Cleared as we left Airlie Beach & another cruise ship at anchor & more markets but hard to park with the van on so didn't stop. Once past Proserpine the rain set in & not pleasant driving on single lane hwy with very short passing lanes. As we arrived at the park it stopped & we were able to set up without getting wet & opted for an en suite site to make things even easier.

A large park with a separate area for permanent dwellers & lots of palms ,ducks & birds.

At 4pm the guy would bring a wheel barrow of bread to the waiting flock!

Next morning we set off just after 8am to go to produce markets at the Showgrounds & purchased nice fresh veggies. We then drove into town & wandered around but most shops closed on saturday morning. A scrapbook shop many years out of date was open & so over stocked it was hard to look . Some great walks along the river but decided coffee was next.

A very well presented town from the days when the mines were doing well!

We found our way to the Art Gallery where there was a nice cafe & a very helpful girl on the desk who mention many thing for us to do in the area. The exhibition was on mixed media & very different to classes I have done but interesting. Also some very simplistic drawings from a Sydney guy on display.

11th Sept
   We drove out to the marina & really interesting place with a separate sugar loading area & all covered a huge amount of land. Yet another coffee, watching traffic drive along the break wall in the back ground.

This break wall looked fairly new & around 1klm long & a novelty driving along it although the odd person walking. We parked at the end & watched guys fishing although many rocks to negotiate to get near the water.

We then drove into town & found a Cuban restaurant for lunch but just ok food. We did however find a huge shopping mall & spent a few mins at Woolies before going back to the park, Mackay is  much bigger than we expected & an interesting place to spend time. Love Bev & Allan.

 

Airlie Beach

4th Sept
   Superb morning & left around 8.15am for the 280klm drive.Sugar cane everywhere & lots being harvested. We came to a bridge & Allan remembered it from 57 years ago & his photo converted from a slide.

My photo through the window after I tried to find the camera halfway across the bridge!

Great views as we drove down the hill into Airlie Beach with fabulous coloured water & boats everywhere. We had a nice big grassy site at the park & later walked the 1.5 klms into town. Great pathway & enjoyed the walk. Next morning we drove to the park John & Sue had stayed at & did a walked on the excellent boardwalk from there which they had mentioned.

Certainly a very nice place.

We had a coffee & did a shop at the Coles & a good morning. The next day I thought a drive to Proserpine might be nice but rather disappointing.

This shop was interesting but not much else to look at.

I couldn't get served in a cafe so walked out but Allan told me I didn't ring the bell! Coffee didn't happen & it clouded over later & we got showers.  The next morning I went to the doctor as had been bitten the day we went to Magnetic Island & they seemed to multiply. The doctor ruled out shingles which I hadn't thought of & I was given a script etc. A cruise ship was anchored & markets had sprung up but the rain came down & not at all pleasant so retreated to a pub for lunch near our park. They ruined the pizza by decorating the top with revolting dark thick shiny sauce & spoilt our lunch.
  The next day it cleared for awhile so we did the boardwalk from town & these really are nice walks.
Along the foreshore there were great pools & looked like workers doing lengths in their lunch hour.

Rain again marred the day on thursday so after a coffee in town we had a quiet afternoon in the van & decided to move on to Mackay the next morning. Airlie Beach is a great spot but not much to do when it's wet. Love Bev & allan.

Magnetic Island

2nd Sept
     Drove into the ferry terminal around 9am for a day out to Magnetic Island. The ferry takes about 25 mins to go across & it was a superb morning.

Great views of Townsville from the water & an enjoyable ride.

Many yachts out as a special event on the Island over a few days.

On arrival at Nelly Bay we caught a waiting bus for a ride to Horseshoe Bay. The driver was in a big hurry & we raced around the bends on the narrow winding road with a few stops on the way. The driver then bought an icecream as we got off & said he would be departing in 15 mins so not sure why rush to get there. It was a pretty spot & found ourselves a cafe to enjoy a coffee. However some young & very silly people soon spoilt that by loudly trying to outdo each other with tales of how many times they were thrown out of pubs & we were not impressed. We then wandered around & it was very quiet with very few people around.

The next bus arrived an hour or so later & this driver was more sensible & we got him to drop us off a stop early as had noticed a great walkway back to Nelly Bay. Certainly must have been very expensive to build & was a great walk.

This house was in a very nice spot.

We arrived back at Nelly Bay thinking a drink & then lunch would be nice & went into Peppers but the wives of the yachties were having a special lunch so nothing else available there. We walked on further around but the only other place had no appeal so decided to catch another bus & go to Picnic Bay. We got the nice driver again & had a Tiki tour around here, there & everywhere before our destination. There was a pub which had great views so had a drink & shared a bowl of wedges as only had 40 mins before the next bus to get back to catch the 3pm ferry as a wait of 1.5 hours if we missed it. Picnic Bay was very nice but nothing other than the pub which was good. The trip back was good & it was a great day out for $17.50 each for the bus & ferry & for once an advantage being a senior. The Island was great but the thought of being stranded there in a cyclone was off putting & wouldn't like to live there all the time. Love Bev & Allan.

Magnectic

Townsville

31st aug
  A short drive to Townsville & lots of cane,bananas & pinepple plantations which made it interesting. We stayed at Rowe's Bay caravan park which was a very nice spot. Our Garmin GPS seemed to get fried after being left on the windscreena month or two ago

& needed to be put in the car frig before it would operate & not always correctly. Allan decided it was time for a replacement so we headed for a super centre & probably the biggest one we've ever seen. Amazing selection of shops & made the purchase & headed back to the park without too many wrong turns.

1st Sept
       We decided to check out the city centre but were disappointed to find it rather a ghost town & very like Newcastle with lots of empty shops after they have moved to suburban malls.We walked to the ferry terminal & on the way back thru an excellent park.

Amazing these trees.

Also some very nice buildings surrounding the park & a glimpse of how it used to be.

Then of course there was the quirky look!

We drove the 3.5 klm drive up to the look out which I found quite scary. It sure is high up! Allan had a photo taken here 57 years ago & insisted on finding the right spot. A brown snake beat a hasty retreat off the path as we approached & my third encounter this year!

Townsville is a huge place but we enjoyed driving around. Fantastic walkways along waterfront & we did visit a big mall which was immense & quite hard to find our way around.

A different sort of mural on a building in the city centre!. Love Bev & Allan

Ingham

30th aug.
        There was only one caravan park at Ingham a few klms out & quite small although the site was very long. We hardly had sleep as right next to the main hwy with heavy traffic & a train line plus rain on the roof! I was up from 4am with a tummy upset probably eating a pie for lunch at Cardwell.
  We drove into town later & found an Italian deli/cafe for a very nice coffee, great friendly staff & had a wander around the street.

The walls of an arcade had been done with these mosaic murals & they were really good.This one was showing cane cutting in the old days.

This  one was lunchtime in the cane fields. We had noticed a roadside stall the previous day so went back & bought some great fresh produce.Quite an interesting guy to talk to & heard how he lost everything in a cyclone not long ago. We then went to the TYLO Wetlands which was fairly new but well done.

A great walkway in the first part & pretty ponds with heaps of purple water lilly's in full bloom.The info centre was at one end & grey nomads were coming asking how much to stay in the grounds nearby. It was $15 overnight & quite a nice spot. There were walks into the Wetlands but I didn't feel 100% still so didn't venture further. We went to look at the art gallery there but it was closed while they changed the exhibition.

Outside was this great frog & we were given the speil on the aboriginal poles in the background by a nice younger woman who was having her lunch.That night we slept much better but woke to a light drizzle but no problem while we packed up. Time to head for Townsville. Love Bev & Allan.