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| Masked Lapwing |
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| Curlow |
Around mid to late morning we drove to a spot called Bluff Point, part of the Capricorn Coast National Park, and followed a 3km scenic walk that gave 360 degree views.
There was ample opportunity for panorama photos and a chance to observe some green turtles many many metres below our vantage point—the latter being a true test of my new camera.
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| Green Turtle |
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View of Rosslyn Bay and Yeppoon from Bluff Point
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In my regular pastime of including interesting signs I submit the following from Bluff Point.
We finished the morning with a visit to the Rosslyn Bay marina and a mango smoothie. The rest of the day was quiet, including scones, cream and jam for afternoon tea.
Tuesday was another day. It was also quiet and relaxing as we soaked up the warm weather. The highlight was corned beef, mashed spuds, cabbage and carrots for dinner—cooked by Darryl. We also decided to extend our stay in Yeppoon by 4 days.
Wednesday 25 June was marginally cooler, maybe in the low 20’s. We went for another walk at Bluff Point to try and see more turtles. All we saw were more magnificent views. Again we rewarded ourselves with a mango smoothie.
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| The above photo above is similar to the photo for Monday (above), but taken at sea level. |
We met a guy today who comes from Adelaide and stays at this camp park near Yeppoon for 4 months of each year. He has not seen winter in Adelaide since 1999.
On Thursday we went shopping –as you do—the main components being for spaghetti bolognaise for dinner. After lunch Darryl and I headed down to Emu Park Bowls club for some guidance on his introduction to bowls. He has the makings of a bowler (and is nearly old enough).
This afternoon I was forced to think of words from a reader of these tomes who suggested that we should “make the most of the good times on our holiday and not get too stressed about the things that go wrong”. This recollection occurred at the Yeppoon Toyota dealer when I learned that the car radiator was “cactus”. To add to the issue it takes 5 days for a Toyota radiator to come from Sydney, or 3 days for a non-Toyota radiator to come from presumably somewhere else. As the non-Toyota radiator was significantly cheaper than the Toyota equivalent and comes with a Toyota warranty that option seemed to be the go. So we do not have a car until at least Tuesday.
The spaghetti bolognaise was excellent.
Friday was Day 30 and we drove into Rockhampton for a look around. We checked out the botanical gardens and the (free) zoo that is a part of the gardens. It is a small zoo but well set up. As 3 of us were still suffering from the flu we headed home for a restful afternoon.
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| Rockhampton Botanical Gardens |
As is normally the case Saturday and Sunday was the weekend and it was a time for doing very little. Darryl cooked hamburgers for dinner on Saturday and I took the lead with home made pizzas (including the base) on Sunday.
Monday 30 June was the day for the car to get a new radiator. This was duly completed late afternoon, just after we had a walk on the beach and another mango smoothie.
On Tuesday we went for a drive to test the new radiator, to a small town called Keppel Sands. Keppel Sands seemed to be a nice spot for central Queensland people to have a holiday house, but it did not appear to have much to offer grey nomads. It was another quiet and relaxing afternoon, and included a coffee in Yeppoon.
Wednesday 3 July started with Darryl and I having a walk while the ladies visited the hairdresser. We saw more wonderful views at a place called Double Head, so called because of the close proximity of two rocky hills (at Rosslyn Bay).
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| Overlooking Rosslyn Bay Marina from Double Head |
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| Looking Towards Bluff Point from Double Head |
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| Pebble Beach Between the "Two Heads" |
After our walk Darryl and I sat down for a chat and attack a couple of Sudoku. While we chatted the caravan park manager approached with an ABC News reporter and cameraman. They wanted some video to support their story about grey nomads coming up north to get away from the southern cold snap. We were interviewed for about 10 minutes and were on TV for about 8 seconds.
We were pretty chuffed. A small clip from the News can be accessed from the front page of this blog.
We departed Yeppoon after 16 nights on Thursday 3 July and started to head south (but not home). We first visited St Christopher’s Chapel about 12 km east of Rockhampton. It was built by the US Army in 1943 (during WW2) when 70,000 US soldiers were stationed in the area. It is an open air non-denominational chapel and was built from local timber and stone. It is still used today and has an annual ceremony near 4th July, which is usually attended by a senior US officer. We were just a day or so too early.
We had a couple of repairs made to the car-caravan hitch in Rockhampton (to raise the height of the ball) then we headed south. After stopping for lunch en-route we stopped for the night at a free-camp site where the Bruce Highway crosses the Calliope river. It is a magnificent venue that, by the end of the day, accommodated around 85 caravans, tents and motor-homes.
Shirley and I went for a walk and I took photos of a White Faced Heron
and the old bridge across the Bruce Highway.
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| White Faced Heron |
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| Old Bridge over the Bruce Highway |
I also took a photo of a local fat willy wagtail.
4th July was my birthday and I was duly looked after by my 3 companions. I had home made vanilla slice (one candle) for morning tea, after which we went for a drive to the twin towns of Boyne Island and Tannum Sands. We stopped for the obligatory coffee.
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| Birthday Morning Tea, Vanilla slice |
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| Birthday Roast Pork |
It was a relaxing afternoon before dinner of roast pork and veges (with apple sauce and gravy). It was all washed down with a bottle of a 2009 Coonawarra Cabernet Shiraz Merlot.
Life is pretty good.
It was a bit cool so we extracted our butane heaters from the cupboard and christened them. They were very handy.
It was a bit cool so we extracted our butane heaters from the cupboard and christened them. They were very handy.
It was time to move on, and that we did on Saturday 5 July, into Tannum Sands. All 30 km. It was a lovely caravan park over the road from the beach, and the start of 25 km of walks around the twin towns. After lunch (a roll of left over roast pork and apples) we went for a walk along the foreshore and found an excellent market. I bought a jar of fig jam and two of the largest mandarins I have ever seen. Some garlic and chilli olives also went into the shopping bag. The local council has spent a lot of thought, time and effort in revitalizing the foreshore and the result is superb—plenty of walking tracks, lawns, trees and amenities.
We wandered home for a rest. I decided that it was time to unblock the waste from the sink so I set to work with a hose and some water pressure. Shirley was master of the tap on the hose. I was the master inside the caravan. However a communication error meant that the hose was turned on at a point in time when I was not ready. The end result was that the cupboard under the sink had to be emptied and cleaned and dried. Shirley was not all that impressed but we ended up with a clean, tidy and re-organised cupboard—and an unblocked drain.
Then about 5:30 we wandered back to the market, with comfortable chairs, to listen to the music and eat things like bratwurst and other lovely goodies. The market closed about 7pm. It was a pleasant evening.
I greeted the Sabbath with a walk along the local beach, about 7:30. It was an excellent way to start the day. The weather was so good there were a number of people on the beach just sitting. It was low tide.
A leisurely breakfast, then Kay appeared with the clippers. Haircut time. So now I have a # 2 head of hair.
After lunch we went for a drive to a local popular park called Canoe Point. It was a magnificent park with many people enjoying wood-cooked BBQs. The park has numerous metal sculptures, generally of animals and insects. |
| Pop Standen (right) and mate at the Surf Lifesaving Club |
After that we called into the Tannum Sands Surf Life Saving Club—for a coffee. We had our coffee and settled in to listen to some live music, with the lead singer guitarist (Pop Standen) accompanied by a mate on the mouth organ. They were a good pair.
While we were enjoying our coffee a paddle boarder paddled past with his trusty dog on board.
We decided that it was time for a beer and so enjoyed a Corona as the music played. After a while a pod of dolphins swam past. And still the music played. It was a great couple of hours.
Monday 7 July was Day 41. Darryl had a crook throat so Shirley and I headed into Gladstone for a look around. We started at the refinery where bauxite went in one end and alumina came out the other end. It was a huge complex.
Did you know that:
- Since 1972 660 billion aluminium cans have been re-cycled. If placed end-to-end they would stretch to the moon 300 times.
- The average lifespan of an aluminium can is 6 weeks, from manufacture, filled, sold , used, recycled and re-manufactured.
- Throwing away an aluminium can wastes as much energy as pouring out as much petrol as would fit in half of that can.
We visited a local museum and art gallery which was very interesting. It was then coffee time.
We toured many of the areas of Gladstone and were very impressed with the quality and quantity of park lands and the general cleanliness of the city. When you consider all of the industry (power generation, coal transportation, aluminium) the air is also very clean.
We dined on barramundi in a café near the Marina for lunch, while watching a couple of tankers get loaded with coal.
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| Coal Tanker Leaving Gladstone Loaded |
We bought some fresh prawns for dinner, which went down very well. Note my new haircut in the photo below.
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| Chris Shelling Prawns, Shirley Eating Prawns |
Last update - 4am Tuesday 8 July
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