Rockhampton

Wednesday, 5 September 2012

We departed Sarina fairly early (8.10 am) for the 300 kms trip south to Rockhampton. Fortunately, we had left the majority of roadworks north of Sarina and only encountered a couple of short hold-ups. The sugar cane crops quickly gave way to open cattle country, mainly flat with some scrub to break the monotony. We had a short break about the half way points; a nice new layover which was well set out with sealed roads and toilets (for those not lucky enough to have their own).

We arrived at the Discovery BIG4 Caravan Park in Rockhampton right on noon and were quickly assisted with backing onto our site. The park is very nice and although there isn’t much shade, the sites are large and grassy with a concrete slab. There is plenty of birdlife with rainbow lorikeets sleeping in the perimeter trees and magpies serenading us from 5.00 am!

Yesterday afternoon was really spent just restocking the cupboard at the large shopping centre just down the road – this did take a couple of hours! A visit to the pharmacy was the first port of call as I have reacted very badly to a few midgie bites at Airlie Beach – a sore throat isn’t helping make me feel any better, either.

Today, after a couple loads of washing and a haircut for one of us, we found the Tropic of Capricorn (making sure we stayed in the tropics, of course) – just right for a photo opportunity. We then headed to Emu Park on the coast and stopped to inspect, and listen to, the singing memorial to Captain Cook. Great Keppel Island, plus the other islands in this group, we visible not far off the coast. We drove north to Yeppoon, with a few stops to look at the lovely beaches and a fairly swish marina. At one of our stops, we noticed a small raptor hovering not far from us – he had his eye on a couple of pigeons on the ground and made a couple of serious attempts to grab one. We drove as far as the Capricorn Resort, which was initially built for the Japanese tourist trade but is now owned by Mercure. Lunch as a nice coffee shop in Yeppoon rounded out the morning.