Mackay to Brisbane

Tuesday, 5 September 2017

Having a break at Marlborough

Our front garden 

There is something in there  ...

a very rare plasticus dinosaurus!

Sunset

Honeyeater in the grevillea

We travelled further south to Rockhampton on Saturday, with little hold ups despite an accident at about the half way point which closed the highway both ways for some time.  Truckies were very good about passing information along over the two-way – this explained why there was little or no oncoming traffic.  Fortunately, by the time we reached the site, everything was clear.  We left the sugar cane fields behind as the bush became drier.  We spent the night at the Big4 Discovery and were pleasantly surprised to find the ground maintenance had improved immensely and the grass had been cut!  Another hot day.

Sunday saw us cross the Tropic and become sub-tropical as we continued southward through the very dry cattle country towards Childers.  The sugar cane made a reappearance, as did the large macadamia orchards – and the trees were in flower, something we haven’t seen before.  We stayed once again at the Iron Ridge Park and it was such a pleasure to have “space” around us, with only nine caravans in this farm park.  We even had our very own front garden, complete with fire pot, fire wood and bench.  The blue faced honeyeaters were very fond of the large grevillea beside the caravan.

Today, with the weather still glorious and hot, we headed to the big smoke – Brisbane.  The trip was fairly slow at times, with a very self-centred and inconsiderate driver towing a caravan and feeling it was his right to ignore the traffic build-up and drive between 70-80.  After following him for over 40 kms, I managed to get past him at Gympie; he was most unhappy, sped up and deliberately cut me off at the end of a merging lane.  Himself and the other driver kept all the other two-way users entertained with their conversation for a time.

We are staying for two nights at the Brisbane Gateway Resort – mainly cabins – and once again we asked ourselves why the worst sites are allocated to us when we book in advance.  The amenities are fine and the park was easy to access from the highway and not too far from Garden City Shopping Centre, where we spent a few hours this afternoon.  Movenpick have an outlet at Garden City, which was very nice after a stressful morning.