Rockhampton to Brisbane

Thursday, 6 September 2018

Any ideas what these are?  About the size of a blue faced honeyeater.

Bush sculptures around our site

All our site, too

Safe from snakes

At lunch

It didn’t take long for the sunny, clear skies to disappear after we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, with clouds quickly building up.  As well as the sun, we also left the sugar plantations behind at Sarina and were back to dry scrub for the drive to Childers.  Not only was there an increase in traffic, there was a decided increase in roadworks!  The many delays added nearly an hour to our travel time.  We checked into the Ironridge Caravan Park east of Childers for the overnight stay; a very small caravan park (12 sites) with enormous individual sites in a bush setting on a working farm.  With a fresh wind, overcast skies and a temperature much lower than we have become accustomed to, neither of us was really interested in sitting outside and enjoying the varied birdlife.

The journey to Brisbane also involved some roadworks (nowhere near the extent of the previous day, thankfully) and a further increase in traffic.  Of course, as we approached the Sunshine Coast (not sure how “they” came up with this name!!!) it started to rain, which quickly increased to a massive downpour with very little visibility.  These downpours continued nearly all the way to Brisbane.

Maggie Tomtom managed today’s trip through Brisbane with flying colours and we arrived at the Brisbane Holiday Village without any undue stress (apart from weather and traffic).  We have stayed here previously and although a little more expensive, we have a large site with plenty of concrete for parking the car and caravan, as well as a good slab.  The park is very well maintained, easy to access from the M1 and very close to Garden City Shopping Centre.  We visited this centre after lunch and thoroughly enjoyed a foot massage, followed up by a Movenpick icecream.  A pretty good afternoon, despite the rain!  With the temperature dropping, it didn’t take long for the heater to put in an appearance.

Today we had a luncheon appointment with Shan’s parents, about a fifteen minute drive from the caravan park.  In desperate need of fuel, Himself discovered online a Woolworths service station near our destination.  Giving ourselves plenty of time, we keyed in the address for the service station and departed at 10.00am (due at 11.00 am for lunch).  Maggie Tomtom made it around the first two corners without any trouble and then fell in a heap, directing us into a “no through road.”  Suddenly losing confidence in her directions and not really knowing where we were, someone (we wont mention his name) decided to use GoogleMaps on my phone, keyed in the address and set off again.  Unfortunately, the GoogleMaps lady was on her morning tea break and didn’t have a replacement to read the directions, so after seeing many back streets, we arrived at our destination, only to find an empty paddock instead of a service station.  Sure he could see the sign just down the road, we continued on for some time before the question was asked as to whether 661 was keyed in or 166 mistakenly?  Mmmmm…  Up a side street, correct address keyed in, turned around and after travelling for some time passed a sign welcoming us to Brisbane!  After 45 minutes, we arrived at the service station and were only five minutes late arriving at Wei’s house.

We had a pleasant lunch with a very hospitable couple and after a tour of their house and offering some renovation advice, departed with an armful of leftovers.  The heavy rain continued …

Time to swap the wardrobe over again, with all the white trousers, shorts and skirts, along with t-shirts being exchanged for long pants, long sleeves, cardigans and jumpers.