All beached out

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The scenery as we have been driving south has blown us away. As we head out of Townsville we are flanked on either side of the road with row after row of banana trees and what looks like sugar cane fields. Every so often we happen across roadside stalls selling the freshest and juiciest fruit imaginable and it would be rude not to try some wouldn’t it? As we arrive at Airlie Beach we are both feeling a little “beached out” and don’t really feel the vibe here. Its a place very much geared to the young, and most are here to sail out to the Whitsundays. Maybe 20 years ago we would have appreciated it more here but now to us it just felt like another beach resort with loads of youngsters hanging around getting drunk...not really what we were looking for on our trip at the moment anyway! So, after spending some time on the beach relaxing we head back out on the road but unfortunately misjudge our timing, can’t find our first rest stop so end up driving 120km in the dark to the next rest stop...not recommended!! By the time we park up its too dark to cook anything outside so we have a brainwave of cooking inside the van on our camping stove. Not the best idea as we fry some steaks...the smoke is unbearable and the van now smells like the local chippie. Now realise why we were told not to cook in the van!
The following morning we meet the local caravan nutter- this guy just chats on about how the water is poisoned now in Oz and the land is being all sold off etc etc. We make our excuses pretty quickly and get back out on the road, realising that we are very low on petrol. With our late night driving last night the petrol stations we had passed by had been closed. The local nutter man had said that there was a petrol station about 20km away in Marlborough so we were not too worried- until we saw signs indicating that it was 60km away! As we drive very steadily and slowly the petrol light comes on with 40km to go. Thinking we’ve made it we see a petrol station but our celebrations are cut short when we see a sign across the entrance saying “closed due to illness” No!!! Continuing on we surprisingly manage to travel a further 30 km to the next petrol station and are saved the embarrassment of having to hitch a lift.
We arrive in Rockhampton, a lovely town with a great viewpoint up on Mt Archer and we take one of the walking trails around the top. Heading back out once again we cross the Tropic of Capricorn (how many times is that now?) and drive on to our rest stop at Miriam Vale.

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Photos

Mt Archer
View from Taylor lookout