Rockhampton (part I)

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The Rockhampton area marks the end of the Capricorn Coast which stretches from Agnes Water up to the Byfield National Park.The area’s name is derived from the fact it lies on the Tropic of Capricorn which, I have now learnt, marks the most southerly latitude on the earth at which the sun can be directly overhead.

Rockhampton – or Rocky, as it’s generally known – is lovely. We had expected it to be very similar to Gladstone but we soon stood corrected. There is much more happening and a much nicer town setup. There are beautiful heritage buildings, mega wide streets, a nice little shopping strip (loved the gorgeous shop/café “My Sister’s House”) and a relaxed atmosphere. We based ourselves around Victoria Park which was lovely during the day but became the hub for rowdy youths and drinkers in the evening. Dean was quietly watching his movie in the back of the van when a young chap, who smelt like a brewery, leaned past me into the van and asked “so how old are you then?” and “do you smoke dope?”. Needless to say, we didn’t stay there for the night.

You also encounter the total opposite in Rocky though. We headed to the local pool for a swim and a shower, but when I checked out the changing rooms it became apparent that there were only cold showers. With the freezing drizzly weather there was absolutely no way I was going to be standing under a cold shower and one of the other swimmers must have seen my aghast face when she asked what the matter was. A short chat later and our new friend Wendy had invited us to her place for a hot shower. Wendy is a beautiful inspirational lady who works as a teacher in Rocky and did a similar trip a few years ago. She is also planning another one for next year. Wendy, it was a pleasure to get to know you (little did we know that you would kick our asses at yahtzee!), Jacob and Rusty. Thanks so much for inviting us into your home and letting us camp out in your driveway. We really hope to catch up again and who knows, we may have a home and be able to return the favour by the time you do your trip.

As mentioned before, the weather was pretty much against us whilst we were in Rocky. It rained NON-STOP for an entire week! It was miserable. Depressing. Limiting. Trying. To top it, I picked up a truly horrible virus and was pretty much incapacitated. I couldn’t breathe, sleep, eat, stand, think… I’m sure you get the picture… On day three, when I finally gathered up enough strength to go for a gentle cycle, I actually couldn’t even remember whether I was supposed to be on the left side or the right side of the road. That, combined with the appalling weather and the fact that we still hadn’t managed to find work, made for a very miserable Jackie. It seemed rather symbolic that I started to get better when, on our last day in town, the sun finally made an appearance.

Of course we had a lot of fun in Rocky before I got sick. We spent a fair amount of time in the library (dry, warm and with internet access, yay), checked out the interactive environmental education centre “Flow”, relaxed by the river, visited the impressive botanic gardens & zoo, watched “Snow White and the Huntsman” at the cinema (loved it; there were even 8 dwarves!) and went on a mission to find jobs. You would not believe how hard it is for two qualified, hard working people to find temporary work. ANY work. Dean almost landed a fitter job at a local meatworks but they then decided that they wanted someone who would be sticking around for longer than a month. Meanwhile I’ve been receiving my daily job alerts, one of which suggested a position as a brothel manager in Mackay! We will of course persist, but it’s a bit disheartening when you don’t get any results despite having distributed dozens of copies of your CV and registered with countless recruitment agencies. Interestingly, a tarot card I picked was the five of pentacles which is all about financial and material trouble and, more importantly, worrying about it. Job worries certainly fall into that category but the overall message is that whatever causes the problem is much more of a threat than it is a reality and worrying about it might just make it worse than it needs to be. So we are remaining positive and tenacious. Who knows what’s in store for us.

One of the things that our week in Rocky forced me to face up to is my tendency to leave things behind. It’s a simple case of “out of sight, out of mind”. I’ve always made lists to make sure I remember things that would otherwise escape me, and it seems that I will have to start using this strategy to stop leaving things behind. It started with a towel in Stanley and continued with exfoliation mits in Woorim, my electric toothbrush in Ilkley and my Birkenstock sandals in a car park in Noosa. Aside from the towel and the mits, I managed to retrieve everything… until we got to Rocky and decided to let my delicates, including my beloved Icebreaker baselayer, air out in a warm tumble dryer at the launderette… and promptly left them behind. Many tears and several phone calls later I had to accept that they were gone. The fact that the caravan park locks its gates after dark and most shops have steel rollers for security says a lot about Rockhampton’s crime rates, and my items would have been a welcome bonus for somebody.

Rockhampton also has a thriving Aboriginal community. This should be a good thing but sadly a lot of trouble is caused by some of its members which a chat with a local security guard confirmed. I thought that some of his comments were unnecessarily derogative and somewhat racist but I had empathy with the challenges he must face after we had witnessed drinking, drugging, loitering, aggressive and hostile behaviour ourselves. We don’t really know much about the issues surrounding the integration of Aboriginal and white communities but I’m guessing that the prevalence of such problems leads to generalisation which in turn leads to discrimination. Pretty sad really.

Rockhampton is also the beef capital of Australia and Central Queensland’s cattle industry is worth more than $900 million per year! There are 2.8 million cattle in the region which becomes quite obvious when you’re out and about: there are cattle transportation trucks, the local removal company has a cow statue on the roof labeled “remove-a-bull” and people wear cowboy hats. I had considered trying some beef while we were here, but I'm just not quite ready for that.

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