July 24 - 28, 2006 The drive from Hervey Bay to Cairns, essentially the stopping point of our Australian odyssey, represented a pretty big chunk of road. The drive amounted to about 1468.2 kilometers north through Queensland and included a diversity of towns and sites made cohesive solely by their residing in the same state. It felt a little disjointed, this mish-mash of places, but we enjoyed the bright, sunny days of driving along the coast and through fields of sugar cane. Monday, July 24, our first day out of Hervey Bay, we intended to drive to Mackay, a popular jumping off point for exploring the Whitsunday Islands. Aussie distances, our increasingly late starts and the practical limitation of driving after dark saw us stop about 3-4 hours shy of Mackay in Rockhampton, the beef capital
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