The birth of Queensland

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07/12/06 Town of 1770

6 or 700 km later. Dunno. Lost count. Drove through the beef capital of Australia, Rockhampton. Spotted at least one cattle truck at the traffic lights in town, with mournful looking cows with large floppy ears looking out over the traffic. Large concrete cows stand proudly on the center of roundabouts on the main roads in and out of town (depends which way you are heading I guess), welcoming you with the fact that there are 2 squillion cows within a 250k radius of the town and supposedly a multitude of great steak restaurants. Despite that mouth-watering prospect, we rocked on through and straight through the heavily industrial-looking town of Gladstone, not seeing anything that convinced us to stay!

We finally ran out of daylight and any further aptitude for driving at the dual townships of Agnes Water/Town of 1770, proudly named after Lieutenant (Not yet Captain till further up the east coast, I guess) James Cook’s landing of 24th May 1770 and claiming it’s place in history as the Birthplace of Queensland.

It chucked it down with rain and happened to be a Friday morning, coincidentally the same day of the week that the Agnes Water Bingo club meets at the Agnes Water Tavern - eyes down 10:00 am. Many ducks later, (quack quack), it was their kind of weather after all, we scooted back into the car again heading for Bundaberg, this time with more of a cunning plan up our sleeves - it was turtle nesting season and we were hoping to witness a spectacle…

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