Blogs from Emerald, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

Friday morning we again had a quiet time. We relaxed in our room until about 11am and then went out to the track. It was sunny but cool, with the temperature staying under 20 degrees. We had lunch at the track and watched events. Plenty of people to chat to and athletics to watch. It was the second to last day of the program and all Senior events were over. The highlights were the U20s where there were some excellent races and good performances. Most events finished about 4pm and then Oceania had drinks for the officials and other hangers-on, like us, to celebrate the near completion of the champs. Yvonne was leaving the next morning as was Bob Snow so we said our goodbyes to them. As the sun set we drove Bob back to ... read more

After many days of relatively flat driving we now drove through undulating hills that eventually became significant ranges; we had entered the Central Highlands. Much of this drive was through native pine forest (the biggest native pines we have ever seen) or through wooded cattle country. Rugged escarpments towered in the distance and the Dawson river cut deep gorges below the bridges we crossed. We must have crossed the Dawson river on at least three occasions. Despite some steep climbs and descents our fuel consumption was very good. At this stage Greg has worked out how to drive economically, with one eye on the instantaneous consumption readout. Cruise control works OK only on the flat. On undulating terrain a steady throttle that allows the speed to alter gives much better results. We pulled into the modest ... read more

Hi all, well this will be my last post in this blog. We are home. We came back from Port Douglas in 3 days. We are coming down in a different route than the one we came up in. No dirt roads this time. From Port douglas we stopped and are staying in a cabin in Emerald Qld. Then we drive a whole day and 1,170 km to Dubbo in NSW and on the third day we completed about 860km to get home. A big three days. On the first day we got to see the biggest road train ever. A Toll truck that was true road train. It had three trailers. OMG what a truck. See the photo. Thank you all for following my posts. I hope you have not been too bored with our ... read more

I wanted to have a walk through the Emerald Botanic Gardens so I set my phone alarm to go off at 7am. I got up and left Barry sleeping, tired after all the driving. It was lovely strolling quietly along the pathways past palm groves and bamboo stands next to the Nogoa River. There were lots of Rainbow Lorikeets and Sulphur Crested Cockatoos just stirring at the entrance but not many in the Garden itself. I was surprised at how many picnic tables and bins there were, as well as an exercise circuit (with several people running along it or exercising their dogs there), and two rotundas. Best of all were the beautiful Bougainvilleas along the fence on one side. They were totally covered in flowers and had a wide range of colours, not just the ... read more

This is a crap blog site on my mobile... read more