Travelling Queensland

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Well hello everybody! We have had a very busy time since we last put an entry online, so there's quite a bit to catch up on. Will try to make it as interesting (short) as possible!!

Last time we wrote we were in Airlie Beach and from there we headed about 70km south to stay in a National Park campground called Smalley's Beach. The site was right on the beach and we spent the late afternoon watching the sun go down with a glass of wine in hand. Very civilised...apart from the fact that we have discovered casks of wine for $10 for 4 litres, but hey, it still goes down the same way!

We just had the one night there, as we had quite a bit of ground to cover in the next bit of the journey. There is absolutely nothing for about 400km so we just had to get on with it. We were up early so we could get most of the journey done out of the hottest part of the day and arrived at our destination, another National Park campground in the Byfield NP, just north of Rockhampton ("Rocky"). We were warned that there were quite a few mossies around, but armed with our super strength repellant we set up camp. The mossies, however, had a different idea....it seemed like they like the repellant as much as I like the Bundy (see later) so we were both sat in the early evening sun in trousers, hoodies and socks to try and keep the things off...it was like we had both developed nervous twitches after about half an hour! We gave up in the end and spent the evening in the van playing cards and vowed to leave early the next day and spend a night in Rocky rather than another night in the NP as had been the plan!

The next morning we left within about 20 mins of waking up...after a frantic mossie killing session to get rid of the things that had made their way into the van while we were getting from the back door to the front! Next stop Rocky and we found a lovely campsite next to the river (with spotless facilities, which were a relief after 2 days in National Parks!!). We spent the afternoon (Friday) looking round the town of Rocky, which is the Beef capital of Australia. It therefore seemed appropriate to buy a big old steak for tea, which went down very well I must say! Before we went back to eat though, we found a great pub on the other side of the river and made the most of happy hour ($4 pints!!, and free nibbles). A Friday night very well spent in my opinion!!

From Rocky it was on to Agnes Water/Town of 1770. Beautiful weekend spent there...and the beaches had waves..the first we had seen since WA. We mainly relaxed for the weekend, sitting on the beach, wandering into 1770 and generally recovering from the mossies!

This week started off with a trip to Bundeberg...the home of the best rum in the World!! We spent the afternoon doing the distillery tour which was a lot of fun and ended with a free tasting..now that's my kind of afternoon! I bought myself a bottle too, which is starting to look a bit empty at the moment...but it has been very enjoyable! Helen is getting into it too and has found a very interesting combination of rum and ginger beer (much nicer than it sounds!!)

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in another National Park, this time at Rainbow Beach. Again it was right on the beach, but the main reason for going there was for a trip to Fraser Island (or Joan Fraser Island as Helen is calling it!). We had a fantastic, if not a little bumpy, day on Fraser and saw loads of Whales out to sea doing their migration back south from the tropics. The tour took us to Lake Mackenzie where we had a bit of a swim, it is absolutely stunning up there and we were sorry to leave. But we had to head on to Central Station and we had a little walk through the rainforest and then lunch (where we both made some of the money back we had paid for the trip!! It was like being Joey from Friends!!) In the afternoon we went further along 75 mile beach to the Morano shipwreck, Elie Creek and the Pinnacles. It really was a fantastic day, that we both thoroughly enjoyed.

That then brings us to the Sunshine Coast, which ironically enough was pouring with rain when we arrived (the first rain we had seen for about a month!). But it cleared up by lunchtime, after Helen had been to the Macadamia factory and eaten her way through the 9 or 10 tasters!! We found a nice campsite just off the beaten track then headed up into the mountains for some spectacular views both inland and to the coast. We went on a rainforest walk, looking for snakes (well I was, Helen kept hitting me for suggesting that we might get "lucky" and see some!) We then drove to the coast and had a quick drive along to check it out before heading back to the campsite in time for a well earned glass (well plastic mug) of rum!

We are spending a bit of time in Noosa today and then heading down to Brisbane tomorrow for a few days there before we hit the Gold Coast for a bit of childish messing around!

And that's about it for now! We are still enjoying the camping (not so much the mossies) and are surviving the heat!!

Hope you are all well and will be in touch again soon, hopefully with exciting tales of Zorbing and theme parks!!

So ta ta for now!!

Helen & Rich

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