Going south

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On the way to the Gold Coast

Picked up our “white” Toyota Corolla ( I am sure ¾ of the cars in Australia are white!) and now there is the getting used to driving on the left. (People on the sidewalks also walk on the left!). It is not only the driving but the signal lights that present problems. They are on the right and a week later I still hear the expletives! The windshield wipers were turned on instead of the signal lights. And Ken is very sick of me telling him to stay within the lines of his lane. We stopped at the RCAQ (associated with our AMA) to pick up maps. You wouldn’t believe the lineup. Half an hour it took to get the maps and just when we were leaving, who walks in but the German couple! She took us out to see their “Apollo” It is the small caravan that many people rent here. There are lots of caravan parks. I hope they have air conditioning because the temperatures have been in the 30’s. Although, it does cool off at night. Uneventful drive until we got to Townsville. Even though we had a map and we had a hotel in mind, we were hopelessly lost. We were are the Port and past the trains and in the end stopped at a service station. I think we had circled the whole city. So on the road there were several motels (looks like the motels we would stop at in the 70’s.) So we stopped at The Colonial Rose. Ken went in to check it out and that took forever. Turns out that the fellow had been to Canada the previous year and loved it. He, too, took the Rocky Mountain train to Jasper and Banff. Said he was in love with Lake Louise. Room was very clean, bed comfortable and free WIFI!!So we stayed 2 nights! We visited the museum. Learned about the Caine Mutiny and the boat that was sent to bring back the mutineers. Some of those people were downright mean, had no feelings about how they would feel in a reverse position. We then went for a walk along the Strand. Lots of people having ice cream and just enjoying the beautiful day. Even the seagulls enjoyed the shade of one of the big trees on the beach.

For supper tonight we walked to an Italian restaurant. We had the small portions of chicken Penne and it was still too much to finish. All teenage grandsons would love it here!! And we made a decision. We will look for a GPS because going into any of the cities is going to be a problem. Our motel fellow told us where to go to find this item. We did not get lost this time. The gal in the store was very helpful when we explained our needs. She found an even cheaper unit when we said we would just find someone to give it to, when we were leaving. This new GPS, we have named “Queenie” because we bought her in Queensland!

And it is now on to our next stop – a place called Mackay. We stayed at our first place where the check-in clerk was a little deficient in the charm department. The motel, itself was nice but no free WIFI. KFC for supper tonight!! The Drive is not very scenic. We saw lots of sugarcane fields and lots of white (some brown) brahma type cattle. Some of them looked very skinny! Brian, you can tell us about them when we get home! And there’s lots of roadkill. What they told us about the kangaroos and wallabys being night creatures is very true. We didn’t see any. I am sure they were sleeping during the day and at night, maybe their vision is not so good! Rockhampton is our next stop. Queenie came in very handy as we found the street with motels and again we had free WIFI! Room was a little small Looked for the RSL for supper – When it is dark here, it is hard to see the street signs, if there are any! So there was a Fish and Chips place near the motel. I had the Calamari again and Ken had grilled Barramundi. Again

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