South to Gladstone

On Sunday, our last day in Rockhampton, after seeing off Kim and Debbie who were returning to their motel in Bowen, we drove south to Gladstone to have a look.  On our personal map of Australia, we were missing the bit between Bundaberg, which we've previously visited, and Rocky, so at least we're filling in some of that gap.

The drive down on the Bruce Ha ha Highway was a bit tedious.  Single lane, much of it under road work, and the scenery's a bit same-same.  At one stage we sat for at least ten minutes held up by a stop-go sign, with no traffic in either direction.  It was amusing listening to the truck drivers on the CB radio, one of them was really irate (and swearing profusely) about the delay, thinking the workers were having a long smoko and forgetting to let the traffic go, but it turned out they really were working around the corner, out of sight from where we were.  Finally vehicles started coming through, from the other direction first, naturally- 50 of them, I counted!  There would have been the same number on our side, too.

We headed for Calliope (pron. cal-eye-o-pee) which turned out to be a dormitory town for Gladstone, lots of houses and not much else.  Most of the houses looked new, I suspect Calliope was a sleepy country village till recently.  Moving on to Tannum Sands, which is an island south of Gladstone, we found a lovely sandy beach with shady foreshore and lucked on the surf lifesaving club open for lunch on the only day of the week it is open, Sunday- lovely fresh fish served with a smile and a delightful view to boot.

On to Gladstone itself, knowing it was just an industrial town.  And boy, is it industrial!  Aluminium refinery and separate smelter, coal port, also ships cement, and other things.  All in what was a beautiful deep water port reminiscent of Port Stephens, with blue water and many inlets.  It's protected by many islands so a very safe port as well.

Monday morning we left Rocky and initially headed for Mt Morgan, but we were scared off by the sign which said "No long wide vehicles, caravans take care".  We interpreted this as meaning there were sharp bends ahead, and since it was a diversion for us anyway, we decided to return to the highway and head straight for Emerald.  We stopped at Duaringa for morning tea, and Comet for lunch (I was allowed to drive that section, the first time I've driven with the caravan in tow).

We were in for a bit of a shock when we reached Emerald.  Last week it was "Just rock up, no need to book in" whenever we rang ahead- this time they couldn't fit us in at 2pm!  "The season" has begun in the week we've been at the coast. We didn't want to stay at the free camp place in Emerald because it's right next to the road, and just as well because when we went past there, it was overflowing.

We ended up having to pay $30 to camp at the Agricultural grounds, which is a blatant rip-off.  We were hard pressed to find a vacant site with water AND power, though eventually did find one left.  The ground is rough, with tufts of grass cut by a slasher, and amenities few and far between.  Close to the highway and railway as well, and those long coal trains run all night.  Not to mention the road trains, which are quite loud.

Our neighbour here, a mature woman, said she's here permanently since she has a job with the road crew.  She said she's already retired but is saving up for a trip to the US. She has a tiny almost antique van and is living in it since there is no accommodation available in town- a room is $300 a night.  This is due to the mining boom.

Today we head for Sapphire (yes, we have booked), where John and Marg will meet up with us.  They stayed at Springsure last night so they don't have far to go, and neither do we.  We'll probably stay there about a week, and may not have internet access.