Dec 2008

Caught up again with Delwyne for a little shop around the very trendy group of shops in Yeppoon before heading to the Marina for lunch. Had a great time catching up with Delwyne and looking forward to visiting her house in a couple of days.

Headed on the not so picturesque drive to Gladstone. Past more coal mines, tucked away behind lovely bush from the road. Gladstone is a large mining town, also with the appearance of the gold boom influence in earlier years. There wasn’t enough to keep us there as the mining side of things seem to have a strong hold of everything in the town.

Had a nice dinner at the yacht club before retiring for the night at the top of the tourist lookout overlooking the port. Sadly the port didn’t stop all night long, so didn’t get a great nights’ sleep, but there were nice toilets and facilities at the top of the hill and a lovely walk to have in the morning when we woke up.

Had another cruise around the town. Its got some cute little eating spots and lovely manicured parks. It has a musical boat, similar to Cooktown but its activated by the wind. In the huge winds, you could hear the boat high up on a hill for miles!

Finally caught up with Delwyne in Yeppoon where she’d gone to catch up with a friend before she moves right up north, and also for her birthday.

Got an early start and headed down to Rockhampton. It’s a lovely gold boom town fully of beautiful Victorian architecture. Lots of lovely pubs with large verandahs and a bustling metropolis. Its nice to stop in a place like this. Moved on to Emu Park on our way to Yeppoon. It’s a really pretty place, but seriously lacking in trees. Its sitting on a point and there are tremendous views to be had via the huge hills that surround the point. There is a mix of old beach houses and lovely architect designed houses perched on cliffs. There is some howling winds around, and we have to choose our sleeping point carefully as the breeze was stiff throughout the night.

Appologies for the long gap in the updates... Got to Noosa and had every intention of updating but never got round to it... Will try and keep the updates brief for the missing month!

Had an interesting trip round Mackay. It hadn’t changed much since our last visit. Only the rest of the apartment buildings were finished in their new marina, and all the shops and restaurants are now open. I have to say in the 5 years since we were last hear, the first of the buildings are starting to look tired and the whole area is looking tired and the cheaply built apartments are now looking like they’re hard to sell now as they are looking more and more like rental properties. Shame.

The scenery is looking less tropical and more and more like bush. Passed several coal mines along the way. You can see Queensland’s addiction to the stuff.

Stopped in a small little spot trying very hard to get tourists to stop called Marlborough. We found a nice little spot to stop and spend the night. A nice tidy little town.