West to Emerald and Barcaldine

Sunrise in Barcaldine

We headed west from the coast on Saturday, quick diesel stop at Rockhampton, (beef capitol of Queensland) and through Gracemere which is known for the largest cattle sale yards in this state and into the central highlands region. Blackwater was the next town and of course, guess what, another capitol of Queensland, the Coal capitol and the place responsible for all those noisy trains passing by at Mt Larcom. 40 kilometres out from Emerald we passed the historic marker for early explorer Ludwig Leichhardt who noted the deposits of coal in the region in 1845.

The land is thick with grass, rich red soil changed to black, and we noted crops of forage sorghum and sorghum and a Cotton Gin on the way into Emerald. Only an overnight stay in Emerald and we were greeted with a very loud welcome by thousands of Galahs and Lorikeets. As we left the next morning there were fields of of yellow Sunflowers, hundreds of acres it seemed, and also cotton fields and the soil was a rich chocoloate colour. We passed by the turn off to both Sapphire and Rubyvale which are the sapphire producing areas though we have it on good authority from a fellow camper in Emerald that Willows is the place to go. He showed us blue, green, yellow and orange sapphires he had fossicked there. No time to stop and make our fortune this trip!

The next day we travelled on the Capricorn Highway into high country of rolling hills and mountain ridges, lush growth which supports the fattest, healthiest Santa Gertrudis cattle I have ever seen. We climbed the Drummond Range, 535m above sea level which then levelled to high plain country. Major Mitchell explored this area and of course the Major Mitchell Cockatoo bears his name; they are the crested white ones washed with pink.

We were 170 kilometres outside of Barcaldine and I saw a sign, "you are entering the Lake Eyre Basin on the Great Dividing Range elevation 440m". Passed by the towns of Alpha and Jericho and then the highway heading into Barcaldine was lined with flowering orange bottlebrush trees and wattles.

Barcaldine Caravan Park was a great spot and also came with a local larrikin and bush identity Tom Lockie who entertained us with 'billy tea and damper' and a good yarn or two! The water supply comes directly from the Great Artesian Basin and the first free flowing bore was struck in 1886 and is the life blood of this town as it is known as the Garden City of the west.

On Monday we drove out to the Lloyd Jones weir and saw a road sign identifying the Cobb & Co trail, which is just a dirt track. All these towns were stops for the stage coachs in their day and they carried the mail as well as passengers. Must have been bone rattling transport . The local museum was a great treasure to explore and found it interesting that 'Barcy' was first settled by the Scotts.

Barcaldine is most famous today for the 'Tree of Knowledge' a large Ghost Gum, which some 'bastard' poisened in 2006. A rather poor example of a tree, but obviously important enough to erect a monument, a gigantic cube of timber recreating the size of the tree's canopy. Inside this cube are equally gigantic timber wind chimes which sound better than the Labour babble which would have ensued under its broad branches. I wonder if the spelling of labour was due to the lack of scholastic abilities of these pioneering pollies. In 1891 The Great Shearers Strike took place and the tree came to symbolise where Queensland Shearers and Pastoralists were involved in this industrial battle.

Barcaldine food note for those foodies amongst us: Meat Pie followed by ridgy didge cows cream, cream bun and jam - childhood memories revisited.

Hervey Bay to Kinka Beach

We left Hervey Bay on Friday morning and travelled out to Highway 1 which took us through Childers to Gin Gin. There were spectacular views of the Great Dividing Range to the west, sugar cane, avocado and manderin crops growing along the way too. Highly recommended, steak & mushroom pies at the Gin Gin Bakery. Yum!

Onwards to Miriamvale, past banana plantations, bypassed Gladstone which according to the road sign is the Gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, and on to Mt Larcom for a one night stay at the Caravan Park. Highlights - clean amenities, highway views of semi trailers and coal trains (hundreds of wagons on each train it seemed) rattling by all night.

Kinka Beach


On the road again Saturday morning to Rockhampton, our turn off point to Kinka Beach on the Capricorn Coast. There is a wonderful sculputure of a bull at the beginning of town in Rocky and as noted by Adrian, has his balls bolted to the ground so envious humans can't steal them! Enlightening information for all!

Kinka Beach is a little community nestled between Emu Park, where a cousin of mine lives, and Yeppoon, a much larger resort and holiday area than when I was last there about 12 years ago. The Caravan Park is right across from Keppel Bay and looks out over the Keppel group of islands which was named by Captain James Cook. Great Keppel Island is directly in front of the Park. The tide goes out for miles and it took me 20 minutes to walk from the shore to the waters edge and what a view. When I turned around to walk back I had views of the bay sweeping around from both headlands. Thousands of soldier crabs on full parade, marched around the beach, running for their lives and burrowing into the sand at first opportunity when approached.

The Singing Ship

We stopped at The Causeway cafe near the caravan park for a feed of fish and chips for lunch; Red Emporer fish - delicious!

Pretty views of volcanic plugs and spills,(small pointy mountains and rocks rolling into the bay) and pineapple, paw paw and banana farms dot the countryside. The Singing Ship at Churchill Point, Emu Park is a memorial erected to Captain Cook and it sings very loudly when the wind blows, so I'm told.

Churchill Point to Great Keppel Island

This has been our last taste of the Pacific Ocean and beach in general for quite a while to come. Darwin will be the next time we smell sea air and have sand between our toes and in our beds!

Golden Beach, Caloundra to Hervey Bay

Kite Surfing at Golden Beach

In truth the adventure should have started on the12th April when the house sale settled and we headed north to the Golden Beach Caravan Park in our new Pop Top Caravan. Firstly, mother nature in her wisdom opened the skys and the wet stuff came down in bucket loads for the first ten days or so, the canopy leaked and we were two weary people with two little bad tempered naughty dogs and very much out of our comfort zone. But time passed -

The two weary people recovered and smiled again and the two little bad dogs became happy fit and still naughty little dogs, once again.

The social calendar was full to the brim at Golden Beach, old friends and new friends were entertaining and entertained. The puppies were punished for getting Mum up at daybreak every day with a power walk for half an hour and of course the end result is we are all much fitter and happier. Adrian has been exercising his mind rather than
the body with Sudoku and crosswords!

So a month on and we are really beginning our adventure. We travelled to Hervey Bay and set up camp for two nights. Today we explored the area and had wonderful views across the Great Sandy Straits to Fraser Island. We will be back again. Tomorrow morning we are heading for a stop at Mt Larcom for an overnight stay.

12 May 2010 - Day 1

We are about to start our adventure around Australia. Hopefully all will be well as we go to parts of Australia where we never thought we would go.