A Little Less North to Cania Gorge

Burnett Highway, looking towards
Rockhampton from near Mt Morgan

I started this morning with good intentions and they were all taking me down the Bruce Highway, but somehow, when I reached Rockhampton, I headed inland instead. I had a brilliant night's sleep for me ... eight hours straight with no interruptions for toilet or noises or anything, just head on the pillow and out to it stuff. It doesn't happen often and it was a good night for it.

To that change of direction at Rockhampton ... I just followed an instinct and turned to Mt Morgan but as the day panned out, I'm glad I did. In the long run it was much more like a normal touring day - 288kms and lots of stops to fulfill interest.

The climb over the range to access Mt Morgan was a memorable one, with a narrow but well surfaced bitumen road climbing slowly and steeply up the side of the range with one memorable stop near the top to soak up the view. Rockhampton lay off in the distance, nestled, almost hand placed between mountains. It was one of those perfect blue sky and billowing white cloud days that make it impossible to take a bad picture, regardless of your ability. I had promised myself I wouldn't send mouth watering pictures of landscapes to Sue to magnify her woes but I just couldn't help myself because it was too good a view not to share.

From here it was a short hop to the township of Mt Morgan which for some reason fascinated me. Like many places in rural Australia, Mt Morgan became a town around the gold deposits found in its hills but unlike many others, it has survived well past its useby date. The hotels are antiques of their original time but are still popular with locals. The main street is, unusually, at right angles to the passage of the Burnett Highway and has three cafes, a museum, a video shop but no bank.

On opposite side of the road is the primary school which caters for children's dietary needs with no canteen but a staff member on duty at the pedestrian crossing ideally located just over the crest of a hill. The teacher on duty today was enjoying a fag or two under the shade of the fig tree growing in the middle of the street whilst children came and went with their hamburgers, thick shakes and hot chips. Bizzare was the word which stuck me first.

Mt Morgan has become a legend in its own lunchbox with its May Day Festival which brings people from near and far to listen to music, participate in the street markets and gather in masculine teams to "Run The Cutter" - a strange drinking game in which a pail of liquid is shifted from one pub to the other in between sculls.

The streets are full of heritage buildings which all needed a paint today. The former railway station is also the information centre and the ladies there were extremely friendly: one was friendly enough to buy my book so she has today's soft spot. More people wandered the streets in this town than any other place we've been and they were a strange collection. An odd little place but one I found hard to leave. There was a new poem on every corner.

However, leave I did and before long I was turning away from the Burnett Highway, going south to Biloela. The drive was straight forward but Biloela was a surprise, being much bigger than I had imagined and well serviced. I had an excellent chicken Caesar salad and mocha at Kristine's Cafe and then added some supplies for the few days left until home at the friendliest Woolworths you could imagine; which included having my two bags carried to the car for me by a pleasant 15 year old who asked me about 47 questions in the time it took to get from the checkout to the car. These/those were the days. I fueled up again in order to given me flexibility and then struck out for some place starting with M ... two of them actually but I never reached either because I followed a whim and turned into Cania Gorge National Park.

After only 14 kms, I could see why the area was a NP, with sheer sandstone cliffs rising from the river floor on alternate sides. Before leaving the car, I was already impressed. I drove past two commercial caravan parks in driving the full length of the gorge, arriving at the Cania Dam after about twenty minutes. Clearly the damn can hold more but it still made for pretty images.

Returning a few kms from where I had come, I landed at a Big 4 caravan park which has all the pluses you might want in such accommodation but is set out in a bush setting and creates the feeling of being low key. Obviously a busy place at sometime of the year, my site was not within 30m of the nearest other. The camp kitchen is an enormous cola and the swimming pools are all saltwater and well maintained - I sampled both. At 5:00pm, wild birds are fed and what a great show they put on. I followed this with a swim and shower and then made my way to the camp kitchen for a lonely pasta, only to find the company of a guy from Tamworth and his three fishing mates from Dubbo who are in transit to Lucinda - things in common in all directions. To make matters more bizarre, the Tamworth fisherman was familiar enough with my poetry to quote storyline and concepts. This was very weird as all four had presented as tough nut, Aussie blokes before the fellow from Tamworth "realised" who I was. You don't always need melting clocks to experience surrealism.

TODAY'S PHOTOS

A lovely day.

I probably should feel guilty for having garnished enjoyment whilst my poor wife suffers at home but I won't. This atones for tears yesterday.

1770 to Kinka Beach

Getting tropical

Our second night at 1770 was mild and pleasant and we slept peacefully. As usual, we sauntered through our pack up and we were leaving the caravan park just as two blue-winged kookaburra were attending to the morning bathing in the park's pool. Sue snapped some nice shots as they preened and splashed.

Just like any other couple on the road, we had to attend to refills of our medications which was done at Agnes Water. I added some Ear Clear to remove a build up of ear wax which has been a problem for my big ears since I was a lad. Swimming always makes it worse and the dip yesterday afternoon was the culprit.

We pushed north after joining the Bruce Highway at Miriam Vale and stopped soon after for morning tea at Bororen, picking up a humorous photograph into the bargain.

From here it was a straight run to Rockhampton, where we stopped at the Tropic of Capricorn, reminiscing a similar stop when we were on the other side of Australia in 2008. Sue added another photo of me acting up for the camera - hardly any of them in the family photo collection - and then went into the adjacent information office to unpack some thoughts of how we should spend the afternoon.

Mt Archer Lookout

After had lunch there and stowing the trailer, we went east to Mt Archer, the most prominent of the volcanic plugs which act as sentinels for Rochampton. The drive took a tad longer than it was suggested but the climb made me very glad to have taken the advice of a bloke at the information centre and not attempt it with the camper trailer. It was steep and done mostly in third gear but I enjoyed the actual driving. The summit is swamped with trees and ferns so we walked the short round trip distance of just under a kilometre to see the view over Rockhampton and further on, the view out to Yeppoon. It was a hazy day but it was still an impressive view.

Rockhampton is much bigger than I had expected and the view from Mt Archer was my confirmation but at around 100 000, I shouldn't have been surprised. It takes a long time to drive across the city and the street pattern seems odd , with streets off the main drag in a diamond shaped pattern. After taking in the view, we had a delicious coffee because would you believe, they have a cafe up there. How it makes it's trade is hard to imagine but our thoughts were much to the short term.

After taking the descent in a control second gear, we went across town to a site beside the swollen Fitzroy River where the Rockhampton Art Gallery is. We only saw a limited exhibition as they were in the process of setting up the Qld version of ArtExpress - the best of the Year 12 HSC Art students submitted pieces for assessment. What were saw was impressive, particularly as it was displayed using a thematic approach which allowed responses in a variety of medium so that canvasses were displayed along side ceramics or other media. Several "big names" were on display but it was mostly people we didn't know which caught our attention. I particularly liked a short film on the indigenous artists of the Kimberley region.

The Singing Ship

After returning to the information centre and reconnecting with our little home, we set out for Kinka Beach - part of the Capricorn Beaches Scenic Drive. Our only stop - another was planned but I missed the turn off - was at Emu Park, where we visited the exquisite Singing Ship. This is a sculpture installed on the point above Emu Park in 1970, as part of the Captain Cook bicentenary celebrations. It is a large sail shaped sculpture and on the inside of the sail, chimes have been placed to catch the wind. Even the slightest breezes sliding between these shapes will produced a sound not unlike singing. It was humming when were there. From here we caught our first glimpse of the Keppel islands, all too obvious from our vantage point.
Archer for

We travelled the last few kilometres to our lodgings for the night and were greeted by easily the most accommodating hosts so far on our journey north.

Our portable hut set up, we took advantage of the $10 meals available on Chewsday at the Pine Beach Hotel in Emu Park. The tucker was great, the cold beers I had hit the spot and the view until the sun left was inspiring. Dad rang to catch up and offer some advice on the immediate distances ahead.

We returned to our digs and before settling in for the night, took a torch supported walk down to what appears to be a very wide and shallow angled beach. With no moon, it was dark when the torch went out and Sue was prepared to call every hideous shape an approaching saltwater crocodile. We saw our first live cane toad and then were serenaded by them as we walked back off the beach. For good measure, Sue was obstructed from entering the camp kitchen by two robust specimens at the door. She is seeing and hearing them everywhere now.

TODAY'S PHOTOS

We missed the chance to take a cruise to Great Keppel on a large catamaran (not large enough was my thinking) as the numbers filled before we could decide. We might wander up to the wharf precinct in the morning and see what we can find.