Cania Gorge Happy Campers and Mighty Intrepids in Monto, Qld: Mon 2 July 2012

Our last day at pretty Cania Gorge was spent riding out 24km to the little rural town of Monto, so we could buy fresh food and also so we could get in touch with family and businesses via our phones and internet. Dave packed our laptop onto his bike so we set it up on a park bench in Monto, where we made appointments for my motorbike to be serviced and for Dave's to get a new back tyre; both to be done in Rockhampton. We also made a booking at a caravan park in Yeppoon, seeing as how it is school holidays here and we didn't want to find "No room at the inn!"

Even though the Queensland sun was shining, it was still freezing cold. But the local townspeople in Monto were very friendly, and we came across several grey nomads who were also shopping for supplies. Once again our motorbikes generated a lot of curiosity and interest from them.

It was funny when Dave phoned his dear little old parents in Bunbury from Monto, using the cheap Skype phone system. His 90 year old Dad started to warn Dave about the terrible roads up in the Atherton Tablelands, saying "Don't go on the bad one that is winding and twisty, it's so dangerous! Go on the straight road!" Dave had to explain that motorcyclists like the twisty roads, straight roads are boring.

We finished off our stay at Cania Gorge by sitting around a camp fire under a full moon with other happy campers. We've really enjoyed this place because it has beautiful scenery, and also because people actually got out of their caravans and tents to meet each other, probably because we had no internet, TV or phones to keep us otherwise occupied. It did us all good to learn a little about each other and to swap yarns. And the atmosphere over at the camp kitchen was great too, with cheerful people sharing amenities and comparing where they had come from and where they were going.

The only down side was my backside! Yes, I was hurting all over my body, as if the ghost of my fall down some slippery steps yesterday was haunting me; obviously I had strained muscles all over my body trying to save myself. And the bruise on my bum was the size and colour of the rock I landed on, funny that!

Tuesday 3 July: Cania Gorge to Yeppoon via some funny places.

It was minus 2 degrees last night, and our trailer and bike covers were covered in white ice, as were windscreens on cars and vans in the caravan park. We packed up our tent in cold sunshine, with lots of caravan people coming over to say goodbye.

We rode north through the coal mining town of Biloela, then stopped for a loo break at Dululu, which is a funny little place with a strange old pub looking like it belongs in a cartoon. We ordered lemon lime and bitters drinks each (total cost $8 ouch!) and the barmaid gave us glasses full of ice with a splash of lemonade and bitters….hmmm, but it tasted rather good! We had to let the ice melt though by resting the glasses in the sunshine on the veranda balcony. The people looked like they were from Deliverance country; the pub was crawling with a family of cute little kids and the people all looked like they were chipped off the same block. A 4 year old boy was having a birthday there and he'd just been given a little mini real motorbike. He was wearing motocross gear, and he had mud spattered over it, including over his cute tough looking little face; this mud looked like painted on freckles. He was about a foot tall and he looked like a miniature cowboy, telling us how he was powering on his birthday motorbike. His mother looked too young to have kids but she had at least 2 of them, and his aunt was the one who was the barmaid. It felt like we'd stepped into another time zone in this curious little place, and was a worthy break for our journey.

Our next stop was for lunch at the hilly town of Mount Morgan, which is an historic old gold mining town. Another little rural town in decline, with empty small shops and only basic ones open. We ate nice salad rolls at a table on the main street, watching an assortment of interesting looking characters wander by. Obviously a low income town with people of all ages on welfare, some looking like gnomes and some like hillbilly nomads. The vehicles here looked and sounded like they were running on the smell of an oily rag. This place apparently has a museum showcasing the past days, but the present days looked a bit gloomy. The ride out of Mt Morgan is a beauty for motorcyclists, lovely and twisty with great scenery.

Soon we were in Rockhampton country. Dave nearly got showered in cattle pee as he rode up to traffic lights….I cracked up laughing following behind as I watched him deftly swoop his bike away just in time to avoid a smelly watery deluge. Well, Rockhampton is a big cattle city!

We rode around "Rocky" as the locals call it, 34km to the coastal town of Yeppoon. Very interesting countryside, with lots of dark volcanic plugs sticking up on the flat land. We booked into the Poinciana Caravan Park and soon had our tent set up in perfect weather. A short walk to the shops for supplies for our meals and we were happy. We could hear bats squawking in trees near us as we slept that night.