We decided we had seen enough beaches and ocean for awhile and headed to the interior from Townsville yesterday morning. Not much in this area. The northernmost part south of Charter Towers has poor soil with scrub trees and sparse grass. Cattle grazing is the major activity here, although there is a huge open pit coal mine at Clermont. South of Clermont and around Emerald the soil is better and there is some grain production, but cattle is still king. This is a major centre for cattle production in Australia. South of Rolleston is the Carnarvon Gorge. We did not have the inclination or stamina to hike to the most attractive areas of the Gorge (3+ hours each way) so we only did a short hike near the entrance to the Gorge and didn't see too much. We ended the day in Roma where we drove along the Avenue of Heroes. 140 bottle trees have been planted to commemorate the 140 sons of the Roma area who died in WWI). If you don't know what a bottle tree is, see the photo section. Back to the coast tomorrow.