Today we said farewell to Hervey Bay and set off to head to our destination of Yaamba. We were packed up and headed off at 9:00am (still can't crack this start).
Our first pit stop was Bundaberg. It was a beautiful trip with fields of sugar cane and the trains. We headed to the Bundaberg Rum Distillary to have a geese. Took some pics (blog photo) and then headed off to out next our stop to the town of 1770. We didn't take the tour of the Bunde building for two reasons: first it was $25 a head and secondly, we were on time limits today with some big kms ahead.
We arrived at 1770 at around 1pm and parked near the bay area to have sone sanga's. Marty and l thought this would be a great time to relax and stretch the legs whilst having our lunch. Well the girls had other ideas. Instead they winged and nagged us then they wanted to go to the toilets. What do you know, we weren't near one!! Sp we scoffed our lunch down and got in the car to find the toilets. After this we drove along the bay and found the Captain Cook monument. 1770 is a village in Queensland, Australia, built on the site of the second landing by James Cook and the crew of HM Bark Endeavour in May 1770 (Cook's first landing in what is now the state of Queensland). Originally known as Round Hill — after the creek it sits on — the name was changed in 1970 to commemorate the bicentennial of Cook's visit. It is a beautiful little coastal town that l would imagine to be z great place to go fishing and relax by the water. However, we didn't have time fir this. We just took a few pics again and headed off down the road to our next destinations, Rockhampton. This was a confusing drive for the landscape changed do much. One minute it was dry, then it was lush and green with forest, then dry with hills and there was also alot of burning off going on, so a bit smokey along the way. Some of the trip reminded me of the surrounds of home in Shepparton. Very weird feeling. Anyway, arrived at Rockhampton around 4:20pm and went straight to the Botanical Gardens. There is a zoo here which is free entry so wanted to check it out. Saw that it was gonna close at 4:30pm so the girls and l opted to take a look, whilst Marty stayed at the van. We strolled around for half am hour, saw some gorgeous birds, a chimpanzee and the usual Aussie wildlife (kanga's, emu's, etc). The botanical gardens were gorgeous, lush and tropical. Definately worth a visit, pity we couldn't have stayed longer but we had to push off to our final destination for the day.
We arrived at Yaamba rest stop around 6pm. The girls got out and went crazy, running around, played at park on swings and quickly befriended the kids in the van in front of us. It was unbelievable!! Pulled up to around twenty other caravans still hooked up to their cars. Looks cool and will take a pic in morning.
We meet the couple in front of us, John and Bronwyn (the parents of the kids the girls befriended). Was so cool as they have just started travelling around oz too, only 8 nights into it!!! They have done just as we have and sold up and looking for a new place to call home. Really good to talk to a young couple for a change with kids around the same age as have been around the 'grey nomads' for a while now ( nothing wrong with that though). After our chat we had our tea of hot dogs in rolls and Marty and l had a well deserved beer and wine. There are toilets here and you can have a shower at the pub for $3, we're giving this a miss and just had a pommy wash tonight. Everyone was tucked in with lights out by 8pm. Quite funny lying in bed doing the blog with the sound of trucks driving by. This is our first free rest stop and reckon if all goes well we will be doing this a bit more often!!
Today we did a total of 518kms and looks like tomorrow will be the same but still haven't worked out where were staying yet. Will have plenty of time to figure that out tomorrow on the road l guess.....
Bell Xx