Day 11: Gin Gin to Rockhampton

The charm of Gin Gin had not evaporated next morning. We had a leisurely breakfast, watching other caravaners with more urgent schedules than ours pack up and leave, one after the other. In response to the even balmier weather than the day before, we put on the naughty shoes, as the Dutch would say, and dug out the shorts!

Joke practicing unhurriedness

Dirk with freshly-dug-out shorts (and, of course, naughty shoes!)

Morning tea found us in Miriam Vale – a charming town with a name much beloved by us. Needless to say we enjoyed our stay there. We tanked petrol on leaving at a petrol station called The Big Crab. The Big Crab of Miriam Vale. Honest.

By the time we got to Miriam Vale Joke was prepared to bare a leg or two too!

Miriam Vale public loo

Miriam Vale Station

Miriam Vale Hotel - there's a theme here, isn't there?

Miriam Vale Roll of Honour

Miriam Vale Heritage Fig Tree

Miriam Vale Petrol Station

Miriam Vale Caff selling Miriam Vale Pizza

Another of the many stops for road repairs.

 We diverted into Gladstone to find a spot for lunch, marvelling at the enormously long coal trains rolling in one after the other. There seemed to be an enormous amount of industry in the Gladstone region, and yet we found the most lovely seaside park to have lunch in.

Barney Point Park, Gladstone

Luncheon with paper

Monument marking "first official residence in Northern Australia"

Empty coal train returning to the interior to be fed

At Rockhampton we checked in at a Big 4 caravan park. Once settled and set up there, we wondered whether we should stay an extra day there or move on. The decision was taken away from us by a malfunctioning light which took out most of the interior lights in the caravan. This would need to be fixed before we undertook any more free camping. It was too late to do anything so we went to bed early to get away from the glare of the overbright overhead lights remaining to us...

Settled and set up at Rockhampton

Day 10: Exit North

Monday had arrived, time to pack up again and move north towards Cairns. More instructions from Hans were followed and we managed to avoid the toll tunnel and toll bridge and sail right along the riverfront past the Brisbane CBD, without encountering too many stop-starts at traffic lights along the way. 

Dirk sailing through Brisbane

In our favour was the fact that it was the Diamond Jubilee holiday in honour of Mrs Windsor, so traffic was light. Soon enough we were on the highway to Gympie, motoring along with a nice steady tailwind. At the Glasshouse Mountains we took a scenic side tour which was very nice. We also saw our first pineapple plantations there. 

Morning tea among the Glasshouse Mountains

Mount Tibrogargan and, incidentally, the first pineapples we have seen

 At Maroochydore we took a second but much less successful side trip and wasted much time without seeing much of interest. Finally we got to Gympie where we went around the block a bit to get to a petrol station.

From there it was only a small distance to Gin Gin. Just north of the town was a free camping spot where we were going to try our hand at free camping. We had finally gotten into warmer country, we had everything we needed on board, and it was time to cut the umbilical cord to caravan parks. Well, it was the best initiation into free camping we could have gotten. The area was huge – a couple of football fields at least, and there were at least 30 vans there when we arrived in the late afternoon. With so much space we found ourselves a nice spot not too close to anybody else, on a lawn-like meadow, under shady but not limb-dropping trees. The sunset was marvellous and the temperatures were such that we could sit outside, glass of wine in hand, and watch the gathering darkness roll on.

Top spot at Gin Gin: our first free camp

Sun setting

Watching the sunset. Note wine glass

...and the light just faded away...

Day 9: Going to church at the Brisbane EPC

We loaded the EPC church address at a school hall in Darra into the GPS and set off like a pair of seasoned Brisbanites. It is amazing how quickly you get used to a new place like Brisbane! At the church we took part in a service with about 60-70 people. We were made to feel welcome, and it was not hard to feel a little bit at home with all sorts of people we knew or who were related to people we knew. We said hello to David Higgs and Chris Connors, both pastors, both sadly not able to function in that office. We met Phil Greatbatch, erstwhile chairman of the Launceston Christian School Board. We also met Elizabeth Higgs’s mum and Pastor Torlach’s dad. The sermon was on video and was done by Launceston’s Pastor Shand.

After the service and coffee, we toddled back home and then went for a Sunday afternoon cup of tea with the Veltkamps of Tanah Merah.

Caleb and Hannah Veltkamp

Hans and Alyssa and kids

Hannah and Alyssa

Day 8: At the Brisbane Caravan Show

Wotta big event! 

The Brisbane Caravan Show

 The show was enormous by our Tasmanian standards. Hundreds and hundreds of exhibitors, some of whom had everything on display including the garden shed. (I didn’t actually see a garden shed, but then we didn’t see more than a third of everything) We looked at some of the spiffy UK/European design caravans and marvelled at how they could put so much  into a caravan and still come up 600-800 kg less than local designed and built caravans.

We didn't bother with this: too much to see!

We bought a shower tent, a cable tidy for the power cable, and a drying rack for the kitchen. More importantly, we came away with a hundred great ideas to make our caravan life easier, more pleasant, etc.

At nephew Hans’ suggestion we drove the car to a suburb called Eight Mile Plains from where we took an express bus into the city and a train from Roma Street station to the showgrounds. This worked out very well.

In the evening we had dinner with Hans and Alyssa and their children, Hannah and Caleb. It was really nice to catch up with them.

Day 7: More Brisbane pictures

The Wheel again

Bougainvillea

Brisbane from the Beach!

Goodwill Bridge from Memorial Park

Joke resting her weary feet

Dry Dock at the Maritime Museum

Jessica Watson's round the world yacht

Tug at the Maritime Museum

Mangroves on the river bank

Holding the Riverside Expressway together

1829 Commissariat Building

Day 7: Exploring the Brisbane CBD

Our first no-drive day. We caught a bus near the caravan park, and then another at the Hyperdome – an enormous shopping centre. The second bus took us right into Brisbane. There was little I recognised from my last trip in the late eighties. We got some ideas from the Information booth in the centre of town, and went on a walking tour which included the Southbank area. The weather was pleasant, the threatened showers did not come and we really enjoyed ourselves. We had lunch at the museum and treated ourselves to a ride on the Wheel of Brisbane. Then home by express bus, did some shopping.
Oh yes, and I even got to complete another lecture of my Ancient Civilisations course! Here are some pictures of the day.

Joke watching New Zealand choir in the Queen Street Mall

The Treasury Building - they must have a lot of money in Queensland!

The Kurilpa Bridge for walkers and cyclists

View down the Brisbane River

The Riverside Expressway - if we had that at home traffic to Legana would be much quicker!

Gallery of Modern Art, South Bank

Brisbane from the South Bank

Art Gallery

Tree on crutches

Brisbane skyline and clouds

Looking down the Victoria Bridge into the centre of town

The Wheel of Brisbane

Looking east towards Kangaroo Point

Town from the Wheel

The burbs from the Wheel

Joke in the Wheel

South Bank Parklands from the Wheel

The Wheel: Made in Holland, I might add....