Rockhampton - Mount Isa

Mon 23 July – Rockhampton is on both sides of the Fitzroy River

and was the first major port in this part of Central Queensland. We biked across the river on one of the three bridges into the CBD.
We walked the town which has many lovely old colonial buildings and then biked along the river bank.

Tues 24 July – Today we explored the other side of Fitzroy River

cycling to a huge mall where we bought some extra clothes before we head into the outback. We also bought a large fresh water jerry can, (you can never have enough water in the interior) a handheld CB radio, (trucks like to warn you as they pass) and Shoo Roos. (whistles that attach to your bumper bar to scare away the kangaroos supposedly!) All now set for the next part of our trip. After lunch we cycled into Kershaw Botanical Gardens where there was a great waterfall.

Wed 25 July – We headed off on the Capricorn Highway west to eventually meet up with the Stuart Highway (Darwin to Adelaide road through the centre). We will take about 2 ½ weeks for this trip a distance of 2000kms! Today’s trip was into the coal fields. Our lunch stop was at Bluff where they assemble the huge coal trains (2kms long) heading east. After 200kms we stopped at Blackwater and stayed at the Show Grounds.

Thurs 26 July – Another very pleasant drive on basically flat roads to our first stop at Emerald. There is a river here and the land is green thus the name. There was the largest painting on an easel in the world here. (Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers).  Amazing what small towns do to attract visitors! We continued to Sapphire. The town was named after the sapphires that were extracted here up until the 1980s. The town now relies on the tourists visiting the many gem shops and offering gem fossicking.

Fri 27 July – We sat outside for breakfast and were joined by Rainbow Lorikeets. Val was not too keen to share her cereal! 

The road climbed slowly up to the Great Divide and then became very flat with long straights. There are road signs with trivial pursuit questions to stop you going

to sleep. We stopped at a small town call Jericho on the banks of the Jordan River. All very biblical! There was even a statue of Joshua blowing his trumpet.

Sat 28 July – Just a short drive today to the town of Barcaldine where around the 1900s the Shearers went on strike leading to the formation of the Australian Labour Party. We are camped in yet another free camping area and biked into the town to see the history. These free camps are great. Generally, they are in a rest area where travellers have a pit stop but out the back are trees and shade and lots of space for overnighting.

Sun 29 July – It rained briefly last night. The first rain for 30 days.

Back on the long flat straights on the road to Longreach. 109kms with only one small town but hundreds of dead kangaroos. Because of the drought the kangaroos feed on the edge of the road and get cleaned up by the trucks. Quite an obstacle course to dodge around. We planned to shop in Longreach but the IGA was closed for the weekend, so we went to large dusty crowded rest area, just out of town, for the night. There was an emu and a family of brolgas, an Australian crane, wandering around the camp.

Mon 30 July – Back into Longreach to shop and then a short drive to a much better rest area with nice shade and fewer campers. The twilight is beautiful with great light, a multitude of wildlife and birds. Last night it was grey and pink galahs flying around in squawking packs, tonight it was strange grey sooty birds doing the same thing.

Tues 31 July – The country has become more barren with only low shrubs and yellow grass. Our plan was to stop before the town of Winton but the rest area was only small and not great. We continued on to Winton and found a great campsite down a dusty road on the shores of a small dam or billabong. We even camped under a small coolabah tree. “Andy” felt very at home! Slowly the camp filled up but was still beautiful. Great reflections on the billabong.

Wed 1 Aug – Back into Winton to dump, pick up water, fuel and LPG. We had a 165kms drive to a Road House at Kynuna (the only thing there apart from the pub). We are now about half way from Rockhampton to the east and the Stuart Highway to the west (1000kms away). The temperatures during the day are around 29C but still cool as soon as the sun sets. This was a hard case place with a tough old biddy running everything, cookhouse, camp ground and petrol station. Val did a load of laundry and it was great sitting in the shade watching the sunset.

Thurs 2 Aug – We have become aware of fuel so we topped up before heading on to Cloncurry -186kms. The landscape changes all the time and today we changed from barren grasslands back to red soil, bush, termite hills and cattle. Cloncurry is a real outback town based on cattle and some mining with a wide main street, a few pubs and very little else. We camped in a small camp just out of town and rode our bikes to the main attraction of the town, the Flying Doctor Museum. This was the birth place of the RFDS. It was very well done and interesting. I enjoyed the early pedal powered radios installed in the remote homesteads.

Fri 3 Aug – We have discovered that it is Cloncurry’s Rodeo Weekend with free admission to the rodeo today and a parade

tonight so we have decided to stay another day. We drove “Andy” to the rodeo as it was about 6kms out of town and arrived there about 12:30pm. It was a great

afternoon with calf roping, steer wrestling, Bronco riding and bull riding events. This is the highest paid rodeo in Australia (so they claim). It all ran very smoothly with one event straight after the other. They even had a big screen. Best rodeo we have ever been to. (only the Omarama rodeo to compere it to however). We drove back into town for the parade. A very typical small town event but well done.

Sat 4 Aug – Back on the road and into completely different country. The road to Mt Isa was thru hilly red rock terrain. Very much like lots of the USA we had driven thru.  Just before Mt Isa we stopped and climbed the Telstra hill for a great overview of the town and the mines. At the town we had a big shop up as from now on supplies will be limited. We were amazed that the town is totally dominated by the huge Mt Isa mine, casting its shadows from the chimneys into the main street. Obviously, the town just sprang up around the mine. This mine produces copper, lead and zinc. Our camp for the night is basically a worker’s camp with some caravan sites.

Agnes Water - Rockhampton

Wed 11 July – Up early as the next camp we want to stay in is “first come first served” and we do not want to miss out. We are heading out to the coast to Agnes Water about 120kms away. We arrived at the Workmans Beach camp at about 10:00am and got one of the last sites. This is a Regional Park camp and set in bush. It reminds us of the great State Park camps in the USA. We walked out to the headland behind the camp with great views. After lunch we rode down to the town and the beautiful beach of Agnes Water. The end of the beach faces north and is sheltered from the S.E.  winds. On the way back, we walked a couple of short tracks with great views. We have booked for 2 nights but may stay longer.

Thurs 12 July – We packed our lunch and cycled 7kms to the town of 1770.

This is where Captain Cook made his second landfall on Australia. (Botany Bay was the first). There is a sheltered river mouth where he moored the Endeavour and caught fish, and shot the turkeys which are still everywhere. We walked thru the Joseph Banks Conservation Park to a lookout. Back on the river we had our lunch before the return ride to Agnes Water Beach for a sit in the sun and a read.

Fri 13 July – Another packed lunch and a ride in the opposite direction partly on a road and then a 4WD track to a carpark at Springs Beach.

We walked the Red Rock Trail along beaches and over headlands for 3kms. The area up from the beaches is all privately owned (Myers) with eco-friendly houses set discreetly into the bush. A great walk with pristine beaches.


On our way back, we walked a boardwalk thru a Paper Bark forest. Enjoyed some time relaxing when we got back.

Sat 14 July – We left this great camp (we will be back!) and drove 120kms north to a free camp on the Calliope River. There is camping either side of the river and we got a great spot on the north side overlooking the river. There are about 100 campers and caravans in this area but there is lots of space. Most people lit camp fires at sunset.

Sun 15 July – It was a very cool morning. When the sun reached “Andy” I gave Val a haircut. Clear skies and very sunny. In the afternoon we walked over the old bridge to the camp on the other side of the river. The guy next door lit a camp fire at sunset and invited us and another couple to join them. A very pleasant evening talking and enjoying the brilliant stars.  Even saw the International Space Station fly over.

Mon 16 July – We will stay here for another night. It was much warmer this morning. Breakfast outside in shorts. We walked up to the small café where the local CWI ladies serve scones with jam and cream. Very yummy. Our neighbours lit a campfire and we spent another very pleasant evening with them.

Tues 17 July – A 100km drive to Rockhampton where we are booked into a camp. We did a shop up and after lunch Val washed everything that did not move! I had to be careful I did not end up in a washing machine. We will return to this camp in a few days’ time to look around this city of around 100,000 situated on the Tropic of Capricorn.

Wed 18 July – We drove out to the coast to Yeppoon, found a park and walked the beach into the town. It is a bit like a mini Mooloolaba with yuppy shops and apartments above. This area is Keppel Bay with the Keppel Islands in the distance. We booked into a camp down the coast for a couple of nights. There seem to be lots of older couples from Victoria wintering over here. The camp is on an inlet with a causeway separating it from the sea. We sat on the inlet watching the sunset.

Thurs 19 July – We walked across the causeway and along the beach for about 5kms. The weather has been perfect for the last three weeks. Sunny days (around 23C) and cooler evenings. We spent the afternoon in the sun/shade reading.

 Back to the inlet with our chairs and a glass of wine to watch the sunset with the pelicans.

Fri 20 July – We drove away from the coast and inland.
 This will be the last time we see the sea for a very long time!

 We went to the “Fardooley’s Bush Camp”. This is a private little camp up on a plateau in the bush. There were about 20 sites, run by a hard case couple who just enjoy the company. At around 5:30pm we all assembled in the Fardooley Bar for “happy hour”. We had a great couple of hours talking to many other couples traveling much as we are.

Sat 21 July – A cooler but sunny morning. I had bought some bits to fix the tap in our shower and spent most of the morning (with Val’s help) shifting the tap. A very successful job.

In the afternoon we walked down the hill and followed a track to the creek. Platypuses have been sighted there but the creek was just a series of shallow puddles so non Platypuses. Back up to the bar for “happy hour”. Very hospitable hosts.

Sun 22 July – Back to the city of Rockhampton with a shop up on the way. We are booked into the same camp as last Tuesday and will spend a couple of nights here before heading inland for the next part of our journey.

Sunshine Coast to Bundaberg

Sat 30 June – We left our site and sat in the carpark for lunch before driving to Little Mountain where Judy and Frank McAlister live. It’s basically a suburb of Caloundra. We parked in their drive and had a great catch up. Val and Judy took Lucy (Debbie’s dog) for a walk while I used Frank’s workshop to fix our bed ladder. I also replaced a TV aerial on Franks RV. Drinks and then a great dinner.

Sun 1 July – We meet up with Jill and Bob Rice for coffee at an outdoor café at King’s Beach. We parked and walked a boardwalk to the café.  Another good catch up. After lunch back at Judy and Frank’s we drove to Mooloolaba and booked into the beach camp. (expensive!) We had arranged to have drinks with Peter and Rana Eggleton. We walked the beach and back thru the shops, changed and then had a short walk to their luxury apartment overlooking Mooloolaba and Alexandra Heads. Val played badminton with Peter for many years. We had a nice time with them and some friends who were staying from Christchurch. The views from their 9^th floor apartment were spectacular. We wandered back to “Andy” buying fish and chips for dinner.

Mon 2 July – We drove to Woolworths (food) and Bunnings (LPG) then followed the Sunshine Highway thru Noosa to the ferry across the Noosa River and into the National Park to the beach camp at North Noosa. We were going to come here last year for a night but it was not worth the expense of the ferry crossing. We got a site overlooking the beach. The day was beautiful despite the forecast. Spent the afternoon enjoying the view. We were outside until after sunset around 5:30pm.

Tue 3 July - We have booked in for 3 nights here and, after breakfast outside, we went for a long walk along the beach. This beach looks back into the main beach at Noosa. Another lazy afternoon.  We took our chairs onto the sandhills at the rear of our site. Weather was the same as yesterday.

Wed 4 July – It was overcast and windy in the morning. I changed the bathroom light to LED. “Andy” is all LED now. The weather cleared a bit so Val did some washing which we hung up in the awning. After lunch we walked along the beach in the other direction. Some of this beach is like 90 Mile Beach, a public road for 4WDs.

Thurs 5 July – We left this great beach and back across the ferry ($9 each way) and joined the Bruce Highway to Maryborough. We are following a different route from last year to Bundaberg. We stopped in a carpark in the centre of Maryborough where there is a designated area for self-contained RVs and caravans. We are all backed in with a great grassy area behind us. At the Town Hall (next door) we picked up a free parking permit for 48 hours. There are about 20 parking spaces. A great way to promote the town. We also picked up some info on the place and will do some of the historical walks.     

The other thing we discovered was that Maryborough was the birth place of P. L. Travers, the author of Mary Poppins.
We walked around the CBD (not very large). They have really played on the Mary Poppins theme with a statue and even the “Don’t Cross” lights are Mary Poppins.






This town is on the Mary River and was famous for ship building. They also have replica of a locally built steam train, Mary Ann, with the tracks right behind our parking place.

Fri 6 July – Breakfast outside on the grass and then a walk around the town until it started to rain. After lunch we continued our walk thru the gardens and along the banks of the Mary River. Quite a few yachts moored in the harbour. Back into the town where we checked out the RSL for dinner. The Huge Anglican church bell tower was chiming a very disjointed version of “Home on the Range”. Strange we thought until we spied a sign saying that, with a group of 8, you could learn to ring the bells. Pre-dinner drinks in “Andy” before a short walk to the RSL for a roast of the day. Very yummy!

Sat 7 July – After dumping and fuel we continued up the Bruce Highway and then turned down to the coast to Woodgate, a trip of 90kms. We are camped at the local hotel on a big grassy site over the road from the beach. We put out the awning just as it started to rain. Later the rain stopped and we biked a great cycleway following the beach for 5kms passed many lovely holiday homes and a couple of shops. Just as we got back the rain started again.

Sun 8 July – It was really cold in the night but a sunny morning with a cool wind. We shifted sites to get some shelter. We walked down to the beach where the tide was out and the sea was calm. After lunch we biked along the beach in the opposite direction from yesterday to where a creek joined the sea and then back along the road to our camp and continued on the cycleway to the shops and an ice-cream.

Outside at dusk several kangaroos graced us with their presence before hopping away. It was slightly warmer in the night thank goodness.

Mon 9 July – This is a great beach so we have decided to stay another night. We took our chairs down to the beach and sat and read. There are surprisingly few people here considering it is the school holidays. The water is still too cold for us to swim! In the afternoon we took a long walk along the beach. This beach deserves a better name than just Woodgate!

Tues 10 July – Back on the road for a short drive to Bundaberg. This is as far north as we came on last year’s trip. After a big shop up, we checked into the CMCA park for a night. The CMCA is the Aussie equivalent of the NZMCA in NZ. They have very few camps however, this one is great, but we will not be renewing our membership. 

There are some interesting vehicles here including a house boat on a trailer. (Boat a Home). It was a cool evening but it did not stop the more hardy folks assembling for “happy hour” including us.

The Start of our Aussie Winter.

Mon 18 June – Nicola, Gary and the boys moved into our house yesterday, so Nicola spent the day unpacking and dropped us off at the airport for our 4.05pm flight to Sydney. It was great not to be on our usual early morning flight. We caught the train into Central Station where we decided to catch a taxi to our cheap hotel as it was teeming. The taxi driver did not know our hotel and dropped us off around the block from it and we almost walked further than from the station. It was a clean tidy room just what we needed. Indian at a food hall for dinner.

Tues 19 June – We walked back to Central Station where we caught the NSW Xplorer to Walcha Road. The train left at 9.30am and arrived at 4.45pm. It was an enjoyable trip firstly up the coast to Gosford and then inland up the Great Divide. The excitement was provided by a young Asian bloke who got caught smoking in the toilets and very publicly was evicted from the train. At Walcha Road Station we were met by a minivan and driven the 20kms to Walcha and Mountain Motors where our camper (Andy) was waiting for us. Chris, the manager welcomed us back and explained all that had been done and wished us good traveling. We camped the night in the local camping ground. Walcha is at 1100m elevation and it got really cold at night. We used the aircon on heat mode but found it hard to regulate.

Wed 20 June – A fine sunny day and after putting the bikes on the back we drove thru the hills (Aussie mountains) to Tamworth. Andy was going very well. After a shop up which included slippers and a cheap fan heater we had lunch and followed the “Fossikers Way” to the small town of Manilla and on to Split Rock Dam for the night. As we were levelling the camper Val noticed coolant dripping on the ground. I had a good look but could not establish where it was coming from. As we had no cell phone coverage we climbed a hill and managed to contact Chris from Mountain Motors. He suggested taking “Andy” back to Manilla the next day and to get a garage to find the leak and hopefully fix it. Failing that he would sent someone up from Walcha, 150kms away!! We took a walk down to the dam watched by many kangaroos. It was a great camping site in the gum trees.

Thurs 21 June – A slightly earlier start for our 20kms trip back to Manilla with 3 stops to check the coolant level. The garage we chose pressurised the cooling system but were unable to see where the leak was. A phone call to Chris who sent Gary, the mechanic who had done the repairs, in the breakdown truck, a 2 hour drive. When he arrived, he did some investigations and thought the problem was the water pump. Yikes!! 

Andy suffered the same humiliation as last time, being loaded on the breakdown truck. Three of us in the cab for the 2 ½ hour drive back to Walcha. Guess what - we were back camped in the yard at Mountain Motors. Too late to do anything today.

Fri 22 June – Much better news today. Chris had ordered a replacement water pump which would arrive at lunchtime, Gary would fit it and with luck we would be set to go. As they had removed the water pump for the original fix, Chris very fairly decided he would cover the entire cost.  I did some minor jobs in the morning and we walked up to the laundry in the afternoon. When we returned Gary had made great progress, and by 4.00pm we took “Andy” for a 40km test trip. All good. Gary’s wife, Nadene, invited us to their home for dinner and we enjoyed a great roast with them and their two daughters. Very generous people.

Sat 23 June – We left the yard at Mountain Motors for the last time (we hope!!) and set off up the Thunderbolt Way thru the country towns of Uralla and Bundarra to Inverell - a trip of 160kms. Driving these backcountry roads is very pleasant. This part of NSW is suffering a huge drought with all the paddocks bare. Some of the counties have allowed the farmers to graze the “long paddocks” (the sides of the road) and we passed a few stockmen keeping an eye on the cattle herds. At Inverell we stayed in the Show Grounds. We will need power for a few more nights as it is still cold. The day time sun is great but it very quickly cools off. Our plan is to head north and over the NSW/QLD border for warmer weather. We got the bikes off and had a pleasant ride around the town which was quite large.

Sun 24 June – A heavy frost this morning! Cars with kids, parents and grandparents arrive for what must be Sunday football tournament. We headed up the Gwydir Hwy to Warialda where we fuelled up before turning north on a very rough but sealed road to our overnight stop at a tiny outback town called North Star. The country changed from cattle land to crops (wheat stubble). The ground colour also changed from red dust to black soil.

At North Star we parked for the night at the sports club in a huge area with power. They were having a $15 roast hoping to attract a crowd for the State of Origin. We walked over at 6:30pm, a great meal including pudding, but very few had shown up. We talked to a few of the locals and then went back to “Andy” before the game.

Mon 25 June – Back for a short time on the bumpy road until it joined the Gore Hwy at Goondiwindi on the NSW/QLD border. The road, although a main highway, was still rough for our drive to the Millmerran showgrounds where we spent the night, a total of 200kms. We have changed into shorts and tee shirts and even put the awning up for the shade. We sat outside until 5pm for yet another great sunset!!

Tues 26 June – It was a much milder night. This area is the southern part of the Darling Downs. The road improved as we headed north for a short drive to Toowomba. We shopped before finding a camp near the centre of town. We will stop here a couple of nights to do some laundry and explore this city with a population of 110,000. The weather is overcast and rain is in the forecast. After lunch we walked down to the CBD but will look around more thoroughly tomorrow.

  They have an outdoor ice skating rink set up for the “Winter Festival”. Strange to see people skating around in shorts! The day time temperatures are around 17C so it must be hard to keep the ice frozen. Val phoned Judy and Frank McAlister and we will visit them in the weekend.

Wed 27 June – The forecast rain arrived in the night and it rained all morning. Our planned bike ride around the town was cancelled! Val did laundry. After lunch the rain eased to drizzle so we donned our jackets and walked back to the CBD. There was a huge multi storied mall which we wandered around but only bought a cap for me. Had a nice gelato before our walk home.

Thurs 28 June – It was foggy and drizzly as we left Toowomba and drove thru some nice country toward Lake Somerset thru the towns of Hampton and Esk. We have driven part of this road last year.  Our overnight stop is at the Kilcoy Showgrounds. “Andy” is performing well, thank goodness.

Fri 29 June – There was thick fog this morning covering the lower part of Queensland. Even the Brisbane Airport was closed. After the fog cleared, as we only have a short trip today, we drove into the town of Kilcoy and walked round in lovely warm sunshine. Shorts and tee shirts again. On the road thru the Glass Mountains to Beerwah where we camped in the Sportsgrounds. It was great to sit outside in the sunshine for lunch and then a bike ride to the town which is quite large. We managed to replace our clock which had crapped out. Back for a read and relax in dappled sun.