Barb & John's Hols: Days 34 & 35 Rockhampton and Yeppoon

Days 34 & 35 Rockhampton and Yeppoon

With Barb's shoulder a little less painful we continued the journey homewards. The drive from Mackay down to Rockhampton is not particularly long (about four hours) but is extremely tedious and boring (wait a minute - I recall being blown away by the sensational juxtaposition of plains with hills in the distance - it was stunning - ignore Barb on this one!), being mostly unbroken by even smaller townships which tend to follow the train line instead of the highway. John had to drive all the way too. Up until Ayr we'd been sharing driving duties, which worked very well to give tired drivers a break, but with Barb's shoulder still causing medium agony John entered martyr mode, as in "I do all the work". (I seem to hear very small violins in the very far distance. Hrrmpphh.)

We arrived in Rockhampton just after lunch time and Barb simply couldn't go any further. We checked into a caravan park in south Rockhampton which seemed quite pleasant, surrounded by palm trees and lovely gardens. We perhaps should've checked the sound levels though as it was (and presumably still is) located between the Bruce Highway on one side and a railway on the other ... and oh! not that far from the airport too. (Yay! We're getting better at getting it wrong!). Oh well .... it didn't make for particularly restful sleeps but did make for a quick getaway on Friday to go home to Maleny.

We went to the Allenstown shopping centre, which has been fairly recently refurbished, to shop for dinner and managed to catch Barb's friend Karen on the phone. We organised for Karen and Steve to drop by our campsite for a quick visit that evening. They had no trouble finding the campsite but rather more actually tracking us down, as the campground is very extensive and the roads wind around circuitously making it easy to lose your bearings (yep - I needed Barb all the time - circumnavigate the world, no probs - negotiate campsites - BARB!). They found us eventually and we had a nice catch up with them. They too are planning a big camping holiday in their caravan soon covering some of the same route that we had just done, so they picked our brains for tips and suggestions.

The following morning, leaving the trailer in the camp site, we set off early for Yeppoon. We parked in the main street and had second breakfast at a new café "Charlies on the Beach" which does a great eggs benedict and pretty decent coffee, (stood by us all day, it truly did!)

Barb happy to be back in Yeppoon

Second breakfast

MMMmnn ! Eggs benedict

Then we went on to Lammermoor beach to see Barb's old home at Chrisney Street. After leaving there we found ourselves driving past the house of Barb's brother Rob. We knew he'd be at work, but there was Gayle watering her garden and so we called in and begged a cup of tea (Barb rather understates the occasion - Gaylo looked up, saw me, did a double take, and then became really excited when she saw Barb behind me!). Their garden has recovered well after the devastation of cyclone Marcia which hit Yeppoon earlier this year. It was looking fabulous!

John at Wreck Point

Old Degotardi home

John and Gaylo on their back verandah

Mum and Pop's sand dune

John had not seen the new Anzac memorial at Emu Park or the (rejuvenated) Singing Ship which has had a makeover since our last trip, so we dropped in for a brief visit. No calendar photographers here to record our visit as there was in 2007. Bum!

At Singing Ship, Emu Park

This was just a very brief trip to Yeppoon, as Barb's shoulder was continually causing her real pain. We returned to Rockhampton and called into the Rockhampton Botanic Gardens briefly for the obligatory chocolate malted milk at the café there (in honour of Pop) and fighting off the over confident birdlife.