The Big Lap - Rockhampton to Proserpine

After a couple of lazy days with our friends we are now back on the road.

We had been told the road to Mackay is fairly boring, but it still has variations as you go along. 

There is a lot of scrubby stuff and quite a distance between towns and villages. 

We stopped at a little place called Molborough to get fuel and have or thermos and ginger nuts. We got chatting to a fellow who has just ridden to the top of the Cape who kindly took our photo with "Snubby".

It was nice when the landscape opened up to sugarcane paddocks with interesting mountains in the background. 

A rather flash boat went passed heading south.

This pub looked typically Queenslander, complete with a crocodile on the front. We noticed a sign by one of the many rivers and creeks we crossed which warned not to swim because of crocodiles.

Our lunch stop was at the little town of Serina, which has a nice park in the middle of the street.  A feature was "Buffy" the cane toad. 

Finally we reached the city of Mackay. 

You may wonder why I have a picture of the back of a vehicle while we were stopped at traffic lights in the middle of Mackay.......  look closely...... "Spotto" a brown snake!!!  Very alive!!! I was starting to freak out a bit and wanted Mick to get out of the lane, but he couldn't due to all the traffic. As we waited for the lights to change the snake moved into the shade under the van in front of his back wheels and when the lights changed the snake was squashed. It was soon writhing on itself and we passed it without further ado. Phew!!! I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned that I'm petrified of snakes. 

The views as we headed north were stunning with the cane in the foreground, often in flower, and increasingly rugged hills in the background. 

We loved the scenery. 

We were now reaching the Whitsunday area. 

We are now settled in the caravan park at Proserpine, having travelled 485kms today. It was really quite warm, reaching 27 degrees, but apparently it is going get down to 9 degrees tonight. Some contrast. After eating very well for the last few days we enjoyed a simple chicken and salad dinner at the camp kitchen.