Rockhampton to Carnarvon Gorge

Back to my travel tales……

After our week in the Rockhampton and Yeppoon area it was time to start heading back south.  This time we were going to get to Carnarvon Gorge, as the weather was predicted to be good.

Our route could be just backtracking to Banana.  Yes, there is a tiny town in Queensland called Banana, not after the fruit, but a pale coloured bullock, that back in the 1860s helped stockmen round up wild cattle.  We have the city of Orange just up the road from us here, named after the Duke of Orange, and further south in NSW there is the town of Berry.  Quite the fruit salad……I digress.

We saw no need to backtrack if we could find an alternate route to Banana. So, out came the map and we decided to head south down the Bruce Highway to Calliope.  I got in trouble for pronouncing it Cal-ee-ope.  I was informed that the correct pronunciation is Cal-eye-oh-pee.  Anyway, it is really just a satellite suburb of Gladstone these days.  From there we headed inland to Banana.  It was a nice, quiet, scenic drive that we thoroughly enjoyed, and was yet another new to us road.

From Banana, it was just a short drive to Moura, which was our destination for the day.  We had heard of the town, as our friends used to live there, but we didn’t know much about it.  It turns out that it is a major coal mining centre with a rich history.

We set up camp in the Rotary Park, with a lot of other travellers and then went for a walk to the museum, which is housed in a relatively new building, along with the library.  It was a really interesting museum, covering both the coal mining and agricultural side of things.

There is a painted water tower next to the building.

Also, outside, there is a small sound shell, and memorial to the coal miners, which was really well done.

After our walk, I enjoyed doing a bit of my knitting.

The next day, we headed further west to the small town of Rolleston.  We have actually stayed there when travelling on our motorcycle some years ago, but we just arrived as it was getting dark and left first thing in the morning, so didn’t see anything.  

It is just a small town, but with a nice park, complete with a community coffee cart.  

Of course we had to stop for coffee and delicious home made cake. 

A lady was taking photos for their facebook page, and took our photo, so we're famous.  Well, my hands holding the coffee and cake are famous.

Next to the coffee cart is the former post office, which houses a gallery and has a kitchen out the back where the food is prepared for the coffee cart.  

It was a fun exhibition inside.

There was also an old hut that had been relocated from out of town.

From there it was time to head south to Carnarvon Gorge.  The road was fairly rough in places and some nice person had actually painted signs on the road warning of the worst potholes and damage.

It was a very pleasant drive and before long we came to the turn off to Carnarvon Gorge.  The road into Carnarvon Gorge, once you leave the highway is only narrow, but in much better condition.

We have stayed here once before, with the motorcycle, in 2003, so quite some time ago.  That time we stayed in the caravan park down near the gorge.  Since then, a new seasonal campground has opened, situated up on the ridge surrounding the gorge, so we took that option this time.

It was good to have finally made it here, after our earlier aborted attempt on the way north.  

More soon.