Rockhampton to Biggenden

On the morning we were driving out of Rockhampton we were delighted to find they had some markets on in the park.  We hadn't come across any others on our travels.  Of course, we had to have a quick look.

We had a chuckle at the descriptions for the loos at Mt Larcom.  No guessing that you are in cattle country there.

We had a look in an antique shop at one little town (I can't recall where exactly) and I rather liked a couple of framed collections that they had for sale.  I'm not sure if I was to take photos or not, but I did.  I quite like that idea for showcasing some old bits and bobs.  I have plenty of my own, so wasn't in the market for these.  Actually, I have nearly everything that is in this display hidden in drawers and boxes........

We continued down Highway Number 1 through Miriam Vale, to Gin Gin, where we had lunch and took no photos at all.  It's funny that when you have been through somewhere several time you tend not to.

We eventually turned inland where we enjoyed the vista of this lovely hill - Mount Walsh.  It forms the background scenery to the little township of Biggenden.  It is about 100kms west of Maryborough.

I first heard of the town on the radio show Australia All Over when Ian McNamara sang a song "Bigger than Big in Biggenden".  I tried to find it online but found this version by Johnny Chester, which I'm guessing is the original.  It mentions so many places we have visited over the years.

The caravan park was small and lovely and friendly.  We happened to arrive on the day when the park owners host a free casserole night.  It brought everyone together in the camp kitchen area, where we all discussed where to visit, how to improve our vans and how to solve the problems of the world.  A lovely way to spend the evening.

The following morning we went for an explore of the town. Come along with us.

Every second year the town hosts a Rose Festival.  The Biggenden Rose sculpture was created in 2016 and weighs in at about 2 tonnes.

The workmanship is beautiful.

Beside the railway line there is a free camp and another sculpture was added there in 2018. 

For a little town, they are really making an effort to look good and welcome visitors.  Good to see.

We had to get going fairly early, as we had an event we were going to visit on that day.  More soon.

Rockhampton Area

When we have visited Rockhampton previously we have mainly been visiting with our friends, but this time we got to play the tourist, which was great fun.

As we drove south we had noticed some signs for "Capricorn Caves".  We'd never heard of them, so thought we may as well go and have a look.

We have a couple of cave systems not too far from where we live.  Jenolan Caves is just the other side of Oberon and is rather famous and spectacular.  It was one of my first school excursions and whenever we had family visit from Queensland it seemed to be the standard family outing.  I was over caves.  One of my school friends came from out there, so I'd walk up the hill to visit her rather than have to visit the Lucas Cave again.

About two hours to our west are the Wellington Caves. They are quite different, being a dry cave system, so not as spectacular as the wet Jenolan Caves.  We've been there a few times and there is a great camp ground and Japanese Garden adjoining the caves complex.

Capricorn Caves are more like Wellington Caves, as they are a dry system.  The other unusual thing about them is that they are privately owned.

Apparently, Mr Olsen, a Norwegian early settler in the region stumbled upon the caves while out searching for a horse that had wandered off.  He kept them a secret until he was in a position to purchase the land they were on.  Over time he explored them and started taking tourists through.  Initially this was by candle light and traipsing through knee deep guano (bat poo).  Yuck!  I think I would have been very happy to stay outside.  Guano was mined for quite a while, so now we walk on rock and some compacted guano, so much easier.

Our guide was a hoot.  She reckons this tree root frames her nicely.  The tree roots find their way through cracks in the stone and eventually cause them to break.  Fortunately, this is a very slow process. 

There is a section that is wheel chair friendly to enable access to the cathedral cave.

The cathedral cave is a popular wedding venue.  The way we entered is quite steep and has very uneven ground.  Brides entering in their stilettos sometimes had accidents, so now they general wear flatties until they arrive at the cave.

It is rather lovely with the candlelit effect.  The venue also hosts opera concerts twice a year.  There was to be a couple on the weekend after we visited.  While we were there they played some opera, which set the scene nicely.

The wheelchair friendly access was added after a bride's grandmother was not able to attend her wedding, so the cave owners thought they had better address that for the future.

To exit the caves we had two options - take the easy one or take one that was a little more difficult.  We nearly all took the second option.  The passages were quite narrow, but it was fun.  The whole cave system was definitely not the easiest, with uneven ground and quite steep steps etc.  It kept it all a bit real.

One our way out we crossed the above swing bridge.  A nice way to end the tour.

After an event like that it was time for a yummy pub lunch at the nearby village "The Caves".  No photos, as we were too busy tucking in.

In the afternoon we went to the zoo.  Yes, Rockhampton has a zoo within the botanic gardens.

 

Meet "The Colonel".

I don't think I'd like to meet him out of his enclosure.

This is Sean.  He has a genetic condition which has left him blind in one eye and with very little sight in the other.

This little fellow is quite young and has grown up in captivity after his mother was killed.  Therefore, he will not be released into the wild.

It was feeding time for the koalas, so they were quite active while we were there.

There was a good variety of animals and birds, but not many were easy to get a photo of.  We really enjoyed having a wander around the little zoo.  Surprisingly, entry was free, as part of the botanic gardens.

Next we visited the actual botanic gardens.  They are huge and with a wide variety of plantings.  This was the most formal.

This banyan fig was planted in 1895.  It is a truly amazing plant with all the different roots coming from the branches.

"Wamin Bamboo" is the name of this one.  The stems are huge.

I know it is graffiti, but I was intrigued by all the names carved into the stems.  Some are about 10 years old.

Now, just to back track a little.....

We were told that a small plant was kapok when we were at Mount Isa.  I forgot to blog about it at the time.

This is an example that was growing near Richmond.  We were told it was introduced by the Afghan cameleers to make the pack saddles for their camels.

There was a large tree at the botanic gardens with these pods that looked like cobs of corn with fluffy stuff in them.  The sign tells us it is the kapok tree from South America.  It makes more sense, when you look at the fibres.  They look much more like what was in mattresses and pillows.  Here is a bit about the tree.  I'm not sure what the smaller plant is really called, but it is interesting learning these funny little facts.

This was a rather strange looking tree. It is the Sausage Tree.  Funny that.  We have seen one before in a park at Maryborough.

After our wander around it was time for coffee and cake.  We were joined by a rather tame blue faced honey eater.  It was waiting patiently for a tit bit.

Speaking of birds.  While in the area we were introduced to "Chuckles".  He comes in late every afternoon for his snack of mince.  He is so very quiet, gently taking the mince from your fingers.  He even let us stroke his chest.  He isn't quite tame enough to sit on your hand, but not far off.  It was a real treat to feed him.

Of course, no visit to the area is complete without a walk along the beach at Yeppoon.

I had to have a look for some shells, as you do.

We had heard that you can occasionally find a sand dollar on this beach.  We didn't even know what they were, so had to ask Mr Google. We have never found one until this time, when Mick spied two.  I had thought they were bigger, but there are many varieties.

There were heaps of little sand balls all over parts of the beach.

This little chap is the culprit.

Other parts of the beach were just a mass of tiny shells.

We really enjoyed having a leisurely stroll with no time limits.

To finish off the day we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the weird hills between Yeppoon and Rockhampton.

Then, it was time to get back on the road for the next section of our trip.  More soon.

Airlie Beach to Rockhampton

Once we left Airlie Beach we called in at Proserpine, just 20kms away and on the main highway south.  It has a totally different feel to Airlie Beach, being just a nice country town with sugar cane farms all around. 

The mill is bang smack in the middle of town.  We camped overnight here on our bike trip in July 2017 and the mill was in full operation.  There was a subtle background noise throughout the town.  It seemed strangely quiet this time, as the season has not yet commenced.  There appeared to be tradesmen on site getting things ready.

We had a nice wander up and down the street and Mick's eyes lit up when we came across a shop with this lovely collection of bikes on display.  Some very tasty examples there were too.

Like so many towns, there are some lovely old buildings dating from the 1920s and 1930s.  These are just a few.

I was surprised to see this little chap in the middle of town.

...... In the late morning, on a handrail in the supermarket carpark.  He is rather cute.

The next town as we travelled along was Mackay.  This is another town that we have just driven through on our way somewhere else and never had a look at.  Last time we were here I had my little snake scare.  We have since been told it was more likely a taipan than a brown snake. Yikes!

Anyway, this time we had some time so turned into the city centre.  There are the usual big thing stores and big shopping centres, but right in the centre of the city are some lovely old buildings.  The original part is based around the river and the adjoining few blocks.  Come for a walk.

This is the front of the Police Station.

The rear of the building used to be the front and is so much nicer.

The Catholic Church.  The architecture of churches seems to be different up north as well.  You don't seem to get the Gothic style we often see down here.

The Anglican Church Hall.  The church itself was too hard to photograph, as it had lots of trees around it.

The hall houses Trinity Op Shop.  What a spectacular building.  They have been undertaking the restoration of the ceiling over the last year or so.

We had fun checking out all the op shops as we travelled along - trying to find a mug like Mick's favourite coffee mug that has developed a chip.  Sadly, we didn't find one, but we certainly had fun looking and it gave us a great excuse to go up some back streets of towns and do some walking.

There are also some nice modern buildings in the centre of town.

A walkway follows the bank of the river and has some colourful tropical plantings.

We were surprised to see this great mural up a little alleyway.  Once we thought about it, it all made sense.  A few years ago Elton John performed at Mackay.  It was rather poignant, as he will be performing here at Bathurst in January, on his Beyond the Yellow Brick Road farewell tour.  It will be the smallest venue he plays at in the whole tour.  Yes, we managed to get tickets to go along.  We can't wait. Maybe we will end up with a mural here too?

Sarina was our destination for the day.  Previously it has been our lunch stop, but we were actually taking our time this trip.  There is a nice collection of old buildings next to the information centre, the centre one has a nice craft shop.

The information centre is housed in the old railway station.  It was so well presented.  The construction is of horizontal concrete panels dropped down between more concrete uprights.

Some  nice tropical colour.

We had a nice wander around the town in the late afternoon.

Sadly, the patchwork shop was closed when we were there.

As we continued south we started to see lots of coal trains.  It is a huge industry in central Queensland, as was played out in the federal election results for Queensland.  We weren't that surprised, having heard several people discuss the topic in the lead up to the election.

Our lunch stop was at the service station at the little town of Marlborough.  This is always our fuel stop and we have taken previously photos of the bike under the nice shady trees, so this time it was the turn of the caravan.

By mid afternoon we had reached our destination.  I'll share what we got up to in the Rockhampton area soon.