27 June 2011 - Waverley Creek Rest Area, near St Lawrence, Queensland

This afternoon we have sat the rain out at this rest area about 170 kilometres north of Rockhampton beside the Bruce Highway. It is a large area with a small kiosk in the centre manned for a few hours a day by members of one of the service clubs, handing out free cups of tea or coffee to drivers; part of the driver reviver schemes that one happens upon from time to time. We arrived about two o’clock; the rain started soon after. From the window I can see cattle grazing amongst the eucalyptus trees..

We left our camp near Grassmere later than planned because so many lovely fellow campers kept stopping beside our camp on the way to the amenities, and engaging us in conversation about many matters that interested us; the pros and cons of varying styles of external rear vision mirrors, the price of registering cars and caravans, locations of fuel stations where one should or should not top up with diesel, et cetera. Finally after saying farewell to all, we were gone.

We called yet again in to the central post office, this time with no success. Five of the six pieces of mail, forwarded twelve days ago from the Sunshine Coast have successfully arrived, one remains in never-never land. We left instructions for it to be forwarded on when and if it turns up, but how crazy is this!!

We called into Marlborough, one hundred kilometres north of Rockhampton, for lunch. The posts beside the road stated the number of kilometres to travel to the destination; MB for Marlborough. We were expecting a little more when we arrived and apparently once upon a time there was, when the main road intersected the town. Now there is a store, a pub which offers free camping or rather, a gold coin donation, for the privilege of parking in its back yard, a swimming pool and a rest area with clean toilets. The population is similar to Boomi, of our cotton picking days, but is occupied with cattle farming instead. Several groups of the touring public found their way from the highway to this poorly signed spot and stayed to enjoy the peace and birds while they lunched.

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Mining gear on the move along the Bruce Highway under police escort.

               

The road on from Marlborough, now signed with S for Sarina, may be travelled at 110 kph, and has long straights through easy contoured country, but the surface makes that higher speed unsafe. There are dozens of caravans on the road, some heading for the warmth as we are, and some travelling the wrong way.

Here we already have at least ten fellow camping parties in at four o’clock, but no television reception so Chris will miss seeing Australia’s own Tomac attempting yet another round to stay in the lead up to the Wimbledon finals. It is a busy time for Chris, what with Wimbledon and the Tour de France starting next week. He is resigned to the fact that he will miss much of it, since television reception seems so whimsical. He says, “It is hard work being an armchair sportsman.”