20 June 2011 - Calliope River Rest Area, Queensland

Here we are back for another 48 hours, having absented ourselves to comply with the council’s regulations. We have spent an excellent day taking in more of the sights and experiences that Gladstone has to offer. Who would have thought that this place which I had not even heard of until about two years ago, could hold us for so long!

This morning we travelled back into Gladstone and visited the Tondoon Botanic Gardens, fifty three acres of wonderful wooded parklands. This was once the site of the water reservoir for Gladstone prior to the construction of the dam on the Boyne River, creating Lake Aroonga, and still has a chain of ponds and lakes which are home to many water birds. The trees are also home to a huge variety of other birds including blue eyed honey-eaters and kookaburras which made us very welcome. We wandered about the shaded paths and remarked that this would be a wonderful refuge from the heat in the middle of summer. This morning we were glad to have our hats, socks and shoes on, apart from the rest of our layers of clothing.

The café which stands elevated beside the main lake sells turtle food, which drew our attention to the fact that there were creatures other than ducks on and in the water. A more diligent search proved that there were in fact quite a few of these little fellows dog paddling in the water directly below the terrace along with a very large eel looking decidedly like his New Zealand cousins. We purchased a small bag of turtle goodies and began to drop pellets into the water. Ducks swam and flew from all over the park, gobbling it all up before the turtles could get a look in. They are either too well fed or most likely just whimps when it comes to battling their feathered fellow combatants. We gave up and came away with most of the food still in the bag, ready for braver turtles yet to be met.

After lunch we joined a small bus tour out to the Gladstone Power Station, again leaving from the Information Centre. This, like last Friday’s tour, is one of the free Industry Tours on offer to visitors and town residents alike. This power station is located five kilometres north west of Gladstone’s CBD, and of course is visible from the entire town, as are all of the other industries that are the life blood of this city.

Eleven thousand tonnes of black coal, railed east to Gladstone, are consumed daily, generating 1,680 megawatts, making this Queensland’s largest power generator. It was sited here to take advantage of the seawater used for cooling, unlike all others sited inland which use fresh water. Because of this, the generating capacity of the plant is not affected by drought.

Our guide, a retired employee of the station, was, apart from his body odour, just brilliant, and while the tour was less than one and a half hours long, we came away brimming with information, the rest I will not bore you with.

Our return to this camp was uneventful, apart from the fact that the rig is now as dirty as can be, having been exposed to muddy road works this morning. This will help to camouflage the fact that we have been here before, if the regulation actually is meant to be “48 hours in one week”.