22 June 2011 - Gracemere Caravan Park, Queensland

We hung about the wonderful Calliope River Rest Area campsite until ten o’clock this morning, waiting for the condensation on the awning to dry. Wood ducks and peewees wandered around our rig; the ducks grazing on the grass and the peewees keeping them company. Perhaps they were checking out the manufacturers of the worm castings that had arrived overnight. Presumably there were big worms lurking underground; apparently there are some earthworms here in Australia that average a metre in length, however I think they hang out in Gippsland, Victoria.

We had spent eight nights bush camping, although I prefer the New Zealand term "freedom camping", especially since none of the camp sites were actually in the bush. Our batteries have performed well, and while we have been able to top up with water at parks about the place, we have also had to exercise economy with the water as well as with the limited power. Eight nights is a record for us; our previous record here in Australia was four. Of course this is far short of our New Zealand record of months, but then motor-homing in New Zealand is a far cry from caravanning in Australia.

The road north to Rockhampton is pretty good for its entire one hundred kilometre length, mostly fairly flat. We travelled through beef country although the cattle seen were few and far between. Construction of gas drilling works was more obvious. There has been much controversy over this, as farmers object to the loss of their land to the exploration, and yet it would seem that the final structures will be small and in the grand scale of things, not effecting the agricultural operation.

The approach to Rockhampton is just lovely, wide expanses of yellow pasture and shallow lagoons full of water lilies. As Beef Capital of Australia, the statues of Brahmin cattle decorating the round-a-bouts and road side are appropriate.

Posing on the Tropic of Capricorn

We stopped at the Information Centre situated right on the Tropic of Capricorn, the latitude at which the sun reaches its zenith at noon on 22 December. There is a pyramid shaped monument with a sun dial to mark the spot on the Bruce Highway. It is quite a coincidence that we should arrive on the southern hemisphere winter solstice. We gathered a handful of pamphlets to inform us of the city’s attractions and then headed west to Grassmere to this caravan park.

We selected this park over others for its distance from the main highway, the peace and quiet that should result and of course the price. In an area where most tariffs are in excess of $32, this at $26 seems cheap. It is in fact a very pleasant park, full of trees (including many palms) and a mass of birds. It is busy but spacious and suits us very well. I have however noticed that we are close to the railway line which is obviously busy with coal or some such cargo, with trains almost non-stop. The sound is steady and non-intrusive; hopefully we shall find it so during the night.   (Chris thinks that may come from seamless rails, but do such things exist?) 

Rockhampton's heritage buildings

After setting up and having lunched, we drove into the city centre to the central post office. We had asked Pauline to forward mail to us there last week. Of the six pieces that were supposed to be there, only two were. We will have to return on Friday to see if they have found the rest.

From there we crossed to the northern side of the Fitzroy River which runs through the city, to seek out the Queensland Transport Authority. There we took a number and waited our turn as is the system here. Once called, we were successful in being able to prepay our vehicle registration, and now just hope the sticker will be mailed out and be forwarded to us in time. This will of course be reliant on us being somewhere we can have mail forwarded to.

Before we returned to camp, we parked beside the river and walked through the city’s elegant streetscapes and looked at the majestic sandstone heritage listed buildings. 

We have booked for three nights here, but will probably extend. Rockhampton has several attractions we wish to enjoy, and two full days and the days either side will probably not allow us to do them all justice. Tomorrow is another day – we shall decide then what we shall do.