We had been avoiding rain for most of our trip, everything had been wet and water was everywhere on our travels. We had only had a few showers and light rain since we had left Melbourne, but this all changed in Rockhampton, luckily it was only light rain, however it was fairly constant. We had planned to stay at Kershaw Gardens, it was just a sloppy mess, solid underneath with approximately 50mm of slush on top. We then decided to try Fahdooleys Bush Camp. 16km out of Rockhampton. It was still very wet and we had to pick where we walked. There was toilets and showers and a camp kitchen at the bottom of the sloping camping area.
Happy hour was up towards the owners house in a room with a bar, a tv with Youtube constantly playing music from campers requests and some light snacks provided each night. A barbeque area outside for when the weather was a little better made for a fantastic venue, ran by wonderful hosts. We had a wonderful time while we were here, a return visit with some better weather on a future trip will be high on the priority list
A trip to the summit of Mt Archer was a very nice drive, with a walk around the boardwalk gave some breathtaking views of Rockhampton and surrounds, although the weather did close in with low lying clouds restricting our views towards the end of the circuit.
A trip to the Koorana Crocodile farm on the way to Emu Park for lunch was very interesting. Our tour guide did point out that the crocodiles don’t like the cold weather and while they were a little inactive, the incentive did bring them out of the murky water. It did show how easy it would be to be complacent around waterways where crocodiles live, one would have no clue if they were lurking in the murky water, until they lunged up at their prey.
Lunch with friends Graeme and Lenae in Emu Park was very enjoyable, although walks around the foreshore had to be avoided as steady drizzle made walking uncomfortable, we chose to stay dry.
We was thinking of staying 2 nights at the Gladstone Showgrounds, however they were setting up for their annual show forcing us to just have an overnight stopover. Gladstone is a very interesting place with lots of industry, 2 days here would of been better, however we will definitely return on a future trip to delve a little deeper and visit some outer lying areas of Gladstone. We did manage to have a quick look around some of the foreshore and a suprising number of lookouts mostly highlighting most of the industry around the area.
A day trip into 1770 and Agnes Waters on our way to Bundaberg necessitated an overnight stop at the Lowmead Hotel just to break up the drive. Russell and Gai wanted to have a look around 1770 and Agnes Waters, so we unhooked Russells 5th wheeler and left our Iveco and 5th wheeler in a gravel pullover area opposite the Fingerboard Roadhouse and ventured there for a look and some lunch.
1770 is definitely not a place to take a large 5th wheeler and the Agnes Waters caravan park has very limited sites that would allow a 5th wheeler to fit either. 1770 and Agnes Waters are very picturesque, either place would be a fantastic spot to come and just relax for a week or two, we only had time to have a quick look around some of the fantastic beachfront locations.
The Lowmead Hotel was just a place to have an overnight stop, however we probably shouls have stopped at Rosedale to avoid a little back tracking the next day on our way to Bundaberg
Chris and Dianne's Ultima adventure 