Capricorn Crossing

Today we headed further north finally leaving Hervey Bay behind although it took some ‘faffing’ before we actually got on our way.  It was as if neither of us wanted to depart from this sanctuary that had brought us both happiness and sunshine:  Jonny went to have his hair cut, not normally a long job but Rodney wasn’t the quickest, bless him; Samantha had to find a Post Office so she could send a postcard (we hope you are receiving them Bob!); and we needed some supplies from the local supermarket.

We eventually rejoined the Bruce Highway (honestly that is its name, we’re not making it up) and headed north.  Our destination was Yeppoon, a small seaside town north of ‘Rockie’ (Rockhampton – we’ll come back to that later).  This was a top tip from Rosco yesterday when we had been complaining that the guidebook didn’t seem to suggest there was much to do in Rockhampton but it wasn’t feasible to drive the twelve hours needed to get to Airlie Beach.

That being said, we knew we still had a ‘long day in the saddle’ today, in fact the longest of our trip so far, the journey coming in at some 450 kilometres and taking over five and a half hours.

As it was mainly a travel day, there is not really a lot to share: just a couple of points. 

Let’s start with ‘Rockie’: Rockie is the beef capital of Australia, it is said there are about 50,000 cattle in these parts - that is a lot of beef!  Not unsurprisingly the town is littered with shrines to cattle.  After a few goes our travel photographer, Samantha, eventually pressed click at the right time on a roundabout and hey presto, a memory to take home!

Rockie is also where you cross the Tropic of Capricorn.  Unfortunately, the TeamJam photographer was not so lucky as we crossed the line in Muriel, so we can not share the momentous moment, other than letting you know that for the 3 or so miles that followed there were a lot of grumbles about it should be better signposted!

We arrived in Yeppoon, we are actually staying in the district of Mulambin, without incident, the five and half hour drive actually passing quite easily.  We decided to treat ourselves and go out for dinner, so on the recommendation of the receptionist booked at taxi and headed off to the Waterlines Restaurant at Keppel Bay Marina.

The taxi driver was very accommodating and got us ‘as close to the door’ as he could, which was fine until on closer inspection we realized the place was closed!  Another taxi ride and we got to the centre of Yeppoon and after a little tour round we settled on eating at ‘Meglamania’, the recommendation of the taxi driver (was it all a taxi driver conspiracy?).  Whilst sounding like somewhere you might find in Ibiza the food was fab and we had a lovely evening.

Tomorrow we have another long drive (500 kilometres!) as we head up to Airlie Beach, from where we will hopefully get out to the Whitsunday Islands and The Great Barrier Reef (GBR).  This leads us to the latest ‘Pilkington Moment’ from Samantha: on discussing the GBR, Samantha said “it may be one of the seven wonders of the world, but I don’t need to get in” – pure class!

Before we head off we are planning to go to an animal sanctuary promising kangaroos and koalas – have we eventually got the little blighters surrounded?

PS – Check out our new poll.  It looks like 69% of you who said we would be making more than 3 hotel stops are going to be disappointed, and as for the 23% who said we would need more than 12, well apparently if Samantha knew who are were she would not be talking to you!