July 4 - 16, 2003
| July 4 | Ipswich to Esk | 53.9 | |
| July 4 | Ipswich to Esk | 53.90 | |
| July 5 | Esk to Yarraman | 82.73 | July 6 | Yarraman to Wondai | 76.93 |
| July 7 | Wondai to Gayndah | 110.75 | |
| July 8 | Gayndah to Eidsvold | 73.26 | |
| July 9 | Eidsvold to Cania Gorge | 89.39 | |
| July 10 | Rest day at Cania Gorge | ||
| July 11 | Cania Gorge to Biloela | 97.74 | |
| July 12 | Biloela to Mount Morgan | 102.10 | |
| July 13 | Mount Morgan to Rockhampton | 44.11 | |
| July 14 | Rockhampton | ||
| July 15 | Yeppoon, Emu Park circuit | 108.12 | |
| July 16 | To Rockhampton Airport | 11.27 | |
| Total | 850.30 kms |
Friday, July 4, 2003
It was nice to have Jason home and we had volunteered him for chauffeur
duties to our starting place. We were away from home by 9am and after a
short detour into Currumbin where I collected a pair of knicks that I
had ordered on Monday we arrived at the Brisbane Valley Highway turnoff
just after 11.
It didn't take long to load up the bikes and we were away. It was a fine day with light winds and my bike was equipped with a new gear cable and new back brakes (V-brakes). I declared the new innovations to be excellent but I had succumbed to the temptation to bring too much food from home making the load on the back wheel heavier than usual and forcing me to concentrate very hard on the steering.
Only fifteen kilometres down the road we pulled into Fernvale after all it was after 12 and lunchtime, also there was a very pleasant park provided for our enjoyment. Just as we stopped four older guys rode into the park from the other direction. They had ridden eleven kilometres along a rail trail from Lowood and their wives were picking them up. They were totally impressed by our project as they felt eleven kilometres was quite far enough. Also impressed by our arrival were two boys of about sixteen who actually ran across the road to talk to us! They had their own touring outfit - an old road bike and a mountain bike towing a homemade trailer piled with a backpack and things tied up in plastic bags. They were local and were just riding around for the fun of it. They had already rolled their trailer four times! It was apparently all powered by meat pies, Coca-Cola and cigarettes. At least they were out there doing something.
After a quick sandwich and manfully ignoring the bakery advertising we were on our way again by 12.30. From there to Esk we only had short stops for water. The road was undulating with virtually no flat (except across the Wivenhoe Dam wall) - you were either going up or down. After Wivenhoe the shoulder improved and the amount of traffic lessened making for pleasant riding. The major impact of this piece of road was the enormous amount of garbage on the verge, we estimated some man made junk at least every five to ten metres. The vast majority consisted of empty drink containers - milk, water, juice, beer, wine, soft drinks, etc, etc. I guess on a bike you notice such things. It was a problem we saw for most of the trip.
We rolled into Esk just before 3pm. We had camped here two years ago so knew exactly where to find the caravan park. We were impressed with the $13.50 fee, we had been slugged with a few $18 ones recently so it was a pleasant surprise. The shower block had been recently painted and had brand new shower curtains which was nice. We had discovered that we had left the map of this part of the ride at home so we were anxious to visit the local information centre and find some kind of replacement. Fortunately it didn't close until 4.30 so it was still open. The guy in charge told wondrous stories of his youth when he used to be a mighty cyclist. They didn't have much in the way of a useful map but we weren't too worried as we knew where we were going. We had brought some photocopied pages from a book about the history of the region and spent a while wandering around Esk matching pictures to buildings and educating ourselves. Obviously the locals needed some educating too after some of the notices we saw in the shop windows. One advertised an Easter 2002 schedule while another offered a spade dog to give away - it probably would be useful in the garden! We had a few groceries to buy - some fruit and veg and some biscuits. We had noticed an older guy with a mountain bike sitting outside the supermarket when we rode into town at 3pm. At 5pm he was still sitting there. Opposite the caravan park was a house with a very fancy lockable door at the top of the stairs. What was unusual was the fact that the house was surrounded by an open verandah thus making a locking door quite superfluous! Anyone could just climb over the railing!
Esk caravan park contains one of the better camp kitchens we have met. There is a large fully enclosed room with a bench along one wall with sinks and ovens and hot plates. Unfortunately there is a charge for the gas so we used our own stove. We talked a little to a couple from Shepparton who were cooking on the outside BBQ. By 6pm we were dining sumptuously on a camping couscous special with onion, mushrooms, tomato, TVP and kidney beans. There was chocolate pudding and fruit salad for dessert. I worked out than my panniers were now at least 1.3 kilograms lighter. We appreciated the enclosed kitchen as the temperature was dropping rapidly. David's back was worrying him a bit so he decided that bed was the best place to be and headed off about 6.30! I got my diary writing up to date but didn't last too long either as bed was definitely the warmest place around. By 7.30 I was there too, adding beanie and socks to my usual sleepwear and feeling very cosy with the sleeping bag fully zipped up.
| Riding Statistics | |
| Distance ridden | 53.90 km |
| Time taken | 3.02.51 hr |
| Maximum speed | 44.6 kph |
| Average speed | 17.6 kph |
Saturday, July 5, 2003
I thought that I had heard a train during the night but David assured me
that trains no longer ran to Esk - must have been a truck! It turned
out to be a very cold night, the first time I can remember that I have
slept the whole night with the sleeping bag fully zipped up. David
discovered some thin sheets of ice on the poncho which was over the
bikes as well as on the seats and computers. At 7.55 the sun managed to
arrive over the hill behind the caravan park and a little warmth was
felt. We put everything on the tables near the kitchen so it wasn't on
the wet grass and cooked Granola and crumpets for breakfast. We were on
our way by 9am although the tent was packed wet. The first few
kilometres out of town had an good shoulder but it didn't last and
gradually diminished after the Somerset Dam turnoff. Now we were on new
territory. There was quite a lot of traffic, more than I expected on a
Saturday morning.
We detoured off the main road into Toogoolawah to look at some of the buildings we had listed in our history guide. At one stage there was a thriving condensed milk factory there until Nestle bought it out in 1907. In 1929 they moved their operation to Victoria and closed it down sending almost half the population elsewhere to look for work and crippling the town. After more undulating road we met the D'Aguilar Highway about 11.00 and turned left towards Moore.
This piece of road seemed to be quite new and had an excellent shoulder although there were still plenty of ups and downs. We stopped in Moore at 11.30 because there was a packet of party mix in my handlebar bag which was just begging to be eaten. We also refilled our water bottles. The only drinkable water available was outside the toilet block and clearly labelled but it only trickled out. Also in Moore was a cairn made from stones brought from the Stone House just out of town. Our notes told us more about it and we were fascinated to see that a few buildings were still standing when we arrived there four kilometres later. It was built about 1869 by Robert Williams and was a regular coach stop and horse change place between Esk and the Seven Mile gold diggings at Nanango. It is immortalised in the ballad Brisbane Ladies. We pulled up at the stone house on Williams' Paddock, and early next morning we crossed the Blackbutt.
We didn't have the time to wait till the next morning for the climb up the Blackbutt range and as usual the shoulder ran out as the climb began. Fortunately the traffic was light. The main climb was about three kilometres long (similar to Tomewin) and even the butterflies were going faster than us at one place! Towards the top there were a few dips then more climbing. On one long straight an empty semi decided to pass some traffic and brazenly came straight towards us, fortunately there was an adequate shoulder there. At 1.30 we stopped for lunch at a rest area in the forest four kilometres before Blackbutt - we hadn't wanted to do the climb on a full stomach. We cheerfully demolished egg, tomato and cheese sandwiches and a packet of biscuits. By 2 we were on our way again. Just outside Blackbutt we found a likeness of Ned Kelly which deserved a photo.
We sailed straight through Blackbutt and found a couple of lovely downhills, much appreciated after the climb from Moore. Unfortunately they were invariably followed by another hill. There was a reasonable amount of traffic including quite a few double Pozzolanic trucks. Just before Yarraman a sign advertised an overtaking lane - a sure sign of a hill to come and we weren't disappointed. It seemed to go on and on. I saw a spanner in the gutter but didn't even bother to stop and pick it up, it would have been too hard to start off again.
Yarraman is in a valley with a steep hill leading out of town to the caravan park. Of course once you turn off the highway the road leads upwards again to the park office, complete with speed humps - just what we needed to slow us down. The friendly owner welcomed us and only charged us $12.00, we were enjoying these prices. We found a nice flat grassy place for the tent and inspected the camp kitchen, not fully enclosed like Esk's but the gas was free. The showers were in small ensuite buildings, usually for caravans but two were reserved for campers. The campsite reminded us a little of the park at St Gaudens with a lookout from the site, unfortunately the view from here didn't include the Pyrenees! About 4.45 we decided to make the descent into town, this time on foot and checked out what was on offer. We liked a large stump beside the hotel which was carved into a man's face and labelled Yarra-Man. We bought some cordial, a can of minestrone soup and a fudge bar before making the long trek back up the hill. With free gas on offer it was a night to cook rice, to which we added the minestrone soup for a very successful mixture. A hot Milo and some biscuits completed the meal. We had chatted earlier with a couple from Wollongong and the man had built a campfire in a designated place near the tents. We joined him for a while and enjoyed the warmth before heading off to bed about 8pm.
| Riding Statistics | |
| Distance ridden | 82.73 km |
| Time taken | 5.15.30 hr |
| Maximum speed | 46.0 kph |
| Average speed | 15.7 kph |
Sunday, July 6, 2003
It wasn't as cold as last night and somewhere along the way I discarded
the socks and beanie. There were a few clouds around in the morning but
we hung the wet washing out again for a while anyway. The sun shone
straight into the kitchen and we enjoyed the warmth while we ate muesli
and crumpets. Today the tent was almost dry and we were packed up and
away by 9.00. Some considerate semi driver had parked right across the
van park entry, we managed to ride around it but anything bigger than a
bike would have had trouble.
The road was still hilly but definitely smaller hills than yesterday. Unfortunately the shoulder was still mainly missing and there was quite a lot of traffic. We thought that the Summersells might be along that stretch of road today but we didn't see them (it turned out that they had gone to the Bunya Mountains). Just before Nanango we saw a couple on bicycles coming the other way, they had obviously been into town for the Sunday newspaper. By the time we arrived in Nanango the road was definitely flatter. In the park a group of Yank Tank type vehicles were gathering, probably in honour of the 4th of July. We turned off the main highway here and headed for Kingaroy. The hills were now very gradual but some were quite long. The Yank Tank group passed us about halfway with their flags blowing in the wind. The shoulder was narrow and we could have done without 25-30 vehicles passing us all at once. We also had another car overtake towards us, something else we could have done without.
We arrived in Kingaroy about 11.30 (430m, 8,000 population) and headed for the information centre in town. We found it opposite the silos of the peanut factory. As we walked in they were announcing the showing of a video about the district and peanut growing in another room so I immediately went through to see it. When David hadn't turned up after a few minutes I went looking and found him held up by the free samples of different flavoured peanuts on the counter. The room in which the video was shown was the original council chambers for Kingaroy complete with large picture of the Queen and photos of the mayors and council groups on the walls. We became educated about peanut production in the next few minutes. Part of the new technology at the factory included computers that could make 20,000 decisions per second on the colouration of peanuts - sure beats watching them go by on belts and picking out the dud ones! The guy at the desk was very helpful and gave us a good map of the area as well as advice about some back roads. I bought a postcard, we had a final peanut to munch on and we were on our way again. We found a fruit shop/supermarket that was open and invested in a tomato, mandarins and a fruit cake before finding a place for lunch. The clouds had followed us and the wind was quite cool so we were looking for a table in the sun if possible, of course it wasn't so we just put the wind jackets on. We finished off the loaf of bread and had mandarins and fruit cake. At one stage we had planned to stay in Kingaroy until Monday morning so we could visit the peanut factory but after viewing the video it obviously wouldn't be worth wasting a whole day so we decided to ride on to Wondai - another 31 kilometres.
We were back on the road by 1.00. It was nice to be riding to warm up a bit - it turned out to be the only time I wore my armwarmers all day. The traffic was light and the fertile, rolling hills reminded us of the Atherton Tablelands. There were a few more long steady climbs but nothing challenging. We stopped at Wooroolin for a drink and while we were there six army trucks with learner drivers passed us, then two minibuses of men in uniform - the army on the move. We arrived in Wondai (derived from the aboriginal word meaning howling wild dog) and followed the signs to the caravan park. It was squeezed in between the RSL and the swimming pool and the first sight of it was not at all promising. A sign out the front announced that we needed to check in at the RSL next door and it would be $7.00 per night. When we finally located someone we discovered that it was now $9.00 per night and we needed to pay a $10 key deposit. As there were different keys for male and female facilities that made $20 - we resolved to be very careful with them. We found a reasonably grassy space near the back fence (it backed directly onto the railway line) and set up. It was a very small basic park with room for about eight vans and seemed to be full of permanents. We didn't see anyone to talk to the whole time we were there. By now the clouds had cleared and the sun shone nicely on our wet washing. We also found that there was a sink and table under shelter out the back which raised our opinion of the place somewhat. This good opinion was reinforced by finding that the showers were good and hot with lots of useful things like hooks and benches.
Wondai boasted an information centre and a timber museum but unfortunately they closed at 4.00 so we didn't get organised enough in time to visit them (maybe next time?). We walked downtown - about two hundred metres from the camp to see what a country town could offer at 4.30 on a Sunday afternoon. The answer was not a lot but we did find another amusing sign. Eight puppies for sale - six male and one female. Either they can't count or they can't add up! The only thing open was a takeaway shop so David wandered in for his first potato scallop of the trip. The man there was very talkative and told us lots about Wondai as well as some extremely useful information about the back road that we planned to take tomorrow. He also assured us that there would be no trains in the night which was good to know as we were camped about five metres from the line. We took the scenic route (about five hundred metres instead of two) back to camp and admired the strategically placed art work. It was good to see small towns making an effort to improve their image. As usual we carried all our tea things over to the table and also as usual we forgot a few things and had to go back for them. There was a good light over the table and I even managed to start reading the book that I had brought along with me (Bill Bryson's Neither Here Nor There). Tea consisted of macaroni with cheese sauce then fruit cake with hot custard for dessert. I even managed to produce lump free custard for a change! As the nightlife of Wondai seemed to consist solely of passing semitrailers it was time for another early night - 7.30pm. We had had some initial fears that the RSL could be noisy but the main problem turned out to be two fluorescent lights which shone brightly down upon us from the back of the building. David draped some towels over the back of the tent to stop some of the light but it didn't fix it completely.
Riding Statistics
| Distance ridden | 76.93 km |
| Time taken | 4.22.33 hours |
| Maximum speed | 51.6 kph |
| Average speed | 17.5 kph |
Monday, July 7, 2003
There was no sleeping in today as we knew there was over one hundred kilometres to ride. Consequently we were up and about by 6.30. It had been a rather noisy night with enough dogs and roosters to make you think you were back in Thailand. Combined with passing trucks, a refrigeration unit at the back of the RSL which clicked on and off, the guy in the camper van next door leaving at 5.00 and a number of doves cooing in the nearby tree we were certainly awake early. On the bright side there had been no trains and the temperature was certainly warmer. We had Granola for breakfast and were ready to leave by 8.00, the advertised opening time for both the RSL and the IGA store. We gratefully collected our $20 key deposit and rode down the road to spend it at the shop.
We were the first customers inside the door and stocked up on bread, cheese, tomatoes, onions, mandarins and some soup. We took a photo of the howling dogs at the town roundabout and were on our way. There was a nice little downhill out of town (similar to coming out of Kiel Vale) which stirred up the cold air but soon there were a few rises and we began to warm up. Only a few kilometres out of town we turned onto the Proston road then followed the signs to Byee. It was lovely to ride on the back roads and know that a semi wasn't about to come roaring up behind you. Our friend at the takeaway shop had given us clear directions on the route and we had no trouble finding our way. This shortcut saved us riding into Murgon and back out again. After Byee we turned onto Lancaster's Road which was long and straight and presented us with a few small hills before we met the Murgon-Gayndah road. We had hoped that this back road would be truck free but apparently the locals (and others) knew about it and quite a few used it as a shortcut. We were passed by eight trucks in the thirty kilometre stretch. The first roadsign said it was 88 kilometres to Gayndah, then the next one said 80, then it was back to 83 - we often found conflicting signs. As usual the shoulder started out fine then gradually disappeared. A few cattle trucks passed us, some of them were rather pongy! We also saw our first live kangaroo, we had been expecting to see lots but there weren't even any dead ones. We stopped for a drink at Cloyna and met two guys in a 4WD who had been driving around with no real idea of where they were. Obviously using a map was a foreign thought to them! Shortly afterwards we spotted a cycle tourer coming towards us. Just then a cattle truck passed him and blew one of his panniers off. We pulled in beside him and David helped him to reattach it. He turned out to be from the Brisbane Touring Club. They had just finished a multi day ride in the Mt Perry area and he was taking a different route home. He was quite pleased to discover that he wasn't too far from Murgon. There were a few larger hills just before we rejoined the Burnett Highway and we stopped for a muesli bar and lolly break near the intersection. It was 11.15 and we had travelled 50.5 kilometres - almost halfway to Gayndah! There was a magnificent gum tree there that deserved a photo then we were on our way again.
There was more traffic on the highway especially of the caravan type but generally there was a better shoulder too. We had expected our Kingaroy detour to be longer than the usual route up the Burnett Highway through Goomeri but because of our back road shortcut the distance ended up to be exactly the same! We were aiming for a late lunch at Ban Ban Springs so kept going despite the wind becoming more easterly and at some places almost a head wind.
We were quite pleased to arrive there at 1.15. Sandwiches, the last of the fruit cake, mandarins and the rest of the peanut lollies were most welcome. We talked to a lady who had left Rockhampton that morning and was heading for Brisbane that night - our whole trip in one day! We spent a little time checking out the springs then were on our way again just after 2.00. For the first time we met a sign showing the distance to Rockhampton - only 414 kilometres to go. Fortunately we only had to worry about the first twenty-seven of those today. Once past Ban Ban Springs the amount of traffic noticeably decreased although there was still the occasional semi to keep us on our toes. One passed us while we were doing 40kph down a hill - quite an interesting experience. As we turned west towards Gayndah the wind became more favourable which was useful as there were still a few more hills in the day's ride. Indeed there were three or four in the final five kilometres that we could have happily done without. We kept expecting to see Gayndah over each new crest but were just greeted with another rise. We were right into the town before we saw evidence of any orchards.
The caravan park was right at the other end of town and we arrived there at 3.30 after 110 kilometres - one of our longest rides. We were directed to a small patch of grass in an area that overlooked the river next to a picnic table. David revived with a drink from the shop while I inspected the showers and kitchen. The park was full of itinerant fruit pickers but there were quite a lot currently unemployed as the citrus crop was in a lull between varieties.
With all the jobs done we walked the kilometre back into town to check the place out. David found a shop for the traditional potato scallops and we chatted to the English owners for a while. They had bought a house in Gayndah over the Internet - the implication was that it cost them a lot less than $50,000 - and now rented that house while they ran the shop. By 5.30 virtually the whole town was closed down. We enjoyed looking in the shop windows and found that Gayndah had a few interesting innovations. One was a series of historical scrolls which were displayed in every third or fourth window and each told an interesting snippet of history about the district. Also on display were tributes to local legends with their photos and something about their achievements. Our favourite sign was in a shoe repair shop. It said, I will heel you. I will save your sole. I will even dye for you. We passed a small takeaway shop on the way back to camp and bought a very expensive can of fruit for tea. We also rang the boys and Jason reported that he had mowed the lawn.
By 6.00 we were back at camp and ready for tea. The kitchen was fully enclosed and had free gas hotplates but it was all squeezed into a very small area. More than four people in there at once caused a major traffic jam. We commandeered two stools in a corner and cooked up two minute noodles to which we added a Velish pumpkin soup. Dessert was a vanilla instant pudding with the recently purchased can of two fruits. Several of the other cookers were semi-permanents there for the picking and weren't terribly talkative. We spent some time chatting with a man from the Blue Mountains and David exchanged bushwalking stories with him. At the end of the conversation he warned us to be careful on our bikes and revealed that his grown son had been killed on the M5 in Sydney while out riding. We ran out of conversation options in the kitchen so headed off to bed about 7.45 - it had been a long day. Fortunately the light and sound problems promised to be a lot less tonight.
| Riding Statistics | |
| Distance ridden | 110.75 km |
| Time taken | 5.55.24 hours |
| Maximum speed | 46.4 kph |
| Average speed | 18.6 kph |
Tuesday, July 8, 2003
Once again we were up early at 6.45 after an uneventful night. It was still quite cool in the early morning and we stood in the sun to eat our muesli. David walked up to the kitchen to cook some toast. The tent was in the shade so we moved it into the sun but it was still wet at final packup time. We asked the lady in the office about the back road to Mundubbera. She told us that even the locals wouldn' use it because of the poor dirt surface and they preferred to go the extra ten kilometres on the highway. It sounded just like our kind of road! It was also easy to find as it continued on past the caravan park and we were on our way at 8.15. After four kilometres we stopped at an historical marker. It turned out to be a cairn at the burial place of a German migrant girl who was murdered there in 1859. Anna Katherine Krieger (born July 4, 1836) arrived in Moreton Bay from Germany on May 18, 1857 and was employed at the Mt Debatable sheep station. On Sunday, March 20, 1859 she was walking into Gayndah to visit family when she was murdered by a person or persons unknown. As we rode on we spent quite a while discussing what it might have been like to live in the district back then. In fact Gayndah was settled in the 1840's and is one of Queensland's oldest country towns. There were a few gravel trucks going to a quarry in the first ten kilometres then virtually no traffic at all. 16.5 kilometres from town the road became dirt and was labelled dry weather only. We soon saw why when we passed through a section which obviously flooded regularly with pieces of debris high up on the fences and trees. We had been commenting on the lack of citrus orchards along the way and surmised that they must mainly be on the other road. We did come across a few and at one place some pickers were quite near the road. David walked across to take a photo and was presented with four mandarins straight off the tree - can't get fresher than that. There was one big hill that required a walk but generally it was an easy ride with reasonable dirt. We stopped on the hilltop and celebrated with two of our newly acquired mandarins. From the western side the steepest section of the hill was sealed so it must have been steep. We certainly appreciated our new brakes going down it. The final few kilometres into Mundubbera were easy riding and we saw two brolgas along this stretch of road. It turned out to be an excellent route choice. Not only did we miss the climb onto the Binjour Plateau and probably lots of traffic we also saved ten kilometres.
We rolled into Mundubbera at 11.15. The dirt road was shorter but probably not too much quicker. We parked in the main street and stocked up at the local supermarket - a banana, a small tin of spaghetti and some pineapple lollies. We also visited the bakery and ended up with two apple sponge cakes which almost broke the bank at $2.50 each. However we did appreciate the sign for the Dodgey Brothers Second Hand shop. Our map showed a rest area at the intersection with the highway and we had planned to stop there but when we arrived we discovered that it was 700 metres in the wrong direction as well as up a hill so we decided to give it a miss. It was only 11.45 anyway and a little too early for lunch. Back on the Burnett Highway we immediately met a long hill with a bad shoulder, fortunately no trucks were around at the time. After a few more smaller hills we stopped for lunch at 12.30 on the side of the road where there was a gateway. David put up the clothesline and hung out his socks to dry while we ate - the usual sandwiches with cheese, banana, spaghetti and jam (not all at once!) followed by mandarins and expensive sponge cake. Back on the road we found that the shoulder had improved greatly and the traffic had decreased - a great combination. Unfortunately the small amount of traffic included a large percentage of stinky trucks. The pig ones were especially bad and would stink up the road magnificently for several hundred metres. It was very undulating and we found that often the road would sweep up to a crest then dip very slightly before sweeping upwards to another crest. I named them double dippers. Sometimes there were triple dippers or even four or five! Some of the new parts of the road were sealed with very coarse gravel which didn't help either. The last five kilometres into Eidsvold brought some more hills. We were beginning to think there was a conspiracy going to fit as many hills into the last five kilometres as possible. Certainly Gayndah, Yarraman and Esk were all contenders. Just before we arrived in Eidsvold we had a situation where cattle trucks coming from each direction passed each other just where we were - definitely time to get off the road!
It was only 2.15 when we pulled in to Eidsvold and the caravan park was easily found. Nobody lived on site so we could just set up wherever we wanted and fees would be collected later. It was right beside the golf course and looked across to the railway line. After last night we were fairly confident that train noise wouldn't be a problem. In fact although we saw lots and lots of railway line on the trip the first operating train we saw was in Rockhampton! Unfortunately the trucks are winning in the transport game, something not very beneficial to touring cyclists. A few 4WDs pulling caravans arrived soon after us - the grey army from the south on the move. Once again the park seemed to be mainly permanents with a few bored Aboriginal children hanging around. They wandered off to wreak havoc on the golf course - sword fights with the flags and turning the sprinklers on and off. I'm sure the golfing people just love them. Despite the lowly appearance of the park the showers produced plenty of hot water, the most essential ingredient required. David borrowed a hammer to help the tent pegs win the war against the hard ground while I caught up on the washing.
About 4.00 we walked the short distance into town. The bakery which we had seen widely advertised in tourist brochures was now sadly empty - probably a good thing for both our waists and our pockets. However we did discover a most wonderful library/information centre where we were warmly welcomed by the two ladies on duty. Half of the building contained the town library while the rest was devoted to tourist things. It was a great idea which saved on staffing and was extremely well presented. We were impressed as Eidsvold is only a small town. There was also internet access available so we took the opportunity to clear out all the junk mail in our email accounts and I sent out a quick message of our trip so far. The advertised charge on the wall was 55c for half an hour but when I went to pay they told me not to worry, as we hadn't been on for very long. I was beginning to like this place more and more. They also gave us some advice on the back road through Abercorn we were planning on using tomorrow. Another good thing about it was that it stayed open till 5.45 giving you plenty of time. We were having fun browsing when we suddenly realised that the shops may not stay open after 5.00 so we moved on to the main chore of the afternoon. It is always a strain on the decision making processes when confronted by a large range of food and it took us a while to decide on what we would eat for tea. We also had to buy some soap and discovered that it only came in two-packs (or more).
Back at camp we noticed that the tent looked different - someone had kindly pulled out most of the tent pegs. I said to David, I'll give you fifteen guesses as to who was responsible and the first fourteen don't count. One of the caravan people told us that he had seen the culprit and yelled at him just as he was contemplating looking inside the tent. We were very glad to have helpful neighbours. The council guy arrived to collect our money - only $8.80 tonight and the cheapest overall. He told us that just a few nights ago a large group of cyclists had stayed there. Obviously the Brisbane Touring Club. By now it was getting dark so we carried our food across to the table with the light. Tea was couscous with onions, fresh mushrooms and a jar of Leggo's Caponata sauce. It was totally excellent - so good in fact that we didn't feel the need of any proper dessert and just had a banana. Later on we were invited into one of the caravans for a chat and ended up having hot chocolate and biscuits with Rick and Val from Brisbane. It is always interesting to meet new people. They had been to Thailand so there were a few travel stories to exchange. Consequently a late night (for us) followed - 9.00!
| Riding Statistics | |
| Distance ridden | 73.26 km |
| Time taken | 4.45.41 hours |
| Maximum speed | 47.6 kph |
| Average speed | 15.3 kph |
Wednesday, July 9, 2003
We were up at 6.45 again after another reasonably quiet, dark night - only a few semis rumbling by on the highway. The tent ended up being in the shade of a tree so we moved it across to some sunshine to dry it out a bit. We had muesli with a banana for breakfast and finished off the last of the bread, powdered milk and margarine - we would need to stock up again in Monto. The guy who had scared our intruder away last night was out walking his dog. He said that he was also going to Cania Gorge today so we said that we would see him there. We never did find out his name or where he was from - we always just referred to him as the man with the dog.
We were away by 8.00 again - we were gradually getting in the swing of it. Only ten kilometres down the road we pulled in at the Ceratodus rest area. It is one of the many places where overnight camping is allowed but we always ended up in caravan parks where hot water and conversation are available. An old railway station has been moved to the site and is now set up as a tourist attraction with old photos on the walls and other memorabilia on show. It was named Ceratodus after the lungfish which is only found in the local rivers. Before we left there we removed the armwarmers and added sunscreen. Another ten kilometres down the road we turned off the highway onto the Wuruma Dam road. It was gently undulating and mainly traffic free, following the old railway line to Abercorn. Abercorn consists of a few houses, three old churches (two of them side by side - we wondered if they had ever operated at the same time, maybe they had competitions to see who had the loudest singing!) and two rundown sets of tennis courts (one optimistically labelled Sports Centre). There are no shops and obviously not a lot happens here anymore.
We turned north and enjoyed some of the best riding of the trip on mainly single lane road. Lots of magnificent gum trees and cattle. Very typically Australia. Further on we encountered a couple of hills, one had a steep section where I had to walk for a little while. At Mulgildie we rejoined the Burnett highway for the final fourteen kilometres into Monto. It had been very pleasant to find some alternate routes away from the traffic although that became less and less of a problem as we moved further north.
We arrived in Monto just after 12.00 and headed straight for the supermarket. We had to buy for two days as the next shops we knew of were in Biloela and we planned a rest day at Cania Gorge. It was also time to replenish some of the staples that we had brought from home - milk powder, cereal and margarine. Monto had recently built picnic tables and shelters in a park that ran at right angles to the main street and we piled all our new purchases up there. We sat down to lunch and immediately discovered that we had forgotten to buy margarine so David had to go back to the shop again. One of our purchases was a decadent 400g jar of chocolate spread which went well with fresh bread. We had bought some chocolate cup cakes for dessert - just as well we were doing plenty of riding. While we ate we found a new use for the BBQ - we spread out our wet washing on it.
By the time we were ready to leave my panniers were full and heavy again. Fortunately it was only twenty-four kilometres to Cania Gorge where I hoped much of the food would be eaten. We stopped in at the new looking information centre before we left town. It was unmanned (or unwomanned!) with help yourself brochures and a computer with a touch screen for information. We had seen quite a few places around named Three Moons and wondered at its origin. We found out that there are two stories. The first is that an early settler told the natives to come back in three months (three moons) for more work. The other more exotic story tells of a Chinaman who went to fill his billy one full moon and found that not only could he see it in the sky, it was reflected in the water and also in the water in his billy - hence three moons!
After a short stop at the petrol station to fill up - the tyre with air that is - we were on our way again. A few kilometres out of town we were climbing a non-existent hill (according to Peter Gordon's notes it is flat from Monto to the Cania Gorge turnoff) when two cars decided to do the passing a truck towards us trick. If I hadn't been holding on so tightly to the handlebars with both hands I would have been very tempted to show them what I thought of their act. Anyway the road flattened out after that and was easy riding to the turnoff.
At Cania Gorge there are two caravan parks to choose from. One is called Cania Gorge Caravan and Tourist Park and is located twenty-three kilometres down the road near the dam. The other, named Cania Gorge Tourist Retreat is only twelve kilometres from the turnoff and is adjacent to the National Park. Because of the similarity in names it took us a long time to work out which was which. We of course chose the closer one - we wanted to do some walks in the Park anyway. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the road was flat, for some reason we had both expected a climb of some sort. We passed through the small town of Moonford where the National Trail crosses the road and arrived at our destination a few minutes after 3.00. The owner of the park was sitting on the verandah outside the office and greeted us with, I heard you were coming. Obviously our fame was spreading - mainly thanks to the man with the dog. He offered us a drink - cordial, juice or water. We weren't sure whether it was a marketing ploy or a genuine offer so we played safe and opted for the water. It was probably almost half an hour later before we finally made it into the office and checked in (at $16 per night the most expensive of the trip). In that time we learned about the history of the park and other useful information. There was such a large grassy expanse for the campers that it took us quite a while to make a decision as to the best place to set up. One of the nearby campers came across to talk bikes. He had done a bit of riding including a couple of Queensland Big Rides and some credit card tours. Later we met a South Australian couple equipped with Shogun bikes who had just returned from a ride up to the dam. It was good to see lots of people riding bikes.
The camp kitchen was extremely well equipped and included such useful items as electric frypans and teatowels. We had planned to use one of the frypans but by the time we arrived on the scene they were both in use. There must have been close to fifteen people in the kitchen at one stage and everybody was very friendly. It was quite a different atmosphere from the other parks we had stayed in mainly because there were no permanents. We managed to lay our hands on an ordinary frypan and began another gourmet creation. We fried up onion, capsicum and mushrooms then added some cooked rice and a can of peas and corn. Flavoured with a mushroom cup-a-soup and the two flavour sachets from the two minute noodles we ate the other night it turned into a magnificent brew. Dessert was a can of peach slices. While we were brushing our teeth there was a tremendous crashing sound across the creek. A tree must have fallen dislodging some rocks. In the darkness it was quite scary. The park has a large central fireplace which became a gathering place in the evenings. We had planned to go over there but ended up socialising with the couple camped next to us who had their own small fire going (the park supplied firewood every day). They introduced themselves as Kim and Julie from Adelaide. Kim worked for the Adelaide Advertiser and they were gradually wending their way towards home after visiting a few national parks. We had a pleasant chat until about 8.45 when the warm sleeping bags began calling.
| Riding Statistics | |
| Distance ridden | 89.39 km |
| Time taken | 5.02.37 hours |
| Maximum speed | 42.7 kph |
| Average speed | 17.7 kph |
Thursday, July 10, 2003
It was rather nice to know that we didn't have to pack everything up this morning and it was 7.45 before we emerged to check out the new day. It was fine again but as our tent was still in the shade we took the breakfast things over to the sunny table next to the kitchen. We treated ourselves to a splendid three course meal - Sultana Bran, toast with chocolate spread and a hot Milo. It was almost the end of the Queensland school holidays and quite a few campers were leaving today. We spent a while just watching their packing up procedures.
By 9.15 we decided that we ought to do something a little energetic and set out for one of the walks in the National Park. There was a little gate near the front of the park which led straight into the walks. We chose to do the Fern Tree Pool and Giant's Chair circuit (5.6 kilometres) and followed the recommended anti-clockwise direction. The track led up a gully to the Fern Tree Pool which was quite beautiful. There were lots of small birds around and we sat quietly for a while just watching them. Immediately afterwards the track climbed steeply up to the top of the ridge which we then followed down to Giant's Chair lookout. On the way we met an older couple from Grafton who had binoculars and were doing some bird watching. They knew the names of all the small bush birds which I didn't. The lookout wasn't terribly spectacular and you had to use your imagination to find anything resembling a giant's chair. Virtually any rocky outcrop could have a fantastic name if you were creative enough. I asked David to put a name to one interesting formation we passed and he suggested 'The Rock' - such stunning creativity. (Tim would like that title). Despite our cynicism about the labels it was an enjoyable walk and a pleasant change from the bikes.
Back at the campground we shouted ourselves to an ice cream - the first one of the trip - and sat back on the verandah to enjoy it. A few minutes later Kim and Julie joined us. They had done the same walk just a short way behind us. It was a change to have some spare time and I indulged in some reading. Kim had bought a paper which he donated to David so we both had something to read and we were able to catch up on the latest news from the Tour de France. It was 1.30 before we finally got around to eating lunch. David proved that his cooking creativity was better than his rock naming ability and cooked up toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches on the BBQ. We finished off with some biscuits and chocolate peanuts.
There were three options for the afternoon's activities.
I stayed at the kitchen table and did a final catch up on the diary writing. A guy staying in the cabins came over and talked to me for a while. He had been born in Mount Morgan and had some interesting route suggestions - he had obviously never ridden a bike. I was just starting in on reading the paper when another man appeared and told me that David had been visiting them for the last hour and they were all about to have a hot Milo. Did I want to join them?
They had a nice fire going as it was actually quite cool and some dark clouds were hovering ominously. The hot Milo was great and we were even offered Anzac biscuits to go with them. Ken and Jenny were both retired Primary teachers from the Sunshine Coast. Ken had been a principal and Jenny a deputy but not at the same school. Ken was the guy from the Big Rides who had talked to us when we arrived. Our preferred afternoon option became number three by default. It was good to sit back and do absolutely nothing for a change and we ended up talking till almost dark.
Tonight when we went over to the kitchen to cook tea we were the only ones there! Quite a change from last night. A chilly breeze was coming from the south and we put our jackets on and began tea with a warming cup-a-soup. Then the quick easy meal - a packet of instant potato with a can of baked beans, a change from toast. Dessert was a tin of creamed rice. After tea we ended up going back to Ken and Jenny's fire and a short time later Kim and Julie joined us as well. We were all moving on next morning and we had an agreeable evening together mainly telling travel stories. We even had another Milo, this time with marshmallows. About 9.00 we decided that bed was in order as we had over ninety kilometres to ride tomorrow. It was cool and clear and promised to be a cold night.
Friday, July 11, 2003
Clouds came through during the night raising the temperature somewhat. It was still cold enough to keep me in bed even though I was busting to go to the loo - too much Milo! We were up at 6.20 - our earliest yet. We took everything over to the kitchen to make the packing easier and had Sultana Bran with banana for breakfast. We were ready to roll by 7.30, very efficient.
We detoured past the tents of our new friends, they had their packing up in front of them. It was a very easy, pleasant ride back to the highway. Virtually no traffic as most of the caravan people would be still eating breakfast. We knew from reading our track notes that there was a decent ascent ahead of us to cross the Coominglah Range and the ride out to the highway was a good warmup. Almost immediately after joining the Burnett Highway the road began to climb and continued doing so for the next six kilometres. Fortunately it was well graded, had a good shoulder and hardly any traffic. After a day off the bikes the legs were feeling good and I actually enjoyed the climb. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the scenery was superb, etc, etc.
Kim and Julie passed us with their camper trailer just after we reached the top. There were a couple of downhills followed by more steady climbs before we met a roadsign warning us of a 1.6km steep descent - sounded good to us. Gradually the road flattened and we found ourselves on a plateau with views out each side to mountain ranges. It was magic riding as we also had a worthwhile tailwind and found ourselves doing 25-28 kph up some of the undulations. We had travelled twenty-five kilometres on the highway before the first semi passed us, then three double cattle trucks came along together. We stopped at a small road junction for a drink and a muesli bar - unfortunately the fridge placed there was for mail not cold drinks.
After Lawgi there was another great downhill - this one was a real bonus because it didn't require an uphill first. The road quality deteriorated here as we headed for Thangool. At one place a few cars were held up on the road where a horse was running free, fortunately it turned back into a yard and there were no problems. We also saw a sign to 'Blackman's Yard' and wondered if it would be more politically correct to rename it 'Coloured Person's Yard' or even 'Coloured Person's Metre'? Just before Thangool there was a huge, seemingly never ending, straight of several kilometres. Our favourable tailwind wasn't very evident down on the plain and we were ready for a break. I had estimated that we should arrive in Thangool at about 80 on my computer but it was actually 83.5 before we finally made it. As usual it was the last few kilometres which were the hardest and I was beginning to wonder if the town of Thangool had been abducted by aliens and no longer existed.
It was only 12.15 and we probably could have managed the final eleven kilometres to Biloela but we needed to stop and eat, breakfast at Cania Gorge was a long time ago. We found a picnic table in a park ignoring the teenage couple who seemed to be permanently joined at the lips under a nearby tree. I guess there aren't too many entertainment options in Thangool, the only thing we saw open was the petrol station. There had been no bread available at Cania Gorge so we were down to our last four slices but that was enough for lunch. We also finished off the biscuits and chocolate peanuts.
Not far to go now, just an easy short ride into Biloela and we were checked in at the caravan park by 1.30 - our earliest arrival. The cost was $14.00, back to town prices. We found a nice grassy place under a tree and adjacent to a covered table. David was having problems with his bottom bracket and needed another ball race so we obtained detailed directions to the local bike shop - would you believe it was called Jim's! We decided to ride around there first before we showered. It was rather strange (but very pleasant) to ride without a load and we found the shop easily. The girl on the desk had warned us that it was on a steep hill and we might have to walk. When we got there we found it was on a gentle slope - it all depends on your point of view. Chris - son of Jim - was happy for David to use some of his tools to pull the cranks off then helped him to put it all back together afterwards at the right tension. The ball race had completely disintegrated and the pieces fell out into David's hand. Fortunately the axle wasn't pitted and so we just replaced the ball races and all was well again.
Later we walked into town where David tried the local variety of potato scallop, I just had an ice cream. I wanted to buy a postcard of Cania Gorge but the information centre told me I would need to go to Monto for that - I don't think so! We did pick up a couple of useful brochures there though. Further down the street we were amazed to find a Christian bookshop and of course had to check it out. It offered a good range of stock and was run by volunteers from several different denominations. We spent quite a while there talking to the lady in charge. We withdrew some money from an ATM and headed to Woolworths for another shopping spree. This time we only needed enough food to get us to Rockhampton but it still took ages to make a final decision. We found a few markdown bargains but it was all in vain really because when we got back to camp we discovered that they had charged us twice for the loaf of bread.
Tonight we had the best cookup yet. We stir-fried onion, capsicum, mushrooms, zucchini, and snow peas then added a packet of fresh Udon noodles and a container of Thai green curry - we rated it twelve out of ten! Dessert was pretty good too, a custard tart. As usual we found some interesting people to talk to. Judy and Bert were from New Zealand and were escaping the cold weather for a few months by renting their house and touring Queensland in a camper van. At one time they had run a hostel just a few streets away from where I used to live in Auckland. Small world. Another couple came across to join the conversation. Ria and Rein were from Melbourne but both had come to Australia as children from Holland and Estonia respectively. They were travelling with two very pampered dogs and told us that in their much younger days they had actually represented Victoria in swimming and shot put (again respectively). I had been telling them that quite a few of the caravan people were getting to know us and would give a toot and a wave as they went by. Ria misunderstood me. She gave me an incredulous look and asked, Did they really give you a turtle? A live one? I'm sure she would have believed me if I'd said yes.
Riding Statistics
| Distance ridden | 97.74 km | |
| Time taken | 5.14.11 hours | |
| Maximum speed | 52.2 kph | |
| Average speed | 18.6 kph |
Saturday, July 12, 2003
It turned out to be another noisy night. There must have been something big happening in town because there was a steady stream of rowdy revellers returning home in the early hours of the morning. It was finally quietening down when two young guys in a nearby caravan started up and they actually talked all night! Then of course there was always the occasional passing truck to keep things interesting. We were up at 6.20 again and finished off the Sultana Bran and crumpets for breakfast. It was exactly 7.30 when we rode out the gate of the caravan park and it looked like it would be another fine day with not a cloud in the sky.
The road was flat and we made excellent time towards Jambin. We especially liked the sign which said that no road trains were allowed on this particular road. Unfortunately we saw a few disobedient ones. We had a short drink break at Jambin (Aboriginal for echidna) after averaging a creditable 22kph on that section. It was one of the few places which advertised its elevation - 133m. We wondered where we had gone down 300m from Kingaroy, I guess our good downhill at Lawgi accounted for some of it. Our track notes spoke of passing through cotton fields but we were obviously there at the wrong time of the year as we saw nothing.
About forty kilometres from Biloela we encountered a few gradual hills and the pace slowed. The wind was strengthening and becoming more easterly bringing lots of black clouds with it. Fourteen kilometres south of Dululu we stopped at a memorial erected to the memory of the pioneers who settled this area and planted cotton with connections to the southern states of America. We were still ten kilometres short of Dululu when the edge of the rain caught up with us but fortunately it wasn't too dampening. Still, we were quite pleased to arrive at Dululu at 11.30 after averaging 20kph for the morning's ride. David claimed that the name of the town was Aboriginal for 'Where is the toilet?' Probably not! There was a Driver Reviver operating next to the tennis courts and we helped ourselves to a cold drink and some biscuits - we even signed the register. There was a table under shelter at the nearby park so we settled in for an early lunch. It was quite cold (especially sitting on the concrete seats) and the rain was still hanging around. We enjoyed sandwiches, iced finger buns, mandarins and the last of the biscuits. We were just contemplating leaving when a couple pulled up with their caravan and joined us while they ate lunch. They were from the Gold Coast and three days into a six month trip around Australia. At least their company gave us an excuse to stay out of the rain for a bit longer.
It was after 1.00 before we finally departed Dululu in heavy drizzle and turned right towards Mount Morgan. I dispensed with the sunnies and put the armwarmers back on. We had heard all sorts of interesting stories about this route and were not sure what was ahead. The road was signposted no semis, and caravans were not recommended although they were not actually banned. We immediately noticed that there was less traffic which is always a good thing and it wasn't long before the rain stopped too although there were quite a few puddles left on the road. We also saw our second kangaroo which jumped across the road in front of us, quite a few of his relatives hadn't fared so well and we saw and smelled more dead kangaroos on this stretch than in the whole of the rest of the trip put together. The road was far less hilly than we had anticipated and we were within ten kilometres of Mount Morgan before we met the first one which caused us to really puff and pant. Also at that point the rain came back, just what we needed. At least there was no risk of overheating!
It was exactly 3.00 when we arrived in Mount Morgan. During our long stop at Dululu we had read a brochure advertising cheap cabins and we let ourselves be persuaded to splash out on a night of luxury. $37.00 got us a self-contained cabin with en-suite, TV, full cooking facilities, made up beds and nice towels. Sounded good to us. Although predicably once we were checked in the rain stopped. However it was rather nice to have our own shower and know we wouldn't have to pack up a wet tent in the morning. We went for a short walk around the park to see what the camping facilities were like. The advertising mentioned a camp kitchen but we couldn't find it, maybe we made the right choice after all. We chatted to a couple from south NSW whose farm was badly drought effected. They had saved money on their trip by fishing and shooting rabbits and kangaroos!
The caravan park was about two kilometres out of town so we thought that we would just walk down to the cemetery not too far away. It turned out to be a fascinating place and dated back to the 1890's. Unfortunately it is mainly derelict with most of the grave sites in a broken down state, rusty broken railings scattered around and not a blade of grass in sight. Many graves had no identification at all. Of the ones we could read it was sad to see that there were a lot of young children buried there. There was also a large monument erected to the memory of miners killed in mine accidents between 1894 and 1910. Twenty-six died during this period, half of them in two major disasters. It was interesting to compare the ages of the more recent burials, lots of 70s, 80s and 90s instead of the 40s and 50s prevalent in the rest of the cemetery.
One of the major temptations of the cabin was the chance to catch up on some Tour de France action on the television - we hadn't seen any yet. It turned out to be a good stage to watch as Stuart O'Grady was part of a 200 kilometre breakaway. Unfortunately he was caught just before the finishing line. Interestingly they completed the 230kms stage in five hours and four minutes. We had ridden for ten minutes longer today and done less than half the distance - of course they cheated by riding unloaded bikes! The other interesting piece of trivia was that today we rode for exactly 30 seconds longer than yesterday. After catching up on the World News we watched a few other mind numbing programs just because we could and when we turned the television off at 9.30 we could hear the rain pounding on the roof. It was a wonderful feeling to know that we didn't have to worry about what the weather did - we were warm and dry and so was all our gear. Even the bikes got to sleep inside tonight!
Riding Statistics
| Distance ridden | 102.10 km |
| Time taken | 5.14.41 hours |
| Maximum speed | 44.8 kph |
| Average speed | 19.4 kph |
Sunday, July 13, 2003
We thoroughly enjoyed our luxury accommodation and slept in till 7.30. There was some blue sky around but the clouds were also well represented. We cooked up the last of the Granola for breakfast and also had crumpets and toast. We spent a while reading up on Rockhampton accommodation options - as we would be staying in one place for three nights we wanted to find something reasonable. Despite our sleep in we were on our way by 8.30 and rode the last two kilometres into Mount Morgan.
We had a map showing the location of some of the old buildings and rode up and down quite a few of the streets looking at them. One interesting monument we found was to a young ex-miner killed in the Boer War on January 1, 1900 - the very first Australian fatality in an overseas war. We were almost ready to leave Mount Morgan when David noticed a sign to the railway station so we detoured down a back street. It is now a tourist information centre and the lady there was very helpful and informative (maybe even too informative!). It was amazing how much Mount Morgan history we already knew after our short cemetery visit and town tour. We watched a free nine minute video about the construction of the rack railway up the range thus solving most of Mount Morgan's transportation problems. The second part of the presentation was on rack railways in general and was presented in 3D.
Our second attempt to leave Mount Morgan was more successful and once again we found the actual riding easier than we had been led to expect. There was one reasonable climb followed by a good descent then the main climb up to the top of the range was longer and more gradual - probably about two kilometres. It really wasn't much harder than the many undulations we had already conquered. A few bends from the top about twenty cars were squeezed into a lookout area on the side of the road and a large group of people had gathered. Naturally we pulled in to find out what was happening and a friendly lady told us that it was a group of descendants of the Archer family. They were celebrating the 150th anniversary of the original settlement in the area. From where we were standing it was easy for her to point out the exact location. Once we arrived in Rockhampton we found the Archer name all over the place - Mt Archer, Archer Street and Archer Park Station to name just a few.
The downhill was great but we took it fairly cautiously (about 35-40kph) as the road surface wasn't perfect and there were lots of bends. The approach to a bridge at the bottom was especially bumpy. All good things must come to an end and from there to Bouldercombe we struggled into a head wind along a road with no shoulder. Fortunately we then changed direction for the final twenty kilometre run into Rockhampton. Happily the shoulder also reappeared and we made reasonable time along an extremely long straight - probably about five kilometres in length - before meeting the Bruce Highway. Here we found the best shoulder of the trip, at least as wide as a lane and beautifully smooth. You certainly needed something special as there was a steady stream of traffic with trucks well represented.
We passed the first caravan park on our list and immediately decided to give it a miss - it had the Bruce Highway on one side and the railway line on the other. This time there were even real trains! We stopped briefly at the information centre which also marks the Tropic of Capricorn but didn't really learn anything new and we already had a good map of the town that we had picked up at Mount Morgan. We decided to try the Riverside Caravan Park so navigated our way there through town and across the Fitzroy River. It made things a lot easier traffic wise to be arriving on a Sunday. Before we paid our money we did an exploratory lap around the park to check out the camping options and decided that it would be suitable. The $14.00 per night cost was quite reasonable and we actually ended up camping right next to the river with views across to the centre of town. We did have our own table even though it was obviously designed for children - we usually just sat on the top and put our feet on the seats. It was useful though as a place to put things.
We just made it to the local petrol station for a loaf of bread before they closed at 1.00 and enjoyed our lunch down by the river. It was nice to know that we had successfully completed the main ride. As we had ridden into the park today we had been greeted as heroes by a group sitting outside a caravan. One thing about travelling by bike is that you are generally treated as an instant celebrity and lots of people would come up and talk to us. On this trip we were often asked if we were raising money for something. Most people were amazed that we would do it just for fun.
About 2.30 we walked across the bridge back into town. Only the really
upmarket shops were open like Crazy Clark's and
Back at camp David discovered a Sunday paper that had been discarded so
we had something to read. Later a short shower came through sending us
inside the tent for shelter. About 6.00 we carried all our tea things
over to the camp kitchen. This was one of the poorer aspects of the
park - one table, a sink, a BBQ and a single gas hotplate. At least it
was covered and had lights. We dined sumptuously on macaroni with
mushroom sauce and champignons accompanied by bean salad. Dessert was a
strawberry instant pudding with a can of peaches. We also had some
mango cream biscuits which David buried in his pudding for an
interesting effect. I followed his example and it was actually quite
nice, especially if you left them in there long enough to go soft.
As usual the kitchen was the place to meet other travellers. Tonight it
was an Irish backpacker demolishing a Domino's pizza and an English
couple cooking up rice and chicken. Kevin and Sarah were doing six
weeks work in Rockhampton answering phones for Ergon Energy so were
semi-permanent and we saw them each night. They had been to Thailand
and Cambodia so we enjoyed swapping travel experiences until about
8.30.
Monday, July 14, 2003
Today was a completely do nothing day. However no-one had
bothered to inform the local kookaburras and they tried to wake us up
very early. We eventually got up at 7.30 and had a leisurely breakfast
of toast and muesli while we enjoyed the view across the river. After
successfully ringing Jason we walked back into town. First stop was the
information centre where we had time to fully appreciate their excellent
presentation. I bought a fridge magnet and we obtained some information
on local Internet places. The nearest one no longer existed and the
second one didn't open till 10.00 so we ended up at the public library
which was a good choice as their access was immediate and free! There
were no worthwhile messages but it was good to get rid of the persistent
Junk Mail. Next it was time to check out the shopping:
We walked back to the riverside park for lunch and tried to find
somewhere out of the wind. We had Nutolene and tomato sandwiches
followed by some mixed nuts and apples. Originally we had planned to
catch a bus out to the other shopping centre but we were already shopped
out so we decided to walk up to the Steam Tram Museum at the old railway
station instead. They wanted a $5.50 entry price. This included a free
tea or coffee (no good to us) and on Sundays a free tram ride (again no
good to us). As it didn't look too different to Mount Morgan's free
display we decided to save the money. We ended up spending the whole
afternoon at the library. It supplied everything we needed - a water
cooler, air conditioning, toilets, soft seats and plenty of reading
material. We found some books with great photos of Thailand and China
as well as lots of the latest magazines including Wild, Choice, National
Geographic, Cycling Australia, Money and Reader's Digest.
On the way back to camp we detoured past Coles to buy supplies for tea.
Tonight we had a real gourmet special based on the success of our
Biloela experiment. We fried up mushrooms, onion, zucchini, cauliflower
and snow peas, added Hokkien noodles, the rest of the Nutolene and green
curry. Unfortunately this brand of curry was decidedly on the hot side
but the idea was good. Luckily we had bought a cheesecake for dessert
which greatly helped to put out the fire.
Kevin and Sarah were at the kitchen again as well as a rather unusual
guy who had ridden a five speed tricycle from Cairns - headwind all the
way.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
We had places to go and things to do today so were up considerably
earlier than yesterday. By 7.45 we were riding out the gate and headed
for Yeppoon. It wasn't far to the Bruce Highway and although there was
lots of traffic the shoulder was good. We passed the other caravan park
and its location confirmed that we had made the right accommodation
choice - it was right next to the highway and would have been very
noisy. A commuter on a mountain bike came past, he was quite surprised
that we were going all the way to Yeppoon!
Five kilometres from Rockhampton we left the Bruce Highway and turned
east. This road was typical of many we had followed - the first five
kilometres were two lanes and wide shoulder, the next five were two
lanes and poor shoulder, then one lane and good shoulder then no
shoulder at all. Also typically the road was mainly undulating. Nearer
to Yeppoon it became flatter and there were some unusual hills - smaller
versions of the Glasshouse Mountains. There was a very strong south
easterly wind blowing, on this stretch of road it was more of a
crosswind than a headwind but we knew that our time would come.
We rode right in to Yeppoon and walked down both sides of the main
street. We were actually looking for a post office but didn't have any
success. We ate a muesli bar to strengthen us for the struggle ahead
and bravely set off to ride south into the headwind. There was an
impressive cycleway for the first few hundred metres back to an
information centre but as usual it disappeared just when you really
needed it and the rest of the ride down the coast to Emu Park was mainly
shoulderless. Just out of Yeppoon we came across an interesting sign -
Baby ospreys learning to fly - Please drive carefully. We
hoped they were smart enough not to be out in today's strong wind.
We detoured into Rosslyn Bay where the ferries leave for Great Keppel
Island. It would have been a rough trip today. It was hard work
pedalling against the constant wind but the scenery made it worthwhile.
There were several small hills before we arrived in Emu Park at exactly
12.00.
Today was nominated as junk food day so we found a shop for potato
scallops and hot chips. There were also tables out of the wind so we
enjoyed a relaxing meal knowing that the hardest part of the ride was
done. Further down the street the bakery tempted us to a chocolate
Eclair and a caramel tart. Again they were expensive and we vowed to
avoid the bakeries in future - a promise we probably won't keep.
The great tourist attraction at Emu Park is the Singing Ship,
basically a wind sculpture based on the shape of a ship's sail and in
today's wind it sounded quite beautiful. There are lots of older houses
in the town and it hasn't had the development of Yeppoon. We even found
a post office and I mailed a postcard to Adele, my cycling friend in
Boston and we bought some packaging tape.
By 1.00 we were on the final lap back to Rockhampton - only forty-five
kilometres to go. We were hoping that the strong wind would blow us
home but once again it tended more to come at us from the side. The
shoulder was much better on this section and we moved along at a
reasonable rate. Our friend on the tricycle had claimed that this road
was flat but I would definitely lean more towards the undulating. It
was quite hot and we had forgotten to top up our water bottles before
leaving Emu Park so we were running a little short on water. We stopped
at a roadside stall and bought four mandarins which we immediately
consumed and this helped considerably. Not far out of Rockhampton we
found a general store and bought a couple of items for tea. We always
seemed to be shopping - probably because we usually only bought enough
for one or two meals at a time. We arrived back at camp at 3.30 after
over one hundred kilometres - a good day's outing.
By 4.30 David was keen to go for a walk (we obviously needed a little
more exercise in our day!) so we headed for the Kershaw Gardens not too
far away. We took the shortcut over the railway line and arrived
through the back entrance. These gardens are mainly made up of
Australian native plants and stretch for over one kilometre alongside
the Bruce Highway. Strolling among the trees was a very peaceful way to
end the day. We especially enjoyed the scented garden. At the northern
end there are two beautiful man made waterfalls where we came across a
couple of children disobeying the no swimming signs. They took fright
when they first saw us and ran away up the hill but they obviously
reckoned that we were harmless and later we saw them cavorting in a
fountain. In keeping with the theme of the day (and also because we had
a coupon from Coles) we bought a vegetarian pizza from Domino's for tea
and ate it sitting outside the shop.
We wandered back to camp for the dessert part of tea - a can of apricots
with hot custard. Tonight the kitchen was rather crowded. Four German
backpackers were using most of the table, our tricycle friend was there
and then Kevin and Sarah turned up. Later I met a lady at the toilets
who remembered me from Yarraman - we had actually beaten them to
Rockhampton!
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
We were up by 7.00 for a final three course breakfast - Sustain, toast
and Milo. This successfully finished off the bread, jam and Milo. We
waited around a little for the tent to be properly dry and gave the
floor a good clean, both inside and outside. It was rather sad to be
packing up for the last time as we were just getting into the cycle
touring rhythm. It was after 9.00 before we finally left, riding the
cycleway across the bridge then back under it to avoid the traffic. We
stopped at the shopping centre (again!), this time we needed money and
some lunch supplies. We also splashed out and bought a cycling book -
Off the Rails - about two guys who rode across Russia, Mongolia and
China. Now David would have something to read on the flight home.
Our final task in Rockhampton was to visit the Zoo and Botanic
Gardens. Because they are on the same side of town as the airport we
had left it till the last day. We managed to skirt around most of the
inconveniently placed hill and admired some beautiful old buildings on
the way. Admission to the Zoo is free - our kind of price. There was
the usual range of common Australian fauna (kangaroos, wallabies,
dingos, wombats, emus, parrots) plus a few slightly rarer ones such as
cassowaries, koalas and flying foxes. The crocodiles reminded us that
we were in the tropics'now while the two chimpanzees were
definitely in the wrong country.
The Botanic Gardens were beautifully presented. We managed to find our
way around most of it despite not having a map (we collected one at the
information centre on the way out). There were lots of different
sections including a fernery, a cactus garden and a Japanese garden. We
walked back to our bikes along the edge of the lagoon where some mothers
with young children were feeding a large number of eager birds. It
wasn't quite time for lunch but we wanted to enjoy our meal in the
current peaceful surroundings so we commandeered a table and filled in
the time with some diary writing. I think the real reason was that
David was anxious to start his new book. We had bought some breadrolls
for lunch and David turned his into a triple-decker work of art with
avocado, tomato and fresh mushrooms. I had banana and the very last of
the chocolate spread on mine. We finished off with some rice crackers
and mandarins. As we left we offered our table to a couple sitting on a
bench nearby and ended up talking to them for quite a while.
There was one more place to visit before stopping at the airport - St
Aubins. Dating back to the 1860s this French Village is now a
tourist attraction with a nursery, tea rooms and gift shop. The
blacksmith wasn't operating at the time so we wandered around the
nursery even though we weren't terribly interested. The owner was an
excellent salesperson and we were persuaded to buy some fudge after
being tempted by the free samples. From there it was only five hundred
metres back to the airport.
Our final stop was a photo with one of the bull statues which are
distributed around Rockhampton to acknowledge its title as Beef Capital
of Australia. Each statue is of a different variety of bull - the one
at the airport is a Droughtmaster. We felt very sorry for him as he had
a steel rod stuck straight up through his testicles - it looked very
painful. David surmised that its purpose was to prevent the local
vandals from breaking them off altogether, even more painful!
We arrived at the airport just before 2.00 and found a quiet corner for
the packing up process. At least this trip we only flew one way which
made things considerably easier and we were checked in by 3.00. Once
again they didn't weigh the bikes but we had to sign a waiver because
they were improperly packaged - ie not boxed. They also wanted
to weigh our hand luggage. Once through security we noticed there were
quite a few Queensland football jerseys around and remembered that
tonight was the final State of Origin match in Brisbane. I was amused
by the fact that we were addressed as guests not passengers. I
also liked the plane is now boarding announcement, in reality
the plane is doing nothing and it is the passengers who are boarding.
The plane was full but left right on time at 3.50. It was a smooth
flight and we actually touched down (8 out of 10) in Brisbane fifteen
minutes early at 4.45. Another trip successfully completed.
Riding Statistics
Distance ridden 44.11 hr
Time taken 2.30.28 hours
Maximum speed 42.0 kph
Average speed 17.5 kph
Riding Statistics
Distance ridden 108.12 hr
Time taken 5.34.46 hours
Maximum speed 42.4 kph
Average speed 19.3 kph
Riding Statistics
Distance ridden 11.27 hr
Time taken 50.12 hours
Maximum speed 31.7 kph
Average speed 13.4 kph