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| Blue Faced Honey Eater |
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| Sunset at St Lawrence Wetlands |
It's us on the road again, heading south of McKay to another recommended free park. The scenery is a bit boring today but we will reach our destination by midday so no great problem. One stop we did take was to buy some home-made icecream at a little shop in the middle of nowhere which I remembered stopping at in about 1998. We bought it in little containers which we placed in the freezer for our dessert, so we salivated all afternoon with anticipation, only to find that it was sadly disappointing this time. So either my memory failed me or they have changed the recipe. That will teach us to be extravagent & buy unhealthy food! Our destination proved to be a very pleasant surprise - a very large parking area with trees, picnic gazebos with free gas BBQ's, lovely ablutions with hot showers ($1) & a big open area at the back on which the local community hold various events. Topped off by a walkway to a lovely wetland area, what more could we ask for. We managed to get a prime spot quite close to everything, with the sun & breeze in the right direction for a change. In the afternoon we walked to find the little township we were told was quite nearby. Took a shortcut we noticed over the close- by railway line which does still have trains on it about once a day. We had forgotten it was Sunday so nothing was open, but actually the buildings were so old that it was hard to tell if they did indeed open at all. We took a different route back on a walkway track which led to the wetlands or back to the camp. What a thrill awaited us - as we wandered along I spied a movement in the grass & on inspection found an echidna (spiny anteater). I had never seen one & neither had Stu of course, but as luck would have it I had no camera. They are a little larger than a hedgehog & with a slightly longer snout, & it wasn't a bit perturbed by us. I vowed to return next day with camera in hand hoping for a miracle, but sadly did not spy it again. We decided we need to get the bikes out again, so next morning took a ride to the funny little village again. This time there was a slight show of life & we discovered that the village is split in two, both pieces some distance apart. There is a rather nice heritage council building beautifully restored, an ancient looking wooden Post Office/gift shop/store, a deserted/closed Police Station, a very nice community hall, & lots of other very old bits & pieces which house an art & craft group, a library, and another store plus a tiny but very nice school. Making a small purchase in the latter store we had quite a chat with the lady owner who was born & bred in the area. She informed us that her shop was the courthouse once upon a time, built in 1870 & it has certainly seen better days. I don't know how she would make a living out of it, though they are some distance from the nearest 'real' town. The area survives on the 3 C's - cattle, cane & coal, lots of the latter apparently, though we hadn't realised this or seen any evidence. Later that day we had some new neighbours move in next to us, & on speaking to them discovered they were from a place called Mandurah in Western Australia. Very early on in our journey in Victoria we met two couples together who were also from there, & on mentioning their names, realised that they all knew each other through cycling. It is a small world. I promptly emailed the others to tell them, so we now have 3 couples to visit in W.A when we return next year. After quite a lot of conversation we realised we had quite a bit in common, especially photography, so the four of us took a walk to the wetlands at sunset to take photos. I'm sure Peter's will be magnificent as he trained as a young man in professional photography though he did not continue in the profession. However he has one of the biggest lenses on his camera - I would need to become a weightlifter to carry it around. Next day we cycled 15kms along the main road just for some exercise, & sighted a lizard sunbathing on the roadway on the way back. He was about 1/2 metre long but scuttled away before I managed a photo. The weather has been gorgeous, so it seemed a shame not to keep up the cycling next morning, so an old meatworks site seemed something to aim for. (Stu's choice). It turned out to be a lot hillier than we had realised but a good challenge though my gears got stuck going up the biggest hill so I had to walk it. It is easier to ride it than push a bike up it, believe it or not. An old gentleman stopped beside us in his car & chatted with lots of history about the area. He saw us cycling that way & had passed us going the way we had come, but next thing he had turned around & went back the same way as us, passed us, then minutes later came back again. Dear old soul had gone home to tie up his dog in case he ran out at us & gave us a fright. He also set us on the right path to the meatworks site, which turned out to be only a lot of old boilers etc left. We followed the dirt road on & came to an old wharf & the muddiest riverbank we have ever seen. It is hugely tidal (8 mtrs we believe) & very mangrovy, so was a great reminder of the Kaipara. We think our river at the bottom of the garden is pristine in comparison.
After such a great place at St Lawrence, our next overnighter was a bit of a shock. Just next to the road, with a nice picnic area & trees, toilets provided, but we had to park on the sealed area which was not all that large. As we were there reasonably early we were OK, but slowly it filled up with nomads until we were totalling hemmed in, & then the road trains arrived as well after dark. The traffic flowed along the highway most of the night too, so all in all it was NOT a restful night.
Departing next morning we head for Rockhampton & on one section of the highway experienced the most road kill of roos we have seen yet. It is a very busy highway for road trains who drive through the night, so that is the result but it is very sad to see. Morning tea stop at a tiny little village called Marlborough, & once again we wonder how they survive. One tiny little store which Stu bought milk from & he said the woman seemed very sadlooking & there was very little stock. However, no matter how sad the town looks, there always seems to be a park of some kind, usually with nice picnic tables etc. The wind behind us, we had to hold the car back or we would have flown, really good for the fuel consumption. Before we head into our next overnighter we do a tourist stop at the Capricorn Caves. Although I had been there many years ago, I thought Stu may like to see them. They are privately owned & quite interesting with a central cave called the Cathedral which is set up with church pews etc, & weddings are often held there. At one stage all the lighting is turned off & the silence is like no silence experienced before, until they play us Michael Crawford singing 'The music of the night' from Phantom of the Opera. Amazing acoustics & in total darkness really wonderful.
Arrived at 'Rockie', stocked up on food again, then drove to the Botanical Gardens for lunch. The gardens weren't great but they had a very small free zoo there which we had a walk around. They had a walk in aviary so I managed to get a few bird photos such as cassowary, fruit doves etc. The zoo was in pretty poor condition as they are about to start a total revamp. They had some dingoes there & we were very amused by one of the zoo attendants taking two of them for exercise on leads. If we hadn't known they were wild dingoes I guess we wouldn't have thought anything of it.
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| Cassowary |
Rest stop for the night was at a place called Calliope, with a huge area on both sides of the river for camping - must have been at least 50 vans on each side. We got a lovely spot in the afternoon sunshine, & though it was next to an historical village, it wasn't open. I think it must only do so at weekends so perhaps we'll see it next time?? Thank goodness we didn't have a lot of road noise like that other night, so a restful night was a bonus.
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| Muddy River At Newport (St Lawrence) |
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| The Cathedral in Capricon Caves |
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