I had a sleep in – got out of bed about 6.45! We left St Leonards 1 week ago. Pete was doing some work, so Nick and I grabbed some food and cooked up some breakfast down at the camp kitchen. After cleaning up, we returned to camp, and casually got everything packed up. I thought we’d be late, but we still left just before 9.00.

After a bit of a drive, we got to Miriam Vale, which was a place we were thinking of staying at. It was free camping out the back of the hotel, and we thought we could get some food too. But when I called them, they warned me that it was Mad Monday so could have been a bit crazy. I was certainly glad we had stayed where we did, having the opportunity to swim. However, we did find a crab shop, so I bought a crab pie. It was an unexpected “Big Things” stop.

A bit further up the road, we found a rest area with coffee and donuts, so we bought some jam donuts and had another short break. Then it was back on the road to Gladstone.

As we pulled in to Gladstone, we filled up as it was the cheapest in the area. We drove through looking around town, and before we knew it, we had found Ward’s brewery. So we stopped in there, and had a couple of beers. I had an American IPA, and a ginger beer, which was really refreshing. They had a full time brewer, a kitchen for food, and 8 beers on tap. They were really friendly, and we had a great chat, before getting back on the road about 12.00.

Not far up the road, we got to the Auckland Street lookout, which gave us some great views of the bay in Gladstone. And then it was back on the road.

We continued on the drive to Rockhampton, and were there before we knew it. Our first site was welcoming us:

As I hadn’t been paying attention, I wasn’t quick enough to tell Pete to turn left. So we had to do a U-turn, and come back. 10 minutes down the road, it was fairly easy to find our next site:

A few photos, and then it was on to the marker indicating the tropic of capricorn, for a few more photos.

Our next stop was at Anaconda. Nick’s air mattress had been going down on him slowly over the night, so he wanted to buy a new one. He had a full double air mattress inside his swag, so it was pretty full inside! Hopefully this will work for him.

Then it was on to our camp for the night, at Kinka Beach. The site was smaller than the other places we had been, but we managed to fit in. The whole park was also a lot more crowded than other places. But we got set up, and I went in for a swim in the pool. After drying off we made our way to the cooking area to cook our steak, bacon and eggs for dinner. Another feast.

We sat up coming up with a few plans for the rest of the trip, and eventually managed to get a fairly good idea. It was certainly good to know that – trying to keep travelling distances to a minimum while still getting to our destination on time.