River Ranch

We packed up as early as we could and we were lucky that there was a cool breeze and no sun out this morning. We left our campsite just after 9am and drove through Rockhampton and straight to the Calliope River Rest Area, which is where we’d decided to spend the night - about a two hour journey altogether.

We arrived here soon after 11am and chose a site on the northern side, with a view high over the river, old bridge snd campsite on the other side. We figured it better to be on the quieter side with a good view (given there are crocs and jellyfish) rather than try to squeeze in between vans close to the river’s edge.

After lunch we headed off to explore Gladstone - without the weight of the caravan! We drove first to Tannum Sands, which is basically the beachside suburb of Gladstone. We stopped at a lovely park along the beach at the river mouth and enjoyed walking through the shady park and admiring the view of the river and beach.

We saw several lookout points including Round Hill Lookout, which gives you 360 degree views over the city, Harbour and the aluminum smelter, Boyne Smelter, on Boyne Island, that constantly spews out smoke. The smelter, which is 80% owned by Rio Tinto, produces over 500.000 tonne of aluminum annually.

I was very excited to be able to shop at...Aldi today, first time since day 2 of our trip in Griffith, NSW! Mackay is supposed to be getting an Aldi store but it’s been held up.

After all this excitement we went to have a look at Auckland Harbour and the newly built East Shores Precinct including fabulous play areas and a great free water park.

We drove back to our caravan on the Calliope River, about 25 minutes away, happy we’d seen what we had wanted to see of Gladstone, and now we feel ready to move on in the morning.

Back at the caravan we chatted to some fellow travellers over happy hour and enjoyed watching the colours of the sky turn pink and orange.

We cooked a quick dinner of Sarah chicken sticks, rice and a salad. Time now to relax and see what’s on the idiot box before calling it a night. Turns out the reception wasn’t too good, so we got sick of missing every few lines and turns it off.

Night night, let’s hope the night is cool enough and we sleep well without power for the first time for a while xxLæs mere