Epic Day of Driving...For Us!

From first light this morning a fog of dust hung low over the entire gorge making visibility difficult.

We set off from Sandstone Park just before 11am - could have been earlier if it wasn’t Sunday (and Gadi has to watch Insiders!).

We drove to Rolleston where we stopped to refuel and have a walk around the local park, complete with old post office (now a gallery), miner’s hut and coffee van manned by volunteers. We enjoyed a great coffee and delicious home made chocolate coconut slice.

Continuing on to Springsure where everything was shut and then on to the large town of Emerald, where again everything, including the visitor Centre, was closed. This was annoying as it was mid afternoon and this also meant the historic houses attached to the Centre were also closed. We did get to see the giant replica Van Gogh Sunflower painting in the adjacent park.

Given the heat and it was still early we decided to push on and get a few more km under our belts before we stopped. From Emerald we headed west along the Capricorn Highway. We passed the Gemfields, a vast area of some 900 square kilometers made up of several small towns including Yanakie, Sapphire, Willows and Rubyvale where gems, predominantly sapphires, can be fossicked. This is one of the largest sapphire fields in the world.

We pulled over just after 5pm (and just over 400km for the day) at a free camp in Willows, along an historic old railway station, now housing a museum, lovingly put together and maintained by volunteers. Just on sunset a couple of volunteers came by to do some maintenance and kindly opened up the museum for us to look at. We learnt a bit more about the history of the area including a bad railway accident in 1960 known as the Medway Creek railway disaster (a bridge collapsed due to flooding on a passenger train heading east to Rockhampton) that saw seven people killed and 43 injured in Queensland’s worst rail disaster.

After a quick dinner we settled in to watch some TV, thanks to Gadi’s newfound confidence in setting up the satellite dish.

So thankful there is a slight breeze coming in the window as we settle into bed this evening.

Night night from the Central Highlands in Queensland. Tomorrow we’ll be visiting a certain tree of knowledge - one that has nothing to do with the Bible!Read more