The Morcom's Grand Adventure.: Mackay, Rockhampton and Bundaberg.

Rockhampton. Bundaberg and Hervey Bay

On the road and heading south.

After a few weeks taking things slow and having far too good a time it was time to get moving and head south. Leaving Airlie Beach and heading south along the bloody terrible Bruce Highway we were soon into the groove of drive a while and then stop a bit for some road works. It is annoying but necessary as the whole road is terrible. The locals say that the road is so appalling due partly to clay soils that expand and contract, floods and serious neglect through constant cheap band-aid repairs... Soon we were onto Mackay which is a boom town like Port Hedland and lots going on. We stopped for a swim at the lagoon as you do when it’s free and kept going. Queensland has certainly invested heavily in stunning FREE lagoons and waterparks in major centres where swimming at beaches is not possible (all with 3-5 lifeguards on duty 12 or so hours per day.) All of Queensland’s big coastal towns are on huge rivers surrounded by canfields, have a sugar mill and lots of cane trains moving about. They look like a teenagers train set!

Mackay Lagoon

Moving onto Rockhampton, the cane fields were missing but this is Australia’s beef capital. It is dry here, but there are still 2 feet of grass in the paddocks and plenty of fat cattle. The Fitzroy River is an impressive river and it was not long ago that it nearly took the town down to the ocean with it. It was a big day for us with 480 km covered and more to come the next day. The park we chose was flanked by the Bruce Highway, a rail line and some air traffic overhead for good measure. Despite this we all slept quite well.

The next day our aim was Bundaberg 330km to the south. We drove through lots of cattle country before the cane reappeared as we got further south. As usual, any time when we want to move a reasonable distance we encountered strong winds and both days were tough driving. The kids caught up with some school work and we eventually reached Bundaberg. We stayed out at Bargara, which is Bundaberg’s coastal suburb. Once again Will was in heaven with a skate park out the front of the van park.

Kurt in Heaven

Set them up Bartender.

The Bundy Bear(in the glass case)

We headed back into town to the Bundaberg Ginger Beer factory for some sampling and Will and Kurt got a supply of their favourite drink. Later we visited the Bundaberg Rum Distillery where Jim did a tour of the factory and was amazed at the process of producing rum and the hidden dangers. On the tour you are not allowed cameras, watches, phones etc, basically anything with a battery. The finishing shed where the barrels of rum give off highly flammable vapours as they ferment is a powder keg of six million litres of rum ready to ignite. In 1936 it was struck by lightning and exploded. Rum flowed in the gutters where the locals gathered it in buckets and into the river where it killed fish and other animals. The tour finished with a visit to the bar of course for some tasting, along with the purchase of the first bottle of Bundy to enter the Morcom residence for many years (and Bundy Fudge).

Day three on consecutive travel saw us move onto Hervey Bay 150km further south. A town of 70,000 people with a lovely seaside feel, it is the gateway to Fraser Island as well as a whale watching mecca. It has good beaches, but not great ones like Albany. In fact no place we have been has beaches like Albany. We arrived at the Fraser Lodge Park which was excellent and the headed off to explore. We made hamburgers for lunch on the foreshore before going to Wetside Water Education Park where the water is reclaimed storm water, the kids had a ball.