Once this was done and a quick visit to Mackays new shopping centre for some groceries we had lunch by the river. Kylie and Derek also recommended we visit Cape Hillsborough and a tea room about 40 minutes north so off we went. It was quite windy and cool once we got onto the beach but Chantelle didnt care and was soon into building sand castles. We can see that this place would be very popular on a weekend with warmer weather.
Unfortunately the tea rooms were closing early today but they looked very nice as it was setup in an old railway station type building. Will be on the to do list for our next visit. We returned to camp by a couple of back roads and relaxed for the night still waiting to hear about a new member to Kylie and Dereks family but no word that night. We will see what tomorrow brings.
Tuesday - Another day in Mackay as we await word on whether a boy or girl word be a new cousin to Chantelle. We enjoyed the morning tea so much yesterday that we returned to the same place and it's while we were here that Fiona received the call from Kylie to say that they had a little girl the night before and they called her Millaa Pamela Ellis. We were so happy for them especially Chantelle who was over the moon to now have a little girl cousin. After arranging a visiting time for later in the day we made our way down to a park by the sea called Quota Park. A stroll along the beach revealed lots of nippers (or whatever you like to call them) living in the sand leaving thousands of little balls of sand everywhere. A couple were fishing using them as bait and the lady caught 2 fish from her first 2 casts while we were watching. A nice bream and whiting will be on their table that night.
At 3 o'clock we were allowed in to see Kylie and Derek and lucky enough to meet little Millaa before she was even one day old, although she slept through our whole 2 hour visit. She is a lovely little baby and we are so happy for them.
Having shared a celebratory drink with them we left them to rest and went and had fish and chips for dinner before returning to camp for our last night in Mackay.
Wednesday - Woke up early and checked the time. 5.42am. Hmmm too early yet, will get up in 20min. Heard Chantelle stirring so opened my eyes again and checked time again. 6.43am. What??? Where did that hour go? Ok up we all get as we were planning to pack up and get away early due to trying to reach Roma that evening. Finally got on the road a bit before 8.30 and after filling up got caught in traffic as there was a mining convention in town that week. Throw in all the roadworks that are going on everywhere on the highways and it soon became apparent that we were not going to make Roma that night. About 2 hours out of Mackay is Moranbah where Kylie and Derek have moved to because of work and we wanted to see what the town was like. On the way I was amazed to see the numbers of temporary accommodation that is set up in places for workers due to the mining boom. Lots of demountable type buildings row after row behind roadhouses and little towns all because of the coal mines nearby. After Moranbah the traffic reduced and we could move along a bit quicker except for those roadworks which had us stopping quote a few times. Although there was one stop we had to make as a herd of cows were being moved across the road by a few people riding horses. The landscape with rising hills in the distance and the continual sound of the cows mooing made it feel like a scene from on old American western. Just needed John Wayne to mosy on in to finish the scene.
The rest of the day was very uneventful and we reach Rollestone when we decided that was far enough and made camp.
Thursday - As we didnt get to Roma the night before we knew today was going to be a long days driving (still 263km from Roma) because Moree was our next destination. The landscape between Rollestone and Roma is quite hilly as some of it is the area near Carnarvon Gorge. Visiting there has now gone down on our to do list for another trip. We reached St George (not in Sydney) for lunch and watched as the storm clouds started rolling in with lightning and thunder. That ended up being our quickest lunch stop at about 14 minutes and we got back into the car just as the rain started to come down. As we pushed on further towards Moree we went through a few more of these isolated storms with strong winds. It was so funny watching birds that were near the road fly off across the road into the wind only to reach a certain height before quickly being blown back across where they came from. Ahh, the things that amuse you on long drives.
Reached Moree a bit after 4 and we decided to stay in a cabin for our last night on the road. I don't think Fiona was too keen on camping in a storm after 5 weeks of great weather either. All we did then was to put the swimmers on and jump into the hot pools where we stayed. There are 5 pools in the complex of which 4 are heated by the hot spring water coming from deep in the ground. The temperatures of the 4 heated pools are 34,35,37 and 39 degrees and you choose the one that suits. While we were in the pools another storm came over but most of the people thought staying in the covered hot water pool was better than freezing in the cold wind and rain coming down.
Friday - A quick morning swim for Chantelle and Brett before final pack and into town for morning tea.
Of course while we were there Fiona found a few shops that she just had to look in. It's good to see that 5 weeks camping hasn't changed her too much. We had planned to reach the Willow Tree Inn for lunch and as it was still 300km away it was a quick trip to get there but we got there in time. We both had the steak sandwich and it has to be the best we have ever had. The steak just melted in our mouths and we can see why it has won awards for best steak in NSW.
From there we made our way back through the Hunter Valley towards home to put an end to our wonderful adventure. Would we do it again? In a heartbeat and we already have a fair list of things to do for the next time we are up that way.
It is amazing how much of this wonderful country there is to see and the big thing that we learned from the trip is not to wait until we are too old to do these kinds of things. So if you are have ever thought about travelling this country then just do it and don't wait until that retirement cheque comes in.
As they say in the territory 'If you never never go, then you'll never never know'
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