Gladstone

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Days 25 & 26: Gladstone and Eurimbula National Park

 

Cheree, Alan, Steve and Denise

Cheree, Alan, Steve and Denise

Gladstone Harbour with Curtis Island in the distance.

Gladstone Harbour with Curtis Island in the distance.

Very pleasant day catching up with my oldest friends, Cheree and Alan who took us for a drive around town and to the lookouts. Gladstone Harbour is a muti-commodity harbour exporting primarily mining-related resources. 70% of Australia’s coal exports go through this harbour, and we can certainly attest to incredibly long coal trains running parallel to the road as we travelled in.

On Curtis Island they are building export facilities for the gas from the inland coal-seam gas projects. And of course bauxite smelters and alumina exports are synonymous with Gladstone. We had a very restful time with Cheree and Alan – nice to not have to wonder where the loo is in the middle of the night! They have a lovely home high on a hill with views to the ocean – and the smelter, which actually looks very pretty all lit up at night.
Because of their lush tropical garden they have lots of birds and have encouraged them by feeding them each morning.

for the best crab sandwiches in the whole world!

for the best crab sandwiches in the whole world!

Monday morning we headed off to Eurimbula, a national park just north of Town of 1770. We stopped at Miriamvale to partake of what it is famous for – crabs! We both had a crab sandwich for lunch – yummo! It was a 15K drive in to the Eurimbula campsite on a 4WD-only track (ie narrow, rough, corrugated, loose gravel and the last 7K on sand). Needless to say after such a tough drive in we expected to have the place to ourselves – not so!! It was about half full with fisher-people. We set up camp right beside the beach, but the kayaking and beach-walking weren’t calling us due to a strong onshore breeze, and swimming in salt water is no fun if you don’t have a fresh water shower to go finish off with, which the campsite didn’t (and our open-air shower is a bit ‘revealing’ when there are other people around). Bit of a ho-hum stop for us, though we did enjoy a lovely walk along the beach at sunset.

Click here to view our photos of Gladstone and Eurimbula Beach.

Sunset.

Sunset.

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Day 24: Byfield to Gladstone

A church group started arriving at the campsite late yesterday. While they were all quiet by a reasonable hour last night, they were all awake and making heaps of noise way too early this morning. Let’s just say the thoughts I was having weren’t suitable for church!
It rained last night and Arty stayed nice and dry – he came through his first test with rain well, though it was only light. Still yet to be severely tested.
Got away mid-morning, waiting for Arty to dry out before closing him up – we’re staying with Cheree and Alan in Gladstone tonight and tomorrow night, so didn’t want him to stay wet for a couple of days.
Came south through Yeppoon and Emu Park. Had revolting coffee and carrot cake from a bakery at Yeppoon. On to Rockhampton where we had lunch at Mt Archer. It’s a very steep climb up the 600 or so metre high mountain. The picnic area at the top was well worth it: well kept, grassy, tables, BBQs, etc and a short walk to lookouts over Rockhampton and Yeppoon. Pleasant break.
On to Gladstone where we’ve had a lovely meal and beginning the catch-up with Cheree and Alan.