"Shipwreck Walk"

The northern breakwater is known as "Shipwreck Walk" with plaques naming the ships that were wrecked trying to enter the mouth of the Hunter River. In 1904 the Adolphe foundered on oyster banks in rough weather. All the French crew on board were saved by a local mariner.

The breakwater was constructed passing the wreck. To stop people climbing on the wreck from the breakwater, the aft end of the wreck was scuttled and the two masts removed. The wreck is now halfway along the breakwater and a viewing platform has been built out over the rocks.

Home via Bushtracker Factory

We headed home today but stopped at the Bushtracker caravan factory and had a tour of the production of these top quality vans. We decided to upgrade to a 15 foot van which we hope to pick up in April next year.

Many thanks to our friends who looked after our mail and other functions while we were away. We had a terrific time and hope you enjoyed following our adventures through the blog. With luck we will be off again next year to see some of the places we bypassed this trip.

Pomona

We are at the Pomona Showgrounds for our last three nights of this trip. We overnighted at the Maryborough Showgrounds, did some shopping in town then drove on to Pomona. There is a lot of roadwork along the Bruce Highway with some long waits. Unfortunately there were quite a few idiots on the road overtaking us when we were driving at the speed limit. Some drivers see a caravan and assume it is going slow and speed to overtake us when we are able to easily maintain the speed limit.

There is no caravan park at Pomona and the showground is pretty full. We have a site overlooks most of the park and have a view towards Mount Cooroora. There is another Eco-Tourer nearby and it looks brand new.

We went to see Australian Off Road caravans in Caboolture as we are considering a van upgrade. AOR vans are serious off road rigs but we did not like any of their layouts so we will visit the Bushtracker showroom on our way home on Monday.

Early today we went to the famous Eumundi markets and the biggest surprise is we left without making a single purchase! On return to the Jeep we discovered number 2 dog had suffered a relapse to his former bad behaviour and destroyed a dog bed. His expression is a giveaway that he knows he has been naughty! This afternoon I will catch up with an old friend who lives nearby while Anita has a rest day.

Rockhampton

Our couple of days in Rockhampton were spent admiring the well maintained or restored older buildings, and driving around Yeppoon. The old Stewarts clothing store had a massive collection of quality items at reasonable prices.

I walked the dogs in a park near Moore Creek where these fabulous trees were in flower.

Dining at Cardwell

The Cardwell caravan park boasts the only restaurant that is open in the evening. I had walked the dogs about 3kms to the jetty and back. There is a lovely path along the waterfront back far enough from the water's edge to hopefully be out of range of crocs.

After feeding the hounds I put them in their crates and joined Anita at the restaurant. There was a long wait for the food as the place was very busy. After more than half an hour we were still waiting for dinner when dog number 2 entered the restaurant, ears pinned back and on a mission. He had gone around to the front of the restaurant, past the diners on the terrace and through the open doors. I quickly grabbed hold of him and took him out, much to the amusement of the couple seated next to us.

The restaurant was over 200m from our van and the dogs had not been there. We had gone into the restaurant through the main door which was kept closed, so he must have trekked around the building in search of his protector. Fortunately the staff in the restaurant and most of the other diners were oblivious to his brief appearance.

I expected to find he had scratched his way out of the crate, but the flap was wide open meaning I had forgotten to zip him in! I had done that once before, leaving the flap unzipped on the crate of dog number 1, but she stayed put all night not interested in leaving the comfort of her bed.

Cardwell

We drove from Charters Towers to Cardwell where we spent 2 nights looking out towards Hinchinbrook Island.

I drove to Innisfail where I met up with one of my nephews and my 3 year old great niece whose only interest was the party she was going to later that day in Mareeba!

We have now turned south and are heading home. Last night we stopped at the weirdly named Gunna Go caravan park south of Bowen. All of the caravan parks in Bowen were either full or do not allow dogs so we bypassed that town and added it to our list of places to go on our next trip north. Our next 2 nights will be in Rockhampton.

Charters Towers

This friendly town once boast having 65 pubs during the height of a gold mining boom. Many lovely historic buildings have survived including the Stock Exchange Arcade. There really was a stock exchange here until 1916 when it closed following the decline in gold mining.

The old department store is now a Target store but the original stained glass windows are all intact.