Towards Rockhampton

Our plan was to leave home at 10 this morning but a flat battery soon changed that. The 4wd had been sluggish in starting for the past week but I thought the drive today would fix that problem. Once we had hooked up the van it was just not going to cooperate so a call to the NRMA for a new start battery had us on the road an hour later.

Those who follow our blog will know that whenever we are heading north to Queensland we always break the drive and spend the first evening camped at the Yelgun rest area. It's a little over 200 km from home and gets us into the swing of things. However when we arrived the usually quiet rest area was overflowing with young people who had taken over the caravan parking area with all manner of vans squashed in like sardines. Our only alternative was to share the truck parking area for the evening. 

We found out that Splendour in the Grass held at Byron Bay was on this weekend hence the overcrowding and the more than 30,000 people who attended this festival each day.

Our next three nights were spent at the Big 4 Rivershore Resort on the Sunshine Coast that backs onto the Maroochy River. We have a problem with one of our van windows that needs rectifying and we can have it fixed nearby. It's a fairly new park with huge grass sites with matting instead of cement pads. Sites are $50 per night and you are charged for your electricity usage. Our electricity charge for the three days amounted to just $2.80. It has a lovely heated pool, restaurant and coffee shop. Met some lovely Bushtracker people who were also staying here.

Today's drive of 264 km saw us passing through Gympie with a coffee break in Childers. Several kilometres later we joined the Isis Highway for 24 km before taking some minor roads to spend the evening camped behind the Bucca Pub. Your $10.00 per night gets you a spot to park on the grass behind the pub. The pub burgers for $10 are quite delicious and huge and they have a large selection of beers. 

Not long after leaving Bucca we soon joined the Bruce Highway at Gin Gin, on our way north. Next port of call was Miriam Vale then Calliope and onto Rockhampton. We will spend the next two days sightseeing and visiting a friend that Ros went to school with.