Thursday April 8, 2010 – On to Rockhampton

We did not have that far to travel today. Only about 300km. The first thing we noticed was the pickup in the amount of traffic. It is no longer that easy to pass someone. On the way to Blackwater a semi with a huge dump box on it. It was as wide as the road. It pulled out in front of us. We followed it for awhile. I forgot to take a picture of it. Everyone had to get off the road for it. It was a little scary to see it rock back and forth on the uneven road. When we got to the next town, it pulled over to let us all by. Further down the road we saw the rest of the dump truck on the side of the road. It was stopped at the time. I took a picture of this one. These however was not the only wide load we were to see today. Further down the road we had to pull over to let a semi with another mining truck on it go by. It must have been mining equipment moving day. We did pass two other wide loads that were parts of buildings but we did not have to pull off the road for them. There were also a number of trucks hauling new tires for the mining trucks. In some ways it reminded us of home.

We stopped at Blackwater to see the International Coal Museum. Like so many other museums we have seen on this trip this one was full of videos. We learned about the two ways of underground mining and open pit mining. Things have sure changed since the pick and shovel days. There are a number of coal mines in this area. We saw many full coal trains going east to the coast and empty ones coming back west.

Continuing down the road we saw lots of transports going inland. There were soon trucks that said wide load but after what we had seen they were not really all that wide at all. There are still lots of empty cattle trucks going west. Soon they will be full and heading east again.

At Stanwell we saw a coal burning electrical power plant. We had read about it at the Coal Museum earlier. We heard about all they have done to make sure it does not pollute the atmosphere. This is also where we ate lunch.

Soon we were in Rockhampton at our next accommodation. It is so much more humid here and tropical. Each time we go north to town we cross the Tropic of Capricorn again. It is getting tiring travelling now. It will be so nice to get to the sunshine coast for a week.

 

Wednesday April 7, 2010 – Lake Maraboon

Charles went off to play golf this morning. Two of the holes are closed while they are being cleaned up after the flood. I did the laundry. One good thing is how fast everything dries outside. It only takes about 4 hours or less.

After lunch and Charles' return we went for a swim in the pool. It was so nice are refreshing. It was great to sit by the pool and read after the swim. I met another lady with a little girl. Like so many other young families they sold up everything and are touring Australia.

We went for a drive around the area. We saw the dam that made the lake and its spillway. On our way back we went to see the boat launch and day use area. It was very well looked after. Some families were down enjoying and afternoon at the lake. There must have been loads of boats on the lake as there were so many boat trailers around. There is nowhere to tie up boats so you must remove them each evening. We saw people put water skiing and fishing. A very relaxing day.