Last weekend at 1770 I was kept busy with a visit to the festival to watch a re-enactment of Captain Cook's landing on Queensland soil, mooching around the markets, listening to some local musicians and watching some of the Gooreng Gooreng tribal dancers. On Sunday I took a cruise out to Lady Musgrave Island. The trip over was quite rough and I was glad the two hour trip came to an end and that I didn't have to use my sick bag like many of the other passengers. The calm crystal clear turquoise waters were quite stunning and as I made my way across the reef with my snorkel and goggles, I came face to face with colourful coral, and schools of reef fish. It's easy to see why the Great Barrier Reef is such a magnificent attraction for people. Also saw the media send off for Ben Southall as he sets off on his Greatest Expedition in the World challenge to sail to Cooktown.
Then it was off to Gladstone where I did the Gladstone Coffee Cruise which is a 2 hour leisure experience showing the port and Auckland Inlet. I hadn't realised just how busy and important the Gladstone region is and I was soon to discover the tug berth, Qld Alumina, Boyne smelter and the many harbour islands. It just so happened that the Endeavour Replica was visiting at the same time, so we got an 'up close and personal' look at her too.
Thursday I travelled to Calliope River which is a free camping spot and which also has an historical village with such a lot of memorabilia and remnants of bygone days. I'm not sure if I could adhere to the 1879 list of rules for teachers, which were clearly displayed on the wall.
I've had a spot of bother with the rear door, as the cord connected to the handle kept slipping, thus making it impossible for me to open the door from the outside. To make matters worse, the weight of the mattress and its position right next to the door, also prevented me from opening it from the inside. Fiat didn't want to know about it and the only way I was going to get any satisfaction was to drive to Townsville (a distance of some 700 kms) to let them assess the situation and decide the best option. I clearly did not think this was a good idea.
As luck would have it, the fellow in the nearest campsite to me was a mechanic. So two and a half hours later, the problem was fixed. Fingers crossed! Today it has worked every time.
So today I'm in Biloela and have caught up on all the house keeping, including changing the bed, washing, ironing (yes, I still iron), washing the van and have topped up the water tank in case I head off to the National Park near here tomorrow. I'll make that decision when I've had a chat with the Tourist Bureau here.
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