I’m feeling rather emasculated today. It wasn’t just a single thing that happened, but a couple of things. My self-esteem has taken a hit.
We hooked up and rolled out of Kinka Beach this morning at 9.28am.
I’m very specific about the time because I believe that check-out time is strictly 9.30am according to the paperwork.
We were at the back of the caravan park so we had to weave our way out of the park at “walking pace only!” Lucky I can walk fast.
Being at the park for 2 nights, we had a change in neighbours on site 90. We were on site 89.
Our old neighbours rolled out yesterday morning, and our new neighbours rolled in last night in this huge truck towing a huge caravan and I suffered my first hit.
Note the size of his rig next door. It was even registered as a National Heavy Vehicle. He had a quad bike in the back and a tinnie on top. His caravan was ever bigger!
They say that size doesn’t matter … until it does 🙁
We hit the road and stopped to buy some pineapples at a roadside stall just up the road, then proceeded into Rockhampton to fuel up and head south towards Monto – tonight’s accommodation.
I’ve obviously been spoiled by the country drivers over the last couple of weeks. Here I was complaining about having to wave at every 4WD, caravan, Winnebago, SUV and truck, yet that was the least of my problems.
Driving through Rockhampton this morning, I realised that there must have been a Bad Drivers Convention on in town today, because they were all out and on their way there.
The most memorable one was a turkey driving a Toyota Yaris with 2 small children in the back, and s/he was determined not to get stuck behind some old fool towing a caravan (me, apparently).
Despite giving him/her a wide berth, s/he managed to cut me off and/or stamp on their brakes on several occasions, causing me to have to take defensive steps to avoid a collision.
But the most emasculating thing that happened was being overtaken by a Toyota Prius.
A Prius!
I mean, those things use rubber-bands for propulsion as far as I know, so how they managed to overtake me in Elsie with her 4.5 litre V8 with twin turbos I’ll never understand.
Maybe they’d had new rubber bands fitted recently?
The trip today first took us through “historic Mount Morgan”.
The “Mount” in Mount Morgan should have been the first alarm bell.
I assume that Mount is short for mountain.
The second clue was the sign that said “Caravans Take Care”, and then the third was the fact that the speed limit dropped to 40km/hour.
I would have had to speed up to do 40km/hour. Poor old Elsie was struggling a bit – it was very steep.
And windy.
Let’s just say that today wasn’t Elsie’s best fuel economy day 🙁
We made it through Mt Morgan and then stopped at the small township of Dululu for a quick break.
Did you notice the international standard tennis courts in Dululu?
From Dululu we blasted through Jambin, then Biloela and then about 5km up the road we came to Thangool.
Here’s a fun bit of trivia. Thangool means O’Possum in the local native language.
Back in the day, Thangool was a hive of activity with upwards of 2000 people in town and hanging around on weekends.
Not so much today though.
If you believe everything you read on Wikipedia, Thangool now has a population of 741 people and I have no idea where any of them were.
As you know, before crossing the road you should always look to the right …
… then look to the left …
… then look to the right again.
Excellent. All safe to cross the road. Can you imagine how quiet the roads would be outside of the midday rush?
We had a coffee and a biscuit to keep us going, then kept rolling about another 80km (50 minutes) to Monto – home for tonight. We rolled into town at about 1.30pm.
Monto is another really pretty little township with a population of just under 1200 people.
We pulled into the caravan park and Peter very kindly guided me back into my space. A bite of lunch and we were out exploring the town.
The park is pretty quiet at the moment, but Peter – the guy who runs the place with his wife Lesley – said that they are fully booked tomorrow (Saturday) night.
Good for them! It’s nice to see that the small towns are open for business and getting lots of people coming to stay (and spend their money!)
Some really pretty buildings in the business centre.
Like many other caravan parks, they light the fire here at about 4.30pm and everyone is invited to gather around, chat and swap stories.
It’s a good place to pick up hints and tips about what vans are good, good places to stay, things to avoid, etc.
One couple (he was an ex-Qantas pilot, now retired) have been on the road for coming up 4 weeks, and another couple have been travelling all over for 3 months in their 25 foot van.
Once again I was told not to leave it too late to retire. I think it’s a sign …
The Grand Hotel is one of two hotels in Monto, and was built in 1928. That’s where we went for steak and ribs for dinner tonight.
There is also some amazing street art around Monto. Apparently their street art has “put Monto on the map”.
We have been told that their silos – just out of town – are pretty amazing, so hopefully we will see them tomorrow.
So this is what today looks like; a pretty cruisy day really.
Only about 215km and 3.5 hours of driving time.
Tomorrow … sigh 🙁
Tomorrow we had planned to stay at Kilkivan, about half-way between Monto and home. But we couldn’t get into the bush camp that was highly recommended as they are full to the gizzards.
So we are not sure if we are going to do a big push and get home tomorrow (Saturday) so that we can have Sunday to clean out the van and I can get ready for w… for wo… for wor…
Nope, I’m having trouble saying that word 🙁
We will play it by ear and see what happens. In any case, it’s been a blast! About 3,200km so far, with about 6 hours back to Brisbane … and then we can start planning the next one.
As they say, it’s not over ’till the fat lady sings.
And I’ll bet she uses lots of soap!
Ciao