Sunday is normally a day of rest for most people, but for us we had a
lot going on. Sadly, the girls were flying home today but not before we managed
to grab a few essential groceries and cram in a little more sightseeing. Heading
downtown the streets were filled with Sunday markets and entertainment, for us
though we had a look around the wealthy harbour foreshore and the V8 supercar
street circuit. By lunchtime we had the girls at the airport and sad farewells
ensued…. Sometimes work gets in the way of a good holiday. For Ethan and I though,
we decided to get a few kilometres further south in what was to be a 5-day trip
home. Some 300km later we found ourselves in Mackay where we decided to live it
up for a night and stayed in a motel. With our accommodation sorted we headed downtown
to do some late afternoon sightseeing and caching. Having never been to Mackay
before I was keen to see what made Mackay tick, my naïve-ness was soon
explained. More than 20 cargo ships were anchored off the coast, Mackay was a
huge industrial town. By nightfall we’d grabbed a bit of dinner before enjoying
our first night in a real bed in almost 6 weeks.
Monday didn’t start too well for us, we didn’t even clear the carpark
before managing to put a dint in the car…. Oops! Pressing southward there
wasn’t a lot said in the car as Ethan knew Dad was a little pissed-off, so he
erred on the side of caution and said nothing. Pushing along the highway was
slow going as there was endless roadworks which seemed to have us making little
progress. About lunchtime we detoured off the highway to Yeppoon and Emu Park,
it’d been over 30 years since I been in the area. Back then Great Keppel Island
was the go-to holiday resort and I was keen to look around. Apparently nowadays
Great Keppel is a ghost town, but the mainland coastal town are booming. After
enjoying some time out on the coast we moved further south but once again
roadworks slowed our progress. Late in the day we found a great free-camp on
the banks of the Calliope River which we shared with some like-minded campers.
Tuesday and another day of slow highway driving loomed, we weren’t keen
for that, so we headed out towards the coast and down to Bundaberg via Agnes
Waters. By mid-morning we’d made it to Bundaberg where we headed straight to
the Bundaberg Rum distillery and the Bundaberg soft drink factories where we
enjoyed a tour of the factories. Continuing south we went through Childers,
Hervey Bay, Maryborough and Gympie before spending a night at Leonie’s brothers
place in Noosa. Catching up with family with a few bourbons was a great way to
unwind after a couple of days of driving.
Wednesday started early for us as our overnight hosts had to leave
early for work so we hit the road at the same time. We used the morning for a
bit of sightseeing and caching around Caloundra and Caboolture before skirting
south around the city of Brisbane. We made sure to time our run past Yatala
Pies so we could stop for the perfect lunch feast - yum yum! Back on the road
and we’d soon passed the Gold Coast and the QLD/NSW border which was a sad
reminder that our holiday was coming to an end. Before getting to my parent’s
place, we detoured into Byron Bay where we checked out the most eastern point
of Australia, thus seeing 2 extremities of Australia in the 1 trip. After a
brief stop at Byron we continued the last few kms to my parent’s house where we
had a 2-night stopover. Thursday rolled into Friday as we had a day around my parent’s home
catching up with family and sharing the excitement of our trip to the Cape.
Friday dawned early as we wanted to put as many km’s behind us before
the roadworks of the far north coast really slowed our progress. By breakfast
time we’d made it to Coffs Harbour McDonalds where a dose of coffee and a bite
to eat hit the spot. Back on the road and our next stop was the once sleepy
hollow of South West Rocks, well last time I visited it was. Nowadays it’s a
rather busy holiday location and we had a brief catch-up with friends who were
enjoying a break. Continuing southward we made one further detour into Raymond
Terrace before hitting the Friday afternoon Sydney peak-hour traffic. For the
next 3 hours we crawled along the Sydney arterials till we got south of Campbelltown
where once again we could speed up to the speed limit. Just before 6pm, in what
had turned out to be a 12-hour journey we finally arrived home.
After 6 weeks and some
9600km later we’d made it to the tip of Cape York and back home again. What an
amazing adventure!
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