The day began with us driving through a bit of rain, then through an assortment of fields: sugar cane fields, citrus plantations, and what appeared to be a banana plantation. Like many farmers, the suspected banana growers put bags around the fruit to protect it from various animals. For that reason, I am not 100% sure it was bananas. Anyhow, the scenery was relatively constant with a lot of cane fields and mountains as a backdrop. Anyhow, it was cloudy and humid but not oppressively hot. Good driving weather.For lunch, we took a detour through Gladstone in hopes of finding a good selection. Yeah, well, Gladstone appears to be the mining/manufacturing/smelting capitol of Queensland. After driving through the city centre, Subway looked like the best bet and I don’t regret that choice at all. Surely Gladstone has its good side, its fun part, its interesting district. I just know it must have one. I am equally sure we did not find it.
There were more goofy town names, but I don’t want to run that concept into the ground. Too late, you say? Sorry about that. Gin Gin was Queensland’s friendliest town a few years ago. I guess with South Australia cleaning up all the Tidy Town awards, these guys went with friendly – I like the strategy. Having Gin in your name twice surely helps with the smiling part.
As we continued north, I jumbled around in my head whether we want to take a short day and drive to Townsville tomorrow or just get on up to Cairns and maybe do something fun on our last full day (I am picturing a boat, water, and a reef – possibly of the Great Barrier variety). After a short internal discussion with my editor, navigator, and joke-writer, we settled on Cairns.
But first we needed to drive to Mackay (pronounced “muh-KY’”- rhyming with “uhh Sky!”, not “Mac-Key” or “McKay”). Mackay looks like a reasonably fun place downtown. I could be wrong, but it is lined with hotels (bars), outdoor tables (hinting at outdoor eating), and lots of plants (as in, they’ve made an effort to make Victoria Street attractive). However, we got in a little late and the only property downtown that looked appealing was sporting a “no vacancy” sign, so we are staying out where all the other motels are at a Best Western. We had dinner across the street at a little bistro (on the back of a bar) – really good food. I had never had spicy Indonesian noodles, but I like them now. Getting back to the lodging, as I go further north, I am trying to stay at brand name brand in the hope that they are less likely to provide us with little tropical six-legged roommates.
In short, today was uneventful when compared to the last few days. We drove north. Not much in the way of photos either, just the front on one of the Ford pickup cars with the roo bars (trying to evoke that “rednecky” vibe that I alluded to). On the plus side, you’ve got plenty to read from the last few days. Speaking of cars, you know how I said Noosa had all the German cars. Yeah, that was it. None in Central Queensland. I think BMW, Mercedes, etc made the same decision as Starbucks – if it isn’t between Adelaide and (greater) Brisbane, never mind.
Tomorrow: Cairns
1 comment:
Are you getting nostalgic?
Post a Comment