Day 85 – Tuesday 12^th October 2021 – 234 Km

Up early this morning but no rush packing up & we are away around 9.20am heading south again. The road out to Rockhampton is pleasant through rural farmland, then along the Fitzroy River, as we get close to Rockhampton, the buildings are more light industry such as boat repair. As we turned on to the bridge to cross the river the two cars that had been following me for a fair while get in the outside lane, a Porsche Macan followed by an Aston Martin sports car with the number plate 007SV6. We saw these cars yesterday too in Yeppoon.

Rockhampton has a lot of light industry & all the businesses of a small city & they line the road out of the city. The Porsche & Aston Martin turn off just in front of me into suburbia & we re-join the Bruce Highway on the outskirts of Rockhampton.

The country side is very poor with scraggy looking trees & not much in the way of grass, there are not many cattle in the paddocks & those we do see look in poor condition. There is not a lot of traffic on the road, still plenty of caravans though. There are enough overtaking lanes & I slow & let traffic pass that catch up to me. We pass the turn-off into Gladstone & not too far after take the turn into Tannum Sands, our destination on the beach. The Boyne River has a few sailing boats moored downstream as we cross it & we drive through the shopping centre of Tannum Sands & down to the beach. The Caravan Park is on the other side of town next to Wild Cattle Creek. We book in, set up camp, make lunch then ask at the office about things to do & places to see.

Next we drive around the foreshore of Tannum Sands then the 19km into Gladstone & head to the Visitor Information Centre, my goodness, is that in an out of the way location. A beautiful spot, but why in the heck would you have a Visitor Centre down near the marina. Fortunately the lady we spoke to there was very helpful & gave us all sorts of information & tips on things to do & see. We drove around the marina waterfront & out into Spinnaker Park, a beautiful long & narrow waterfront park that has the marina on one side & the harbour on the other. We decide we will come back & see all this tomorrow.

Back to Tannum Sands, a bit of grocery shopping then time for cheese, bikkies & some red wine before dinner from the BBQ. Another great day.