• Rockhampton
• St Lawrence
• Camilla Beach
• Mackay
• Finch Hatton
• Home Hill
• Townsville

Stopped At Rocky and checked out the surrounding areas, unfortunately the weather along the coast was not to welcoming to us and was blowing a gale. The ocean was churned tea in colour and not the turquoise we were expecting . The weather aside it’s easy to see what the attraction to towns like Yeppoon and Emu Park is - nice stretch of coast. We thought Rockhampton was a pretty good spot too.

The Great Western Hotel ,Pub in Rocky,holds rodeo events

We headed up the Bruce Hwy and stopped where we could for an overnight-er (St Lawrence) then on to  Camilla Beach for a couple of nights, this was a bush camp right on the beach.  I got to do some 4x4 driving on the sand (reversing the van in place).  Huge tidal movement up here and it comes in quick and out again.  Foiled again in the fishing,  too windy!

Time to move on, next stop Mackay.   Did some retail damage then headed off to a place called Finch Hatton. Y’ve gotta have friends with contacts!  Thanks to our friends Russ and Helen in Bendigo, Helen’s sister lives in Mackay and they have a block in Finch Hatton about an hour out of Mackay.  Lovely spot backs on to a nice river, mountains in the distance, a variety of Tropical fruit growing around the boundary and heaps of critters.

Resident at Finch Hatton

Another Finch Hatton resident

Little Python Finch Hatton resident

Kingfisher Finch Hatton resident

Looking down stream from Trevor and Linda's block

Cam hooning through a water crossing Finch Hatton Gorge

We settled in and took in the area, did a few walks - Finch Hatton Gorge and the Eungella National Park .  Watching the platypus is always a treat. 

Looking back over Finch Hatton towards Mackay

As always it’s time to move on looking at the map we summed up that there would be limited spots to stop at on the Bruce Hwy so we did some longer distances to get to Townsville.

Townsville is a lot bigger than we expected , so we enjoyed our time here with lots to do and see  and could easily spend more time but we have to move on.

Hopefully the next blog will include our attempt at the Hinchinbrook Island 4 -5 day hike – Thorsborne Trail - which is getting  a few feathers ruffled in getting the logistics sorted.

Till then Hooroo

 

P.S Having trouble with downloading of Pics that go with this blog, so I will update with pics after we get back from the hike on Hinchinbrook Island.

Still itchy just looking at it!

Looking towards Magnetic Island