Mackay to Carnarvon Gorge

Monday 29 July

Sugar was at the forefront of our minds as we drove the 80 odd km to Farleigh Sugar Mill, where we found out:
 

The difference between a sugar mill and a sugar refinery.  The former converts sugar cane into raw sugar, the latter converts raw sugar into the many other forms of sugar such as white, brown, castor, etc.  The stuff we export is usually raw sugar.

  Sugar crystals are not a natural product of sugar cane—they need to be artificially promulgated by an added chemical stimulant.
 
There are three forms of molasses involved in the sugar production process, the first two being full of sugar, the third being devoid of sugar and is used as food for cattle.

Sugar cane about to be tipped into hopper

There are no waste products from a sugar mill—everything is used.  The waste fibre is used to fuel the boilers, the molasses feeds livestock, etc.  Another waste product provides enough ethanol, etc to produce sufficient electricity to power the sugar mill.




There are many different types of sugar cane.  Sometimes several are mixed together in the one crop.

We saw sugar cane going in and raw sugar coming out.  We tasted five products throughout the process—early syrup, 3 forms of molasses and the raw sugar. 

Four were sweet and the 3rd form of molasses tasted like liquorice.  By the end of the tour we were ready for a coffee.  Even though it was mid 20’s (and hotter) we had to wear long sleeves and long trousers, plus safety vest, ear plugs, safety glasses (over our specs) and helmet.

After the tour we drove into Mackay and set up camp.  The rest of the day was spent touring Mackay, and finding a place for a good coffee. 

It is a nice place but does not seem to have much to offer us to stay longer.
BBQ prawns for dinner.

On Tuesday we headed south from Mackay and stopped at Sarina Beach.  It is a lovely little village on the beach but does not have a caravan park. 


Sarina Beach

Sarina is a lovely small town but we only stopped long enough to check out the local museums and have a coffee.

We camped at a free-camp at a place called Yaamba.  It was to be a very noisy night with all the passing trucks and trains.

We awoke on Wednesday to a thick fog, with the sun trying to peer through the fog, as shown by the adjacent photo.

We then drove into Rockhampton for a quick look around before moving on to Yeppoon—or 10 km beyond Yeppoon to our Capricorn Palms Tourist Park. It was a lovely spot.

Today was reunion day with a catch-up with long time friends John, Fay, Tom & Marj—not to mention Kay and Darryl.  5pm happy hour started at 4:20 and went beyond BBQ dinner.

It is time to pause for a moment and give credit where credit is due.  For those of you who know Shirley well you will appreciate how big this is.  Every day for the last four days Shirley has been up in time to allow us to be on the road before 8am.

Thursday (to allow Shirley a rewarding sleep in) I went for an early morning walk on our local beach (well 7:15 anyway).  The following photo is what I saw. It was an enjoyable stroll.

Singing Ship

We went for a drive around the local towns and beaches and saw some sights such a synthetic golf course, where the greens and surrounding areas were made of synthetic grass.  We also found and listened to the singing ship at Emu Park—which makes it tunes via wind blowing through various metal pipes.


We then returned back to camp to cook scones for eight, then later sat around the camp kitchen and listened to an excellent bush poet.


By the way the camp has eight residents who are former employee of the SECV (State Electricity Commission of Victoria).


On Friday we rose and Shirley and I repeated my walk of yesterday.  We then went for a drive to Byfield, about 35 km north of Yeppoon.  It was a lovely drive and we were rewarded with a lovely rainforest in the Byfield National Park. 

Byfield Fern

This area is home to the Byfield fern (which is actually a cycad) which does not occur anywhere else in the world.

The waterways were excellent for some reflective photography.

Saturday was bowls day and I joined two mates from Eltham in a foursome at Yeppoon.  The 8 bowlers on our rink were all from Victoria, as were many of the other bowlers.  We won the day and went home with a grand prize of $10, after a few beers of course.

The day closed with a camp entertainer and locally cooked fish and chips.


Sunday was Day 77 and was a quiet day.  John and I went to church which (being Catholic) was at the top of the best hill and the pew we sat in had wonderful views of the ocean.   The priest must have read our thoughts as his sermon mentioned how the church builders ensured caveats were placed on some surrounding land to stop high rise dwellings.

The others went to a local market which was not really a “blokes” market.  I did brave the water slide at the camp ground—not sure why.

We had another relaxing BBQ for dinner.

Monday 5th August started with another 7am walk along the beach under cloudless skies and along a magnificent beach.  The grass is very wet of a morning as we have a very heavy dew each night.
After morning coffee seven of the eight villains went for another walk along the beach.  Sea shells were collected for grandsons.

After lunch all eight villains enjoyed our last combined feed (for this trip) of scones, cream and jam.  Some had plain scones, some had date scones.  It was a great session as tomorrow Tom & Marj will head south,  Kay & Darryl will start to head home and the remaining four of us (John, Fay, Shirley, Chris) will head 320 west to Emerald.

Great Friends - Marj, John, Chris, Tom, Kay, Darryl, Shirley, Fay

The eight of us have had many laughs over the past six days.

Van Gogh "Sunflower"

Tuesday was a transit day, with Emerald being the overnight stop—two nights in fact.  The key highlight of the 310 or so km was the counting of coal trains that were either heading east loaded or west unloaded.  Shirley soon established that each train had about 100 cars and either two or three locos.  The frequency of loaded trains was amazing.  The trains end up at either Hay Point or Gladstone, both of which are busy ports.



After a couple of stops we arrived at Emerald which next weekend is hosting a gem festival in conjunction with its close neighbours Sapphire and Rubyvale. However the timing was not quite right for us (it might have saved me a lot of money).

We set up camp in Emerald and went for a drive and walk around town, the highlights being the easel in the park with a copy of Van Gogh’s “Sunflower”.  It is apparently the largest easel (and “Sunflower”) in the world with the easel standing 25 metres high and containing 13.6 tonnes of steel.  The botanic gardens also has a big reputation so we went for a leisurely stroll there.  The historic railway station is also well worth a mention.

 

On Wednesday we went for a drive to Sapphire and Rubyvale, which are typical Aussie towns where the main activity was miners trying to make their fortune, and now is tourism with a few optimists still trying to find their fortune.  The rich have either departed or established a local business (such as selling gems or coffee) to expand their fortune.  Our plans to fossick soon evaporated so the women went looking through every jewellery shop—whether flash or very much otherwise.

I spent 15 minutes with a guide who was about to show some school kids how to fossick and find sapphires, and he was kind enough to provide me with some tips and turned his back as I pocketed the couple of “rocks” that he pointed out to me.   So I can honestly say that I got Shirley a couple of Sapphires in Rubyvale.  She was speechless.

After lunch we went for a drive to Fairbairn Dam which is pretty impressive and holds back the waters of Lake Maraboon.   Apparently Queensland likes to give a name to a dam wall that is different to the name of the water behind it.  Work that out.  It is apparently three times the volume of Sydney Harbour and used for fishing, irrigation and water sports.  A sign lists the volume and type of fish that are released annually.  There is also an excellent camp ground on the banks of the lake.

Thursday was another transit day.  Our first stop was “Virgin Rock”, so named because someone could see an image of the Virgin Mary ‘carved’ into the rock.  Their imagination is wider than mine.  We drove through Springsure (so named because it has water emanating from a reliable spring) and moved onto Rolleston—our  lunch stop.

Virgin Rock

Another 60 km of sealed road and 20 km of dirt road we arrived at Takarakka Bush Camp at the edge of Carnarvon Gorge.  On the way in we passed a monument to a WW2 C47B Dakota crash that killed 4 US and 14 Australian personnel.  It was a piece of history that brings you back to reality now and then.

C47B Dakota Memorial

Anyway Takarakka has no TV, no radio and no telephone, but it does have Wi-fi access on the reception verandah.
At 5pm we listed to a local guide who gave us a few tips about walking the gorge.  He was very informative and passionate about the local eco system.






Carnarvon gorge is about 10 km long with nine side gorges or places to see, such as aboriginal art, lovely scenery, rare palms, rocks and waterways.  So the entire walk is a lot longer than 20 km.

We departed at 8:15 on Friday and walked the gorge and most of the side trips called things like Cathedral Cave, Art Gallery and Wards Canyon.  This meant crossing the creek many times on stepping stones. However most of the stepping stones were very solid and stable.  We each had a supporting walking stick—recommended to all walkers – fashioned from local wood.

During the walk into the gorge the birds were so numerous and noisy it was like trying to pick out a conversation at the MCG on Grand Final day—with Carlton 3 points in front of Collingwood (or Hawthorn or Essendon) with 2 minutes to go.
It took us seven and a half hours to complete—the same as great friends a couple of months ago.  My pocket device advised me that we had covered 23.9 km—probably a record for Shirley and me in one day.  Although we were very weary at the end, the walk was worth every step.  We started with about 4 litres of water, sandwiches, apples, muesli bars, nuts and lollies. According to the car it was 6 degrees.  We returned with one muesli bar, some water, a few nuts, one wet sock (Shirley’s) and very dusty shoes.

It was a wonderful day.  After a shower I rewarded myself with a cold beer, my first for a few days.  A while later we wandered down to the Takarakka “diner” with a bottle of “red” and enjoyed roast lamb, followed up by a lovely pavlova dessert.  A great way to finish a great day.

Saturday started with careful testing of all bits to check for aches, pains, stiffness and numbness—before emerging from bed.  No major damage as reported although Shirley’s crook ankle gave her a little grief.  I rewarded us both with BBQ bacon, eggs and tomatoes with toast and coffee (me) and tea (Shirley) - while enjoying the warm
sunshine.

Rock Pool

After a leisurely morning we visited Baloon Cave (correct spelling) and the Rock Pool.  Both were pleasant (and short) walks, the former providing more aboriginal art.  Late that afternoon I said hello to our new neighbour (Ian) and we were soon sipping his fine red wine.  Very, very nice.  I swapped some more wine for some of our fresh damper.  I reckon I did OK on the deal.  It was only later that I found out that he was a Collingwood supporter.

At 9am last Sunday I was sitting in a Yeppoon church staring out at to sea while trying to listen to the priest out the front.  At 9am today (another Sunday) I was walking through Carnarvon Gorge with the only sounds being the birds, running water, wind through the trees and our footsteps.  No planes, no trains, no cars, no trucks and no other people.  How good is that?

Shirley and I had two objectives, the Moss Garden and the Amphitheatre.   It took 11 km and 4 hours, and was wonderful.  We have walked about 40 km in the past three days, and now have two days to recover before we tackle Cania Gorge.
We have seen some great sights in and around Carnarvon Gorge.  My photos do not do it justice.  I suggest that you put Carnarvon Gorge on your “Bucket List”.  I will finish this chapter with more photos of the gorge.



Amphitheatre

 

Moss Garden

There are additional photos of Carnarvon Gorge as a seperate page on the first page of this blog - or via the following link:

http://chrisnshirl2013.blogspot.com.au/p/carnarvon-gorge-ps.html



This is the end of report number 8. 

So far we have been away for 12 weeks and travelled just over 13,000 km. 
Please stay tuned for future reports.