We were surprised to see a Maccas in the main street of Roma as we were leaving in the morning. Ray pulled over and I ran in, keen to test a theory about how you need good tasting water to make a good coffee. Because Maccas coffees always taste the same, how could they get the same tasting coffee with crap water? I returned with the coffee and 3 nuggets for The Captain.
Somehow, unless they trucked in fresh water, the coffee tasted just like Maccas that could have come from anywhere in Australia. Water fresh from a waterfall or from Roma – couldn’t tell the difference. Don’t know how they did it but we were glad they did.
We hit the road, interested to see what sights we would come across today on our way to Emerald. Along the road, in the distance Ray pointed out a sight that I had to blink to believe. Two bike riders were laden down like pack horses, pedalling along the side of the road in the heat. We didn’t toot for fear that they would get a surprise and topple off their bikes. What a way to see Australia! Up close and personal, dodging cars, caravans and trucks. Navigating their way around potholes, bitumen that had become so hot that it had literally formed waves on the side of the road, outback animals of the live variety and not to mention the festering road kill they would have had to ride around whilst holding their noses.
I admired them from the air conditioned comfort of our Ford Wildtrack. I once dreamed of doing this on a bike…before comfort and lack of stamina (aka age) overtook my sense of adventure and sensibility. Now I know I could never do it. Leave it to the younger, fitter, more spirited. Your turn! It really would be a great way to see Australia, cheap too (no fuel costs) but the roads are long with not a lot in between so make sure you download a lot of playlists on your phone, don’t rely on Spotify or Apple Music because there is no reception where you really want to go to see the real Australia.
This road was becoming quite the entertainment capital today because further along we saw an amazing sight. The photos hardly do it justice. The largest piece of what could only be mining machinery that we had ever seen. It was on the back of a truck and it literally took up the whole road. There was no way that anyone was getting past it, in either direction.
We were crawling along at about 25 km an hour, frustratingly slow, knowing that this could and probably would, go on for hours. The traffic banked up behind us and the ute in front of us also showed his frustration as he put his indicator on to overtake it. There was literally nowhere he could go though.
The 2 way radio kept us informed as to what was going on. (If you are thinking of travelling, they are simple to use and really necessary.)
We heard that there was a truck coming from the opposite direction. Oh Crikey!
We were soon doing no more than 10km an hour, then at a complete stop. The truck carrying the mining equipment had pulled off the road as much as it could and so had the oncoming truck. As the truck passed, they had what seemed to be about 30cm between them. I think we all held our breaths and squeezed our bum cheeks in. (Well, I did!) This happened a couple more times. Having the 2 way enabled us to be part of the event and relieved the boredom.
Eventually, there was a rest stop up ahead. The truck pulled into the widened area and the space opened up. The police guide car had held off all the oncoming traffic and we were allowed to pass. We were thanked for our patience over the 2 way and there were lots of waves. I didn’t see any birds (fingers) but I bet there were a few who felt like giving it. It was incredibly frustrating , even knowing what was going on and being up the front to see all the action.
We rolled into Rolleston just in time for a late lunch. We found the park because the parks always have public toilets. I looked longingly at the playground wishing that I had some grandkids here with me. The flying fox looked like lots of fun. I was very tempted to jump on by myself but it was about 38° and it was made of metal so that stopped me.
We decided to stay outside of the main town of Emerald. We chose a place called Lake Maraboon which is about 17 km away. Ray was hoping to do some fishing and I was hoping to do some (more) relaxing. The Caravan Park promised lakeside sites and we booked for two nights. Emerald is a town of about 15,000 people and it’s the gateway to the gem fields of Queensland. You guessed it, deposits of emeralds were found in this area.
We always check how many supermarkets there are to give us an idea of the size of a town and the facilities and amenities that it might have. Emerald is more of a business oriented town. It now houses a replica of the largest painting of a sunflower by van Gogh, standing at 25 m tall in one of their gardens. This celebrates their past as a leading producer of sunflowers.
We set up the caravan, and because it was oppressively hot, and we were concerned for Henry, who was panting and looked to be in a bit of distress, we put the air conditioning on in the caravan and hopped back into the cool car and went for a drive while the caravan cooled down.
We went to the Lake Maraboon which was literally next door and drove around it to find the best fishing spot. Ray’s research had led him to believe that you didn’t need a fishing license in Queensland, unless you were fishing in a spot that had been purposely filled with fish, and there weren’t many of those around. They were called “fish stocking lakes”. Well, guess what? Lake Maraboon was a fish stocking lake. This wasn’t really a problem except that it was probably the only time on this trip that Ray was going to use the fishing license. We kept driving watching the people unload their JetSki’s and have a fantastic time on the lake. Henry was mesmerized by them. People were paddle boarding and using all sorts of watercraft. I wondered if we could hire a kayak and go out into the lake. Henry would probably love that. We decided to check at the caravan park.
When we got back to the caravan, it was gloriously cool inside and we set about having a quick dinner. There wasn’t much else we could do because we had no reception for the Internet or for the TV. The only kind of reception we could get was for text, messages, and phone calls. Not so much of a problem, it just meant that we had to amuse ourselves in other ways.
Because Ray had to have a quick dinner (it was just oppressively hot and zapped our energy for cooking), he decided to read the Woolworths recipe magazine and I caught him staring longingly at the photo of the hotdogs. If you know Ray you will know that there isn’t a hot dog that Ray hasn’t met that he doesn’t like. It’s his favourite food. That and pink donuts or pink cup cakes.
When he read the recipe, however, he found out that they weren’t actually hotdogs, but carrots in rolls. This made him physically shudder. Poor Ray.
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