1770

Having enjoyed a couple of excellent days at the town of 1770, it is back on the road again. It has been very nice to stay at a couple of towns for two nights each. Both places are ones that I have heard of and wondered what the fuss was all about. I can certainly understand now. Hervey Bay was a very nice bustling beach side tourist town with everything you could ask for, excellent beaches (even in winter), great cycles/walking paths, great cafes and convenient parks for the kids. The town of 1770, while also a perfect holiday destination, is a tiny place right on the water and as the name suggests full of history with its biggest claim to fame being the second landing place for Captain (then Lieutenant) James Cook after Botany Bay on his first voyage to Australia. It has been a great opportunity to give the kids a history lesson, much to Maddi's dismay. We also went to the local historical society museum which the kids enjoyed for a while.



A friend of mine who I use to work with (Bart) often raved about his regular holidays at 1770, so there was no way we could pass by without stopping in. The campground is right on the beach and if you are into boating or camping this is a fantastic spot with awesome views across the water over which the sun sets, being quite unusual on the East coast.

Tig (aka Phil)

So, I can't leave it there so what else did we get up to over the last couple of days. Well while relaxing at 1770 Camping Ground the girls did a little painting craft. Yes, I can hear the preschool teachers laughing as they know I am not a fan of painting. I can't cope with the mess and believe this is something left for preschool and school and not in my home. However, since the great outdoors of Australia is Maddi, Ella and Kai's class room for the next 6 months I have to give in and allow some painting. Thankfully the girls were very well behaved and I was a meany and only allowed 2 colours to be open at any one time. Did you not realise I was a control freak when it comes to paint.



We also took a little detour on the way back to the caravan after the Museum and headed up to the nearby lookout for a view of the sunsetting. I managed to capture a photo from Wave Lookout. I tried to get a photo of the three kids here but that wasn't their plan so the only pictures I got was of either girl trying to lick the others face. Did I mention Ella and Maddi have formed a lovely if not strange friendship since spending more time together.


Today, has been a boring day with lots of driving (441km) and a food shop at Rockhampton. The kids unfortunately didn't get a play on any play equipment today but did manage to run some of their energy out running crazy around Rockhampton Woolworths searching for me in the aisles.

The highlight of today for Tig and I at least was the commentary on the UHF while driving between Miriam Vale and Rockhampton. We had a rather wide load behind us somewhere which we only at first heard about from the voice that said 'Southbound, there's a 5.5. If you stick to the edge of the black you should be alright' each time a truck passed us heading southbound. This beast of a wide load came up behind us with a police escort who basically drove on the wrong side of the road to push any on coming cars right over so this mega of a wide load could proceed. QLD seems to be the state of roadworks at the moment so we listened and watched the mayhem this wide load was creating as it drove up the Bruce Highway. The truckie was very skilled at his job as he managed to position it perfectly across bridges (within a foot of the rail), past signs, witches hats and even stupid drivers overtaking southbound trucks who had moved over due to the warning on the UHF. You could tell which cars had UHFs too as they proceeded with great caution. Remember how I said this wide load came up behind us, well I was driving and I generally stick to around 90kms/hr when towing the van and the Bruce is mainly a 100 to 110 zone and every truck including this wide load and escort were doing 100 to 110km/hr. It was crazy. What made it crazier was the fact that there was actually two of these beasts. The other was about 300 metres behind the first and had another police escort.


Ella did get a special treat today. She managed to convince her dad to buy a few prawns which she sat down and peeled prior to dinner as a little pre dinner appetizer. She was proud as punch to have one of her favourite foods.



Till next time ...
Thea