Rockhampton 2nd June

After breakfast and another beautiful day we decided to visit the Archer Park Rail Museum  where they say you can " Step back in time to an era when steam trains reigned ".

Arriving early we found ourselves to be the only visitors, what a bonus was that as we were given a personal guided tour by Bill, an ex Station Master who joined QR in 1946 and went on to make 48 years of service. Having now been retired for 20 years Bill along with Blair were still enjoying the thrill of the railways as volunteers at the museum. Between them they had us fascinated with all their stories.Bill told us that' carriage 1007' that was in the museum and was currently under refurbishment was one of the carriages that he served on when he first joined the railways as a boy.
Archer Park was originally opened in on the 11th December 1899 and was closed as a railway station in 1970 and is now heritage listed. Another one of the main attractions is the Purrey Steam Train which was built in Bordeaux France of which Rockhampton had 9 of.

Coffee was served in the  refreshment room along with jam and scones. By this time we had been joined by two other couples who were being entertained by our hosts Bill and Blair.

Beatrice helping out as a porter.

It w.as time for lunch so we made our way back to our home. It still being such a beautiful day we thought we should have a look at the Botanical Gardens and Zoo that everyone said we shouldn't miss. Here we enjoyed a couple of hours strolling amongst the vast gardens, fern houses ,the zoo with its aviaries and a few other exotic animals.

With that we decided to call it a day but not before calling in at the supermarket to pick up a few supplies before heading off for Mackay tomorrow morning.

Rockhampton 1st June 2010

Despite being sandwiched between the Bruce highway and the railway we both slept very well,  though we did have to throw on another blanket to keep us warm. Blue skies and a brilliant sun rise we knew we were in for another beautiful day.
Breakfast outside and then into the car for a drive out to Yeppoon on the coast about 40 kms from Rockie.
Having visited there some years ago we were keen to see how things had changed and changed they had, with many new road upgrades, roundabouts and many more tourist places to stay with upmarket hotels, motels and of course the caravans parks.

We stopped off opposite Yeppoon Main Beach and enjoyed the view of the Keppel Bay Islands just off the coast whilst having our morning coffee. These 15 Islands are registered as National Park and are surrounded by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park .We could imagine how busy it must be here in the height of the summer holidays.


We continued on for seven kms heading south of Yeppoon on the scenic highway to Rosslyn Bay which is the departure point for transfers to Great Keppell Island and the cruising and bare boat charters around the Bay.Here is also the largest Marina in Northern Queensland. Nearby was Double Head one of the many ancient volcanic plugs in this region. There was a bush walk to the summit which we decided against in favour of buying a bag of freshly cooked prawns for our lunch.

We continued our drive on to Emu Park to visit the Singing Ship, built in honour of Captain Cook commemorating his visit to the region in 1770.

Buying a freshly baked baguette we sat in the park and ate our prawns.


The Capricorn Coast and Islands is well worth a visit

www.capricornholidays.com.au

On through Emu Park we headed back to the historic part of Rockhampton  and a walk down East Street. It was interesting to read all the plaques on the current facades depicting the history of the shops and businesses that once traded at that location. It was also great to see that many of the historic buildings were being refurbished and put to new uses as art centres, conference centres etc.                                                                          
                                                                  

Walking down by the Fitzroy River  we had a beer at the Criterion Hotel which boasts as being the first pub in Rockhampton.




Back to the Caravan Park we had a rest and then changed to go out to one of the most well known pubs for its steaks.The Great Western Hotel. This hotel has quite a history however more recently in (2000) a covered rodeo area was built adjoining the hotel and is used for Ute shows,rodeo,stud sales,weddings and wood chops just to name a few.

On Friday nights it features bull riding in the evenings and training sessions were offered to those who would like to participate. Beatrice tried to put my name down for it, however I had to disappoint her as we were scheduled to leave on Thursday.