All good things have to end sometime I suppose, and it was time to leave Solitaire and Jamie and Susie, an after a blissful 3 days out at Keppel Island, head back do the rod towards the Gold Coast. After having another shower in the marina facilities (too good n opportunity to miss !!), we then had a great breakfast and coffee there with Jamie and Susie before we hit the road south. Thank you both SO much for a delightful time on Solitaire - Laughs like that are hard to come by - You are good friends.
While Troopie had been parked in the Marina, the heat had got to the big stone chip in my windscreen and it was now about 9 inches long and spreading !! Ah, the joys of outback travel ! New windscreen soon, although I would like to wait for as long as possible so the new one is new just before the trip to Alaska next year.
As we headed south, we were due to pass a town called 1770. With a name like that, it deserved closer inspection, despite it being some 50 kms off the main road, south of Gladstone. A it was about lunchtime, it seemed like a good idea for a picnic, anyway. It is called 1770 because in 1770, Captain James Cook landed here in Bustard Bay, his first landing in Queensland, and Joseph Banks came ashore and collected lots of plants and samples (apparently!).
Anyway, very pretty little place, with lots of houses perched up on high overlooking .......the sea !! Now, we lived in Singapore and found that apartments that overlooked just the sea looked fun initially, but you soon realised that looking at just the sea is not that much fun !! It like the outback - Its pretty empty !! It is far more interesting to have a bit of land, or something else, included in the view, but just overlooking water is not (to me)very exciting !!! So, been to 1770, very nice, but I will leave it to others to live there !!
Some beautiful red grevillea's though, and lots of banksia trees (named after Joseph Banks ???) Had a very pleasant walk through the headland to a viewing point overlooking Bustard Bay.
From there it was on south. We only had another 480 kms to home so we decided to stop for the night in Rosedale, a small town on a minor road, about 50 kms north of Bundaberg. As so many of our overnight stops have been, very interesting and different yet again. The campsite was run by the pub, so when we went into the pub and asked "How much?", I swear the barman hesitated and then quoted us a price off the top of his head ! Because at $20, it was somewhat OTT !! Never mind, we got a place to park on a great big football oval with only one other van on there, and the showers may not have looked the best, but they were actually not bad !!
Once we had set up camp, we went for a walk into the little town, and found a tiny Tea House, so went in there for tea and a scone !! They had some amazing lillies in the back garden, as well as a very sweet smelling jasmine in full bloom. Delightful. We then wandered around the town a little before going back to the camp site, having some dinner, and hitting the sack for the last time on the trip !!
Pics :- https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0050YeppoonToRosedale?authkey=Gv1sRgCM7k9MSjx9rqngE#
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