North on the A3

[OneBlackDog]

79 kilometres along the A3 later I'm at the RM Williams Australian Bush Learning Centre, located in the "self-proclaimed Beef Capital of the North Burnett" of Eidsvold, which is were RM Williams chose to settle after leaving South Australia in the 1950s. It has a covered picnic table for me to eat "travel food" at and toilets. Plus, it's real claim to fame is a bit of history, the story of the bushman & founder of the RM Williams company, RM Williams. He made his fame doing leatherwork - saddles, boots, belts, whips etc. for the bushmen of the Australian outback. You can read more here https://www.rmwilliams.com.au/our-history/RMWhistory.html?lang=en_AU.


the RM Williams Australian Bush Learning Centre & Visitor Information Centre and an ugly orange Kawasaki

RM was famous for his leatherwork. I had a go at plaiting leather, but I won't be famous.


not a career move

I found this in the open paddock behind the picnic table - at first, it looks like it is just a lone pine tree, but it is so much more.








But back to the road my friends... but as I was getting close to Monto, this happened.


liquid sunshine

but I know how to stop this


and magically the rain never quite came


still a great day

Do you have painted grain silos?

paintings of the "three moon" legend

and then I rolled on into Monto for fuel. 16.5 litres for 325km. And, if I remember correctly, the last bar of the fuel gauge was flashing.


looking at the Toyota, I'm happy to stay on the bitumen

Monto must be a magnet for rain, as that was it.

On the outskirts of town, there were more reminders of how we all got here, I'd love to stop, but I have a plan.


hardship, desperation, necessity, progress

Kilometre after kilometre, minute after minute, tune after tune, paddock after creek after forest after homestead, town after village after locality, the afternoon rolled blissfully on. 

The rain cleared and the heat came - probably got to 35C (95F), hot but not uncomfortably hot (I'd like to think my sensible white helmet & light coloured jacket helps).


trees clinging to the road reserve

The heat was a good excuse to stop for a look around.


another stunning landscape photo ruined by a random orange bike


it's actually quite a rich landscape


red bit on a catus


yellow flower on a woody shrub

[uralrob]

 Great country, great writing.

 Following along  .

 Rob.

[Kawaboy]

Enjoying this 
Dreaming of future trips...

[OneBlackDog]

Originally Posted by Shandy

I laughed at the plaque for the view point, opened a month after the minister had actually ended their term in office, and the last job was to open some toilets 
It's S**t work, but someone's got to do it 

That Cattle grid looked mean too!
Looked like you could loose a person in those gaps, cant have been easy.

Yep, that plaque was almost too good to be true, but politicians!

Actually, the cattle grid didn't look that bad riding over it - as long as you hit them square on there are no problems, well except for ones with sharp edges and the ones on curves and the ones with cow droppings...

[OneBlackDog]

Originally Posted by uralrob

 Great country, great writing.

 Following along  .

 Rob.

Thanks Rob

[OneBlackDog]

Originally Posted by Kawaboy

Enjoying this 
Dreaming of future trips...

Thanks for joining in

Keep the dream alive!

[OneBlackDog]

So for the next couple of hours, I just rode. I rode north on the A3 - Thangool, Biloela, Orange Creek, Dixalea, Dululu (turn right) and on to Mt Morgan and down the range to Bauldercombe.

But the pub was shut, although there was still free camping next door, and a lovely park over the road.



I mentioned that I had a plan, well it wasn't so much a plan as an idea. Get to the coast and eat fish and chips by the beach. Not a grand idea, but certainly, in my opinion, a worthy one. I had previously looked at accommodation options and fish & chip options and it looked good. Google maps even still showed motel rooms available. While sitting in the park eating some, surprisingly still satisfactory, travel food I put my clever pants on and rang the motel. Pro-tip: don't trust Google.

Would you believe that I wasn't the only one to want to stay by the beach and eat fish & chips? Turns out I wasn't, but what I was, was too late. Way too late as the next  7+ motels were also booked out, or just had a stupidly expensive family room. And then my phone rang - my wife's brother just wanted a yarn (could have done with a beer tho'). So the search continued for a reasonably priced motel with a pool. It was a hot day and a pool actually sounded better than a beer. Found one! eventually. Not by the beach, not even near the beach, or a fish & chip shop, but it had a pool and the staff were friendly on the phone.

And back to the road.

Pass under the railway line, it is raised above the flood plain.


the bridge

Then the end of the A3, sorry but my phone camera was playing up so only an image from Google.


the end of this bit

Now to the motel pool in Rockhampton.


turn left for the pool

When it rains, it really rains, so the highway gets a big bridge over the floodplains


floodplains, so named as it's a plain that will flood

This is THE beef capital, and just to prove it they have big bulls (well, usually they are bulls, but sometimes they become steers).


just one of several big bulls

I was using the TomTom app on my phone for navigation and it... well, it makes strange decisions about the best route, and this time I'm off the main road into town and taking some back roads. But, looking back, it was more interesting than the main highway. Here's a little of what I saw.


Did your dad ever make the joke about the cemetery being in the very middle of town, the "dead centre". Mine did. Often. I have as well, but I'd like to think I used it sparingly and only on special occassions.


the middle of town


Here's a couple of old houses, built cheaply from timber & sheets of corrugated iron, large verandahs to keep out the heat and above ground to catch more of the breeze plus keep away from the termites.


renovators delight


now that's livin'

And off to the motel with a pool.


motel with pool

Today's map.


day 2

Now for a walk and dinner.


I might have eaten a little bit much

[Shandy]

 

Great stuff again,

I like that you added a little rain into the previous days reports, just to make us Brits feel at ease. Your explanation of a flood plain made me chuckle too 

Even though you didn't have chips, it looked like you made the most of dinner anyway  and it looked like it was nice?

The neglected old houses were crying out for renovation, love to get my hands on something like that, bet they are really nice once renovated.

The orange V looking lovely in the sun, inspiring me to get my black V out in the grey early morning mist this weekend to commute to work 

Keep it coming

[Clunkyboy]

I especially liked the vegatation report, Red bit on cactus, yellow bit on wood 

[uralrob]

 Yeah, it's good to read a report that finally gets to the meat of the un-asked questions   .

 Rob.