Day FOUR of Walkabout

So I woke early, got myself sorted and headed across the way for breakfast with Gregg and Val.
Their camper was full of nifty gadgets but I must say my favourite was the drivers seats which swiveled all the way round! Simple I know but reminded me of the camper from Meet The Fockers

Tried Vegemite for the first time too! Can't say it went down so well though. It was a bit like Bovril with a slight beer taste to it which was fine but the aftertaste was icky. Sorry guys, I guess it's just not for me!

After breakfast I caught up with Lindsay and  Penny from the previous night and they helped me plan the next stage of my route and gave me a few more hints and tips. The agreed plan was to head to Emerald then head up through Clermont towards Mackay. After saying my goodbyes and thank yous and picking up my newly acquired plastic garden chair I headed on the next part of my journey.

OK so there is absolutely NOTHING to see along the A4 or the A7! My view for the majority of the 4/5/6 hours drive...

The majority of traffic were these guys, one of which was so friendly he decided to kick up a bunch of stones and chip whizz bangs windscreen!

The most interesting thing I saw from Duaringa to Mackay was a train crossing which took forever as they can have up to 100 carts following them!

Oh! HUGE THANKS to Gregg for the heads up on a free, yes FREE, apple pie in Emerald! He had ordered it a few days earlier but forgot to collect it...so I went and asked to see if it was still in the fridge and this is what I got

It was so good that within a matter of minutes it was reduced to this...

MUNCH!!

This part of my journey was possibly the most boring and time consuming. It may have felt longer because it was so boring however. Also, since the campers engine had a glorious habit of heating up rather quickly and way beyond what all the warning signs recommended, I ended up having the heating on to take the heat away from the engine. All I can say is "I was absolutely ROASTIN'!"...not an attractive state to be in at all.

Eventually arrived in Mackay and it was already dark. I wasn't sure how much further the rest site was so ended up staying at the BP servo just outside of Mackay. There were toilets, free showers, food and fuel so I was quite happy!

Day THREE of Walkabout

After worrying about where I had panic parked the night before I woke early to a guy taking his dog for a walk. As long as it wasn't someone telling me to move on I could deal with that. Although once I opened the front curtain to see where I had in fact stopped I was pleasantly surprised!

After taking advantage of the facilities by the beach I made my way to Duaringa, heading inland towards Emerald.

I arrived around lunchtime and headed to the tourist info on the other side of the camp site. The woman there  was nice enough but I couldn't tell if she was part of the museum or actually the official elected tourist information person! She palmed me off with a bunch of leaflets whilst saying that there wasn't anything to do there...great information stop that was!

Anyway I pulled up the camper under some trees and started writing everything down that I had done so far and tidied the camper as best I could. Whilst tidying, I realised that I had left the charger for my Aussie phone...wonderful! I knew it was going far too well for a Gemma adventure!

As the day wore on I got talking to the couple that were parked to the side of me, Lindsay and Penny. They were so friendly and after about 5 minutes it felt like we had known each other for ages! 

Gregg and Val were in the other camper opposite and they came over and joined in the conversation. They were some of the friendliest people too! Somehow there appeared a glass of wine in my hand with cheese and crackers on the go! We sat talking for ages about where we had been, where we were going, what was worth visiting, what wasn't etc. 

Gregg told me about some of the places they had visited including Paronella Park which looked amazing from their photos. Lindsay told me about places to go around the Atherton Tablelands such as the wetlands and free museum in Mareeba and Penny mentioned the markets in Kuranda. All sounding like places I wanted to visit!

It was great banter and I was invited to Gregg and Vals' camper for breakfast the next morning!!