DAY 2 Afternoon (27 December 2023) Rockhampton.

 We drove to back to Rockhampton after our morning Gladstone cruise and completed an extensive walking tour of the city in blistering 35C heat and skin peeling 65% Humidity. This is an excellent place to loose weight !!! Rockhampton (Pop 88,777) surprised us with its majestic grand colonial buildings dating back to 1853 when it was first founded. Gold put it well and truly on the map and when that ran out, cattle took over and is big business until this very day.

Here is what we saw on our almost 10km walk around Rocky:  Along A1 freeway to Saleyards Distillery, St Josephs Cathedral & The Bishops House, Rainbow Fountain in Central Park, along A1 to Archer St then Archer Park Rail Museum (Grand Building), Pilbeam Theatre & Charles Archer Statue, along Victoria Parade (Fitzroy River), Alluvia Monument (Riverside Park), Customs House, Heritage Hotel, Old Buildings alon Qauy & East Streets between Willaim & Derby Streets, along William St, St Pauls Cathedral (after Alma St).

 

Enough said, just feast your eyes on the city’s surprisingly well-restored colonial buildings of yester-year…

DAY 2 Morning (27 December 2023) Gladstone Cruise.

 Gladstone (Pop 63,455) was actually first visited by Captain Cook in 1770 but it was Flinders who established the first habitation there.

 

Gladstone has three major islands close to it: Quoin, Facing and Curtis. You can catch the family run Curtis Car Ferry to all three islands from Gladstone Marina and back in just 2.5 hours. The car ferry is modern with indoor and outdoor seating as well as an open top deck with great views high above the water line.

 

The day was good in that there was not excessive sun, lots of odd-shaped and coloured clouds making for some great shots as you will see below. Quoin Island access is by invitation only since it house a Green Turtle Research Sanctuary dedicated to the preservation of this most popular little animal. Facing has about 1,000 permanent residents as is relatively flat, green with mainly mangroves and small bushes. It is populated enough to have only one pub. Curtis is huge with up to 3,000 residents and extends many kilometres north and very close to the mainland.

 

Enjoy the shots of this tri-island trip… 

DAY 1 (26 December 2023) Gladstone

 

All great adventures start early. Mc-Glad-Rock is no exception. Up at 4:45am at Figtree for our 7am Virgin flight to Brisbane. All went well. Only 80min in Brisbane before continuing on to Rockhampton where a near-new 4 Cylinder Petrol Toyota Camry car awaited us for the price of a mini !!!

 

The 108km drive to Gladstone was smooth but rainy. Lucky for us the rain stopped as we pulled into our hotel to ready ourselves for a long walk of the city centre. “Gladdy” was isolated. This was Boxing Day but it reminded us of COVID-19 – there was no one about. At all. The sun pierced through thick cloud to reveal a colourful central street and some buildings dating back to early 1900’s. The centre is neat and tidy and on top of a hill giving it a feeling of openness.

 

Gladdy is famous for its port that exports shit loads of coal to China. There is a huge coal fired electrical plant close to the centre of the city and a major cement manufacturer. There is not a single hybrid or electrical car in sight !!!

 

The weather was frightfully hot and humid but the fact that the city is on top of a hill brings breezes that slows the sweat down. We saw the following sights: Round Hill Lookout, Gladstone Presbyterian Church & Gladstone Regional Art Gallery and Museum (Opposite), Gladstone Regional Council Chambers, Lady Nelson Park, Along Flinders Parade to The Dock & bottom of East Shores, Along East Shores Walking Track, East Shores Dolphin Viewpoint, HMAS Gladstone, Auckland House, Auckland Point Lookout, William Golding Memorial Lookout, Gladstone Entertainment & Convention Centre.

 

Our favourite site was HMS Gladstone, a retired navy vessel that actually fought in the Battle of the Coral Sea that featured a young JFK and saved the Ozzies of the Kokoda Trail (to be released by Golfco Pictures next year).

 

Enjoy Gladdy Kravitz !!!