Rockhampton to Emerald

Well we did make it to dinner with Jeremy & Phoebe, and had a lovely evening.  Trevor recovered after a wee rest, thankfully, and was able to enjoy the delicious curry meal, as did I.

This morning after a couple of little jobs around town, we hitched up the wagon and set off West.
It was quite an uneventful day on the road, apart from having to drive through very thick smoke from an out of control grass fire, and encountering quite a few road works on the outskirts of Rockhampton.

Have never seen so many Traffic Control vehicles in one place. They virtually outnumbered the cars and trucks lined up - did seem a bit of an overkill to us, especially when there didn't seem to be an equitable amount of actual work happening on the side of the road to warrant it all.

We arrived in Emerald about 4.30pm after stopping off in Blackwater at the International Coal Centre.
It was interesting, although a number of the exhibits were away being upgraded, so didn't take us very long to go through.  Trev would have like to have done a mine tour, but times didn't work in.  He'll probably get another opportunity sometime, I hope.

Anyway we arrived at the Emerald Botanical Gardens free camp, and managed to find a spot in amongst the twenty or so other free campers in all their various vehicles.  A new experience for us, but we did manage to park the van without too much embarrassment.  Of course, arriving at that time of day everyone else had their chairs out, beers & wines in hands, eager to scrutinise the parking skills of those of us who hadn't got there after lunch.

We had read that there was a 260 million year old fossilised tree outside the Town Hall gifted to the town by BHP, and also an elaborate & Historical Trust listed wooden railway station on the list of things to see in Emerald.  So instead of joining the happy hour brigade we went for a walk, saw the above mentioned places of interest, and will consequently be hitting the road first thing in the morning.
Maybe tomorrow night it will be our turn to sit with drink in hand and watch the arrivals.  We'll see how we go.

(PS:  Have to say the vans next door tonight are of slightly better quality than our Rockhampton neighbours)

Cheers !!