Well now i've got the mango sap out of my system and i'm a bit happier with life it may be good to update people on our goings on.
We left the damn mangos before chritmas and are still chasing money they owe us but that is out of sight and therefore mind. We left Townsville and headed south on the open road once again and got as far as Proserpine for an overnight stop. From there we drove to Mackay for the new year hoping for a fairly big town so that we could join in the celebrations with the locals in the town square or similar. They were organising a street party and it all looked good for us to walk into the town and enjoy our new year. The rain started that afternoon and didn't stop until the next morning and it fell down. We didn't feel like going to the street party and so sat a little dejected under a tarp by the van getting steadily drunk and yawning at each other until midnight when we ventured out of our shelter to watch a few intrepid fireworks before climbing into bed. We packed up our soggy camp and drove on to Marlborough the next day before moving again to The Caves just above Rockhampton. The limestone Caves and ajoining caravan park were good value for money and the wildlife was rather tame and cheeky - we found the roo's had practicaly moved into the campers kitchen area.
The next day we moved on into Rockhampton which is where we are still. We are staying with Pete and Barb who have been kind enough to put us up for a while. I used to work for them for about two weeks and we frequented their pub in England for a lot longer. So far we have taken in the Heritage Village showing life as it would have been in the early days of Australia and played a round of golf (five holes) at the local course where Pete and Barb now work. We have also taken in the Botanical gardens and seen the Kershaw gardens. The gardens and attached zoo are all free to enter and are run very well. There are still the beaches and inland Emerald where you can fossik for saphires still to do among other things so its really nice to have a base to explore the area from before we head south to Brisbane and Barney.
