Heading Inland

The “Singing Ship” at Edna Park – a small coastal town east of Rockhampton – is an unusual memorial to Captain James Cook. Built of concrete in the shape of a sailing boat, it incorporates large pipes into its structure that produce a mesmerising hollow sound in the sea breeze. Offshore are more of the hundreds of islands that are part of the Great Barrier Reef, this time the Keppel Group. We had a brief look around and then headed inland towards “Rocky”. It would be our last glimpse of the ocean that has accompanied most of our journey south from Cooktown. Fittingly, we had ocean views from our tents at our last campsite at Cape Hillsborough (near Mackay) before leaving the coast behind.

Our campsite on the Fitzroy river opposite the city of Rockhampton

Our journey inland from Rockhampton was along the Capricorn Highway, which roughly follows the Tropic of Capricorn. South of Mackay we had visited a massive coal port at Hay Point from which millions of tonnes of rich Queensland black coal are loaded onto ships and exported. The trains that deliver this coal to the port run alongside the Capricorn Highway from the many coal mines in this area. They are the longest trains we have ever seen. The boys started counting carriages and each was longer than 100, usually with five engines pulling the massive weight (three at the front and two in the middle)! We visited a coal centre at Blackwater (“coal capital of Queensland”) to develop a deeper sense of how significant the mining industry is to this area.

We were on a mining expedition of our own. First stop of the day was at a tourist park called Mt Hay. This is the home of “Thunder Eggs” – pieces of molten lava that, when cut open, reveal an array of coloured crystal within. The boys went fossicking for the “eggs” and were rewarded with some specimens to add to the rock and shell collections they have established over the course of the trip.

Scouring carefully for pieces of sapphire

Our destination for the day, passing through towns such as Emerald and Sapphire, was Rubyvale. In Sapphire the boys fossicked once again, this time producing small pieces of the semi-precious blue gems that are found in the area. Sapphire and Rubyvale were unique and interesting little towns to visit – dotted with small shacks and caravans on small plots. All the mining was done by hand. It seemed that whilst some people in their retirement travel to “the Gulf” each year to fish, another more eccentric group journey to Sapphire to try their luck at “the diggings”. Whilst they no doubt hope to uncover something large and valuable to fund their retirements, their expectations appear more modest. One man we shared a camp kitchen with had just started working on his plot and was hoping, at least, to uncover enough sapphire to produce earrings for his granddaughters.

From the Emerald region we begin our long drive through inland Queensland and New South Wales back to Victoria, appropriately along a series of highways that been dubbed the “Great Inland Way” (which runs from Cooktown to Sydney). Our first destination will be Carnarvon Gorge. We haven’t told the boys yet, but we have a 15 kilometre hike planned for tomorrow! From Carnarvon we will be very much on the homeward stretch, with some long driving days taking us to Lightening Ridge, Dubbo and then Canberra. The content of our thoughts and much of our conversation has increasingly focused on arriving home. For two years now it has seemed that life had been “on hold” as we have prepared for this trip and faced the challenges of Marilyn’s cancer diagnosis. Our return home is, for us, a new beginning; an opportunity to shape the paths that we will follow over the years ahead.