Day Four - Bundaberg to Rockhampton

I learned to use the Maccas app this morning - and was pleasantly surprised to find that it's possible to "favourite" a coffee order - this means my next order should be half-strength and I should be able to finish it.  Sooz's was fine.  

It was a gentle drive from Bundaberg to Rockhampton this morning. We made a few stops along the way, but not at the Mystery Craters at South Kolan. 

Mystery Craters website pic

As I drove in to town, and recognised the name, I said to Sooz that if there was a sign, I would probably stop - even though I had seen photographs of the Mystery Craters which just seemed to be big holes in the ground, some with water in them. Yes, there was a statue of a dinosaur but even that wasn't enough to get me to drive the 100 metres off the highway to part with the entrance fee and look into the craters. In retrospect, I think it was the right decision for us - but I'm sure others could love it. To be fair, if I'd seen that I could have been 'Exploring the Mysteries of Queensland's Bermuda Triangle' before we drove past, we may not have.
 
Day Four and finally time to fill up Ravi - the first time since we've left home. We managed to pay just over $2 a litre for petrol, just under $90 for the full tank. I thought that was bad until I realised the person who used the bowser before us had paid nearly $300!

Hmmmmm.

As the morning disappeared, we had planned to lunch at the mystery location - aptly abbreviated as ML on the location marker signs and we counted down the kilometres until we were there - Mt Larcom. We weren't the only ones there - but the people who weren't there were the people who ran the shop across the road from the conveniences - which, although plainly marked, were a tiny bit confusing in isolation for some - hmmmm, maybe that isn't an udder on that "cow".

Although we had a little bit of a drive off the highway, we couldn't find anywhere else to eat - and the service station down the highway, which looked promising, had its driveways blocked by cars - which may have had something to do with the folk working with cranes at the power lines across the way. And why is it that my wave-hand-take-photo-dashcam is working only sporadically? We all needed to see photos of the cow mailbox, the Simpons walking Abbey-Road-Beatle-style on a wall of a shop in Bundaberg, and so many other things that I would have remembered had I been able to take a photo!

The other thing they had at Mt Larcom was an electric vehicle charging station.  We haven't seen that many of them on the trip so far which is surprising as we have seen lots of Teslas and other hybrid vehicles. 

Lunch ended up being a hamburger and a steak sandwich at the servo (aka service station) a few kilometres outside Marmon.  We were surprised that the tomato sauce wasn't gratis - the sauce on the left cost Sooz $1 - but we should have bought the bottle on the right from the groceries section of the servo for the bargain price of $3.20. It's all relative isn't it?

We listened to ABC Radio on the drive and we were happy to play along with Tuesday Trivia.  All our trivia games helped us get six out of six questions correct - including "Which cartoon character bowls on tippy-toes?"  and "Which town near the geographic centre of Australia was formerly called Stuart?".  We didn't do quite as well with the Trivia game along the highway - but we now know that they mine gold at Mt Perry.  

The camera came with me when I went for a wander around the Botanic Gardens and Zoo at Rockhampton. Sooz decided to stay at home while the camera and I went off - and I have to say, she made a good decision. I honestly thought about turning around and going back when I saw the sign saying that there were snakes about. And there wasn't just one sign - around every corner ... there was the sign. I would have felt better if I had long pants and loud shoes - but with neither, I didn't spend time loitering. It didn't help that I thought the animals seemed a bit sad - maybe someone had told them about the snakes. I managed to get to see the meerkats, the chimpanzees, the macaws, the eagle and emu. I know there are more critters there - but they'll have to wait until another time - read: not in snake season!

At the zoo. 

To see a few more pics from the Zoo - and who doesn't like meerkats - click here.