With our few days in Bundaberg coming to an end Sandra and I were planning the next leg of the trip from Bundaberg to Mackay. Deciding that it was too far to do comfortably in a day, we were studying the mountain of maps and brochures that we had picked up in the tourist office looking for somewhere about half way, probably in the Rockhampton area, where we could set up camp for the night.
Whilst in the midst of our deliberations the fickle finger of fate gave us another poke in the ribs as yet another coincidence hit us! I switched on my computer to check e-mails to find a new one had just arrived from my cousin Jean in Canada to tell us she had friends who had a cattle station in Australia, who had been following our blog, and who would be willing to put us up should we drift in their direction. Almost unbelievably their place was between Gladstone and Rockhampton – exactly the area we were studying on the map looking for somewhere to stay for the night. A quick e-mail and phone call and we were on our way to The Limit to meet John and Libby!
With accommodation settled we headed north for our first detour of the day by way of Agnes Waters and The Town of 1770 – the latter so called because Capt Cook (although then mere Lt Cook) popped in for the day in 1770. Some years ago we rented a house in the area for a week and we were interested to see if the place had changed. Needless to say there had been many developments with lots of new building, particularly in Agnes Waters, much of it holiday related with holiday homes and houses to let. Despite some of these developments both places are still attractive – particularly 1770 about which Sandra gave her ultimate accolade “If I had to live by the sea, this would do”
Then on to look for “The Limit” - with John’s instructions and the (mostly) faithful SatNav, finding Dart’s Creek Road was easy. We arrived in time to pitch the tent on the lawn then settled down to an evening of excessive drinking by the pool whilst watching the sun set over what was, even by Australian standards, a magnificent landscape.
John and Libby had met my cousin Jean and her husband Reg whilst they were stationed in Rangoon and had kept in touch ever since. John’s career had been in agriculture and in fact he had lived in Humpty Doo near Sandra’s sister Gill when he worked as Director of Agriculture for the Northern Territory. Now retired from the rat race he appears to be enjoying life running his own farm and rearing cattle. John and Libby were full of hospitality and at one point, when I offered to bring some beer up from the Nissan, the offer was turned down by their son Michael with the statement “Hell will freeze over the day there is no beer in this house” – Our kind of people!
The following day was ANZAC day and John dutifully raised the Australian flag to half mast. Whilst not exactly dawn, in fact the sun was shining and the heat was building up, Sandra still managed to miss it – she is not at her best first thing in the morning and it takes at least one cup of coffee to kick start her. After breakfast we packed up and performed one last duty at The Limit – stock inspection! John and Michael took us to see one of their herds and even to my
Whilst in the midst of our deliberations the fickle finger of fate gave us another poke in the ribs as yet another coincidence hit us! I switched on my computer to check e-mails to find a new one had just arrived from my cousin Jean in Canada to tell us she had friends who had a cattle station in Australia, who had been following our blog, and who would be willing to put us up should we drift in their direction. Almost unbelievably their place was between Gladstone and Rockhampton – exactly the area we were studying on the map looking for somewhere to stay for the night. A quick e-mail and phone call and we were on our way to The Limit to meet John and Libby!
With accommodation settled we headed north for our first detour of the day by way of Agnes Waters and The Town of 1770 – the latter so called because Capt Cook (although then mere Lt Cook) popped in for the day in 1770. Some years ago we rented a house in the area for a week and we were interested to see if the place had changed. Needless to say there had been many developments with lots of new building, particularly in Agnes Waters, much of it holiday related with holiday homes and houses to let. Despite some of these developments both places are still attractive – particularly 1770 about which Sandra gave her ultimate accolade “If I had to live by the sea, this would do”
Then on to look for “The Limit” - with John’s instructions and the (mostly) faithful SatNav, finding Dart’s Creek Road was easy. We arrived in time to pitch the tent on the lawn then settled down to an evening of excessive drinking by the pool whilst watching the sun set over what was, even by Australian standards, a magnificent landscape.
John and Libby had met my cousin Jean and her husband Reg whilst they were stationed in Rangoon and had kept in touch ever since. John’s career had been in agriculture and in fact he had lived in Humpty Doo near Sandra’s sister Gill when he worked as Director of Agriculture for the Northern Territory. Now retired from the rat race he appears to be enjoying life running his own farm and rearing cattle. John and Libby were full of hospitality and at one point, when I offered to bring some beer up from the Nissan, the offer was turned down by their son Michael with the statement “Hell will freeze over the day there is no beer in this house” – Our kind of people!
The following day was ANZAC day and John dutifully raised the Australian flag to half mast. Whilst not exactly dawn, in fact the sun was shining and the heat was building up, Sandra still managed to miss it – she is not at her best first thing in the morning and it takes at least one cup of coffee to kick start her. After breakfast we packed up and performed one last duty at The Limit – stock inspection! John and Michael took us to see one of their herds and even to my
untutored eye they looked fine beasts.
One final word about The Limit – during the evening and after quite a few beers and wines, not to mention the port, John (or maybe Libby) revealed they are planning to go away for a month in November and were looking for “farm sitters”. Sandra, being so taken with the place and perhaps alcoholically influenced, offered our services and Libby, perhaps equally alcoholically influenced, accepted - watch this space should there be further developments!Then onwards and ever northwards to Mackay to visit Martin Hannah.
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