VanDijkTrack

The Travelodge hotel in Rockhampton was a good experience and the kids kids liked to swim in the swimming pool and especially Jorick enjoyed the breakfast. From this hotel, we also made a trip to Koorana Crocodile Farm. We saw several crocs that were periodically mating and laying eggs for incubation. The young crocs are used for their skin and their meat. There they told us the intriging story about the warning signs that were placed to warn for crocodiles. The signs showed a warning not to swim because of the presence of crocodiles. Unfortunately the red paint with the warning disappeared by the sun and rain leaving only a person swimming (suggesting that you could go for a swim here). Frightened by this dangerous situation, the government tried to remove all the signs but they didn’t remember all locations where they had put them up. Enjoy your swim.

After the tour Nicole and Jorick could hold  a baby croc to show the public. Going to the toilet was another fascinating experience. In the toilet several green tree frogs showed up. You may guess if it was in the women’s or man’s toilet. Yes !  Nicole preferred to go to another toilet, but Jorick could do it standing still 🙂 .

The same day we went to the Dreamtime museum showing and explaining about Aboriginal art. The aboriginal history and art is fascinating and we have seen a lot of it in many cities and it is still interesting. In the museum we had an interesting tour about aboriginal art being a mix of reality, moral based stories, education and some sort of Fairy Tales. We also got a presentations on the Torres Straight Islands, a demonstration in playing the didgeridoo and some lessons in throwing a boomerang. A the end of the day Nicole read a story for Jorick that brought them both in a deep sleep.

The next the day we went early to Yeppoon from where the boat would leave to Keppel Island in the Great Barrier Reef. Before that we arranged some snorkel equipment to see more of the Reef under the water. After arriving on the island we took a tour with a glass bottom boat. This gave us the opportunity to see parts of the reef and the fishes living there. After that we walked to a quiet part called “Monkey beach”. As in a dream we had nearly the whole bay for ourselves. Jan and Anita went for some snorkeling here. The first two times Jan went looking for the Coral Reef he was bitten by some sort of jelly fish (?) causing red strings and irritation on his leg and body. Anita was more lucky and succeeded already the first time. Jan didn’t give up and tried a third time which was successful. It was a special experience to see the coral and the colored fishes swimming around you. When suddenly all fishes got nervous and moved away Jan got suspicious and went back to the beach. There he heard form others that they saw a shark (probably not dangerous, but you never know), got frightened and also went asap to the beach.

After a good night sleep we left Rockhampton after visiting the “Tropic of Capricorn” which is the extreme southern position of he sun in its apparent annual journey (its northern most position is the Tropic of Cancer). Capricornus was , in roman mythology the sea goat into which Pan was changed to escape from the terrible giant Typhon. It is also the name given to the constellation resembling it and when the December solstice was first observed the sun was situated in this constellation, hence this tropic was named Capricorn.

After the Tropic of Capricorn we set our direction to Blackdown Tableland National Park.

Kind regards from us all.

Easter holiday has started now.  Nicole and Jorick have no school for 2 weeks. In the first week they wanted to go for 2 days to vacation care, Nicole had a girlfriend to play at home, some days they played at home, did some crafts, games and even created some theater plays.

Then we started a tour to Rockhampton, Yeppoon, Great Keppel Island (Great Barrier Reef), The Blackdown Tablelands National Park and Canarvon National Park with the Canarvon Gorge.

Rockhampton is situated around 600 km north of Brisbane and it took us 8 hours to travel. Although there’s a highway to Rockhampton, it only has 2 lanes and driving speed is limited. Following our navigator we took an alternative highway as well with cows along (and on) the road and a nice old bridge.

The original plan was to go camping, but with the weather forecast not being so good we stayed for 5 nights in the Travelodge Rockhampton hotel. Jorick loved it because a good breakfast in a hotel (where you can choose lots of different lovely things) is one of his highlights of the day.

From there we went to the Capricorn Caves, a unique system of above-ground caves in a limestone ridge. It is privately owned and daily tours are available and you can even marry in the Cathedral Cave room. At several places big roots are coming into the caves from trees growing on top of it. This also breaks down the cave slowly. In several areas some light can get through giving the opportunity for specific plants to grow. The lady leading us through was enthusiast and made it fun for the kids as well. In the Cathedral Cave she made a complot with them to light candles, to switch the light off and than also blow out the candles to put everybody suddenly in complete darkness.

We experienced Rockhampton as an intriguing city. We saw beautiful (cultivated) gardens. The Kershaw Gardens is a botanical park devoted to Australian native plants with artificial rapids, a rainforest area and more. The Botanical Gardens (since 1869) also has a Japanese gaden and a Zoo. Some pictures also show a few of the several nice/prestigious buildings.  At several locations it gave us a feeling as being in Eastern Europe at one side and in a real cowboy culture on the other side. This perception was probably influenced by the clouded and rainy weather in combination with the quiet Easter time with all shops closed. Beef (and related ranches) seems the core industry. In many restaurants there are lots of opportunities for some gambling.

Perhaps the pictures help to get an impression. Next report will cover some other locations.

Cheers.