Rockhampton

Next stop was Rockhampton. This is slightly bigger than Airlie with a population of 64,000. During all the problems that we were having in the outback, this is one of the places that we thought of that kept us going. This is because it is the beef capital of Australia where they do some of the best steaks! There are apparently over 2,000,000 cows within a 250km radius of Rockhampton. When entering the city from the South there is huge cow statues at either side of the road. Needless to say the first thing that we did when we got to Rockhampton was to head for one of the recommended steakhouses! We were not dissapointed and the price was quite reasonable too, unlike the beer I tried which wasn't that great.

Rockhampton has Queenslands biggest river, the Fitzroy, flowing through the heart of it and it also sits right on the Tropic of Capricorn. The river was a key factor in the development of this town as a trading port and in 1858 and 1882 there were gold and copper discoveries which helped attract more people to the town.

We only stayed here for one night and on our search for a spot to park at night Gemma shouted that she had just drove over a snake. As it was the middle of a residential street I was a bit sceptical so Gemma turned the van around and we both jumped out with a torch. True enough we discoverd a snake that was about 3-4ft long in the middle of the road. we managed to get some pictures of it which was quite cool.

















In the morning we parked up in town and went to get washed up. Gemma was on the way to the toilets and she noticed a cameraman talking to someone on the street and thought she would be able to sneak by. Unfortunately though as she was passing she got the camera pointed in her face and an interviewer asked her a question about some event that was coming up in Rockhampton. Gemma's reply was "I don't know, I'm just a tourist!" No doubt she would have been on the news that night!