Emu Park

Emu Park could be considered as another unconventional decision to make to explore the country but as with Rocky where we had a great time, Emu Park proved to be just as good. The signs were good. Emu Park is a new addition to the Greyhound route, so new in fact that when we started booking what we wanted to do, the tour operator didn't have it on their list.

What was even better, that due to the location of the YHA hostel that we stayed in at Rocky, the Emu Park hostel being only 30mins away decided they'd be okay to come and pick us up for free. What a bargain...

A brand new minibus came specifically to pick us up driven by Pam, one of their workers who was a happy bunny all the way home to Emu Park chatting about films, photography, our trip, the weather etc. Instantly we were at ease.



The hostel was more than a hostel. It was a hotel along similar lines to Spanish apartments. A sparkly blue pool was the focus for the place with apartments either side looking down with a large kitchen/veranda/TV room at the top. Due to the winter months we had a 4 berth room with en suite all to ourselves so managed to charge everything in one go..more on this in a future post...

Our reasoning behind coming here was twofold; peace and quiet and the close proximity to the Capricorn Caves and the Dreamtime Cultural Centre, the largest in Australia.



The Dreamtime Centre was brilliant and the best taste of Aboriginal culture that we'd come across. A purpose built exhibition in an old hangar set in grounds with native trees and wildlife, set the scene and explained the Aboriginal culture including the importance of their stories, history and relationship with the country. It gave interesting insights into how Aboriginal life is fitting in to the modern day Australian thinking of conservation and ecology as well as how the two histories are being viewed as one in modern society.



One highlight was listening to our guide play the didgeridoo and explaining how circular breathing was the secret and how the shape and size of the instrument can create the various deep tones. It was set in an artificial cave that provided excellent acoustics.

The second highlight was learning to throw boomerangs. Both of us had a go but by the funniest example was Amber..Sit comfortably for this...





The afternoon was spent visiting the Capricorn Caves.



These spectacular caves located north of Rockhampton are a unique system of above-ground caves in a limestone ridge that give opportunity for group tours.



It was stunning with many 'rooms' appropriately lit showing different shapes inside the cave system. Each school trip finds new and exciting shapes in the rocks.





The darkness inside these caves once the lights were off was incredible. We had a group of lads with us on holiday who were a bit cheeky so can only imagine what they were getting up to!! The guide had a job with them!!!!



One of the photos not uploaded is of the largest 'cathedral' cave where weddings, concerts and other private events can take place. The acoustics naturally found in this cave are almost perfect and only a couple of points away from absolute perfect.



One of the days spent here was a write-off with persistant rain and cold winds so managed to catch up on reading with another day bright and sunny that allowed us to see the "Singing Sail", a modern piece of art high on the hill and walk along the secluded beach. Again, photo not uploaded but will try and sort :)

Rocky

Whilst on our travels we've been to and are planning to go to many places that are obvious tourist destinations; Brisbane, Fraser Island, Agnes Water and 1770 to name but a few, but there are some that raise some eyebrows!

One of these is Rockhampton, or Rocky to the locals. Rocky is home to the Australian beef industry and you can't go there without trying steak..it's the law!!! As a result everything is cow-related and some efforts are well, bull-s**t.

The other claims to fame are that it's on the Tropic of Capricorn (with a monument that we couldn't find!!) and unofficial capital of the Capricorn Coast, and that Rod Laver, the famous Australian tennis player was born here.



There's not much in Rocky for the average tourist to do and didn't help that we'd arrived at 12.20am, got up at 4am to watch a stunning England performance that was load of moo, that it was a Sunday, and that the next day was a public holiday to celebrate the Queen's birthday.

According to the signposts however there's many things to do here but for some reason couldn't find the Heritage Village, Zoo or Botannic Gardens.

There is a nice river, the Fitzroy River, that you need to cross to get into the CBD where the information centre is set and where the historic places of Rocky are set.



The Criterion Hotel is the first impressive building that you come across and as with Bundaberg has a distinct American Wild West feel to the place.



You can just imagine these doors being replaced with saloon doors!



Many buildings in Rocky still identify with the cattle industry including the cleverly named 'Cattle House' where the early administration was contained. The main road on this side of Rocky follows the river path and has many large buildings from bygone times.



This is the old Customs House but is now home to the Visitor Information Centre, where after approx 30mins realised that we had been following an Historic Building Walk...doh! The building's design was lovely and really had a presence on the road that you could only imagine what visitors in the past would have thought. It also houses a cafe that would have meant a remortgage!!




Just so you know what we both look like now here's a quick pic :) with Mount Archer in the background.



The town hall is a classic example of dodgy architecture that was added to during the Victorian era in a similar style to utility (water and electric stations) back home in the UK. It was nice to see the flags of the area flying though :)



Just before our steak (that we'd also forgotten to take a photo of!) we visited St Paul's Cathedral, a very different building to the famous London landmark but equally as charming. The vicar was on hand to invite us nosy tourists in and was very interested in our trip, wishing us safe travels. Cathedrals in Australia we've noticed are not of the same stature as those in England maybe due to the size of population or size of parish.



One of the few tourist destinations that Rocky offers is the historic Archer Park Tram and Steam Train Museum. Whilst we didn't go inside (again very pricey for not much) we did get a picture outside and just peered inside. Apparently there are steam train rides if you're there on the right time and right day!



Our day was almost at an end (about 4ish) but managed a quick peer inside a closing Rockhampton Art Gallery. The chap on the desk gave us a super-quick explanation as to what we could expect so we split up. Amber looked at the Japanese artwork and artefacts whilst I found a Colour Exhibition that showed the use of colour, contrast, tone, shadow etc. It was a shame we couldn't have stayed longer but we had a date with an Emu!