Today has been a delightful day. Yeah, the temperature was 23 degrees again, the sun was shining and we walked on the beach with our dog. People are friendly here on the Capricorn Coast. We are in our last week up here and so it was good to see a few unexpected sights.

As we drove along the road we came across a letter box that was just begging to be photographed. Earlier on this trip I did a segment on letter boxes and this pic is just had to be included.

We spent a few hours at the Rockhampton Botanical gardens. They were established in the mid 1800s and have included some pics. The lake has turtles and ducks competing for scraps of bread. I have included a few pics of the gardens. I was impressed by the many varieties of Bamboo on display.

Within the gardens is a German WW1 Howitzer. This forms part of a war memorial. This is now the second German made artillery piece that I have come across in this ex British colony.  I am curious how these guns have ended up miles from the battle fields of Europe. The local Kiosk provided some excellent scones and tea.

When we left the park this afternoon for our beach walk we saw new campers with a beautiful Airedale Terrier dog. The context is that our 3 boys grew up with one of these wonderful animals. We got the dog, then a Siamese cat and then 3 boys. I moved house before the menagerie got any bigger. Look at the pics, you’ll understand. So the pics are for my 3 boys.

Yesterday a pink Hotrod (The Pink Peril) moved into the park with a retro caravan in tow. Just had to share the pics.

We left Woodgate early-ish in the morning to go up north some 150km to a remote little place by the name of Baffle creek. There is a lovely caravan park amongst tropical trees and palms along the banks of the Baffle creek. The camp sites are green with grass and some of the power sites have cement slabs. The park is about 6 km from the river mouth.

Along the way from Woodgate were many areas that farmed sugar cane and Macadamia nuts. In places there was sugar cane as far as the eye can see.

Baffle creek is about fishing. There are a number of launching sites and they do catch fish from the boats. Fish are caught from the shores of the river or the jetties less frequently.

When you get to the beaches you can see the signs of the recent cyclone. The beaches are eroded and dead trees are littered above the high water mark. You can see where the waters had eaten away at the dunes. Driving on the beach is a bit difficult and suggestion is that tyre pressure is reduced to around 1.3 Bar.

The caravan park is one of the few parks that allow fires in designated areas. Wood is available for $12 a load or heaps more if you are prepared to cut it yourself; ask park management about details.

As I do not have a boat the fishing is going to be tough. So, instead we decided to do a bit of exploring.

Agnes Water and the town of Seventeen Seventy (1770)

The next day we went to explore the coastline just north of Baffle Creek

We drove north to a town called Agnes Waters that had a pleasant beach, newish shops and some recently developed residential estates. As one could not see the sea/beach from most of the town it lost the wow factor for me and we continued on to the town of 1770. Seventeen Seventy, also written as 1770, is a village in Queensland, Australia, built on the site of the second landing by Captain James Cook and the crew of HM Bark Endeavour in May 1770.

The place is stunning, interesting and of historical significance. It has a lot of old world charm and spectacular sites and sights. Links below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeen_Seventy,_Queensland

As we got there the CFA were burning off which caused some interesting smoky outlooks. Burn-offs happen all around Australia to reduce the fuel load for the dry season and so reduce the likelihood of bush fires.

As you get to the town there are launching facilities and stunning views up and down the inlet / natural harbor. It is easy to see why Captain Cook chose this place to stop.

The topography is hilly so there are great lookouts and vantage points like Bustard point  . People have built homes on the hills that offer spectacular views of the surrounding sea.

Queenslanders love Letter Boxes

We all have letter boxes. Yep, we go to Bunnings and buy one of these metal monster in mission brown, black or caramel colors. Letter boxes are an iconic feature in our communities. The posty deposits the mail regularly and everybody is happy!  Right??…Wrong.

Queenslanders love letter boxes and here in rural Queensland they get very inventive and arty about their mail receptables. I sense that there is a sense of humor attached to the selection of the letter box. Have a look of some of these that I have come across so far.  I will keep posting these as I find more unique ones. Please post to me in return any that you have come across.