Rockhampton (June 9-12)

Unfortunately there is only one Greyhound bus out of Agnes Water (the second big coach company Premier Motor Service doesn’t even bother to go there) which is at 9 pm and so we were due to arrive Rocky at midnight. I phoned up the YHA in Rockhampton and they deposited my room key in their safe for me to pick up. Of course there was no taxi at the bus terminal and so we had to wait 20min for one to show up.

I met Suzi again in Agnes and it turned out she also wanted to stay at the YHA. Apparently we just keep bumping into each other. Together with a Dutch guy we shared a cab to go to our accommodation. The Dutch guy wanted to give me the money for the taxi later, he probably just forgot to do so ;-)

The YHA receptionist was a nice bloke from the Philippines. He showed me some cords on the ukulele (it is actually not tuned like a guiar), let me play his guitar and recommended a great restaurant.

I met Kevin from Noosa again (as everybody is travelling in the same direction and since most backpackers stay loyal to YHA you always meet your fellow travellers again) and we had a look around the city searching for the library for free Internet. The Show was in town (something like the Oktoberfest but much smaller and without the huge tents we are familiar with) and so people used it as an excuse not to work this day. Even the library was closed. I assume you meet more people in town on Boxing Day at 06:00 in the morning. The streets were wiped empty.

Since everybody was at the show ground we figured we should at least check it out swallowing hard when the lady said “That’ll come to $15, please”. I would never go to the Oktoberfest if I had to pay $15 admission. WTF???

Anyway, it was just as crowded as the Oktoberfest and so it felt like home.

 as crowded as the Oktoberfest

Having seen it all before I was not that impressed by the Show. But everyone I spoke to really had a good time and enjoyed themselves. Furthermore, I finally got to see a lot of indigenous people.

A lot of demonstrations/performances involved animals and so there was an equestrian show, a cattle evaluation, some fish on display and a reptile show.

strange cattle race with a hump back

There was a big stadium but we just missed the shows and so we just got to see some eldery guys doing timber sports and some equestrians practising. The “famous” motor spectacle followed by fireworks was on in the evening and so we decided to return for that.

The show ground is 45 min ish from the YHA and so we walked in total for 3 hours that day. Hiking for 3 hours is fun but just walking thru an empty city if far from that.

The motor spectacle was quite good. There was a guy on a motorcycle jumping over a chopper with its rotor on followed by some utes (short for utility vehicle, basically what they call a pick up in the States) performing some excellent driving. Best show act were three guys jumping off ramps showing backflips and the usual tricks. The grand final was some great fireworks. Having been really close like 30 meters it was the best firework I’ve ever seen. Wicked!!!

Next day Suzi, a girl from New Zealand called Jessica and me went to see Capricorn Caves about 20km outside of Rockhampton. There was no bus but a elderly lady who is calling everyone “lovy” picked us up and got us back home. Having not seen that many caves in my life I quite enjoyed them. Suzi on the other wasn’t impressed at all but she has probably seen too many caves already and so she is a bit jaded regarding that. The caves have a cathedral built in where you can actually get married. There is also a great acoustic in that hall and we were sitting on the benches listening to “Hallelujah” while the guide put on a light show.

 cathedral in the Capricorn Caves

Best part was a very narrow path with lots of turns and the guide gave you the option of going in with a torch, a candle or no equipment at all. I choose pitch black and it was great feeling your way thru complete darkness.

me standing on at least 30 metres of bat droppings

We got dropped off at the botanical garden that also had a small zoo in it. Quite nice with most of the famous Australian wildlife.

 Botanical Garden & Zoo

After the zoo we took a rest and sat down at the lake. Having invaded foreign territory we got chased away by the local chief and his gang.

local leader of the pack

Rockhampton being the beef capital of Queensland Jessica and I decided to go for a steak in the evening. Probably first and last time I paid more for dinner than for accommodation. The steak was great, though and well worth it.