July 22, 2012
KROOMBIT TOPS NATIONAL PARK, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA -- Well, it was an early 515am wake-up and checkout today. After finishing packing we had breakfast and then boarded our ferry, saying goodbye to beautiful Daydream Island!
After only 15 minutes, we were back at Shute Harbour and on the mainland. We loaded up the coach, made our way back to the A1, and headed south from our northernmost point of the trip. Our day today was essentially two days ago - in reverse. Our first toilet stop was at Cane Land in Mackay, where we had lunch two days back. Our lunch stop was at the same BP service station we stopped at for toilets that same day. Lunch was actually pretty good though - a turkey and cheese sandwich with some cranberry spread. Delicious!
After lunch we crossed through Rockhampton and across the Tropic of Capricorn, back into the temperate zone, where we will remain the rest of our trip. Shortly after that, however, we finally branched off the A1 to head southwest into the countryside for our farm stay.
One random, interesting note from our conversations today on the coach. Our 60 passenger capacity coach is worth nearly $1 million, and can cover some 1500km on a single tank of gas for roughly $500. That's $1 per 120 passenger miles, which is quite fantastic compared to the $1 per 8 or 9 passenger miles we get in most of our cars at home, if we are driving alone. Overall, gasoline here converts to roughly $8 per gallon, double what we pay in the US. Think about that the next time you complain about gas prices going up!
We took the A3 southwest for a few hours, and eventually exited east into the foothills towards Kroombit, lost all our cell reception, and about 20 mins later arrived to Kroombit Farm for our farm stay. We arrived to some lukewarm hot chocolate, were assigned to our cabins, and then regrouped for dinner, which was steamed vegetables and gravy followed by some ice cream for dessert.
Following dinner we proceeded to a huge bonfire where we learned about the farm, a cattle farm, roasted marshmallows over the fire, sang a couple of Aussie songs, and then star-gazed at the Southern Cross and the Milky Way as the fire burnt out.
KROOMBIT TOPS NATIONAL PARK, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA -- Well, it was an early 515am wake-up and checkout today. After finishing packing we had breakfast and then boarded our ferry, saying goodbye to beautiful Daydream Island!
After only 15 minutes, we were back at Shute Harbour and on the mainland. We loaded up the coach, made our way back to the A1, and headed south from our northernmost point of the trip. Our day today was essentially two days ago - in reverse. Our first toilet stop was at Cane Land in Mackay, where we had lunch two days back. Our lunch stop was at the same BP service station we stopped at for toilets that same day. Lunch was actually pretty good though - a turkey and cheese sandwich with some cranberry spread. Delicious!
After lunch we crossed through Rockhampton and across the Tropic of Capricorn, back into the temperate zone, where we will remain the rest of our trip. Shortly after that, however, we finally branched off the A1 to head southwest into the countryside for our farm stay.
One random, interesting note from our conversations today on the coach. Our 60 passenger capacity coach is worth nearly $1 million, and can cover some 1500km on a single tank of gas for roughly $500. That's $1 per 120 passenger miles, which is quite fantastic compared to the $1 per 8 or 9 passenger miles we get in most of our cars at home, if we are driving alone. Overall, gasoline here converts to roughly $8 per gallon, double what we pay in the US. Think about that the next time you complain about gas prices going up!
We took the A3 southwest for a few hours, and eventually exited east into the foothills towards Kroombit, lost all our cell reception, and about 20 mins later arrived to Kroombit Farm for our farm stay. We arrived to some lukewarm hot chocolate, were assigned to our cabins, and then regrouped for dinner, which was steamed vegetables and gravy followed by some ice cream for dessert.
Following dinner we proceeded to a huge bonfire where we learned about the farm, a cattle farm, roasted marshmallows over the fire, sang a couple of Aussie songs, and then star-gazed at the Southern Cross and the Milky Way as the fire burnt out.
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| July 22, 2012 - Singing and dancing by the fire at Kroombit Farm. |
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