[Scott] Today is a travel day. This morning we woke up well rested at Fran and Bruce’s condo. They were so gracious and really made us feel at home. Our first surfing experience was really exciting yesterday, and the meals they cooked for us were fabulous! We ate breakfast with them and got on the road by 10am. We started our 8 hour drive north to Gladstone from Gold Coast. Tomorrow we will catch the boat to Heron Island for four nights, and we really can’t wait to get there. We’ve been looking forward to it the whole trip! Whenever we’ve mentioned to somebody that we are going to Heron Island, they really rave about it. One of Fran’s friends goes there every year and gave us some tips on where the best snorkeling spots are, and recommended a motel in Gladstone. Today, Stef drove her first 350k of the vacation – her first experience driving on the “wrong” side of the road. She found out first hand what I was talking about with the initial awkwardness. We both turn the wipers on when we want to signal to turn! The roundabouts take some getting use to as well. They’re everywhere here in Australia (and in NZ). Anyway, we split up the driving today which was great for me. There wasn’t much to see on the drive, and there are long distances between the towns here in Australia. We noticed that in Victoria last week as well. Lachie told us that 85% of Australia’s 20 million people live in urban areas. We stopped at about 3pm for a late lunch in a small town named Childers that Lachie recommended. It was a nice small town, but it was really quiet. Most places are either closed or close early on Sunday, so we just got a burger at this place called Tropicana Café. It was over 100 degrees inside so we ate outside. A short heavy downpour really cooled things down, so we just enjoyed relaxing for a bit there at our sidewalk table. Nobody there seemed to be able to agree on how long it takes to get to Gladstone, which we thought was funny. We got back on the road and it rained sporadically. We’re crossing our fingers that it won’t be raining on Heron Island! We arrived in Gladstone at 6:30pm, and got checked into The Rusty Anchor Motel. They even have a rusty anchor out front – classic! It won’t overthrow the motel with the huge Kiwi on it as our most memorable though. As we arrived, the pink sky was glowing as the sun set (early since they don’t go on daylight savings time in Queensland). We thought Childers was quiet today – well Gladstone is even quieter. I couldn’t even find an open gas station – all five I found were closed. It was a little creepy in the dark, and then around 8pm they turned off all outside lights at the motel and we felt like maybe we were part of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. And to top it off, a large bird scared Stef to death when it flew within a few feet of her. I tried to catch my breath from the laughter as she tried to catch her breath from the fright. We wanted to repack so we can take just one suitcase out to the island. When Stef opened up one of our suitcases, she was greeted by a really nasty odor. She couldn’t imagine what it could be, and then realized we had some musty clothes in the suitcase that didn’t get completely dry in Melbourne. We had intended to pull them out in Brisbane yesterday, but we were so tired that we forgot. So we scoured the town for a place to get change, and eventually found a Blockbuster that was open and got the laundry done. A pretty uneventful day though – exactly what you hope for on a travel day!
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