1770

When we meet fellow travellers in caravan parks we often ask 'what is your favourite place?' It provides a much better insight rather than googling or winging it off a map. A lot of people travelling north have told us that the town of 1770 was a must to visit. So we took their advice and headed there from Rockhampton. 

The town was named after the year that Captain Cook first landed in this area. He couldn't get his ship into the bay so he took a canoe and he and his botanist collected plant samples. They saw smoke coming from the hills which was from the Aboriginal people's camp fires. But when they went to investigate they found nobody there. Turns out the Aboginial people were very frightened of the two 'pink' men in their sailing attire and large captains hats. So they all hid in the bushes and watched the men from afar. 

After a big day in Rockhampton we arrived late in 1770 and set up camp quickly in the dark. The man in the caravan next door had used the 'empty' site next to him to park his car and he was difficult when we asked him to move it as we were moving in! you would think he had paid for both sites and we were intruding! I don't like confrontation so I hid around the side of the camper while Craig politely but firmly showed him the white line marking our camp site from his. 

The next day was FREEZING. The cold snap that southern QLD had experienced had headed up the coast and hit us hard.  At least it wasn't raining, so we still went to the playground and had a walk on the beach. 

Kids climbing on the rocks 

Ok, always the school teacher, here I am on the beach picking up rubbish!!!! can't help myself. 

That afternoon we did a sunset tour on an ARMY LARC.

The kids looking out as we are floating down the bay! 

The spot where Captain Cook first arrived. He saw smoke coming from these hills.

The Army Larc was first built in 1965 and used in the armed services to transport cargo from ships to land. It can drive and float! 

The tour guide. As far as tours go this one was ok but he talked, and talked and talked. For an hour and a half. He talked about Captain cook (fair enough) he talked about what bird was what (yep ok) he then talked about the mechanics of the arc (bit boring) then he talked about the gravitational pull of the universe (too much!) And when the kids (mine and the other family on board) got over listening to him they whispered to each other and he told them off and said they were interrupting him! Because of that I wouldn't recommend doing the tour with kids. 

kangaroo we spotted on the beach 

Another army larc driving on the beach at sunset 

Sunset over 1770

We could have stayed longer but we needed to move on to reach our next destination. I also wasn't overly impressed with the caravan park as it was jam packed full of people and the sites were so small it was like we were all on top of each other. For that reason two nights was plenty and we were happy to pack up and move on to our next stop. Hervey bay.