Queensland Road Trip 2014 – second

We have decided, because of cats, that we will not venture inland via Quilpie and Windorah. We will come down via Mackay, Yeppoon, Monto, Goondiwindi, Gayndah, Cessnock. Well, that is the plan as we leave. Cat dependant. The little fridge in the van does not work with electricity but it works very well with gas. (I bought a little fridge thermometer yesterday and checked it.) I cannot find any photos for this trip.

 

 

This van park is huge – and almost full. Mostly permanent looking vans and buses and 50-100 cabin/donga accommodation (that we think is probably for the drive-in-drive-out work force for the mines). Very different to the small, almost empty van park in Ayr. Ayr is certainly ticking away quite well thank you very much. Irrigated cane with a fairly good sugar price isolates the town somewhat. Ayr does not need to attract tourists to help its economy and does not make an effort to do so. Mackay is almost, though not quite, hostile to tourists. The mines just a short way inland and its excellent climate has made Mackay a great location for FIFO and DIDO workers. The economy of Mackay is booming. ‘Tourists keep out’ – we don’t want you and have no need of you. I would have to rate the Mackay Marine Van Park on Harbour Road as low – in a part of the world where grass grows prolifically, this van park has gravel sites with wisps of grass.

 

 

Friday 9 May 2014. A long 364 km drive from Mackay to Rockhampton and then Emu Park. We are at Kinka Beach – a delightful park over the road from the beach – Island View Van Park (site #27). The Island we are viewing is Great Keppel. The road from Mackay south is a horror – mainly because it is just so uninteresting and is bumpy enough that you get rocked to sleep. A High Risk Fatigue Zone, and what do they do to counter the risk – put up a few signs ‘Survive This Drive’, ‘Stop If Sleepy’. Where would you stop? There are almost zero Rest Areas – well maybe three in 350 km – and they are a surprise. Why not have a good Rest Area every 25 km or 50 km and put up sign posts saying where they are? Why not have rumble strip along the whole way both for the edges and the centre line? Maybe road furniture or even stop lights every 100 km just to wake people up!!! Some passing zones would help as well. We’ve heard from a few people that ‘The Bruce Highway is f**ked’! Well if it is, it has been designed to be f**ked. (Or is the correct word ‘munted’?) Adding passing zones and rest areas would go a long way to fixing it.

 

 

The cats did well. We tried the idea of a stopwatch on Zazu from the time she pisses in the morning and after 2 hours, stop and put the van up and sit with her for 30 mins until she pisses then move on. Repeat every 2 hours. It appeared to work. She certainly gets tired out from the day in the car – today 4 1/2 hours. I think some of the exhaustion is due to her head bouncing up and down to the thousands of dumps and vibrations from the road – thousands of tiny concussions. Probably why I am buggered too.

 

 

 

Saturday. We went for a drive to Yeppoon – a surprisingly large and busy town. A far cry from the seaside resort of my childhood. This is a centre for FIFO and DIDO for the mines – hence the high property prices. A nice place to live. I do like this van park at Kinka Beach. I will again comment that 80+% of blokes I see are obese. A slightly less percentage of women – but getting there. We’ve been talking about what it would be like to live here. If you fish, it would be great. What would you do if you do not fish (or play golf) and pour 12-24 cans of beer down your neck every day? The jaw can only drop at the possibility of someone needing to answer that question. I kid you not.

 

 

Monday 12 May 2014. We drove 280 km south to Cania Gorge (near Monto) – in so doing, we left the tropics, crossing the Tropic of Capricorn at Rockhampton. We’ve left the coast and ventured first into the sameness of the cattle country west of Rocky down to Biloela (another prosperous, thriving town) to the agriculture of the North Burnett. As Helen says ‘an awful lot of sameness’ in Australia. The cats did ok. We tried the 2 hour regime with Zazu. Probably about 10 minutes too long. She pissed as we were stopping the car. We’ve been to Cania Gorge several times before – a favourite place. We like it here. We are at the Cania Gorge Tourist Retreat. Just after we arrived and got the van and awning up, we had a significant fall of rain, the first rain for the trip. (15mm). The little fridge is still playing up a bit. Tonight it seems to be very hot at the back outside. Zazu is very agitated tonight – trying to get out.

 

 

Tuesday 13 May 2014. Last night was probably the worst night with Zazu yet. She was in such a deep sleep that when she woke after 4 1/2 hours she immediately pissed on the bed when she stood up. Cat piss everywhere. Not a pleasant night for us from then on. I decided that I had to set the countdown alarm on my phone to give an alarm every 2 hours, wake her up, give her a feed and make certain she has a piss before going back to bed. Not much sleep. In the morning, after a bit of washing, we headed for the walking trails and walked the 1.3 km ‘two-storey cave’ walk. Very pleasant.

 

 

Wednesday 14 May 2014. Last night, I kept the 2 hour alarm going and we avoided bed pissing. However, deciding on a starting time for the 2 hour cycle is difficult. When we went to bed, I did not know when she had last pissed. I set 2 hours anyway. When I tried to wake her at that 2 hour time, she was deeply asleep, but when roused, she leaped off the bed almost made the tray, got one front foot in and pissed all over the floor. Poor little bugger. Better the floor than the bed. Today, we walked the 5.2 km ‘giant’s staircase and fern pool circuit’. We walked clockwise and found that to be quite easy – up steps and down a gentle gradient.

 

 

Two incidents with cats. The chooks here wander around the park from about 3-4pm. Today they were resting in the shade under the van next to us and Zazu came out to sit with me. She was about 2 metres from me in the open. There was a noise from a van behind me that had the lookout chook look up, saw Zazu. Much bwaaarking and head flicks had all 10 or so in a semicircle around Zazu about a metre from her. Zazu did not budge – just lay there glaring at the chooks. I picked Zazu up and carried her to the van. Chooks followed. I gave Zazu something to eat. She left a little in the bowl as she usually does. A chook came to clean that up. Zazu stalked back, shooed the chook off and cleaned up all the food.

A few days ago at Kinka, we had a very nice Tenterfield terrier in the van next to us. One day, we were chatting to the van owner while walking Neeka. Raffles, the terrier offered its toy ball, as they do, by placing the ball exactly half way between us and it. As a gesture, Raffles’ owner moved the ball to a few cms from us (and hence Neeka who was at our feet). This was too much for Raffles, who raced in and with a snarl, retrieved his ball.

 

 

Thursday 15 May 2014. Drove 37 km south to Murgon. We are staying at the Barambah Creek Tourist Retreat – an excellent van park. We’ve been here several times before. The drive went fairly well with us stopping every 1 hour 45 mins for Zazu to piss – which she will do in her tray in the back of the car. Neeka will not look at pissing while on the road – it is a waste of time to try her. The country from Monto south through Mundubbera, Eidsvold and Gayndah is looking at the top of its form due to recent rains. That said, it is very ordinary looking country that will run a snake to the acre in good years. Yes, it is cattle country. Yes, Barambah Station was amongst the largest in Australia. Yes, Gayndah still grows citrus – well, they have ploughed most of it in so we can import the fruit from Brazil. None of it is inspiring to this casual observer. All of the rivers (Burnett) and creeks (Barambah which is very long) show signs of recent flood water high up on trees. This was the 2012 flood that gave Bundaberg a thumping. Anyway, the cats for some reason are much more relaxed here than at Cania (where they treated the place with a great deal of suspicion). Both went for very long walks tonight without any prompting. Very relaxed cats, none of the clawing anxiety of the last three nights.

 

 

 

Oh, I have to mention the Murgon butcher ‘Gotta Be Meat’. I think this fellow is a reason we keep coming back to Murgon. He talks Helen into buying extremely excellent meat. What a patter!

 

 

Friday 16 May 2014. No trouble at all with cats last night. What a relief! A drive to a local winery – yes, there are wineries at Murgon! On the recommendation of the van park owner, we went to Dusty Hill Vineyard for tasting, coffee and morning tea. What a nice place! A lovely garden surrounding oldish buildings. Excellent morning tea. A good chat around the fire tonight. Ian, the owner, has a fire each night at around 4:30. A few gather for a chat. Ian stays for his two beers. An interesting and friendly man.

 

 

Saturday 17 May 2014. Drive 380 km through Kingaroy (peanuts), Dalby (edge of the Darling Downs), Moonie (was oil, now almost deserted) to Goondiwindi – which is thriving. A long drive for the cats. It looks as though Zazu needs a piss every 1 ½ hours and a good long hour off (with a feed and drink) at noon. That appeared to work. It is very difficult to find a place to stop along the road. It is just a straight, wide, bumpy road over the black soil. Signs up saying ‘take a break’, ‘sleepy drivers die’ but places to pull over are spaced about every 100 km. Certainly not a busy road. Big chunks around Moonie are looking very dry – rough country covered with callitris. Goondi has cotton and is much bigger than I thought it would be. The cats have got used to a big long walk at night – on their leads. Neeka will walk all over the van park. Zazu needs her way lighted with a torch.

 

 

Sunday 18 May 2014. At Goondiwindi. A very disturbed and distressing night. Zazu was pissing blood for about 2 hours just after midnight. Much straining and little dots of piss tinted with blood on the floor. Poor little girl was terrified. It eventually eased when she passed what looked like a clot and she settled. Some discussion last night about driving straight home. We will stay here and let her recover. A sleepless night for me. I will try for a sleep today. We went for two good walks this morning. First, around the campground which is very large and has an excellent lagoon (old billabong) at the southern side that is teaming with water birds – ducks, cormorants, darters. Then, to the botanic gardens in town – an excellent project that let us renew our acquaintance with old friends: eremophilas, western eucalypts and acacias. We had a good walk around. The gardens are set around a water hole and unlike the one at the campground, no water birds. Zazu is sort of improved – slept all day and is not as agitated. No blood or straining to piss. Fingers crossed. Neeka went for a huge walk tonight down to the lagoon and around the park.

 

 

Monday 19 May 2014. Drove 320km to Gunnedah. Down along the cotton country. The crop has been harvested during the few weeks we’ve been in the north. It now sits in huge bales around the edges of the fields waiting for transport out. Until today, we’ve been driving at 95 km/h. Today, we cranked it up to 103 km/h and surprise surprise the fuel consumption improved! Yes, we do better at a slightly higher speed. Huh? Today, we also stopped for an hour plus every 1 ½ hours for Zazu to have a break. I hope it has worked. Gunnedah is a prosperous working town. We did not see a koala, despite the place saying it is the Koala capital of the world. Floods a bit.

 

 

Wednesday 21 May 2014. Drove 272 km to Cessnock. The cats did very well. We are beginning to realise what a huge ask of them it was to chuck them in the car and drive a 4,700 km road trip. Neeka (who has become disgustingly brave on her evening walks when she cannot see and no one can see her) has proved she is a biddable, complacent cat – a very nice girl. Zazu, also a very nice girl, has had the hardest time. She is just too old for this caper. As you have gathered it is her pissing that is the problem. She tries to do the right thing. And like all of us, cannot piss on demand when she does not want to. Driving 1 ½ hours and then stopping until she pisses does work. Today, we pressed on a bit – 10 mins too long as it turned out. She does piss into the nappy. As we reach the end of this trip (tonight is the last night), we can look back and realise how much we have learned about the cats and ourselves.

 

 

We also know, because we’ve talked about it a lot, that the Avan Cruiser that we have is exactly right for us. It is crowded with two cats, their litter tray and us, but we have learned how to deal with that. The avan tows very well, is easy to erect and close down, is relatively spacious (given its 13 foot length). Most of the vans we have seen this year are the two axle monsters, full of big fridges, washing machines, dishwashers, toilets, bathrooms, showers, lounges, All of which need cleaning and require fuel to tow along. We have what we want. Avan Cruiser – perfect.

 

 

Throughout the trip, I’ve tried to keep my fitness up: 100 lunges and 2 min 30 sec plank most nights.

 

 

Thursday 22 May 2014. Drove 137km to Cherrybrook. Uneventful. This road trip has been a testing time for us and we learned a great deal about ourselves and how to live in a confined space with an ailing cat. Neeka proved to be an excellent traveller who became increasingly bold as the trip progressed. Zazu did not really care where she was.

 

 

Thursday 29 May 2014. We have had to have Zazu euthanised. Her cystitis, kidney and bladder problems plus her arthritis had got too much for her. Poor old girl – too much pain. We realised we were keeping her alive because we did not want to have to say goodbye to her. A tough decision today, but the right one. Was the road trip the right plan for her? Probably not, but we did not know that before we left. Did it hasten her failing health? I don’t think it did. She showed no sign of stress and did appear to just be with us. As it has turned out, I’m glad we had her with us to see her through that difficult time.