So the Rodeo last night was an experience I am not sure we will repeat in a hurry, basically the whole thing was run by kids and done by kids I think that I have now seen the smallest bulls that have ever been used for Rodeo but it was something we had never experienced before so worth a visit. We had a long drive this morning so we decided to just get up and go and stop for coffee or drinks along the way. Today’s drive took us from cattle ranches to the sugar cane region of Australia, we saw field after field of cane in various stages of growth and even saw the cane train in action. Basically all the plantations – I assume they are called that over here – have a railway track running along the edge of their properties and the harvesters fill the carriages then at some point the cane train comes and picks up all the goods carriages that are full of sugar cane and the train is driven to the processing factory where it seems to be either processed into sugar or rum. It is a shame that none of the factories ran a tour as I am sure it would be fascinating watching the whole process from field to factory but to be honest we probably didn’t have time anyway. The drive took about 7 hours with a few stops along the way either to change drivers or to have lunch, it is interesting that they all talk about having a lot of water but although all the picnic areas have toilets and most have quite nice seating areas, none of them have water fountains where you can fill up your water bottles. We have been playing trivia to keep us occupied along the drive although the questions probably mean more to the Australians than us, but we do at least now know that the flower of the state of Queensland is some kind of Orchid! Best of all though today we had some new signs showing off the Australian sense of humour the first one was ‘it’s still a long way to go kids’ others were variations on the theme of ‘are we there yet’? but all definitely caught your attention. We arrived at the hotel about 3.30 and after checking in we went for a walk around the town. This is very much a tourist resort where every other shop is either a bar or a tourist shop selling post cards and beach towels / inflatable toys. We walked to the harbour and then back along the sea front to the hotel. It seems that everyone here actually goes to the lagoon rather than sits on the beach, we couldn’t decide if that is because the majority of the beach is being re-developed or if they just prefer the lagoon. We then sat on the balcony overlooking the sea with a beer in hand working out what we are going to have to eat and also what we need to take with us for the next few days on the boat.The next update may be in a few days time once we are back on dry land as I doubt that the sailing boat has Wi-Fi or a mobile signal.
