11 Mar: Fraser Island (QLD) --> Mackay (QLD).
+Marc and I knew we had a long day ahead of us driving wise, so we requested to be on the 1st ferry off of Fraser Island. So we started at 6:15am so our bags could be picked up, etc. The ferry was a bit late but when all was said and done, we were back on the mainland and heading north at 9:15am. I figured it would be about 8 hours of driving with some rest stops/lunch.
What we didn't plan for was that most of the main motorway in Queensland was under major construction, which meant lots of stops. The bottom line was that this added 2 hours and 30 minutes of extra time in the car, which made for a very, very long day. The roadwork was due to both a road widening project and damage repairs from all of the torrential rains that flooded much of Queensland.
We stopped off for lunch in a town that was about a block long. Thank goodness they had a cafe (actually they had two!). As we got closer and closer, it was getting dark. Queensland doesn't do Daylight Savings Time so it gets dark around 6:30pm. The issue with that is that animals tend to come out at dusk and it can get pretty dangerous out there in terms of driving on dark roads and hitting animals. Plus mobile phone coverage was inconsistent at best if something happened.... like hitting a kangaroo, which happens regularly.
Fortunately nothing like that happened and I actually saw a couple of koalas in trees as Marc was driving along. We finally arrived in Mackay at 7:45pm and were pretty hungry. While I was driving, Marc went did a TripAdvisor search (last resort) for restaurants and came upon an Indian restaurant about 2 blocks from our hotel. Well this place ended up being awesome, especially after "crummy resort food for the past 3 days" (H/T: MM for the phrase). The service was great, the food was yummy and flavorful and we actually had more than 3 choices for wine. Woo woo!
All in all, a long day but we know that most of you would trade places with us in a second, so we know we are lucky. Unfortunately I also got a speeding ticket for going 119 km/h in an 100 zone. That's rather unfortunate but the constable said that appreciated my honesty when I said that I had no legally good reason to be over the speed limit.
Once again, making Americans proud everywhere.
Thanks again for tuning in. We appreciate all of your likes, emails, private messages and comments. Seriously.
What we didn't plan for was that most of the main motorway in Queensland was under major construction, which meant lots of stops. The bottom line was that this added 2 hours and 30 minutes of extra time in the car, which made for a very, very long day. The roadwork was due to both a road widening project and damage repairs from all of the torrential rains that flooded much of Queensland.
We stopped off for lunch in a town that was about a block long. Thank goodness they had a cafe (actually they had two!). As we got closer and closer, it was getting dark. Queensland doesn't do Daylight Savings Time so it gets dark around 6:30pm. The issue with that is that animals tend to come out at dusk and it can get pretty dangerous out there in terms of driving on dark roads and hitting animals. Plus mobile phone coverage was inconsistent at best if something happened.... like hitting a kangaroo, which happens regularly.
Fortunately nothing like that happened and I actually saw a couple of koalas in trees as Marc was driving along. We finally arrived in Mackay at 7:45pm and were pretty hungry. While I was driving, Marc went did a TripAdvisor search (last resort) for restaurants and came upon an Indian restaurant about 2 blocks from our hotel. Well this place ended up being awesome, especially after "crummy resort food for the past 3 days" (H/T: MM for the phrase). The service was great, the food was yummy and flavorful and we actually had more than 3 choices for wine. Woo woo!
All in all, a long day but we know that most of you would trade places with us in a second, so we know we are lucky. Unfortunately I also got a speeding ticket for going 119 km/h in an 100 zone. That's rather unfortunate but the constable said that appreciated my honesty when I said that I had no legally good reason to be over the speed limit.
Once again, making Americans proud everywhere.
Thanks again for tuning in. We appreciate all of your likes, emails, private messages and comments. Seriously.