Rockhampton, Mackay, Eungella National Park

I don't even know where to start, the last week was so full of moments and experiences that are worth remembering. I'll try to give you a short summary on some of the highlights.

Our first stop after Brisbane was Rockhampton, a provincial town up the east coast, where we spent two days. It is also known as the beef capital of the region, it's not touristy at all, a very relaxed place with a real Aussie feel to it. One of the highlights there was definitely the 250 gram steak I got to eat in a typical Aussie Pub with rugby match playing on TV at the same time.

After that we headed up to Mackay, a picturesque town situated next to a river and the sea. We made this our base to explore the surrounding Eungella National Park. As public transport in Australia is scarce compared to Europe, we had decided to rent a car for the weekend. That was totally worth it, because like this we were able to explore the area properly. So off we went, driving through kilometers of sugar cane fields, while listening to Colombian music, the sky being not covered by a single cloud, looking forward to the weekend ahead. We walked along river gorges, had picniques at a waterfall, trekked through rain forest, we saw platypus in the wild as well as turtles!

The scenery in Eungella National Park was just stunning, as was the camping ground we stayed at. It had the best view I ever had while camping (pictures will follow). At the same time, on that weekend I also spent my coldest night ever in a tent. We were almost freezing our butts off (4 degrees), despite wearing stockings, socks, long pants, a t-shirt, a top, a jumper, a hat and a jacket! Generally speaking if our first week had to be summed up, I would describe it as cool- in the true sense of the word :-) The days are usually nice and warm- if it is not windy, but the evenings and nights are freezing. Today it was the first time since coming to Aussie, when I felt warm. So the last three nights we didn't stay at the tent, we appreciated A LOT. But as we are travelling north it should get better...so at least that's what I hope.

In my next post I'll update you on the sailing trip we went to during the last three days. That was truly amazing. But now I'm off to dinner.