Day 22 – Rockhampton to Hervey Bay

 

To go or to stay? In the end, with no evidence of anything, and the odds leaning far to the ‘Buckley’s and none chance of seeing this motor vehicle part any time soon’, we headed south in search of at least a glance of Hervey Bay. This turned out to be a wise choice as we later did get a call stating that it appears the part may be in Perth and may or may not be coming to Rockhampton by plane or by road. We stopped by Nissan at Rockhampton and Gaz schmoozed Eric, our parts guru there, making him promise to send the part to our local Nissan dealer when it finally arrives. So, we made the call – we are running the gauntlet and driving the 1275 km home without wipers.

There we were, heading down the Bruce Highway, minding our own business, when BOOM, the car in front went slightly to the edge of the road, kicked up a stone and we got a big chip in the windscreen. I won’t pretend that Gaz reacted to this calmly – hands were raised, and cries of ‘Why? Why? Why?’, along with some choice words that don’t bare repeating here were heard.

We did enjoy a short stop at Miriam Vale, a quaint small town about halfway. They have the best kids’ playground I’ve ever seen at a smallish town and the residents were very friendly. Everyone gave us a seniors discount without us even asking and that included the grocery store! The café was great with lots of old kitchen type memorabilia and very tasty bacon and egg rolls.

Back on the road and we watched the horizon with some trepidation as dark clouds gathered, ominously teasing our wiper less situation. Inevitably it happened – it started teeming with rain. I won’t pretend that Gaz reacted to this calmly – hands were raised, and cries of ‘Why? Why? Why?’, along with some choice words that don’t bare repeating here were heard. We were travelling at about 100 km with a fair amount of traffic in evidence both ways, adding to the spray and general deluge that descended from the heavens. I didn’t time the deluge, but it seemed to last forever, though 15-20 minutes may have been the mark. It was not ideal, and though I could see OK (well, that’s my story), a greater level of concentration was certainly required.

With the rainstorm easing, and the turnoff to Hervey Bay appearing, I relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. Almost there, heart rate falling back to normal. Not for long. Police up ahead. Shite! The windscreen is still covered in water! As I followed instructions and pulled over for what was clearly a random breath test, I searched for the TV cameras – the only thing that could make this situation worse is for the whole nation to witness it on prime-time television. I won’t pretend that Gaz reacted to this calmly – hands were raised, and cries of ‘Why? Why? Why?’, along with some choice words that don’t bare repeating here were heard.

Hissing at him to keep it down, I rolled to a stop to be greeted by a lovely Queensland police officer who seemed oblivious to the reduced visibility situation occurring in the stopped vehicle. I blew into the test apparatus, clearly passed with flying colours, and was told to move on and have a nice day. You have no idea how relieved I was, and I tried not to peer too strangely through the windscreen as I pulled away. Another 20 minutes and we were booking into our cabin at Hervey Bay, a very nice one … pity we will only have one night here.

Kev & Maz were on hand, ready to give us a quick tour of the sights, and that’s what they did. They showed us the beaches, the pier, the marina and harbour, and then we drove out onto a break wall at the marina and encountered a very friendly guy who told us heaps of stuff about the area and Fraser Island that we were looking across to.

It was dark by this time, and we came back to the cabin where we finished unpacking while Kev & Maz prepared a scrumptious dinner of prawns and salad. We followed this with a game of Euchre that the boys narrowly won. Early day again tomorrow as we are heading further south to Kingscliff. We are trying to ignore weather forecasts – you can’t change the weather.

Gaz came across this today - he says he begs to differ...