As the title suggests Rockhampton is known for its cows. It is one of the biggest farming and agricultural towns in Queensland and produces a large proportion of Australia’s beef. This is something they are very proud of. Large plastic cows adorn the streets and are a feature on a number of the shop displays or signs. The towns slogan is apparently “Eat more beef, you bastards!”, which Jo wanted to get on a t-shirt but had no luck.
Rockhampton Cow
In order to fully appreciate the beef we went out for a meal in the local pub and had us some fine local steak (it tasted like steak to me but Jo assures me it was beautiful!). The town has a real country feel to it and the advertised local radio station is one that plays country music. Jo took great delight in dialling in the station and turning up the tunes. We arrived into the town at dusk, located our campsite and followed orders on where to camp, picking a scenic spot on the banks of the river. When we got back from the pub at 1am, having sampled some of the fine local bundy rum, we noticed this sign next to our camp spot.
Fitzrory River Croc Warning
I did not get too much sleep that night as I had visions of a croc coming into the tent. We survived and no crocs were seen! I am now on permanent croc alert though and we won’t be camping next to the river again!
On the way out of Rockhampton we joined a tour of the Capricorn Caves. The cave system was quite impressive but luckily set out for tourists so there were no head torches or climbing through small holes. The highlight was probably the chamber in which they used to hold weddings(!) and sometimes still do. The acoustics in here are supposed to be not far off perfect and so they played some music to demonstrate this, Jo was very impressed.
Unfortunately we didn’t see any of the bats that live in the caves as they were a bit further in but we did enjoy the Indiana Jones style bridges on the way out of the caves.
