Another travel day today. I won’t lie, I’m sick of the one night stopovers. Thankfully tomorrow we will park up at Yeppoon for 3 nights and we will have completed the traverse of the country from Broome to Rockhampton in the last 6 weeks.

We were on the road by 8 again for the 300km drive to Emerald. A few stops later and we were at Emerald for a late lunch. As has become custom, the Scott’s were out on their bikes in 33 degree heat and we were in the car to get in a few hours of explore time before we depart again tomorrow.

The Scott’s spent time in town shopping and exploring by bike, including the Botanic Gardens. We headed out to Lake Maraboon and the Fairbairn dam. This lake supplies water to Emerald including irrigation canals and is currently sitting at around 40% capacity.

On the way there we came across the biggest tree across the road I’ve ever seen! The chainsaws will be going well into the night tonight!

We headed back into town where we spent some time exploring the Botanic Gardens. Quite impressive with sections dedicated to many areas around Australia (which we have been to this trip). My favourite was the rainforest section which was lush and had plenty of shade while I sweated my way around.

Tonight we have enjoyed happy hour with live ballad music at the campfire. I’m not a country music fan at all, but some of the ballads are pretty cool!