To the Coast – 1/23/2013
Jan 24th, 2013 by admin
The morning is cool and windy. The sky is overcast. The cyclone is getting nearer the coast and, though we are still quite a ways form the coast, the storm is bringing intermittent cloud cover. As we start to leave the clouds start to break up and the temperatures start to rise.
We’re going to heading south-east but first we have to find the Piano in the Tree. Last night, when we were checking into the hotel, the Irish manager (is there anyone still in Ireland?) asked if we had seen the Piano in the Tree? “The what?” “The Piano in the Tree.” Uh, no.
He went on to explain about the Great Flood in 1912 which wiped out Clermont and caused the Commercial hotel to be moved to it’s present location had deposited a full-sized standup piano in a eucalyptus tree 32 feet in the air. It was the marker that determined the offical depth of the water during the flood.
This morning we’re on a mission to find the Piano in the Tree. We stop in a petrol station and ask a woman if she can give us directions. She’s never even heard of it and thinks that we might be having a laugh at her expense. John goes in to the shop and comes back with directions. Take a left at the traffic circle. Go over the bridge. Take the second left. It’s there in a tree in a clearing. Can’t miss it. We’ve heard that before.
We park the car at what we think is the second left and start looking. We’re not in or at a clearing but a grove of eucalyptus trees. We start looking. Finally, on the other side of the grove of trees, there’s another PAVED road (we’d stopped on a gravel road) and there’s the clearing and there’s the Piano in the Tree.
The original piano is long gone, replaced by a replica and the piano is now only 10 feet in the air, not the original 32 feet. But the is a commemorative plaque with a picture of the original piano up in the tree and a description of the events that put the piano there. Take some pics and we’re on the road again.
The day goes quietly and predictably. The landscape is slowly changing to the flatlands just behind the Great Dividing Range. Cattle ranches and farms dominate. No more cattle stations. And lots of fencing.
We turn east at Emerald on to the Capricorn Highway (named such because its route runs along the Tropic of Capricorn) and head in to the small coastal hill ranges. It’s a nice change of pace. Rolling countryside instead of endless flat land and straight roads.
We stop in Black water for fuel and while we’re there we go into the Blackstone International Coal Center. Just can’t miss it. Really, just look for the huge dragline scoops that flank the building.
We head in for a look but, as is usual for this trip, the “Interpretive Display” is closed for a private function. We do see a model of an open pit coal mine and some wall displays. The display describe the origin of the coal, the discovery of the coal reserves (largest in the world for this type of coal) and construction and start up of the commercial mines in the area in the 1960’s.
The coal is black bituminous coal which is used primarily for metallurgical processing and coking. The displays avoid mentioning the high sulfur content and the carbon loading inherent in the coking process. Coking is the process of baking coal at high temperatures to drive off the other volatiles in the coal and leave behind near pure carbon. The coke is then use primarily for steel production.
We take a picture of the Cherokee in front of one of the dragline buckets and then head on to Rockhampton and lunch in an Irish pub. And then south toward Gladstone.
We’ve been following the railroad since Mt. Isa. As we approach Rockhapton and then on to Gladstone there are trains every 15 or 20 minutes carrying coal to either the huge electrical generating plant just outside of Gladstone or the coal loading facility on the coast justr outside Gladstone. Every 10 or 15 minutes there’s either an empty coal train going back to Clermont or a full one heading going to Gladstone. Tons and tons of carbon dioxide waiting to be released. Clean coal. Right.
There’s not much to see in Gladstone so we continue south toward Boyne and Tannen Sands, beach communities on the ocean. We we’re planning on going farther but the showers are increasing and it’s nearly 6PM. We head to the beach area looking for a caravan park to camp in.
We find the caravan park which has vacancies but a shower is just starting again and we pass on the tent site. It could be a very long and very wet night in our tents. We head up the beach and eventually park and walk out to the beach for a look.
There are quite a few people in the water trying to surf in the smallish, disorganized waves being thrown up by the cyclone. The surf isn’t high but it is rough. And right in front of where we enter the beach from the parking lot, there are two lifesaving boats practicing riding the surf in and rowing their way back out through the surf.
The boat in front of us is a boat with 4 girls and a man who appears to be their coach on the rear steering oar. These life-saving boats are only used now in competitions so we assume that the 4 girls and the coach are a team. They appear to be relatively new at this. They get in to the beach riding the surf well but when they have to urn the boat around and start to row back out through the breakers, things go bad rapidly.
On one of their attempts, two of the girls lose their oars and the coach is thrown over board and nearly run over but the then out of control boat. The coach recovers and leads the girls in beaching the boat after which some seriously strong “coaching” takes place. “Coaching” complete, they turn the boat around, push into the breakers, hop on the boat and seriously row to get the boat going out towards. This time without the previous drama. Obviously, the “coaching” had its effect.
We’re back in he car, still headed up the beach. John says that there’ll be a motel on the next road to the left. And there is. I don’t know how he did that one. And they have cacancies.
We check in. Put the car under the carport and carry the bags up to the room. Get out the wine. Sit on the balcony looking out at the beach, savoring the day. The rapidly retreat into the room as a short deluge rolls in from the sea. Good thing we didn’t tent for the night.
Between deluges, we head up the road to a pub for dinner and some beers. We meet some interesting Aussie guys while we’re in line waiting to order. (This is the only licensed restaurant in the area so it’s very crowded.) The food comes after a 45 minute wait but it’s pretty good. Another beer and the back to the motel between deluges.
Back at the hotel, we watch an hysterically funny Aussie standup comedian (Adam Hills) at a club in the UK. He maybe the funniest comedian I’ve seen in years. Then some tennis. (Federer is slowly dismantling a victim in the men’s quarter finals.) Then to sleep.
Obi-wan
One Response to “To the Coast – 1/23/2013”
Piano in a tree? We should send that one to Mythbusters (they could finish by propelling it into a tree with C4). A whole lot of steel, a little wood, and a holes to let the water in. I could imagine it being dragged 100 miles, bouncing along the bottom of a sudden river. But float, then come to rest in a eucalyptis tree? I think the site is really a monument to out-back story telling.
On the other hand, I did find a sight that had people competing for best caption (other tourist have been there). The winner was “Piano, you’re drunk! Get out of that tree”.