July 2018

What price would you put on acres of lawn shaded by mango trees and clumps of spindly gums? Not far from the highway yet perfectly quiet but for the sounds of farm life. A few Brahman cattle grazing, ibis pecking about and birds singing. A shiny new amenities block. Homemade jams and chutneys for sale. $10 per van per night! You’ve got to be joking? No. Did I mention the pool? But there is one catch…we spent $42.50 on chutney. We’ve now got enough to last us a year.

Curious cattle, chutney, curlews and choo choos, yes there is the occasional train but they din’t keep us awake. We BBQ’d lamb chops and caravan chips with newly purchased sweet chilli sauce on the side.

We breakfasted outside watching over our herd of gentle cows.

This place was once a school built for the children of railway workers in the days when families upped stumps and moved as the railway construction progressed and local farmers who settled in the wake of the railway. How did I know this? Well under the old school building (all buildings are suspended high on legs in these parts to allow the flow of air) there is a cool sheltered area that catches the breezes. It has seating and a small book exchange as well as local produce for sale. There is a fine book detailing the history of the little school and the local families but sadly nothing as to why it eventually closed. One would imagine that it’s just too easy these days to drive to nearby Carmila and Carmila is big enough to have a couple of shops and a service station as well as a school.

By the way Flaggy Rock was known to the Aboriginal people as Yukalgi or Home of the Death Adder. I do think that the current name might be a bit of an improvement.

Flaggy Rock is roughly 110kms south of Mackay on that long stretch of Queensland’s Bruce Highway from Rockhampton to Mackay that I once thought was uninteresting. And the campground is at 85 Flaggy Rock Rd (it’s in Wikicamps), sites are unpowered.

You’ve just gotta love an overnighter that is so good that you end up staying an extra night.