On the Road Again – Oh, no it’s Monday!

Day 64 Monday 10/8/2026 Mulambin to Gin Gin, humid 27 at 9:00am

Gosh, we had a warm night last night. After so many lazy mornings, it was up at sparrows this morning to get packed and away. I will miss this place and this coast.

And so, we hit the road again, this time heading south. We’ve a decent drive ahead of us and we’d like to get a chunk of distance under our belts.

We aim for Irongate Caravan Park near Childers as our park neighbours had raved about it. Not thinking I set our ridiculously out of date car GPS to Childers and quickly realise that she wants to go via the coast.”Turn left, turn left, make a U turn wherever possible!” No, we don’t want to go to Gladstone or Bundaberg either.

We have a quick pit stop at Mt. Larcom.

At Miriam Vale we ignore the GPS again and stay on the Bruce Highway. This stretch of highway needs a facelift and boy is it getting it. We stop many times for roadworks while we dream of a nice crispy pie. It’s warm and the drive seems to be taking forever, especially with the GPS showing crazy stats and an expected 6 hour journey, yeah pull the other leg.

Ah, “Gin Gin Bakery 3 kms”, says the billboard, mmm a nice beef pie. We fuel up then park out front of the bakery and the sign says “sorry we’re closed”. The next shop up the street…”closed Monday”. Monday, bloody Monday in desperation we find two ham and cheese croissants in a twee little place. I don’t do twee, but we’ll make exceptions on Mondays.

We ring Irongate caravan park at Childers, “Sorry luv we’re booked out for a week”. Our 2nd choice is a nearby pub, but the phone rings out.

So here we are at the Gin Gin showgrounds, it’s raining and steamy and as we get out of the car to pay the caretaker Woody says “Come on, you’re my carer”. The cheeky bugger, I thought I was a translator.