Day 79 - Rockhampton, 14th September 2025

First up this morning, the Rocky Markets. Definitely don’t need to put this on our list for next time- very small, lots of fruit and veg, and no donuts. 😢

We headed out to Mount Archer to do the Nurim Circuit, a 500 metre elevated boardwalk providing stunning views of Rockhampton.




There had been a fire up there recently so a lot of the walks and playgrounds were closed but we did the Grasstree Walk.



Next stop was the Tropic of Capricorn Spire at the Explorer Rockhampton Visitor Centre that represents the line of the southern most point in the world where the sun moves directly overhead.



Rockhampton has free entry to their zoo and botanic gardens which I thought was pretty cool. We had our lunch in the zoo while watching the macaws.



The chimpanzees are always fun to watch…


….and we can never get enough of meerkats.




There were emus,



a koala,


a wombat,


and lots of animals that seemed to have been rescued and brought to the zoo to recover or live out their life.

I could do without the snakes, 


And the crocs!


There’s always time for some funny pics!





Next stop was the Botanical Gardens. We went through the wrong entrance and almost left as it looked very neglected. Once we found where we were supposed to be, it was beautiful. 


The gardens are home to the Central Queensland War Memorial (The Cenotaph),



a gorgeous Japanese garden,




and the Murray and Yeppen lagoons.




We went to the tea rooms for coffee and were joined by some very friendly birds.



Our last stop for the day was the Criterion Hotel.


It is a gorgeous old pub filled with character.




We had a drink and went back to camp where we had a delicious butter chicken pie from The Humpy for dinner, followed by the obligatory cards - the trophy is mine! 😢








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