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So I know you are in suspense with the major cliff-hanger I left you with. I can confirm we got to Rockhampton and Stefan was also a sound bloke, he loved the Cranberries, juice and Motorbikes. He told us facts about Australian mining, truck driving and Australia. Conversation with him was a bit stop start but he did tell us to add him on Facebook and anytime we need a lift give him a shout and he would give us a lift if he was in the area. Tom was being a negative Nancy for no reason. We had come up trumps again!
Unlike Mackay we knew the hostel we were going too and we knew there was space, we got dropped off at Rockhampton Backpackers a YHA and booked in for a night. The hostel was like an old bloke's home, everyone was at least 40. For the first time in Australia I was one of the youngest in the hostel. The hostel was like it was situated on a farm, but without a farm. I wouldn't recommend the hostel. The internet was slow, the pool was the size of a bath and the bunk beds and dorms were exactly top notch. We dropped our bags off and went to explore and find a new hostel for the next night.
I think I might have mentioned in a previous blog that Rockhampton is the Australia's Beef capital. It seems like all of the shops like to play on this with an overdose of cow/bull puns. UnbeateaBULL, MOOLatte, LeaseaBULL, but the best may have to be ReMOOaveBULL. They are littered all over Rockhampton. Anyway we went exploring, it was Melbourne Cup day so the pubs were packed. All the women were dressed up with hats and fascinators and the blokes in suits or working clothes It semt crazy to me that all of Australia stopped for the Melbourne Cup and people would even just get dressed up even if they were just going to the pub 1000's of miles away to watch it. You'd get laughed at in England if you did that, I thought. I wanted to go to the pub, but Tom dragged me to the information desk where we got dozens of leaflets about things to do in Rockhampton. They ranged from Nob Creek Pottery, The Zoo and a Crocodile Farm. We also enquired at two other backpacker places about accommodation the next night. It was now beer time and to discuss our plans for the next few days. We had a Stella and decided, that night we would go to The Great Western have a beer and have a steak, the next day we would go the zoo and botanical gardens and that night we would try our hand at bull riding. We finished our beers, headed back to the hostel and got ready for the night ahead.
Seen as the Rockhampton was the beef capital of Australia I was expecting big things from the steak. I was disappointed $12 for a T-bone steak represented quite a bargain in Australia. We got a decent sized portion chips, salad a 250gram steak and pepper sauce. I took a bite it was incredible! Or as the patrons of Rockhampton would say IncrediBULL. The Great Western was a proper Rodeo type Pub/Ranch. It was where the bull riding would be held the next night so we thought we would make enquiries. We did and we were heartbroken. You couldn't go Bull riding unless you had your own equipment. I was gutted; it would have been great for the blog and a great experience even if I was s***ting myself about doing it. The barmaid told us to contact Brian, the bar manager and he might be able to help out, I wasn't hopeful though. It looked like the bull riding dream was over. We carried on and had a few beers in the Giddy Goat, Oxford Hotel where I won a bottle cooler and the Heritage Hotel where we were going to move the next day.
The next day we woke up, had some boiled eggs, checked out and moved ourselves to the Heritage Hotel. We had a cracking room. We dropped our bags off and caught the bus to the zoo and botanical gardens. Both were free, which already made it a great attraction. I thought though with the zoo being free it wouldn't be that good, but I was pleasantly surprised. We got to see Crocodiles, Emu's, Kangaroo's, Lizards, a lot of birds, Chimpanzee and Dingoes. The Gardens were also ok, walking around a Japanese Garden, Fruit Garden where we came across a bacon tree and a war memorial. While we were here we got talking to two Dutch girls and gave them advise on Whitsundays and Banana Farming. We then waited just under an hour to get back into town.
We went back to the hostel and chilled out for a bit. We then phoned Brian to see if there was any chance of taking part in the Bull rodeo, to our surprise there was all we needed was to put on long trousers, a long shirt and trainers. I'm not going to lie to you readers I wasn't expecting to do it, so I began to s*** my pants as I was getting changed. I was shaking like a s***ting dog, what would happen when it came to game time. We walked down to the pub where it was being hosted and spoke to Brian, he told us to moose about around the place and he would get us when we they were ready. We had a beer a settled my nerves pretty well. The kids were up first on the steers, they were brilliant at it, proper cowboys. 13-17 year olds were riding these Bulls like they were nothing even if they got a kick they would shrug it off like it was nothing. Then came the big Bulls, they didn't look happy, some even charged at the crowd. And one had to be forced out by a small digger machine. I was hoping I was not on one of these Bulls. Bull riders came and went and we were wondering if we were ever going to get the call to go up. In honesty I was feeling sleepy at all the waiting and it looked like we wouldn't be riding again, but then we got the call. We did rock, paper, scissors to decide who would go first. I lost. They strapped me into a vest, glove and helmet and sat me on the bull. They told me it would be a pretty lame bull and one guy gave me some tips squeeze the bull with your legs, pull down and look at his back. I did none of these and come down with a thud under 3 seconds. It appeared looking back on the video reply I got a kick from the bull in the side on the way down too. Tom was up next, he was just as bad as me coming off under 3 seconds. I think I stayed on longer by a few milliseconds but it didn't really matter we were both buzzing, high on adrenalin. It had definitely woken us up. We may have our bumps and bruises but it was brilliant. We proceeded to get on the beers doing a mini bar crawl of Rockhampton, first the Great Western, then the Giddi Goat, we then had a cheeky one in The Oxford Hotel before going to the Heritage where we were staying. In here I got hungry and asked the barman for an orange segment before we knew it he had gave us four glasses filled with orange segments. We nailed them. He advised us of a club to go too we went and it wasn't that busy so we walked down the street where we saw a place with blue neon lights, we walked in and there was a girl in just her bra and knickers stood at the bar, we had only gone and walked into Rockhampton's strip club. It would have been rude to leave straight away so we watched a dance or two and then retreated back to the hotel for a pot noodle and some kip.
The next day we woke up wondering how things could get any crazier, we packed our bags and headed out. It was time to move on our aim was either a town called Seventeen Seventy or Gladstone. We caught a bus to the edge of town and walked down the Bruce Highway to find a suitable lay-by, to our horror this turned out to be a 4-5km walk, but we did manage to see the Tropic of Capricorn sundial (it's nowhere near as good as Sutton's) and saw statues of three big Bulls. It only took us about 30 minutes from when we were at the lay-by to get a lift, an Indian Christian fella called Danny, he was going to Galdstone, so it was off to Gladstone we went!
Be sure to read again next time to see the crazy shenanigans of Gladstone. And by the way if anyone was wondering Roger still hasn't called us about them kitchen hand jobs! And I thought we impressed him so much. He must have realised we wouldn't have been sticking around long.
Anyway until next time Take Care and Stay Safe!!
Adi
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