Rocky

Did I mention the Mitsubishi salesman we met in the pool at the Barkly Homestead ( the side of the middle of nowhere)? He said the following cruel words to Matt that left him feeling totally unroadworthy (just a state of mind you may recall).. "Jeez mate, couldn't help but notice you're a bit loaded up there..". Matt had thought no one else could notice that our back tyres were a little 'knock-kneed'. Anyway, 'the guy' offered some welcome advice on solving our previously ignored problem - Polyair bags that 'aid' suspension. And so we booked ourselves in (some several thousand kilometres, and one completely worn out tyre later) to the friendly 4WD experts in Rockhampton to have them fitted before we took any 'stupid risks' on Fraser Island - the Fraser guidebook advises against taking 'stupid risks' you see...

Now most parts of the world are feeling the effects of some kind of recession.. Not Rockhampton! Not a single hotel/ motel room available on a Wednesday night. No special event on - just the mining boom. We really did not want to camp (don't like camping in big towns) and we knew we had to be at TJM at 8am. So we found a quaint motel (that was very nearly full of miners!) one hour's drive north of Rocky at Marlborough. Here we may have sabotaged the boys chance of a visit from Santa by attacking his representative with water pistols... Oh well, the boys had nearly given up on Santa visits anyway since it is "impossible for one man to visit EVERY single house on Earth in one night!"

Just a final word on Rocky... Matt really wanted a blog post dedicated to the life sized decorative cows and bulls that many businesses chose to display. Below are four examples. Many times Matt volunteered to drive back to get a photo of another brilliant sample, but the resounding cries of "Noooo!" from each corner of the car were deafening. Often the best thing was the attached slogan ie the job skill training centre said "traina-bull" etc. This sparked off a good hour of similar humour in coming up with "bull" type slogans. You should try it - a laugha-bull activity for an easily entertaina-bull family.