1770, the township.

When Captain Cook sailed up the east coast of Australia in 1770, he landed first at Botany Bay and secondly at a lovely little harbour a thousand kilometres further north. That little harbour was later named “1770” to commemorate the year of this event, making it a rare town by having a number for a name. Despite being 60 kilometres off the Bruce Highway, we took the detour and stayed there for two nights. Most commerce sits five kilometres away in nearby Agnes Waters where you can buy any of your essential needs, leaving 1770 with only a marina, restaurant, several accommodation options, and a pub with an open-air bar providing a million-dollar view over the harbour and out to sea. The lack of trendy surf shops, cocktail bars and night clubs made 1770 a lovely, peaceful and relaxing little town.

The lovely outlook from the bar in 1770.

The bush setting of the 1770 caravan park.

From here we explored Gladstone for a few hours. It seemed that this allotted amount of time was all that the place deserved, despite its population of 43,000. It had a large port facility for all types of seaward transport, from coal to containers, which made the extensive shoreline an ugly part of the city. Maybe our impression of Gladstone had been tainted by Cairns, Townsville, Mackay and Rockhampton.

The port of Gladstone

Venturing further south, we make it to Bundaberg, passing still more cane fields. Sugar cane has become the staple view from the Pajero ever since Cooktown. For hundreds of kilometres, sugar cane grows beside the roads of Far-North Queensland. When you look out over the top of a cane field, it looks like a paddock of grass, until you realise that it’s over three metres high. These paddocks stretch to the horizon, and the landscape is occasionally interrupted by a sugar refinery mill. Of course Bundaberg has a use for one of the by-products of sugar manufacture, namely molasses, to make Australia’s most famous rum, named after the town where the distillery is situated. We did the tour of Bundaberg rum factory, which concluded with a tasting of a choice of their many products. It certainly is an iconic part of Australia’s culture.

Bundaberg's icon ...

Bundaberg reminded us of our hometown Launceston, and indeed they have similar populations. However the surrounding areas are more popular with tourists and holiday makers, and we chose the little locality called Elliott Heads. Right on the beach, the caravan park had grassed sites and a brand new toilet block, and of course was chock-full of grey nomads – retired couples wandering Australia in a caravan or motor home.