Emerald, Queensland - a day in transit

Emerald sits on a crossroads in central Queensland and like most visitors we only stopped there in transit, in this case on our way to Carnarvon. But we enjoyed our day there.

We flew in from Brisbane on a QantasLink Dash 8 turboprop — Emerald airport has not yet been upgraded to take jets. Some green irrigated fields were visible as we came in — the circular ones stood out — but otherwise the countryside was mostly brown and not emerald at all.

We had to ring to get a taxi to come out from town, so we had a wait: in the early afternoon it was 28 degrees and hot in the sun but pleasant in the shade. On the way into town we passed a huge wheat mountain by the side of the road, half-covered with a tarpaulin.

Our cabin in the Emerald Cabin & Caravan Village was a cute little hut with a double bed and triple-bunk. Having dropped off our luggage there, we decided to walk into town. The large blocks and wide, wide streets made that further than it looked on the map, and it was still fairly warm.

Near the "straw bale" information centre are a few attractions: a mosaic walk, with historical information about the town, and a huge replica of van Gogh's Sunflowers on a giant easel.

Our opinion of Emerald went up when Peter found a Guardian Weekly in the Nogoa Newsagency, after failing to find one at Brisbane airport! We also bought some food for breakfast the next day. The old station (1900) had some information about the arrival of the railway in 1879.

We walked through a bit of the botanic gardens, which span the Nogoa river, and then through the golf course to the golf club for dinner. We had a 45 minute wait till the kitchen opened, so I whipped out the netbook and typed up some trip notes (my 3G mobile broadband was a bit flakey). The service was a little slow, but dinner was tasty.

I slept ok, though I banged my head on the bunk; it was cold enough overnight that I used the blanket, and had slightly sore shoulders in the morning.

Friday 24th July

We were up at 7.30 and it was bright and sunny, with parrots squawking in the trees. Vera walked to Coles to get some fruit, and we had wheatbix, banana and tea for breakfast.

We went back to the Botanic Gardens, where we only had time for a quick look around the palm grove. On the way back I went via the shopping centre and got a coffee in a cafe — paying $4.10 for an ordinary cup, it looked like mining boom inflation was still going, at least in central Queensland!

On the way to the airport the taxi driver gave us a run-down on Emerald - 14000 people - and its agriculture - wheat, cotton, sorghum, etc. This was illustrated by the mounds of wheat etc. by the road and the stray cotton bedecking the sides of the road.

At the airport we met up with the other couple that was visiting the property, and the Bush Heritage staff accompanying us.

Up: Carnarvon Station