Day 173 Well, we got the alternator fixed yesterday morning but that was not the end to our misfortunes. After leaving the mechanics we grabbed a quick shower at a local caravan park and were on our way. Just outside Theodore we came across Dawson Mine and took the small detour to the observation deck. This is kind of the dark side of Australia. They have a lot of coal mines, the industry is booming but not all are happy with it. We were 215 kms out of Rockhampton and did not even make that without incident. About 30kms out in the town of Mt. Morgan our clutch started acting funny. I tightened the cable with tools I borrowed from a local but that only got us to the first mechanic in Rocky. We pulled in took a closer look with the guy and we need a new clutch. It being Friday and almost 3 o'clock the work is not going to start till Monday. So the van is stuck at the mechanic and we are stuck in Rocky.
We are going to make the best of the situation by heading to one of the local bars that we learned had a bull riding arena in the back. As we walk up we were a little skeptical because from the street there was no evidence of this arena. But sure enough as we walked up a sort of alley that connected two buildings of this bar there it was. We were happy to see that there was going to be an event later on. We quickly went to look for a grocery store to find some food before the entertainment. We found a local Woollies not too far away. As we were walking through the store a lady was giving out free samples of a new style pizza. Of course we tried it! She asked if we liked it, we said yes, so she started telling us where in the store it was. So I said as a joke well you'd have to cook it for us as we have no stove. "Sure!" she replied. So we bought one and true to her word she cooked it for us right there while we grabbed a couple of other things. After this unexpected nice deed and pizza we were on our way back to the Great Western for a drink and some bull riding. (watching only)
Today and the next few days we will have to explore Rocky on foot. Since yesterday we just made it to town we were very close to the info center. After a short walk there, we took a stroll through the Botanical gardens and adjoining mini zoo. The zoo was the pretty much the same as the one we visited in Ipswich except for this one had some Chimpanzees. They were pretty noisy as there were two new ones to the zoo. They were in separate enclosures but were able to interact, which occasionally got pretty loud. After the zoo we walked down to the Lagoon where we seen the most turtles either of us have seen. They were used to people feeding the ducks, so they were right close and popping their heads in and out of the water. There were dozens and dozens we could not believe it all these little heads poking out all over the place. We sat around the water for a bit then headed back to the van for dinner and a movie.