After a slow process of packing and completing home tasks we fortunately left before the greater Brisbane COVID lockdown took hold on 31st July. First stop Childers for a night sleeping in the car and a successful car charge of over 50% on a 15 amp socket. We have a skirt for blocking out light and onlookers from our lavish bedroom setting. Two sleeping mats fit nicely through the boot and across the back seats once the backs of the seats are laid flat. Cosy, but it works and will be a

 good back up for the future instead of setting up our hiking tent and making camp as you might normally do.

We headed for the Seaview Mountain cabin on the road to Turkey beach south of Gladstone. We were in no hurry since we realised crossing the Qld/NT border was probably not going to happen for a few weeks, given we just left what was now the SE Qld hotspot. The road is rocky and steep to the cabin, I had been here before in a 4WD but our raised suspension and trusty load controlled drive made it easy going to the view from the top out over Rodd’s Harbour. A great place to visit for the evening and morning views. Friendly owners and very comfortable.

To play it safe and perhaps improve our chances of getting into the NT, we thought COVID tests were in order. Also, isolation for a few days was a good option and we found an old style wooden cabin at Ferns Hideaways in Byfield, somewhere neither of us had visited before but had wanted to. Byfield was a great choice as we had a day canoeing on Waterpark Creek and another day trekking along a bush track and sandy roads towards the coast, not quite arriving there but enjoying the interwoven threads of different vegetation on the way. We also had access to a tennis court. We had planned on regular tennis to keep us fit and happy! We had lined up COVID tests at Blackwater, so after two days in Byfield we headed west after a full fast charge in Rockhampton. We didn’t expect to encounter another fast charger for quite some time!