Emerald, Queensland

We arrived in Emerald thinking we would stay one night. We had a look at the show ground camping ($25.50 a night) and then at the free camping 'under the bridge' - it's a car park between the main road and the (still running) railway!!! Not staying there. So after filling up with petrol we headed to Nogoa Caravan Park at $27 a night, and pay for three stay for four deal. So we stayed for 4 nights instead of an overnight. The park is about half permanent and half tourist. There were a few backpacker / fruit pickers there, but most of the tourists were heading north to the gem fields or west to Longreach - we were heading south from here.

The next day the first stop was the information centre, which is located in Moreton Park. There is a
 giant easel which was a project started by Cameron Cross from Canada to have 'Di Vinci Sunflowers' in different countries around the world. This is the second giant easel, the first being in Canada, and the 3rd being in Kanas in U.S.A. The easel stands 25 metres high.

There is also a 100 metre - 100 years of Emerald Mosaic Pathway depicting the history of Emerald. The pathway leads from the giant easel to the information centre.

There is also an historical village behind the info centre.

We next had a drive into the civic centre and had a walk around looking at the street art. We also saw the 250 million year old fossilised tree. I loved the old railway station, built in 1901.

Day 3 was spent doing washing and cleaning the van. We stocked up on groceries and I had time to work on the blog.

Our last day in Emerald we went to the Emerald Botanical Gardens, situated on the banks of the Nogoa River. It is well worth a visit. It is also the only botanical garden in the Central Western District of Queensland. At the entrance stands a Southern Cross windmill water pump that is attached to a bore that feeds the gardens water supply. 

We walked to the Federation Pillars that are arranged in a semi-circle and depict the history of Emerald. Very clever.

In the centre of the Federation Pillars is the Yarn Pit. It was designed so people can sit and talk and listen to each other.

We walked through the park to the other side - interesting native forest.

It was a bit hard to find the maze, until one is there.

Jonnie and Peter went through it - didn't take too long!

Jonnie did his thing and walked through the eucalypts and softwood gardens and met us at the 'Marbles in the Park' sculpture. These have been made from natural materials and represent the colours of the Earth. I think they looked like rocks in concrete! The large sandstone blocks are suppose to have children's faces on them, but I only found one face.