Gladstone

 We continued northeast towards Gladstone.

A common sight in Australia where you have to stop for road repairs. In the US roads have a thick layer of bitumen but it's much thinner in Oz. I read somewhere that it's a way to keep people employed in country areas. Just keep patching the roads.

The highway soon turned to dirt and we probably had 50 miles of uncomfortable driving. I had fun but M was less enthused.

We eventually arrived in Gladstone and the next morning we drove to a viewpoint overlooking the harbour. This was part of the view.

We didn't get to see much of Gladstone except for driving in and out and going to the downtown area for dinner. It's surprisingly hilly.

There are numerous docks in the area servicing different industries. The coal exporting terminal is one of Australia's largest, as well as a terminal for liquid natural gas. In addition, there is an aluminium plant. 

With all the industry, you would expect that the Labor Party would dominate, but since the area is dominated by the export of fossil fuels, the conservative LNP party won the last election because they refuse to recognize climate change.

Cafe to get your hit of coffee.

The aluminium plant in the distance.

Gladstone used to be a quiet, small country town. All of that changed with the opening of the huge coal fields to the west. Australia is one of the largest producers of coal in the world, with most of the exports going to Asia. It's an industry that will presumably die within the next 50 years but the conservative / business leaders don't want to kill off this goose that is laying golden eggs.

If I look in my crystal ball, I suspect in a hundred years, a new non-polluting use for coal will be found and people will say ' You know, they used to just burn this stuff. '