After hearing
@Quigs mentioned his homeland for the umpteenth time, I decided to look it up on Google Maps.
I must say Emu Park looks like it is in the most beautiful part of Australia! Right on the water and much further north that I thought it would be.
Up near Rockhampton!
For a young boy from the Shire, he sure chose a nice place to live out his retirement.
Tell me Quigs, how did Emu Park come to be your paradise?
((
Rockhampton is a shit hole of a place.... we are 40k east ))
Well Bloke it was like this. The short condensed story. Back in 1983 whilst living in Gloucester I suffered a serious neck injury in a one vehicle accident. Fractured C1 and C5. Very very lucky not to be spending the rest of my days in a wheelchair or even worse.
In 85 I was advised to find a warm climate to spend the rest of my days. So I packed the wife and three kids aged 6,5 and 4 and headed north. The plan was to take our time, travel as far north as Townsville where the wife had relatives and then come back to the place we liked the best.
We never got past Emu Park. It was all we where looking for. Small coastal one pub town, not too touristy and laid back and what 10k from Great Keppel Island and heaps of other islands. We rented for 11 months to see if we could handle the fast lane life of The Park. All was ideal and I picked up the Tora Bora Cave at Zilzie for $65,000. (actually 3k south of EP.) I spent an extra 30thousand extending a couple of rooms and putting in a pool. (Since filled in and long gone) I tell everyone Emu Park because when we actually moved in Zilzie was not even in the Postcode book.
There was bugger all houses in Zilzie back then. The local kids would build cubby houses down on the beach and even camp over night. Youngest daughter got a horse (I not a horse man) which her and her mates rode on the beach. Have not locked the house for over 30 years now.
Quick ramble. At the time all the kids were in the local State School there was a price war between the Ferry operators that went out to GKI. Got down to $5 a trip. The wife and I and an esky would drop the kids at school and go out to GKI for the day. Hard life.
That was 39 years ago and I still can't believe my luck finding paradise. Also the neck came good, well a lot better. Still had restricted movement but believe it or not over the last two years I've found a deep muscle physio bloke who has worked miracles with me. I am like the kid in the lolly shop as I can now look straight up and see things like planes flying above me. Couldn't do that for 37 years.
Anyway I don't think 'youse' would want any of this, i am delusional, it is really a shit hole just like Rocky. For your sanity stay where you are.
Plus we have our very own Home Guard to repel unwanted southern terrorist
My Tora Bora Cave is next to the flash white roofed blue house on the near corner. The one with all the trees in the backyard and palm trees out the front. That house sold a month ago for just under $800.00. When I moved in a lot of the houses were not there. This is looking south east towards Gladstone.
