Sun 4 th July Now that’s a first. I had a lovely hot shower in the block 50m from our site only to realise, as I stood naked, dripping and beginning to cool, that I had forgotten my towel. I swear it will not happen again. On a cool but clear morning we drove south to Emerald. I always assumed Emerald was named after the gemstone, this being right in the centre of the Qld gemfields. Turns out the first settler in the area (around 1860) was so impressed by the greenness of the pastures that he called the property Emerald Downs. The town takes its name from his property. The first 200kms was easy going and we swapped drivers at Clermont. We’ve entered the Bowen Basin, Australia’s largest coal reserve. This is also the site where Bob Brown and the anti-Adani mine protesters met with the local pro mining community. We kept our mouths shut and kept moving south. From here and for the next 250kms the surface of the road became rough, somewhat like a choppy day on the harbour and a