In October 2000 we went on a grand tour taking in Hong Kong and Queensland, New South Wales in Australia.

In Queensland we drove down from Cairns to Brisbane which was an amazing trip. After seeing my brother-in-law in Townsville, we drove down to the beautiful Whitsundays. Every place we stayed at was like a picture postcard. Then there was one stretch near Gladstone. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see here and you couldn’t get past it without a long drive, so we decided to stay at Gladstone.

As we neared Gladstone, driving down the Bruce Highway, we were on a flat plain with mountains visible some distance away inland. We came to a stretch of road which was elevated and had warnings about flash floods. We were taking in turns driving and at this stage John was driving. I was looking at interest at the very dramatic thunderstorm over the mountains in the distance. It seemed so far away and you wouldn’t have thought it would have any effect on us.

However, within 30 minutes, the plain had flooded and the water was rising alarmingly. The rain had hit us as well and was making it very difficult to see. By the side of the road there were height markers which seemed to have reassuring heights of around 12 feet. So I assumed we must be ok. The water just kept rising though and eventually exceeded the road level by around a foot. All you could see around us were the tops of some trees. It was like we were floating across a vast lake.

John kept his cool and proceeded to follow a 4xdrive who seemed to know the best line to take. He might have been a local or just used to flash floods. The really scary aspect was that it was not very clear as to where the edge of the road actually was. I was trying not to think what might happen if we drove off the edge of the road! After a heart stopping drive of 30 minutes or so we reached the far side of the elevated stretch of road and the water level receded.

After that ordeal we were all looking forward to a nice rest at Gladstone. It was getting dark by now and the sky was gloomy. As we neared Gladstone you could see the very industrial nature of the town. Huge array of power lines converging on the area. Mining pits, processing plants, smoky chimneys everywhere. It looked quite dismal. The hotel didn’t look much better. Although it was the biggest building in the town, it looked very grubby and old.

My wife and I were just content to get a sandwich, drink and hit the sack. Constantly irritated all night by a noisy air conditioner. In the morning I was expecting John and mum to say what a horrible night it had been but was surprised to hear the opposite. It turned out that the restaurant was excellent and as we were practically the only guests they were waited on hand and foot. They had the best fish of the whole holiday here. All in all it was a most memorable day!