Day 42

Day 42 Yeppoon

We have been on the road now 6 weeks, and we are still having a ball. Well I am

Coal train

having fun and if I am having fun them by rights so must Maureen. We had intended to leave fairly early to head off but Maureen had had a bad night stressing over not having accommodation sorted. I had a couple of mobility hire places to call once I knew where we were going to be. So, whilst we had breakfast, I got on the Accor site as I am a member and got a list of hotels they had and started ringing. The problem is that the hotels don’t say if they have walk in showers or shower/bath combinations. I need a walk in shower and Maureen needs to be in a low floor as in not above 5 floors.

I rang a couple who did not have walk in showers and got onto the Menzies who did have and suggested we request room 303 when we book on-line. Done, onto the site and booked, problem was it only said 1 person, so Maureen started to

Work in progress

Offending tyre

worry that she might have to sleep in the corridor, I put her at ease by saying I would give her a pillow to use. That said, I was encouraged to call them and confirm it, so I did, all sorted and she will be able to sleep in the room with me, maybe on the couch.

Once that was done I rang around the mobility places and found one that could drop off and deliver to our needs, so I was now sorted and we hit the road. Margaret and her family have just been wonderful with their hospitality and we were made to feel right at home, cannot wait to reciprocate.

On the road we went. We got to within 10 Km of Yeppoon when I heard an odd noise and sure enough, we had blown another tyre, front passenger. The weather was nice, not too hot, gentle breeze so I looked at Maureen and she got the phone out and called RACQ. We told them where we were and sat down to wait. Dozens and dozens of cars went by and no one stopped, you can tell we were away from the bush. Well 2 did stop and we told them we were right and 1 left, the second one came over and had a chat. I think he was a bit lonely as he had lost his wife a year or so ago and is on his own now. So we chatted away with him until the RACQ man rolled up and off he went.

Our home is Girt by sea

He tyre was replaced in no time and we were soon on our way into Yeppoon. We now have no spares so we went to a tyre place but as it was about 5pm we have to wait until tomorrow to get them replaced, so that is what we will do. We drove to the Beachside Caravan Park here and booked in and Maureen went to work on setting up Girt and off we went in search of the cannon. Some years ago there was an insurance add where it showed a guy testing display cannons to make sure they are safe and part of the script was he says “One went off in Yeppoon.” So I have had the name in my mind since, so off we went in search of the cannon. I thinks it might be a little late to sue them for false advertising as there is no cannon here in Yeppoon!

Singing ship

We drove to Emu Park via the scenic route looking for a singing ship, all we found was a shiplike statue that just made some noises when the wind blew, not one word, let alone a song, should have called it the whistling ship.

Back at Girt we have had tea and I am catching up on the blog site. Tomorrow we drop Girt off for some new shoes and then head for Hervey Bay.

Singing ship

Day 41

Day 41 Mackay

The Queen getting all her ducks lined up.

We had a slowish start today. We had been to Margaret’s last night for dinner and following that Graham and Margaret drove us up to a lookout overlooking half the town, the other half was behind the top of the hill. The views were great as all the houses were lit up and we could see the coal loading facilities in the distance. Mackay has the largest coal loading facility in the country and is fed by 2 km long trains that arrive on average every 15 minutes.

When we got up this morning, Maureen was in big demand. The local birds had

Loading facilities

showed up late yesterday and Maureen had given them a crust before we went out, well they were all but knocking on the door. Talk about the queen with her beloved fans! They were having a ball. When Maureen went in to get more bread, they would go up to the door and peer in looking for her. When she walked to the bin it was like the pied piper, so funny to watch.

Stockpiles

Once we had finished feeding the locals we went out for drive and ended up at the Canelands shopping centre that had been recommended last night for its views. When we went in, we saw a Flight Centre and we decided to go in and see if they could find us some lodging in Sydney. We took a brochure and off we went to lunch to look at it. After lunch, we went back and sat down with the lady as most of the offers in the brochure were out of date. She started ringing around the hotels and her company and so it went round and round, rates would jump up $200 a night whilst we were on hold, or we would be put on hold for ages. In the end the lady said leave it with her and she would organise some calls on Monday. As you may recall we have booked flights to go to Sydney on the 2^nd (this Wednesday ) from Harvey Bay until Sunday, nothing like last minute planning.

Dinner with Margaret

explaining the finer points

From there we drove home and had a quick rest. We went over to Margaret’s again and she took us for a drive to the coal loading facilities which is just huge. It is like Karratha with huge stockpiles and loaders.

Following on from there we went to dinner at one of Margaret’s favourite restaurants before saying our farewells. Margaret is retiring in a couple of years and we are hoping the she and Lyn will be able to come to WA for a visit and maybe a trip to Bali.

Day 40

Day 40 Mackay

Fish

Yes we are still on track. We left Airlie beach along with a stream of Schoolies and headed out of town. The fuel gauge said empty and as there are no fuel stations in Airlie, we left town with our fingers crossed and no air conditioning in case we did not make it up the hills. We pulled into the first station and the tank must have been in vacuum. We topped old Trude up and got ready for our journey south. There was a tackle shop next to the station and the variety of fish on the bite was to die for.

We headed off and drove through just mile after mile of sugar cane farms. We headed into Mackay about 1 ish and went to a little van park near town called Andergrove Van Park. Maureen set up Girt and we had a bit of a sit down. The

Nicolette, Margaret & Caitlyn

park is lovely and we had an ensuite site that was just perfect. The grounds are all grassed and manicured and just so cool. Maureen rang her friend Margaret to say we were here. She said come on over in an hour or so for  cuppa, so off to the pool we went for a quick dip and cool off in the coldish water.

Maureen had not seen Margaret and her family for over 30 years and they had met when they were travelling in England and once since they had returned. Margaret was wonderful, we had a cuppa and felt like old friends and it had only been a few years not decades. Margaret had organised

Graham, Linda & Jenna

a BBQ for that night so we could meet the rest of the crew. We went back to the van and had showers and got dressed before returning and met the rest. There was Margaret, Caitlyn and Nicolette (one family); Graham, Linda & Jenna (her brother and family); Mick and Lyn.

Maureen, Margaret & Lyn

The whole group were fantastic and made us feel right at home. As Graham is a cane farmer I would love to have spent more time discussing it more, but one thing  did discover is that you only plant sugar cane once. Once it is established and harvested each year, it regenerates again the following year and plants can last up to 7 years.

We spent a great night there and made it home to do the blog that night.

Day 39

Day 39 Airlie Beach

Towards airport

Magnetic Island

The tippy top

The road headed South and off we went, downhill now. Before we went down hill, we went up hill, all the way to the top of Castle Hill. What a view of the area. Had it been not so misty I reckon we would have seen twice as far. It is a steep climb and very twisty but that was not just from the road, dozens of people walk up and down it on the road and you have to avoid them, well you do if you want to keep the car clean. There are mums with prams and ladies power walking and bloke strolling up. What happened to its Friday and everyone should be at work.

The Creek

Looking North

We crossed the Creek and found a lovely big bridge there made in quite an odd design. The countryside is definitely dryer than before but there are still miles and miles of sugar cane. We stopped off at Bowen, Home of the

Big Mango 1

Big Mango 2

Big Mango, not sure which one it was, I think they were sold a bulk lot, just about every second street had one. It's other claim to fame is that they shot parts of the film Australia here as there were less crocodiles and more space to build the sets. We bought a couple of pies there for lunch and moved on.

We drove into Airlie Beach about 2 ish and I was for just

Australia cast

going on but Maureen’s pie was not sitting well with her and watching all those people running up Castle Hill had left her somewhat dehydrated. We found a caravan park near town and set up Girt. We then  had a drink and sat in  the air con and rested a while.

Marina

Schoolies is on at the moment and there are some here at the site. They have been partying hard and I heard one ask the other “Do you know what we are?”, “Yeah,” said a voice from a pile of reposing bodies, “Old.” Oh the voice of youth.

After our nap and feeling revived, we drove into town. I need some petrol and we wanted to see the town. Turns out that they do

Locals drop in for a feed

Locals drop in for a feed

not trust Airlie Beachans with flammable liquids, no petrol stations anywhere here. We have to wait until we leave tomorrow and hope we have enough to get to the next town or Maureen will be pushing.

The foreshore area is lovely and touristy with a pool. We walked along the

The pool

On the boardwalk

boardwalk and took in the view before retiring to have some tea and heading back to camp. The schoolies here are dressing up to go out and some are starting to party in the cabins, oh well, there goes the early night.

Tomorrow is Mackay and catching up with friends that Maureen has not seen in over 30 years!

Day 38

Day 38 Townsville

Me on the hill

View of the Strand

We got going reasonably early and went down town  to the Fish In at the Rock pool for breakfast. It is just a lovely setting. Afterwards we went to Kissing Point and did a walk around the old fort and the botanical trail there. The fort was established way back in the 1880’s once they had kicked all the aboriginals off to Palm Cove. They established guns there to protect the harbour until in 1939 when they upgraded the area with better guns. They make a bit of a fuss over

View of rocky pool

Kissing Point walkway

when they were bombed, sounds very impressive until you realise it was three nights and one plane on each and a flying boat at that. One night they dropped bombs into the bay and missed the harbour all together, another night they dropped bombs in land from the town and the last night they dropped them near the racecourse. They even interview 2 pilots that went up to

7 sisters sculpture

Me and my gun

shoot it down one evening. All they managed to do was shoot the tail gunner and they plane flew away. No heroics like Darwin of planes taking off under fire from enemy planes or hundreds of planes, bit weak.

But, that aside the hill has some brilliant views of town and the beach. From there we went out to a shopping centre where I got some replacement bulbs for our outside lamp and the bedside lamps. We also had lunch whilst we were there. Is was very pleasant in the centre

Jezzine House

but as you go out, it is a bit like walking into an oven. Back down to the Strand and we parked near Rocky Pool as we intended to have a swim latter and off we went down the Strand. There is a Maritime Museum there as well as a Museum and an Aquarium there. Unfortunately by the time we wandered down we were too late for them so we walked through the CBD and made our way back to the strand, near the sewage fountain, still looks decidedly off.

Old sailing ship

Beautiful red flowers

We made our way back towards the Rocky Pool and watched some outriggers go out for a paddle. They have the best setup. Not rooms or sheds. They leave the Canoes on the beach with covers on them and next to them a metal cabinet 2m by 2m by 1m deep and in it is all the paddles and equipment they need all locked up. Off they went and we walked out onto the jetty there to watch another outrigger that had tipped over out to sea. They had problems righting it and bailing it out, but after a few tries, they got it sorted. Whilst we were there,

Free water fun park

I thought we had big Orb spiders

we had a chat to the fishermen there. They had 5 or 6 rods out, there were holes drilled in the decking for the rods to sit in ad they have a cleaning sink with tap as well, just the perfect setup. The man caught a sea snake on his line but it wrapped itself up so tight around the hook he had to kill it to get it back. He says that it is a common occurance and usually if it is not too tangled up, they put it under a freshwater tap and they drop of the line, they have the tap all set up for it.

Me and the old dragon

We finally made it to Rocky Pool as the sun was setting and into our togs we got and into the pool. It was just delightful. We waded about until it was just a little cool and got out. We dried off a bit and went to the restaurant there for tea and a drink. We are sitting outside the van in the cool and watching a group of Curlews doing laps of the road verge, screaming away.

Tomorrow we are heading off towards Mackay, we will drop into Airlie Beach to see what it is like.

Day 37

Day 37 Townsville

Rocky pool empty

Dry outlook

We left Paronella park about 10. We had intended to leave a little earlier but we got up and sat around for a while, because we could. We have only a short distance to go and everyone else at the park were keen to go so we sat and watched them go. We drove out and said our farewells to the staff and hit the road to Innisfail.

Fresh caught Dugong for dinner

Gelato

The landscape has really changed with the move south. The land is decidedly dryer and scrubbier looking. They still grow sugar cane everywhere, but the land is a lot less lush. We hit Innisfail with its huge sugar mill and had lunch just outside of town. We pushed on into Townsville and arrived just

Thought of you Craig

Heritage listed

after 2pm. We drove to Rowse Bay Caravan Park and they put us right next to the disabled toilets in an area they are rehabilitating so again we have a few sites all to ourselves.

Homes on a cliff

Marina

We unhitched the van and Maureen set Girt up and we drove into town. Townsville has a boardwalk similar to Cairns but it is definitely different. In Cairns there were lots more tourists so there were lots of shops and markets and food places, here it is smaller but very well done. We strolled along the Strand as it is called. They have problems with stingers here so they too have a

Curlew

Tim's hockey teacher

pool here, Rocky Pool, and two netted off sections of the beach. The walkway is about 3kms from one end to the other but they have 2 Surf Life Saving Clubs, Arcadia and Picnic Bay that are about 1 km apart! One each for the netted areas.

As we were going along, it was hot in the sun but on the beach there was a beautiful sea breeze that kept everything cool. We found a

Maureen trying chairs

On the jetty

gelato shop and sat and had rest there, just idyllic, in the shade, gentle breeze and overlooking the beach.

Further along there was this fixture that reminded me of Craig, yes Craig Northey you. It was a fountain, but not just any fountain, it had coloured water in it and with it in

On the jetty

Heritage buildings

the shade it had a decided brown tinge to it and it reminded me of a Waste Water Treatment Plant. I am sure that it was supposed to be bright yellow, but the colour has faded. They have a couple of memorials to the

temporary cripple

Me and my wings

battle of the Coral Sea, even though Cairns was closer, but this was their base at the time.

We went up and down the Strand and had dinner at The Longboards Bar and I pigged out on

Net area 1

Net area 2

Night swim

chicken wings. Tomorrow is another day aimed at sight seeing.