Townsville

 Tropical trees on Townsville sea front

Townsville harbour with Castle Hill behind

Faces of Townsville exhibition

Time for a haircut? Not yet

Airlie Beach to Townsville about 5 hours driving with great scenery. Ayr a surprisingly big town in the sugar fields with lots of shops and few eating places. Into Townsville through new houses on lakesides then into city centre which looks very 70s. (reminds Dave of Joburg and we are later told the main part of the town has moved west.

One of many helicopters over Townsville

Top tourist campsite is run by a guy from Niddrie. Fighter jests flying overhead from air base next door. Drive to Strand for a dodgy greek dinner and stroll then back to campground to be buzzed by helicopters until 11pm ish. Good morning Vietnam. When the helicopters disappear we can hear trucks on the highway next to us all night. Shocking.

Knackered we decide to leave Townsville after climbing Castle Hill. On the way Youngmi sees a campsite sign and says lets check it out. Rowles Bay. Really nice and next to the ocean and only $2 per night more than noise HQ. Walk along sea front to Seagulls Resort. An oasis like Bali. Have lunch next to a pool in beautiful gardens.

Pill box on Castle Hill

Further along the sea front to a patrolled beach. Having read that the killer jelly fish should have gone in May Dave takes the plunge. 24 degs. So nice.
Dinner at the campground with good aussie characters who talk a lot about fishun.

Rock Pool swimming pool

Beware of Killer jelly fish

Commando training

Day 2 walk along the Strand. Water park with a big tipping bucket. Library in town with free internet and Age newspapers. Lunch in Herbers Hotel with more characters from Housos. Clim up the goat track to castle hill 286m above the town and collect a free hat and t shirt. Long walk down, quick swim in Rock Pool. Try to find the theatre in the evening but arrive 30 minutes after play started. Chat to a theatre lady who has moved from Adelaide.

Ferry to Magnetic Island takes 20 mins. Decline Youngmi's suggestion of lunch in a graveyard (she didnt notice the graves at first).Walk from Nellys Bay to Arcadia is 6kms of delight. Rainforest then up onto a mountain ridge with palms and gum trees. View to Horeshoe Bay and out to sea. So thirsty when we reach the beach but a bottle of coke zero revives us. Snorkel trail doesn't look too inviting particularly as we don't have snorkels. Said to be coral and fish to be seen.

Ferry back is a good ride in the breeze. Big sugar handling facilities at Townsville docks. Drive to Dan Murphys for Friday night wine tasting, quick hungry Jacks Burger then to the riverside arts centre to watch the Crucible. 3 hours of intense theatre about the Salem with trials in 1692. Excellent and we have seats on the front row. The stage is at floor level so we are right in the action. The 300 seat theatre is full and all performances really good especially John Proctor who is eventually hanged. Youngmi said she wanted to run into the play and bash the judge as he was so stupid.

Saturday morning more sun and we are back at the arts centre as you can use the NBN for free. It seems to work well.

Airlie Beach

70kms from Caleb to Porsepine with mountains on one side and sugar cane fields. Nice. Another 30kms to Airlie Beacxh which looks great. Real blue sea and smart modern buildings. Top Tourist camp 1km past town is good for us.




 Walk back into town and mix with lots of back packers. Try out the silent disco and then a parma at Magnums. Nice but very small.






With the walk back Dave's blood sugar is 6.5 which is probably too low before going to bed. It was too low as about 1.30am he is up eating jelly beans to get the blood sugar back up from 2.7. It worked again.

Pours down in the night but sun in the morning. Walk back to town then 3.5 sea front walk to Canonvale. Look at a bird for ages trying to decide if it is real as it does not move.


On the way back it has moved and is real. Bonus in Canonvale with Hungry Jacks free coffee refill. Youngmi reads the Gerard Baden Clay murder trial report in the paper.Coles has bargain and excellent quality apples and cauliflower






Sun for the rest of the day.

A night there is lots of shouting on the campsite with a Sheila shouting to her bloke over and over again "get out of my life". They calm down when the police come. Next morning they are sat outside their big big caravan smiling at each other. Like the couple in Father Ted who try to kill each other when they are alone.

Dave walks to town and up the first few kms of the great Whitsunday walk. Cool in the forest and red hot elsewhere. Meet a belgian guy who has camped on the track for a bit of peace and travelled the world for almost 2 years so far. There are warning signs on the track about stinging trees which hurt for a month if you are unlucky enough to touch one. After the hard walk Dave does another 3kms to Hungry Jacks and more coffee and burgers. Coming out he is found by Youngmi and dragged back in. Dave enjoys Youngmi's free coffee refill. Back along the sea front walk and then paddle in the swimming lagoon in town.






Dinner at Beaches backpackers $13 for steak, mash, veggies and a wine.

On the next sunny day drive to Hideaway Bay recommended by the campsite manager ( who moved hear from Melbourne 1 year before) Remote and hot . Walk along beach and through mangroves.





There could be crocodiles here says Youngmi. Get back on the track and walk to the car. Quick look at Dingo beach which has the advantage of a pub.Drive 50kms back to Airlie Beach then Shute Harbour

Eungella national park and the platypus and dutch family

Drove up a steep windy road for 5 kms to the plateau. Go to Broken River as it is 4.30 and getting to platypus time. A few people there and two platypus.






Drive on to Crediton Hall campground. Lots of dairy cattle around and their evidence on the camp area. A bit damp and ordinary. Luckily a lovely dutch family are camping there and we have a great night chatting with them around the campfire.





More platypus viewing next morning and a walk in the rain forest.

Down to Mackay and another Hungry Jacks. Drive past a few old and art deco buildings then on to Cape Hillsborough. Beautiful spot but the campsite is not perfect for us. Basic camp kitchen and sandy camp area. Smalleys Beach bush camp is full! Drive on and find a beautiful site for $20 at Caleb. Great camp kitchen, nice grass, fire pit with wood supplied and super TV in kitchen area.

Rockhampton

Drove for 5 hours from Hervey Bay to Rockhampton. Mountains to the left and sugar cane fields starting to appear. Tropic of Capricorn at the Rocky tourist office. We last crossed this in Namibia near Sossuvlei.

Cabin on the Top Tourist site is cheap and cheerful ($62). Sausage, mash, brocoli and carrots and a bottle of yellow tail shiraz. Adam Sandler film on TV big daddy.
Left Sunday morning to move on. Big catholic cathedral and oldy worldy main street are impressive.

Rocky botanical gardens and zoo excellent and free.

Drove to coast and Yepoon. Looked nice with Great Keppel Island nearby. Lunch in the boat club with great view. Chatted to Ron and Irene who live in a caravan nearby. Ron works at a coal mine in Blackwater driving huge trucks. 5 days on and 5 days off. After talking for 3 hours we need somewhere to stay and have no time to walk on the beach. This may be a good thing as crocs occasionally walk on the same beach.

 End up back in the Rocky cabin for the night as none of the campgrounds look inviting and it is a bit chilly.

Noosa and Hervey Bay Queensland

Ettamogah pub on the way to Noosa

Aussie Zoo north of Brisbane. Youngmi hopes to fill Steve Irwin's shoes

Thurday morning and beautiful sun in Noosa. Parked near the beach at Hastings Street. This is the trendy street and good atmosphere of cafes and accommodation. Walked along the beach and then through the national park to the headland. Gorgeous and to us very exotic. All manner of sub tropical trees and beautiful blue sea below with lots of surfers.

Walking back into town saw a bench with a wet paint sign and another bench which appeared to have been painted but had someone sitting on it.

Drove on about lunchtime through the hills to the Bruce Highway then through Gympie, Maryborough and sugar cane fields to Hervey Bay. What a big place now. 70,000 people but stretched out so pretty spacious and relaxed. Really great place to stay Fraser tourist Park, a Top Tourist park in Torquay 5 minutes walk from the beach and Irish pub. ( we joined top Tourist parks at Forbes and so far they have been good and we get 10% off).

Youngmi watches the World Cup Australia vs Chile

Typical grey nomads

Rented a unit for 3 nights. Camp kitchen has a pizza oven so first stop is the frozen pizza shop. Woolworths select was the best. Chatted to some retired people from Brisbane cooking their pizza. Not impressed that treasurer Joe Hockey has said they are a burden after they helped to build the country for him.

Friday morning and sun and blue skies. Walked along the beach which is nice sand with a few bits of coral. Sea really calm as sheltered by Fraser Island. Track down Vic and Betty Evans. Vic is the brother of Ken our mate from St Michaels church in Melbourne. Our first clue is they live near the bowls club in Pialba. Find them in the phone book and drive to the address. Turns out to be a retirement village which looks great. Separate houses, lots of space, well kept. The reception finds them and we are introduced. Luckily they had a letter from Ken the day before to say we might appear. Vic and Betty are 89 and 86 and look very well. They moved to this area for Vics health 30 years before. We are given Bok Choi and passion fruit from their lovely garden. They bought the house on the village for a reasonable price and now pay $100 per week for everything except gas, electric and phone. Good deal.

On the way home pass Dan Murphys and enjoy the Friday night tasting. Another pizza at the campground.

Saturday walk along the beach looking for the Sat market. Have a great walk but can't find the market.Walk is so long that on the way back Dave's sugar level starts to go low. He then finds he has picked up Youngmi's bag by mistake and has no jelly beans. Youngmi dashes in a shop buys a snickers bar and shoves it into Dave's mouth in time to stop the sugar going too low. Youngmi would be a great nurse. Further evidence of this was Youngmi could listen to a guy on the radio talking about his dialysis and kidney transplant with no problem while Dave felt really sick and had to pull over before he fainted. Woos.

Pelican

Dugong goes back under water

Sea eagle on the Pier at Hervey Bay

A catch of herrings on the pier

Hope the pelican prefers herrings

Paddle boarder before the storm

Saturday afternoon we drove the short distance to the Torquay market and spent 5 minutes looking at the 8 stalls. Then to the pier. 800m long and full of people fishing. Many were catching herrings to use for bait later. They put a jig in the sea and in a minute pulled it in with one or two herrings attached. Briefly saw a dugong as it came up for air a couple of times. Also known as the sea cow as it eats grass from the sea floor.

Pelican watching for fish as the storm came in.

Back to the room as it starts to rain. Dave visited the discovery centre with a great display on Fraser Island and a real lung fish. (unchanged for 300m years and because it has a lung so can breathe in or out of water is thought to be our ancestor which made the move from the ocean.

Local theatre in the evening "hoovering on the edge". Well performed play about 6 english ladies going to Spain for a writing course