Well after a great three weeks at Mission Beach we headed off on our way south.  With the weather slowly warming up we are going to head for Canberra by making our way slowly down the Queensland coast with a short stopover in Brisbane so Kaye can fly home for a week to look after Renae when she has her wisdom teeth removed.

Our first stopover was back in Townsville for two nights.  We caught up with Gayle and Dan who took us to a great Indian restaurant for a meal.  As we had already spent a week in Townsville previously we didn’t feel the need to spend much time there this time around.  One thing we did do while in Townsville was visit a great swimming pool that they have built by the river.  This is right along side the Ross River and covers an area equivalent to three Olympic swimming pools with an upper and lower lagoon.  There is also a 77mtr lap pool that I did look at but very quickly dismissed as not a good idea to try and attempt.  It was also free to enter which is quite special when you see how good the facility is.  Something a lot of places around the country could look at.

 

From Townsville it was off to Bowen.  Compared to the great coastline we had been seeing so far Bowen was quite different.  The coastline is quite rocky with small areas of beach.  We stayed at a caravan park at Horseshoe Bay and it was quite expensive compared to what we had been used to paying.  It was nice though but as the weather was quite humid we spent most of our time just swimming.

 

 

 

From Bowen it was short drive next down to Arlie Beach.  We had heard a bit about Arlie Beach as being a good place to look at the Whitsunday Islands from.  We stayed a little bit out of Arlie at the Flametree Forest CP which wasn’t a bad place at all.  Nice green grassy sites and fairly quiet which is what we like.  We did some short drives also around the area and looked at Dingo Beach -(didn’t see any dingoes), Cedar Creek Falls and Proserpine.  Cedar Creek Falls were the first falls we have seen that were dry.  After all the other great waterfalls we have seen so far in Queensland this was a real surprise for us to see.

We decided to arrange to book on a day tour cruise of the Whitsundays while here in Arlie Beach.  The big problem you are faced with is deciding which tour to take as there are lots to choose from.  We decided on a Reefstar Three Island Cruise which was excellent.  There was tea and coffee all day with snacks that you could have as well.  The lunch was plentiful and also very nice.  The licensed bar was also nice on the trip back home to allow you to relax and take in the days activities.  The boat was a large Cat and the weather on the day was perfect.  The islands we looked at were Hill Inlet Lookout/North Whitehaven Beach, Bali Hai Island where we did some great snorkelling, and Daydream Island.  Apparently a lot of the resorts off the coast are struggling with some of them not operating at all.  The resort on Daydream Island was starting to show its age and looks in need of a facelift to keep in up with the newer overseas destinations.  Whitehaven Beach was pretty special and the white sand is really fine grained sand.  One thing that we did notice was that there were not many palm trees on any of the islands.  A lot of them are virtually large rocky rises out of the ocean and covered in dense scrub.  The Whitsunday’s definitely are worth seeing and I can see why people come here and hire boats and cruise the Whitsunday’s for holidays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We really enjoyed our short stay ay Arlie but sadly we had to keep moving so next it was off to Mackay.  We had a two stay arranged and stayed at the Andergrove CP which was a pretty good choice.  Big sites and nice grass and not to noisy.  While in Mackay we booked ourselves onto a Sugar Mill Tour.  As we had seen heaps of sugar being grown, harvested and railed we thought we should see what process it goes through at the end of the line.  The sugar mill in Mackay is about 130 years old and still looks it in some parts.  It was an interesting tour and they do work the old mill very hard keeping up with production requirements.

We did a short half day drive to some of the small coastal areas around Mackay and some of these were worth the drive while others looked like they were really struggling to survive.  A lot of these places have small enclosed swimming areas surrounded in plastic mesh so you can go swimming in summer with a reduced risk of getting attacked by stingers.  In general though most places in the north of Queensland all seem to be busy and doing pretty good considering the way the economy is.  They are lucky I guess to have quite large population areas around north Queensland that help to keep people in the areas and also tourists.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A small place called Clairview was our next stop after Mackay.   Clairview is a very small coastal village that is mainly holiday shacks with a reasonable caravan park called the Barracrab.  After arriving we decided to stay in the non powered area.  The water here is only bore water and as we don’t really need power we decided to stay in the cheap ass section.  Also you could just pick anywhere to camp and we were right next to the beach which was really nice.  There is a licensed bar and they do a pretty good fish and chips as well.  This was just three days of not doing very much, doing some reading and going for long romantic walks along the beach.  While at Clairview they were having in excess of 8mtr tides and with the beach being so flat the water went out for a few kilometres at low tide.

 

 

 

After a very easy time at Clairview we were on the road again towards Rockhampton.  This is only going to be a short two day stay to restock the drinks fridge and probably get some food as well.  I always thought Rockhampton was on the coast and was surprised to be about 40 kilometres away when we arrived.  This is also another large regional centre that helps support Queensland in the country areas.

Rockhampton does have an excellent small zoo that is right next door to the botanical gardens.  The zoo is fee to enter and they are in the process of doing some refurbishment works that will further improve this small excellent facility.  During our earlier travels in Queensland we had seen photos of the Rose Crowned Fruit Dove but had not managed to see one in our walks around.  They have several in the huge walk through aviary at this zoo so it was good to see the in the flesh so to speak.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hopefully will be back up this way next year and it would be nice to have a better look around.  The only problem is that there are so many other places to visit and not just in Queensland.  That’s all the fun at the moment, deciding just where to go next and in what direction…….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Well it does seem like a long time since the last update for us.  We actually haven’t travelled very far in the last month, probably only around 300 kilometres in actual road travel though we have seen quite a bit during this time.

From Crystal Creek we headed off to Paronella Park.  We had heard a lot of talk about this place so it was an easy choice for our next destination.  We were going to stay for a couple of nights but they only let you book in for one night during the busy season, which when you get there you can see why as the caravan park itself is quite small.  After our arrival we set off for a look around the park itself.  Paronella Pak was built by Jose Paronella in 1929 and it was literally a labour of love from him to build it.  In its hey day it would have been something very special to see.  A lot of the building structures were based on memories from Catalonian castles that Jose remembered from his childhood in Spain.  Paronella Park also had Queensland’s first hydro electric plant built, also by Jose in 1935 and it is still running today.  Paronella Park has had a few floods and cyclones go through it over the years and some of the buildings are now in a vey bad state of repair.

I was reminded a bit of Angkor Watt in Cambodia a bit while walking around Paronella Park.  The jungle is starting to grow around some of the old structures and with ferns also covering a lot of the ground and buildings it is hard to think that your still in Australia.    It is still a very worthwhile place to visit and the current owners are planning to refurbish the old buildings though you cant help feeling that time maybe their worse enemy, especially if they have anymore severe cyclones up this way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a regrettably short stay a Paronella Park we did the short dive down to Innisfail where we were staying for a week and having a good look around the area.  As with most towns in Queensland we are always surprised at how big they are and also how busy they seem.  It is very different to WA’s regional areas in that our bigger regional towns are very spread out, especially when you are in northern WA.

Innisfail was a great place to base ourselves and look around the area from. We had a nice spot in the caravan park that overlooked the river and it was vey pleasant for looking over while having a few sundowners.  It was while driving around Innisfail country side that we saw our first Cassowary in the wild which was something we were wanting to see.  It was just standing near the side of the road and didn’t seem very bothered about us at all.  They are probably very used to people stopping and taking their photos.  Not far out from Innisfail there are several short drives to some of the best waterfalls in Queensland.  We had a lot of luck with the weather as well as it would rain at night but be fine during the day.   It was also amazing how green it was around this area.  It is in the wettest area of Australia and the county side certainly displays itself very well.

Each day we did a different walk to a waterfall or town and it was a very easy week to fill in looking around and diving through some spectacular countryside.  For a small part of Queensland it certainly punches well above itself for things to see and do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Innisfail we did a very short 70 kilometre drive down to Mission Beach.  As the school holidays were about to start we booked into the caravan park for three weeks and prepared ourselves for it to be a bit busy for a couple of weeks.  To our surprise it hasn’t been very busy at all which has made the stay even better.  What a beautiful place Mission Beach is as well.  It is about on the same latitude as Broome and I know which place I would choose to live in.  We have been told by many people how nice it is here and they were right.  The beaches and country side are excellent.  They are fortunate here to have one of the few northern beaches in Queensland that you can swim in and not be too worried about crocodiles.  The beach has sand similar to Broome as well.

Our caravan park is right on the beach and with the great weather we have been having we have been going for a swim each day before venturing out anywhere and also when we arrive home.  Even Kaye is swimming each day which must say something about how good the water is.  We have also seen several more Cassowary’s as well which has made the stay even better.

Just across the water and only about 5 kilometres off the coast is Dunk Island.  There is a taxi to take you across to Dunk Island and the trip only takes just over 10 minutes.  There is not much on Dunk Island.  There was a resort there but it got destroyed by Cyclone Yazi and has never been rebuilt.  The snorkelling was OK and there is a small restaurant you can by food and drinks at.  We went over twice during our stay and enjoyed each day over there.  Besides doing a few walks around the place we have just lazed about a read a lot of books while we wait for the school holidays to end.  I think we would both agree that this section of Queensland between Townsville and Cairns has probably been the best of Queensland so far.  Summer would be a bit different though.

A short dive away was Tully that lays claim to be Australia’s wettest town.  They have a large “golden gumboot” that is 7.9 metres high.  Apparently this was the amount of rain Tully received 1950.  Tully, Babinda and Innisfail are all in competition for being the wettest town in Australia.   When you see how green it is around here there is no doubt about the wettest area, the towns just have to argue it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well after a great few weeks in this very nice part on Queensland it is on the road again tomorrow and off towards Townsville again for a couple of days.  We are going out on Friday for tea with some friends so looking forward to that very much.  I would definitely come back to this part of Queensland again.  Once you are here you can see why travellers from the southern states come this way every year and stay in the one place for several months at time.

We are slowly going to make our way south toward Canberra again then home for Christmas so that should be nice……..