Townsville was our next stop after Bowen.  We were only planning to be in Townsville for two nights so didn’t have anything really planned while here as we had spent time here previously.  We stayed at the Riverside Convention Centre in Townsville which is on the banks of the Ross River. This is a park run by the Seventh Day Adventists and is in a great location near the river.  You hear and read different reports about the park but we find it ideal with nice big open areas and lots of grass.

We went looking for some bits and pieces for the caravan that we needed while in Townsville, but considering the size of the city they don’t really have anyone with a great range of accessories.  It filled in a couple of hours driving around though.  The only touristy thing we did was a visit to the Townsville Aquarium.  This was very good with a huge range of fish that are seen around the Great Barrier Reef.  We spent a couple of hours here looking at all the fish they had on display.  Near the caravan park they have a great walk along the banks of the Ross River and you are able to cross over at the weir and walk along the other side to another bridge and cross back over again.  This is around a 6 kilometre walk along easy paths.

Finally our next top was Mission Beach.  This had been our planned destination for a long time and it did feel like that we weren’t meant to get here at some stages, but we finally made it.  We are staying a few kilometres south of Mission Beach at Wongaling Beach.  The caravan park is the Dunk Island View Caravan Park which is directly opposite Dunk Island.  The park is lovely and green with nice large sites.   Dunk Island is only a couple of kilometres off the coast and a short water taxi ride away.

We didn’t have a lot planned for our four weeks here, just have a holiday and break from constant travelling.  We have been here for two weeks now and have had a very relaxing time.  The weather has been absolutely fantastic.  We have only had one rain day and that had all cleared up by around 1pm then it was blue skies again.

Lacey Creek walk was again on our list.  This is a nice easy walk through some lush tropical surrounds and with a gently flowing creek.  We were hoping to see a Cassowary and Ulysses Butterflies but sadly we didn’t.  This is a known spot for them but it wasn’t our day.  The walk was nice though.

We did a day trip out to Murray Falls which was about 40 kilometres away just past Tully.  The camp ground here was really nice with the whole camp ground being grassed.  It was right along side the creek that flows after the falls and with flushing toilets it seemed like a nice place to stay.  Probably the only downside we saw was it had a bit too much shade.  Murray Falls was flowing very well and the swimming area is nice a calm with easy access to the water.  We were lucky enough to see some Ulysses Butterflies while at Murray Falls.  Down near the swimming area we saw three flying around and trying to take a photo of one of them was a real challenge.  They are very flighty and don’t stay still for long when they do land.  Needless to say my patience wore thin and I gave up trying.  A very nice day out still the same.

Clump Mountain is just on the northern fringe of Mission Beach and is an easy walk up for some excellent views over Mission Beach.  We did this last time here as well and it was an easy choice to do it again.  Its also quite a popular walk as well and you pass quite  few people when doing it.

There are lots of food stalls around Mission Beach so we have been doing most of our basic vegetable and fruit shopping at these.  The only downside with this is that it can be a bit hit and miss at times, you still need to go to Woollies every now and then.

We booked onto a tour of the Tully Sugar Mill for a day out.  The mill is right on the edge of town and is the major employer in town. It is now owned by the Chinese and the locals seem to be quite happy about it so far.  The tour takes you right through the mill and goes for about two hours.  It cost $25 each and was worth the money.  Its very comprehensive and you didn’t feel like you were being rushed through.  All the sugar milled in Tully is exported with none kept for our domestic market.  Most is exported to China and also New Zealand, USA and South America.

Near Tully is Mt Tyson just on the edge of town.  Kaye decided that this would be a good idea to climb and tick off.  The walk started off easy but boy did it change not far up.  The track was very washed out and some of the steps were huge, you really had to scramble up some sections.  We thought Bluff Knoll in WA was quite hard and this was on the same scale.  The sign at the start of the walk does not tell you at all about the walk.  The view at Scouts Lookout was worth the effort though.

If ever doing this climb you wouldn’t want to do it if it had just been raining or was about to rain.  You do climb up some quite muddy sections that would be very slippery in the wet.  Coming down would be the worse.

Every Sunday in Mission Beach they have the Rotary Markets.  For the size of Mission Beach we felt these markets were quite large.  They have all the usual stalls with lots selling everything from home made pickles and jams to clothing and knick knacks.  We did feel this time though that there seemed to be less fruit and veggie stalls which as a bit disappointing.  Still they were nice to walk around and very popular.

Well its been a pretty relaxing first two weeks at Mission Beach.  Hopefully the next two weeks will be just the same weather wise.  So far we have had most days around 25/26 degrees, just perfect.  We are planning on doing a day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef in the next week.  We just have to pick a day with light winds, something for Kaye to plan…….