Carmilla Beach

Our caravan club friends, Mike and Debbie, had recommended that we stay at Carmilla Beach,about 100kms south of Mackay where there was a free camp right on the beach.
We ventured in with our vans, onto the sandy roads which had bogged Mike and Debbie's caravan earlier in the year and decided we'd be o.k.
It was a delightful spot, we parked parallel to the beach which had , to us,a most unusual tide,  Twice a day the water disappeared at least one and a half kilometres ( or it seemed that far) out to sea.

                                         At Carmilla Beach

                                         Storm brewing

                                          Carmilla Beach

                                          Where did the water go ?

                                          Rick riding along the beach

The sun shining on the sand after the tide went out

We stayed there two nights and on both nights suffered torrential rain storms which kept us awake with the noise of the rain on the roofs and the wind flapping our awnings, but there wasno damage when awoke each morning.

Mackay

We stopped in Ayr at the Information Centre and then headed to Bowen where we had lunch and arrived in Mackay and set up the caravans.
Next day was cold and windy and Rick ventured off to the Blood Bank to give a donation
Eungella National Park was very pretty,we climbed (by car) right to the top of the mountain from where we could look down on all the sugar cane farms surrounding the district whilst we enjoyed our picnic lunch.
Broken River area was where we sighted a couple of baby Platypus playing in the water,along with several turtles.  Back at the Eungella Chalet we enjoyed a Devonshire tea still looking out over the majestic view of the valley ( on a fine day, after rain, we were told that one could see the sand on the beaches at Mackay)

We enjoyed a tour of the Fairleigh Sugar Can Mill one drizzly morning, climbing up and down metal stairs to see the journey of the sugar cane from the actual canes to the end results of Molasses and white sugar.

Slade Point was a little disappointing, I think we expected to see some more expensive houses overlooking the Ocean, but it was a normal neighbourhood.  The Hotels, Motels, and other buildings around the Marina were quite brightly coloured painted tall buildings, and seemed mostly all tenanted.
The weather wasn't the nicest for us in Mackay, but then we had had about 4 months of lovely weather, so really shouldn't complain.

                                           View from Chalet at Eungella

                                           Giant Mango at Bowen

                                          View from Eungella Lookout

                                        Platypus at Broken River

                                            Inside Fairleigh Sugar Mill

Townsville

We left Tully, sore, but rewarded and drove towards Townsville, stopping at the recommended "Frosty Mango" shop where we enjoyed Mango, Rum and Raisin icecreams etc and purchased some ripe pineapples.  We have been seeing Mango Trees growing for weeks, but that was the first time we had tasted it - the season is over - wait until summer !

We arrived in Townsville and stayed at the Coral Coast vanpark outside of the town. Castle Hill lookout overlooked the whole town - a  Hill , as only 286 metres high, not high enough to be called a mountain !
We enjoyed a picnic lunch at Rowes Bay overlooking Magnetic Island and chatted with the owner of a coal mine in Emerald en route to a Conference at the Casino.

We met up with George Karsai, another member of our City Slickers van club from Sydney, attached to the Army there for a little while, we invited him around for "Happy Hour" and next day he took us for a drive around Townsville - via the Strand and the Casino , promising take us for dinner at the local Chinese that night - his wife , Sonja, was in Sydney and would be home the next day.

Dick and Gloria's son in law, Bob, has a brother living in Townsville, so we were invited for lunch at his home on Sunday.  We met his partner, Sasha, and daughters, Ruby and Jade.  As they both work at the local Aquarium, they arranged for us to have free entry for the next day, which we enjoyed.  We met up with Sonja at her caravan and then that evening had dinner at Sizzlers with them and chatted for hours.

Tully

We left Cairns and stopped at Babinda where we looked at the Babinda Boulders - the highest rainfall 8800 ml is rated for this town.  A Devonshire tea was enjoyed for morning tea.

We arrived in Tully and drove to the Showground where we had been advised they we gathering to assist the victims of the Yasi Cyclone which devestated the town in February.  We signed on to volunteer to help the people on their properties in return for accommodation at the showground and our meals...Eugene was in charge of Blaze Aid and was doing an excellent job
..

Sunday was a "day off" for the troops, so we all drove out to Tully Heads to see some of the devestation there, then onto Mission Beach .  We were told about Paranella Park, so had a look at that, but the entrance fee was far too high, so we just had a drink in the cafe and continued back to Tully.

Next day we had an early morning start at the home of Cecelia and Jim's home at Tully Heads, where we assisted them in clearing up their yard and were rewarded with freshly made cake for morning tea, then some home made spring rolls for lunch.

There was a  greater need for our help on a 3 acre property owned by Elaine, she had so many palm trees knocked down, and other trees left hanging,  There were also the corrugated iron roofs belonging to a neighbour two houses over which had been blown into her yard which we were able to remove onto a pile for the council to collect.   As she had such a huge yard, we were able to cut down the trees with a chain saw and drag them onto piles and burning them - we had a huge bonfire !   Next day we went back again, and this time there wasn't quite as much work to do, and we made 3 huge bonfires for her to light at another time, as she had to leave to be with a friend whose Mother had just passed away

Tully Beach

We all felt very rewarded for helping out, but our muscles told us a different story the next day.

Palm Cove - Port Douglas

                                         Palm Cove

                                        Port Douglas - Sheraton Hotel

Cairns

After leaving Lake Tinaroo we called in at Mareeba and had coffee at the hugely advertised "Coffeeworld" - a huge cavern of merchandise - as well as coffee- and crowded- the advertising works.

We booked into the Big 4 in Cairns - Crystal Cascades, a lovely park.

There were several shopping centres to choose from, we went firstly to Raintrees and then to Redlynch, but no a lot of shops were open on the Sunday in them

Port Douglas was only a short drive , so we went there, had a coffee,then drove back via Palm Cove.
Another day we had a picnic at Lake Placid where we saw a huge Goanna, then went along a bit further to Barron Gorge where we saw many youngsters getting into rubber rafts and travelling down the rapids under the guidance of their instructors.

We had dinner in the Camp Kitchen with 2 couples from our Sydney City Slickers caravan Club - we were quite surprised to see them - there must be 9 caravan parks in Cairns, and there was Helen and Colin Death and Bob and Carol Best, just a few caravan sites from each other and one next to Dick and Gloria ( they hadn't met before - so it wasn't until we saw them, that we recognised the coincidence)

                                         Gold Coin Breakfast

                                            Wild Turkey

                                           Barron Gorge

Crystal Cascade Cpark

Next morning we all had breakfast together - the caravan park put on a "gold coin" donation breakfast for all the campers - what a line up for the bacon and eggs !

After breakfast we drove down to the Crystal Cascades and then into town and walked along the beachfront and had lunch at "Muddies" there.

LakeTinaroo

The sun was shining at Lake Tinaroo and we found a couple of sites which were level for our caravans and set up for a couple of nice quiet days.
First day at lunch, a greedy Kookaburra snatched the meat out of my hamburger, right out of my hand goodness knows what would have happened if I had put it in my mouth!

We enjoyed a lovely campfire dinner beside the lake that night, but sadly the rain that we had not seen since we left home found us next morning, and the next two days the rain kept drizzling down, so we just enjoyed the rest, and managed another campfire the second night.

Atherton Tablelands

We arrived in Herberton and decided not to stay at Wild River caravan park and continued onto Atherton and stayed at the Big 4 Caravan park which was much nicer.
A drive out to Lake Tinaroo and we decided to stay there in the National Park for a few nights later in the week. Dick managed to get a huge bag of wood for us to use in the campfires at night.
At Herberton there is a Village made up of old buildings from the area- we spent quite a few hours looking through them,  from there we went to the Gallo Cheese and Chocolate shop where we sampled the goods and watched the cows "riding the merry go around" - like we saw at Menangle when we were younger.  The cows were coaxed into the pens, had the milking machines attached, and they went around until all their milk was transferred into the vats.

                                           Cows at Gallo Cheese and Chocolate shop

                                          HerbertonVillage Museum

We also took a trip to Lake Barrine - but didn't go on the cruise, as we had done that before on another visit.

Undara

We called in at Mt Surprise for morning tea and were able to buy some fresh fruit at the stalls at the small market there.There was a man there with snakes around his neck, encouraging people to "have a turn" - no thanks, I didn't wish to do so.  Whilst having our tea we sat with a couple who told us that they lived at Collaroy - smallworld.

There was a tour to the Lava Tubes which Dick, Gloria and Rick went on on the Sunday.

Georgetown

After staying overnight at a free camp near the Gilbert River, we continued on to Georgetown where we saw that they were holding a Campdraft at the local showground.

                                         Calves waiting to be chosen

                                           Grandstand at Georgetown Campdraft

We went along after lunch and watched one of the cattle being chosen from a group of about 8 calves and then the horseman was trying to get the calf to go into the pen on the other side of the yard - we stayed for a few hours and saw many riders, male and female of all ages trying for the $1000 reward.

Karumba

                                          Fishing boat at Karumba

                                         Barramundi at Karumba Fish farm

                                           Sunset at Karumba

We arrived at the Gulf - stayed in Karumba and drove out to the" Point" where we enjoyed a beer at the Karumba Hotel - sitting in the beer garden overlooking the Gulf and enjoyed the sunset.
The Barramundi Fish Farm was a short drive from the caravan park and after watching a dvd of how the fish "fingerlings" were put into several fishing spots around the area, we looked at the fish. The fish were not very interested in being fed - apparently as it was Winter there, they were happy to just swim around the ponds and then eventually they took the food - they just "sucked" the small fish - they have no teeth.

The Sunset Hotel at Karumba beckoned us for another night and we enjoyed a nice meal whilst watching a most beautiful sunset ( again) on the Gulf of Carpentaria

Normanton

We arrived in Normanton and the first thing we noticed was the Purple Pub - on the corner opposite our caravan park.  A young Canadian ( a backpacker) served us in the Hotel with a nice cool beer after we had walked up and down the main street.

                                          Burns Philip Building

                                        Leichhardt River at Normanton

                                           Crocodile at Normanton

PurplePub in Normanton

Next day we drove down to the Leichhardt River.