Cairns (2)

Thursday, 29 June 2017

A wet and soggy hibiscus

Freshwater Creek contemplation

It even takes selfies!

We have now been in Cairns for five days and the first three days were fine and sunny, yesterday we had a couple of quick, light showers but the rain did set in overnight and has hardly let up all day.  The only consolation is that the temperature is still a very pleasant 26 degrees, down a bit from the 28 on the sunny days.  The nights have been very warm, as well.

The week so far has been fairly quiet, catching up on supermarket shopping, visiting Cazaly’s to renew our membership, quality controlling Movenpick (just to be sure), as well as a visit to Bunnings for a flowering plant to make the awning look a bit more homely.  I didn’t have to ask twice if Himself wanted to come with me!  As a consequence, the caravan has now had a good bath and spruce up.

Tuesday evening, we renewed our friendships at the Edge Hill Bowls Club and made to feel very welcome.  It was good to get back on the green and put down some nice bowls; the game did become more interesting after a quick, sharp and heavy shower of rain, which sent some (including me) scrambling for waterproofs while the majority didn’t bother.  Not sure about the wet t-shirt look among this age group, though.

This morning, as it was raining heavily, I decided to check out the Cairns DFO, which seems to have less shops than last year.  After lunch, we took the umbrellas and set out between showers for a walk along the creek but probably only went about a kilometre before the rain became heavy once again and we retraced out steps – very warily on the slippery leaves on the pathway.  Not having my camera with me, I used my iPhone to take photos and was very proud of myself at actually managing to get the photos from the phone to my laptop!

Cairns

Sunday, 25 June 2017

Setting up house

The mud was still there

Rainbow bee-eater

Freshwater Creek

With another long day on the road from Townsville to Cairns, we left a bit earlier than usual yesterday.  Being the first day of the school holidays in Queensland also meant that there was a LOT of traffic, but a bit better behaved than our previous trip.  We had shorts stops at Ingham and Tully for comfort and driver changes and it was after leaving Tully that the weather started to change and the mizzle arrived.  Traffic conditions also changed with virtually continual roadworks all the way to Cairns and we were held up a few times.

By the time we arrived at Crystal Cascades, the mizzle had set in and was quite heavy – but also quite warm and very humid.  As our slab was wet, we only did a basic set-up, pulling out the awning in the hope that the slab would dry overnight before the matting went down.  The mizzle/rain did clear overnight and we were able to finish setting up with our cupboard and new table.  We will be here for more than two months, so comfort is a necessity.

With the temperature on 28 degrees and the humidity nearly off the scale, we called into Rusty’s Market after lunch to stock up on fruit and vegetables and then it was off to somewhere we had been waiting anxiously to visit – Movenpick.  We sat and looked at the Trinity Bay mud (low tide, as usual) and quickly realised ice cream in Cairns doesn’t last as long as ice cream in Canberra!  It was well worth the wait.

After returning to the caravan, we had a quick little walk to Freshwater Creek and not only discovered that the blue Ulysses butterflies are still there but also a rainbow bee-eater – such a colourful little bird which we haven’t seen in this vicinity before.

Townsville

Friday, 23 June 2017

Tropical sunrise at Mackay

Townsville beach

Uncomfortable seating on The Strand

Woebegone dugong

Smoky Magnetic Island

On The Pier

The Strand and beach

Castle Hill

Mackay treated us (well, one of us!) to the most magnificent sunrise yesterday morning before we left for the 400 km drive to Townsville.  There seemed to be much more traffic, especially trucks, with one very frustrated driver venting his displeasure at a very slow caravan with a very large following.  We had to agree with him, as it is most annoying when inconsiderate drivers who only want to travel at 80 kmp refuse to pull over and let traffic through.

We had the opposite problem shortly before arriving at Townsville when we were in the front (travelling at 90-95 kmh) with two caravans behind, when the third caravan decided to overtake both caravans on double lines.  As he drew alongside us, I used the two-way radio to ask what the rush was (not knowing if he had a two-way or not) and with a corner coming up quickly, he panicked and cut back in on us before he had passed completely.  A bit of emergency braking and some very loud shouting on the two-way ensued – everyone on air within a 5 km radius would have known there was a complete an idiot on the road!  As soon as he could, he pulled off to the side and we heard him tell someone he would catch up later.  Last we saw, he pulled into a service station, no doubt in need of an underwear replacement.

With the temperature at a very pleasant 27 degrees, we arrived at the Walkabout Palms Caravan Park in Townsville.  Although it is on the Bruce Highway, the traffic noise wasn’t a problem overnight.  The caravan park is also attached to a service station and offer an $0.08 cent per litre discount to clients.

This afternoon we drove into Townsville waterfront and enjoyed a stroll along The Strand – and an icecream from the gelataria.  The weather has been overcast but still warm.

Mackay

Wednesday, 21 June 2017

Selfie on Blacks Beach

Low tide on the Pioneer Riveer

Having "that feeling"

Monument to Lord Baden-Powell

Scary looking orchid

From the enormous

to the minute

Rats of Tobruk Memorial

With Milton and Margaret

The shortest day of the year and the weather continues to be sunny and warm.  We left Rockhampton on Monday morning and travelled to Mackay for three nights.  The highway was pretty good and traffic wasn’t too bad.  We had a couple of short breaks, as well as a lunch stop, before arriving at the Big4 Blacks Beach Holiday Park.  South of Sarina, we encountered many very, very long trains carting coal from Clermont and Moranbah to Hay Point for shipping – there must be some very big holes out there somewhere!

This is a lovely caravan park, not big and full of cabins, with some magnificent paperbark trees and right on the beach – the grassed tent area is literally on the edge of the beach.  We have a large site with a large slab and very friendly neighbours.

Tuesday morning was time catch up on housework and for the third time this trip, I actually managed to dry the washing on a clothes line!  After lunch, we decided to do some of Mackay’s tourist sites, with a stop at Bluewater Lagoon the first port of call.  This was a nice pool area on the bank of the Pioneer River and there was a long bike/walking track as well.  We then drove through the centre of the town, with its old facades still visible – a reminder of the days when this was a thriving sugar port.  Our next (and final) stop was at Queen’s Garden and the orchid house.  These lovely old gardens had an avenue of tall palms, a monument to Lord Baden-Powell and the siege of Mafeking and a monument to the Rats of Tobruk, as well as the orchid house (lots of orchid photos, naturally, today).

Today, we had lunch with my cousin Milton, and his wife Margaret, who are also holidaying in this area.  We enjoyed lunch with a spectacular view at the old Eimeo Hotel.

We are definitely in crocodile country now – and snakes!

Rockhampton

Sunday, 18 June 2017

Yesterday morning dawned bright and clear, with no rain in sight while we packed up and prepared for the 350+ km drive to Rockhampton.  We did encounter a small shower during the morning but it quickly disappeared and the temperature was a very pleasant 27 when we arrived in Rockhampton shortly after lunch.  The road wasn’t too bad with only a couple of roadworks to slow us down and luckily there weren’t many trucks on the road.  We had a couple of shorts breaks during the morning and a lunch stop at a roadhouse.

We are staying at the Big4 Discovery north of the river – we have stayed here on a number of occasions and it has never changed.  The sites here are raised above the level of the road slightly and it was difficult to insert the jockey wheel easily, so Himself decided it would be better if we moved the caravan back; the jockey wheel fitted easily.  He continued with setting up and connecting all hoses, etc, before pulling out the awning (usually first job if raining) and then discovered The Palm Tree!  Only being here for two nights, we decided to boost our vitamin D levels instead of rehitching the car and caravan.

Although there is free wifi here (as most caravan parks now offer), it was extremely slow so I decided to use my own.  Needless to say, it would not turn on and without the internet, I couldn’t look up the Telstra number to ring for assistance.  So we had to brave the Saturday afternoon crowds at the shopping centre and find a nice Telstra customer service officer who simply removed the battery, put it back in and turned the thing on!!!

Question:  What happens when the salt gets damp and wont come out of the salt shaker?

Answer:  Remove bottom plug, remove salt and wash salt shaker.

Question  What happens when someone forgets about the little plastic plug and lets the water out of the sink?

Answer:  Little salt shaker plug quickly disappears.

Result:  Buy new salt and pepper shakers.

Question:  What happens next day when the sink will not drain?

Answer:  Raise front of caravan, crawl under caravan, remove sink hose and discover blockage caused by little plastic plug.

Result:  We now have two sets of salt and pepper shakers.

The weather has been superb and we have really enjoyed the chance to relax in the warmth and for the second time in four weeks, the washing was hung on the clothes line!

Iron Ridge Park, Childers

Friday, 16 June 2017

Butcher Bird

Bird watching

Waiting for a fire to be lit

Park of our site

Farm dam

Farm dam

Us again

Waterhole

Inside a broken termite mound

Being watched!

Spear grass plant

Every caravan park should have a war memorial

Garden behind the caravan

With clear skies early in the morning, we thought we would have a dry pack-up.  Wrong!  About five minutes before we commenced packing up, the mizzle started and quickly became quite heavy until we were on the road heading north again.  We encountered a few roadworks, which caused the heavy traffic on the Bruce Highway to quickly bank up.  We had a short stop at a rest area just north of Gympie before pushing on for Childers.  Doris is very fond of navigating country roads and after turning east of the highway south of Childers, we wandered along some narrow roads, sans traffic, until we turned onto the main road past the caravan park.  Guess what?  Fine all the way north and it started to pour five minutes before we arrived!!!

We are staying at Iron Ridge Park, a “bush” caravan park about 15 minutes from Childers.  What a delightful place – only 17 sites, 11 of which have large slabs, surrounded by bush and birds but very clean.  Electricity, water, sullage, grass, television, wifi, good amenities and the friendliest of owners to check us in and show us to our site.  Fortunately, the rain soon stopped after we arrived and we were able to enjoy lunch al fresco, although a butcher bird was rather insistent that we share!  This afternoon, we enjoyed a walk around one of the bush paddocks, very carefully watched at one stage by some cattle, a couple of which had enormous horns.  He who was raised on a farm said not to worry, but she who was raised in the city gave them a wide and wary berth.