Drama at Sarina

Sunday, 8th September

Well, what an interesting start to the day!
 
We awoke to a nice, sunny and calm day.  Then it all went downhill – for a while, anyway.  We were just starting to pack up when SWMBO’s husband (aka Son of Hitler) arrived to tell us how to hitch up and drive off site.  He totally ignored me and only spoke to Les, even using his thongs to demonstrate angles when driving out.  He demanded that we drive to the left, around the end of the slab, when we considered it much easier to hitch up on an angle and drive off to the right!  Okay, not a problem, let him work it out.  Les then got into the car and before he even started to reverse, SOH was back trying to tell him how to do it.  He was told we knew what we were doing and would call him when we were hitched up.  SOH returned to his seat opposite and watched us hitch up and then when Les called him, he started yelling that he wouldn’t help us.  He came over to Les (still ignoring me completely) and was very threatening, aggressive and abusive, told Les he was one of those people who thought they knew better than anyone else what to do.  He didn’t like people like that because they do a lot of damage to his caravan park and knock down light poles!  Thank goodness he walked away to watch.  After a few deep breaths, Les returned to the driver’s seat and I directed him off site to the right, just as we had discussed earlier.  I am glad to report that no blades of grass or light poles were damaged in the exercise.  Needless to say we will not be returning, and I have written a WONDERFUL review on Tripadvisor!!!
 
The drive today from Sarina to Rockhampton was delightful, as the weather was glorious and we only had a slight headwind.  Apart from lots and lots of dead kangaroos and scrubby trees, there really wasn’t much else to look at.  Being Sunday morning, the traffic wasn’t too bad, either.  We are spending the night at the Big4 Discovery Park at Rockhampton.

Sarina on Saturday

Saturday, 7th September

Thank goodness election day has finally arrived - we will only have to listen to the post mortems now.

Some of the local wildlife in the caravan park

The caravan park at Airlie Beach offered a number of activities each day – last night it was an outdoor movie, not something we wished to participate in considering Airlie Beach would have to be the midgie capital of Queensland!  There were even a few midgies which decided to hang around until this morning. found there way under my clothing and partook of breakfast.

We had a relatively short drive of only a couple of hundred kilometres to Sarina and fortunately, the head wind wasn’t quite as strong today (perhaps we should have purchased some shares in Caltex?) and it was a bit cloudy until lunch time.  Traffic was quite heavy and rather slow, with one or two very inconsiderate caravan drivers just plodding along, never looking in their mirrors or, shock horror, actually pulling over to allow traffic to pass.

We are overnighting at Sarina Palms Caravan Park (our third visit to this nice little park).  “She Who MUST Be Obeyed,” who runs the park, was absent when we arrived – SWMBO and hubby are going on holiday – and relief managers were present to take our money and put us on sight.  We gathered that he must be a learner and wasn’t very explicit with his instructions.  Himself ended up very confused with conflicting instructions coming from the relief manager and myself!  It is very difficult to tell someone that we know what we are doing and can probably do the job better.  Anyway, we did move the caravan again after he left.  When we returned from a little drive to Sarina Beach and refuelling the Pajero, Leslie parked across the front of the caravan.  Big mistake!!!  SWMBO’s husband happened to be in the park, rushed up and “instructed” us to park directly in front of the caravan and facing the same way.

I am so over caravans with gas hot water systems which operate all night!

Airlie Beach

Friday, 6th September

After enjoying our private facilities overnight (well, we did continue to use our own shower), we were actually on the road by 8.00 am.  This probably had more to do with the fact that we didn’t need to unhitch yesterday and only had to raise the jacks (yes, we do lower them even for one night stays) and remove the jockey wheel.  Our journey to Airlie Beach was calculated to take only three and a quarter hours.

 Yesterday’s rain had disappeared but it forgot to take the wind with it!  We had strong, non-stop headwinds all the way from Townsville to Airlie Beach.  We also encountered many, many road works between Townsville and Home Hill, and these, combined with the wind, extended our travel time by an hour.  It was a very hard slog, even if the distance wasn’t overly long.  Our first stop of the morning was outside the Ayr cemetery (always somewhere to park at cemeteries) and from the large number of mausoleums, ornate graves and names, it would appear that Ayr once had a very large Italian population.

 The first part of the journey was past cane fields and mango orchards, these then gave way to dry and arid cattle country, with a small patch of produce farming – melons and capsicums – to break the monotony.  Bowen, of course, had plenty of tomatoes about ready to pick – and more mangoes.  We had another break at Bowen, discovering we had chosen, inadvertently, a turtle breeding beach.  Unfortunately, we were a little early in the season for breeding turtles.

 We are staying overnight at the Big4 Adventure Whitsunday Resort, which is a gorgeous tropical park with large sites separated by palms and gardens.  We had just set up when the whistling ducks came to visit – and leave numerous calling cards.  The caravan park is very, very nice with very, very nice amenities, but is also very, very expensive!

Southward Bound

Thursday, 5th September

The time has come to head south!

 
Yesterday was an another babysitting day, but only Aidan, while Dave, Shan and Jack spent the morning inner-tube rafting on the Mulgrave River – after being assured the crocodiles were in another part of the river!  We had a lovely morning with Aidan, he helped with the grocery shopping, the laundry (very good at selecting pegs from the bag) and preparing the caravan for departure the following day.  After a big sleep, he came with us to refuel the vehicle and say goodbye to Bev at the ice cream shop.  Of course, it would have been rude not to have bought an ice cream each while we were there.  We then returned him to his parents at their new accommodation in the city, made a quick dash back to the caravan to roll up the awning, change and meet the family again for a farewell dinner.  Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse and we were treated to a couple of impressive tropical downpours.
 
This morning was fairly relaxed, with most of the packing up done on Wednesday.  Following the heavy rain overnight, the ground was a bit muddy – as were the hoses and power cord.  The curlews also decided during the night that the front of our caravan would be an ideal place to raise their chicks and after some coaxing, settled beside the sump sink.  This did cause quite a few hissing fits as Leslie retrieved the hoses.  After many more goodbyes, we were on the road by 9.00 am, heading for Townsville.

The weather was fairly good until we reached Gordonvale, then the mist, rain and wind arrived – and stayed with us all the way, although we didn’t have any rain after Cardwell.  It was very exciting watching the numbers increase quickly on our fuel consumption – head winds are not as good as tail winds!  We stopped for lunch at Cardwell and were pleasantly surprised at the foreshore development; despite the appearances on our way north, the local council have decided to leave large sections of roadside parking for caravans and limited the angle parking.  Unfortunately, it was too windy to sit outside and look at the view across to Hinchinbrook Island.  As we neared Rollingstone, we noticed a large bushfire burning in the vicinity of the Rollingstone Caravan Park – probably a bit on the smoky side for the tourists staying there.  The countryside around Townsville is very dry, they obviously haven’t had the rain that has fallen on Cairns in the past week!

We are once again staying at the Walkabout Palms Caravan Park, which is currently undergoing some renovation – a nice new playground and jumping pillow has been added.  I had made a reservation before leaving Cairns and were allocated a site, with the comment, “You should fit on it!”  We did try, it was plenty long enough and easy to back into.  Unfortunately, the space between the concrete slab and the concrete sink surrounds wasn’t quite wide enough for our wheels.  Much muttering on my part, as we didn’t want the sides ripped out of our tyres and I wasn’t happy to stay on the allocated site.  At this point, two park workmen walked passed and Himself pointed out that the site was too narrow for a caravan.  Turned out one of the men was the owner and not impressed that the site had been allocated to a caravan.  He offered us an en-suite site for the night, no extra charge.  Much happier chappies.  Now, if only the wind would drop …

Babysitting

Tuesday, 3rd September

Today was our pre-arranged babysitting day, while their parents were supposed to spend the day snorkelling on the reef. However, the weather put paid to their plans, with all reef tours cancelled. The two boys arrived shortly after breakfast, and with the weather still rather damp and unpleasant – and Jack busting to spend his $20 holiday money –we decided to visit Smithfield Shopping Centre. This gave Jack an opportunity to check the toys at K-Mart (no sales here), while we stocked up on a few supplies for dinner tonight (sausages for everyone).

Lunch was a special treat – McDonalds – and the two boys enjoyed themselves on the indoor play equipment. With the money still burning holes in Jack’s pocket, and Aidan’s t-shirt supply being very limited, we headed into Cairns Central for a bit more extensive retail therapy while the weather, hopefully, settled down somewhat. Aidan quickly selected his t-shirts (planes, cars, trains and dinosaurs featured heavily) and demanded (Aidan is very insistent when he wants something) that his shirt be changed immediately. After much thought, and positive encouragement from his grandparents, Jack finally made the decision to buy himself a shark tooth necklace. We did have some trouble convincing Aidan that his choice just would not fit in his suitcase! We then made our way to Muddies Playground, which was much less crowded on Tuesday afternoon. The boys had a great time playing among the fountains; once again, they ignored all the “dry” play equipment, instead opting for the “wet” areas.

A big surprise awaited us when we returned to the caravan park! Our nesting curlew finally hatched her chicks this afternoon and was a very proud mother as she showed off one of her new babies. All the new “aunties” in the park were lined up with their cameras to record the happy event.

Crocodiles

Monday, 2nd September

Last night we enjoyed a very nice dinner at Jack’s choice of restaurant – Hogs Breathe Café. Although it was a little difficult to hear the waitress, the staff were very good with the young children, providing colouring-in pictures and pencils, as well as balloons.
Today we all visited Hartley’s Crocodile Adventure, very much to Aidan’s delight. He thoroughly enjoyed all the new experiences and reptiles. Our first stop was at the cassowary feeding station and both boys were willing to supply food to the hungry bird. Following that, we looked over the young crocodiles in the actual farm – these reptiles were all waiting to become handbags, belts and steaks! Then, to Aidan’s amazement, we actually got to ride on a boat with crocodiles swimming and jumping right beside him. Great stuff! After getting a close up look at old Ted, with his one remaining tooth, it was off to the crocodile feeding and more information on crocodiles. Both boys were quite happy to pose with a young crocodile (mouth securely taped shut!) for a photo opportunity. We were then given time to feed ourselves and guess what was on the menu? Crocodile, which three members of our party sampled and the other three “made do” with sandwiches. The verdict? A bit rubbery, but the salad and chips were nice.

We had time after lunch to wander through the walk-in bird aviary and visit the discovery centre, with its snakes, turtles and other creepy crawlies, and crocodile bones to uncover in a sand box. Aidan thoroughly enjoyed himself playing under the sprinkler and, despite being rather damp, was most reluctant to continue our journey into Gondwana Land. However, a small and friendly wallaby, just waiting to be fed, helped. Then it was off to the snake handling show, with its taipan and python. David and family were sitting in the front row and really received a close up and personal view of the snakes! The crocodile attack show which followed also kept everyone entertained.

Fathers' Day

Sunday, 1st September

Happy Fathers’ Day and welcome to Spring!


Yesterday saw us heading to the Esplanade with the visiting family and our first stop was at Muddies, a playground – both dry and wet – designed for the under 7s. Unfortunately, Aidan had decided that a 4.30 am start on Friday morning also meant getting up at 4.30 am on Saturday (not an idea shared by his parents!!!) and fell asleep in his stroller as we were walking along the boardwalk. However, we didn’t mind a rest in the shade until he woke up and joined Jack playing among the fountains. Once Jack discovered how to squirt the fountains, David hurriedly changed into wet gear and the remainder kept well out of range. Aidan was most unkeen to leave Muddies, even with the promise of lunch and an ice cream.

Shan managed to find a lovely hamburger restaurant; we must have walked past it hundreds of times and thought it was simply a bar! The hamburgers were great! Then it was a stop at our favourite ice cream parlour (only one, actually, that we visit) for ice creams all round. It didn’t take Aidan long to decide on chocolate and the big grin and leg swinging after his first spoonful convinced us he was quite satisfied with his choice. Then it was big decisions all round; we told Shan after she had ordered that tasting plates were available. The remainder of the afternoon was spent at the Lagoon, with ALL the visitors getting wet! While the three bigger people were happy to spend time in the water, Aidan decided that building sandcastles under the shade cloth was more his style.

Today, the others enjoyed a day out at Kuranda, travelling on the train and the Skyrail, much to Aidan’s delight and amazement. Les and I travelled to Palm Cove for a light lunch, but the vigorous trade wind made conditions a little unpleasant, so we returned to Cairns (and the nicer weather) for dessert. Tonight, we are going to enjoy a Fathers’ Day dinner at a local restaurant.