Mission Beach

Mission Beach

Leaving Lucinda we opted for a mere 130km trek to our next stop Mission Beach.  There is only one reason to go to Mission Beach and that is to relax and enjoy the beach and rainforest.  The beach is quite unique as you can actually swim at it which is quite a novelty in North Queensland. The beach itself is 12 km long with beautiful palms along the edge and views to Dunk Island about 4km away.

                                         Mission Beach is a Cassowary conservation zone

                                   Swimming at a beach for the first time since Middle Lagoon.

               At low tide the beaches are covered little balls of sand left by the soldier crabs.

 

We stayed at the Hideaway Caravan Park and after sorting the van and heading off to the beach for a swim we quickly knew 2 nights would not be long enough here. The coming weekend in Queensland was a long weekend  and the whole area would be busy so we extended our booking to 5 nights. The boys soon hooked up with some lovely boys from Melbourne up here on holidays and were happy at the activities area playing table tennis, pool, cane toad hunting and watching a bit of television. 

                                                            Mission Beach Toad busters

We also took the opportunity to do a couple of rainforest walks which promised the chance of spotting a cassowary but in reality, meeting a 1.8m potentially aggressive large bird is something to do at a distance, not on a tight walking track.   Chrissy, when returning from a Physio appointment in Tully saw one on the side of the road which was a good place to see one. 

                                                              The Cassowary,

                                              Clump Mountain rainforest walk summit.

 

                                                          Everyone a bit hot and sweaty.

 

                                                               Views to Dunk Island

The 27^th of September was our 20^th wedding anniversary and we celebrated the event at the Bingil Bay Cafe with dinner, where we all enjoyed our meals as well as the quirkiness of the very cute cafe.

                                                  Out for dinner at the Bingil Bay Cafe

 

As the weekend came around the boys were becoming very thick with Lachlan and Gus and were having a ball at the beach,, on the hunt to spray  cane toads with dettol at night, and collecting the dead ones in the morning as well. Lachlan and Gus’ parents Kate and Casey were great value to be around and everyone was having a relaxing time.  The weekend came and the Queenslanders piled into Mission Beach for their long weekend.  The locals are often in tents with a huge silver tarp covering everything providing shade and cover if it rains. They are very keen campers the Queenslanders.... 

                                    The boys with Lachlan,  Gus and Billy MacDonald

                                                                  after a fun 5 days.

From Mission Beach it’s off to the Atherton Tablelands and then the Daintree.

Lucinda

Lucinda

After a few days in Townsville we headed north along that fairly average piece of bitumen called the Bruce Highway.  Before long we were into the sugar cane country and Ingham a small town with a healthy Italian heritage.  We were soon on the lookout for small cane trains as we drove to Lucinda 26km from Ingham.  Lucinda’s claim to fame is a 5.3km jetty that sugar is loaded from as well as its reputation for good fishing and access to Hinchinbrook Island. 

                                 The old Jetty at lucinda with Hinchinbrook Island in the background.

 The 5.3km long Lucinda Sugar Jetty. 

You can actually see the curve of the earths surface out towards the end.

Day two in Lucinda saw us drive to Tremonne and go to a lovely church at the local Italian elderly citizens centre.  Tremonne has about 200 people, a shop, a pub as well as a catholic and state school which was a bit unusual for the size of the town, but it is only 6 km out of Ingham and surrounded by lots of small cane farms.  From there it was onto Wallaman Falls, 50km up  the mountain. Wallaman Falls are Australias longest single drop waterfalls and after 35  minutes of windy roads we got there.

                                                                    Wallaman Falls

                                                                  From the lookout.

 The falls were spectacular and after lunch we headed for the walk to the base of them 2km and 370 metres below in the valley. Will tripped over after 100 metres and was not that happy, It was hot and after another 100metres he made his intentions clear that he wanted out.  Chrissy did the good motherly thing and offered to mend his wounds whilst Jordy, Kurt and Jim carried on. It was a tough walk to the bottom through the rain forest in high humidity on a hot day but it was worth the effort.

The ascent back to the carpark was hot ,humid and hard work but after a few breathers they made it with Chrissy waiting with some cold water  at the Wallaman Gorge Lookout near the end as they arrived, dripping with sweat.

                                                             

                                                                           At the bottom.

                                       Hot and sweaty and back at the top after a big challenge!!!

                                          Beware of Cassowaries, they are big and aggressive.

Fishing was also on the agenda at Lucinda and apart from some tarpon (not great eating) one evening our success was limited to catching our own bait with a cast net which Jim and Kurt are mastering  (after a couple of lessons from more experienced elderly gentlemen).

                                                              Will and his Tarpon

                                                         Kurt with his silver ferrari

 Now sonny  Jim, loop, loop, grasp in right, grab the skirt, peel , gather right,

 gather left and then throw, ........got it?

Chrissy discovered an ebay Birkenstock shop which happened to be located in little old Lucinda, and managed to score 2 pairs of Birks for $70 – retail therapy at last.....  try margmont9  if you’re keen and mention that Chrissy sent you.

The boys were delighted by the presence of a 1.3m Goanna that wandered around the park, as well as the fascinating Curlews that appeared everywhere day and night.

Lucinda was a great place to unwind for four days with plenty to do for everyone.

                                                                 Will doing his journal.

                                                      

                                                                         Wild Child

 

                 A peaceful dove made its nest in our TV aerial. So we have to stay for three weeks?

                                                                          

                                                                  And an egg as well.

Townsville

 After two lovely days in Charters Towers we headed for Townsville. As we left the undulating country surrounding Charters Towers we crossed the mighty Burdekin River on the bridge that was an amazing 8 metres under water during the QLD floods and the bridge was a good 8 metres above the river as we crossed it.  Soon the Great Dividing Range was in view as the road followed the river plain.  Townsville is a serious city at 200,000 people, with a large defence force  population as well as being the major service centre in North Queensland.  It sits on a coastal plain with several big mountains overlooking it as well as Magnetic Island only 8km offshore. We had a relaxing time in Townsville as we got over our driving days  with the highlight being a visit to Reef HQ, an aquarium and turtle hospital.  We also enjoyed  the Strand foreshore and it's sculptures and facilities.

         Jordy on the foreshore in front of the caravan park with Magnetic Island in the background.

                                   
                                                   Will under attack from a NQ crocodile.

                                      The boys loved the Banyan trees in the Caravan Park.

                         The Rockpool, an enclosed swimming area safe from marine stingers.

                                                 Jordy getting  some airtime at the Rockpool

                                                       Sunset from the caravan park.

                                                         Will and his friends at Reef HQ

                                      The Morcom boys enjoying the natural reefs at Reef HQ

                                                          Kurt and Phillip, the injured turtle.

                                                            Yes, another free water park.

Daly Waters to Charters Towers

Qo Queensland

The first leg of out epic journey to Queensland saw us complete a 530km drive from Daly Waters to Barkly Homestead. Before long we had left the northern savannah country and into the grasslands and low scrub near Newcastle Waters.  Fuel was going to be steep wherever we went and we topped up at Three Ways for a mere $1.89 which was pretty good compared to the $1.99.9 at Barkly Homestead.  We stayed the night at Barkly Homestead which was a pretty neat and tidy place before heading off to Mt Isa. 

                                                           

                                                               Lorrikeets at Daly Waters

The 180km to the Qld border was a lot of not much but a good road. Before long we had crossed the border 15km from the small town of Camooweal.  Then onto Mt Isa,  where the country became quite hilly for the last 60km.   Mt Isa is similar to Kalgoorlie in lots of ways, Big mines and the town built around it.  It is a full on industrial town with a huge power station smack in the middle of town and everything looked pretty busy. Being in Queensland there was also lots of rugby shorts and because it is supposed to be cold here at the moment plenty of flannelette and the blokes were similarly dressed.....

On Sunday morning we pushed on to Hughenden 530km away. The surrounding countryside changed from the ragged ranges to prime  grazing country as we passed through Cloncurry and stopped at the lovely town of Julia Creek. The main street looked a treat with undercover parking and murals celebrating the towns history. After Julia Creek we passed through Richmond and saw the Kronosaurus replica.    Finally we reached Hughenden after a long, long  day.

                                                             Julia Creek main street

                                                   Jordy with dinosaur in Richmond

The next morning we  explored  the town, Will and Kurt enjoyed the skate park as well as the town pool with Jordy where they all enjoyed the car tube tyres.  At the tourist centre there was a museum that had the skeleton of a Muttabuttasaurus found down the road at Muttaburra.  The town also had a huge windmill to recognise it’s connections with the Great Artesian Basin which gives the grazing properties a reliable water supply.

                                                        Muttaburrasaurus in Hughenden

                                                      Kurt and cool sculpture in Hughenden.

                                                                 The big windmill.

One must mention the Queensland roads. Don’t believe all of the terrible things you hear about them. Believe about 98% of what you hear. They are very average, but in fairness it is a big state with lots of roads, lots of floods and big road trains which take their toll.

Finally we pushed on to Charters Towers,  an old gold town which reminded us a bit of Ballarat with it’s old buildings and parks.  We decided to spend an extra day in Charters Towers and loved the buildings, the history and the general feel of the place.  Charters Towers left us with the impression that it is a very liveable large country town.  Quite simply it has cheap character housing compared to Albany, good education available – with 3 private boarding schools, cheap beef, cheap diesel, cheap beer, a great climate and barramundi within close reach.  Sounds good! Whilst in the park we discovered an oven, something we have not seen for 10 weeks so Chrissy baked cakes to everybody's delight and we had a roast to finish off our stay.

                                                                  Charters Towers

Stock Exchange Arcade in Charters Towers

We also played a few holes of golf as we were staying next door to the local golf course -  Will attached himself to Jim like a cling-on on the starboard bow (Startrek analogy,)  and mentioned it every 37 seconds for 24 hours until he gave in. Golf was fun, playing five holes in the 33 degree heat on the very nice C-Towers course. Jim showed that he still has it completing the five holes in 14 strokes due to looking for everyone  else’s balls and giving tuition and advice.

New strings for Jordy’s guitar, at last!!!!  American Pie is now sounding sensational.

                                             Inside the Waverley Hotel, a classic Queensland pub.

                                                                        A furry friend

                                        Roast Lamb in Charters Towers, Have oven, will bake.