We headed north to Tin Can Bay, which is a pretty little town, popular with fishermen, but not so good for swimming as there are a lot of mangroves and beaches that have big tides and are shallow for a long way out. We did the town circuit walk and checked out the bakery for coffee. Checking out the local bakery became a feature of our trip.
Our next stop was Burrum Point Campground in Burrum Coast National Park. The road in was a deeply rutted sand road, at one point partially blocked by a fallen tree which we partially cleared with the help of some other campers behind us on the road. The campground itself was lovely and quiet, with big, treed sites near the beach. We did a pleasant circuit track of about 8 km to a bird hide, and saw an Australasian figbird, a new one to me.
We left Burrum Point by driving out the beach at low tide to the little town of Woodgate. Much the better way to reach the campsite, flat easy driving along mostly hard sand. In the centre of town, we found the shopping area -- the caravan park that had petrol pumps, accommodation, a cafe and a restaurant. They practically own the town, I guess. Very pretty place and we had a good coffee and sat and watched the dolphins jump and display.
We headed further north to Bundaberg, where we had lunch at the Baldwin Swamp Environmental Park. It was a lovely urban reserve with many ponds and Ibis, Dusky Moorhens, and a pair of stately black swans with an impossible fluffy grey cygnet almost half their size. That evening we stayed at a permaculture farm, camped in a field near the sheep, goats, donkey and geese, and a friendly enough Maremma Dog, but he never stopped barking. It was an interesting stop, but I think the farm and "glamping" facilities need a bit more development.
We kept going north and tried to meet up with friends Jan and Helmut at Kurrimine Beach, but just missed them. We keep heading north as the nights have been very cold; we have the heater on at times. Not quite what I was expecting in tropical Queensland.
We camped at a council campsite in Ball Bay, as we could not get a spot in Cape Hillsborough National Park which is close by. The Ball Bay site was small and nearly full, but it was only $15 a night and good value. The curlews or Murdering birds as some people call them, kept us awake part of the night with their eerie calls. We went hiking over some beautiful rocky headlands in the national park, and along the beaches. A few of the trails were partially closed due to damage from heavy rain earlier this year, but we got good views from the lookouts.
As we headed north of Proserpine, we drove deeper into the sugar cane area. The here are huge fields of cane, with small-scale railways running along the fields, taking the cane directly to local sugar mill. In many of the fields, the cane was topped with large "blooms" like pampas grass, something I have not noticed in the cane fields near us. We also saw huge mango orchards.
We stopped in Townsville for a couple of nights and noticed the military camps and presence in the area. There is a large base at Townsville, and we also saw tanks being moved up the highway on transport trucks. We spent an afternoon walking along The Strand, which is a waterfront walkway in town, with many interesting sculptures along the path. There is also a huge Tobruk Memorial Simming Pool complex. Unfortunately, I did not have my swimsuit with me.
We did spend one night at Kurrimine Beach, and ran into rain and cloudy weather. One woman staying there said they had 16 days in a row with rain, and she was thinking of head back to NSW. on the way into Kurrimine Beach we stopped at the Murdering Point Tropical Fruit Winery and did a tasting. It has some of them more unusual wines that we have tasted, although I did buy a (dry) passionfruit wine and Bill bought a Black Sapote Port. I will leave you to speculate on these interesting vintages.
The beaches in this area were all unappealing to me. They were choppy, rough and frequently very windy. The shoreline was usually churned up and muddy looking, and there were usually signs warning of possible crocodiles and stingers, even though this is not the season for stingers. Kurrimine Beach seemed to be popular for fishing, with big houses, and very large tractors to move fishing boats on and off the beach.
North of Townsville we ran into frequent stretches of roadwork on the Bruce Highway. I heard a radio commentator say that the housing shortage in Australia is partly due to all of the major infrastructure works tying up construction workers, and seeing the amount of roadwork in Queensland I think he may be right.
We moved on to Port Douglas, where we stayed for a few days. The road from Cairns to Port Douglas is spectacular; a twisty, hilly snake that runs along the sea cliffs for about 20 kilometres. We explored the town with all the expensive dress shops and had dinner at a tasty Tapas Bar Called Sea Bean. We also booked a "sunset sail" on a huge catamaran, but the sea was very rough and there was a lot of cloud and squally rain about. An exciting sail but not much sunset.
We Left Port Douglas and drove back to Palm Cove, where we caught up with friends Gaynor and Ashley who used to live in Sydney. We had a beautiful lunch at Vivo, a large restaurant on the beachfront with high ceilings and wide verandas. The food was excellent, and we retired back to Gaynor and Ashleys for coffee and cheese. So much fun to catch up with friends you have not seen in probably 10 years.
