Rollingstone!  (Townsville)

Arrived here on Thursday 30 and are staying at the Rollingstone  Caravan Park (45 minutes from Townsville), right on the beach!  BUT we cannot swim due to crocs!  The pool is absolutely fantastic, 26 and 27 degree during the day,  just wonderful.  Below is a photo of the sunrise yesterday morning from our site - enjoy!

 

 

On Thursday we spent the day in Ingham, small town north from Rollingstone, on the way back we stopped at the Jourama Falls - see below.  Today 1st August we are staying here in the park, just swimming in the pool, enjoying the sunshine and company.

Jourama Falls

 

Having lunch while adding to the blog,  this is the view I am enjoying.

Arlie Beach

Arrived early on Saturday 26, setup camp (took about 35 minutes) and then set off for a tour of the town and Shute Harbour.  Arlie Beach is full of overseas tourists,  very commercialised. So many multi story apartments, many boats in the marinas and so many ways to make tourists spend their money.  Sunday 27 we had a day at Bowen - just a beautiful and natural place - far prettier than Arlie Beach and a lot less commercialised.  After picnicking on the beach we drove up to Flagstaff Hill with 360 degree views over Bowen and surrounding beaches - just magic!  Drove on to some of the beaches in Bowen,  my first paddle in the Queensland waters at Rose Bay - the water was clear and warm.  Then Monday we had a whole day with Whitehaven Xpress (50ft twin 11 litre diesel cruiser)  - 8 am pickup and returned by 5pm - what a day it was just wonderful.  There was a guided National Park bush walk to the Hill Inlet Scenic Lookout where we viewed the inlet and Whitehaven Bay, then we were taken to Whitehaven Beach and we swam in the beautiful clean water, enjoyed a terrific BBQ lunch, joined by 4 very friendly goannas (looking for food), meet a baby python and then departed to enjoy snorkelling at Mantaray Bay.   Today, Tuesday 29 we are resting,  after all that swimming, snorkelling, hiking and eating!  Tomorrow we pack up and head to Townsville.

Mackay

We arrived in Mackay late afternoon of 24 July, setup our tent and then rested.  Next day, Friday we had a tour at the Sarina Sugar Shed, a miniature sugar mill and distillery in operation.  We learnt that brown sugar is white sugar crystals with molasses sprayed on!  Samples of rum liqueur and other spirits made using the ethanol they distill from the sugar cane. The ice creams were absolutely delicious - Neil had a rum flavoured one and I had mango.  From Sarina we drove through to Homebush, Eton and Marian through sugar cane area to Finch Hatten where we stopped for a very late lunch at the show grounds.  After lunch we drove up the escarpment to Eungella, 12% gradient and the truck was in first gear part of the way going up the steeper sections.  The view from the top was panoramic looking over all the cane fields in the valley we just drove through.   The chalet also offered the same spectacular views while we enjoyed a coffee. On the way back we stopped off at the Dame Nellie Melba House in Marian,  this house was supplied to Dame Nellie Melba's husband as he was the manager in the sugar cane mill, before she became famous. Back at the caravan park enjoyed a dinner put on by the owners of the park.   The evening was spent enjoying the company of many caravanning guests,  some who survived the trip to Cape York - one particular family shared their experiences with us. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rockhampton Botanical Gardens and Zoo
We looked at both today, the plants here in Queensland are so beautiful, there are so many different tropical species. The weather is warm and pleasant.  After lunching at a small café in the gardens we shared our leftover lunch with some new friends.  Dreamtime Culture Centre and just a general tour of Rockhampton filled in the afternoon.   Tomorrow morning we leave for Mackay.

Travels into Queensland

We spent our first night in a small town called Taroom,  there were so many "cowboys" around as a Rodeo had been held on Saturday,  lucky for us we arrived on Sunday and were able to find a place to stay.  The next day we drove on and stayed at Rockhampton,  we decided to stay for 3 days.  On Tuesday, 22 July we travelled to Yeppoon, on to Emu Park and back to Rockhampton.  It was lovely to see the Sunshine, beaches and feel the warm air.

My chef at work first night at Rockhampton

Singing ship in Emu Park - built to honour Captain James Cook to commemorate his visit to the region when exploring the eastern Australian coastline in 1770.  You can hear different sounds made by the wind through the pipes. 

Neil shows his MAGICAL strength at Parkes -holding up the Telescope dish!

WE ARRIVED IN QUEENSLAND ON MONDAY 21 JULY 2014

Made new friends at Dubbo Zoo

QLD  - Wide load!!!

On the way to Moonie we had to pullover.  This happened 3 times today,  obviously moving equipment on Sunday with traffic being quiet.

OFF WE GO

Finally set off on Wednesday 16 July at 12.20pm,  I thought the car would never get moving with all the bit and pieces we had to pack, but it moved and our first stop was at Tocumwal.  The nights have been really cold with temperatures well below 0, when we stayed at Forbes, apparently it snowed at Orange! (Orange is about 40k from Forbes.)   The weather has been really cold in NSW.   We looked at the Radio telescope (Dish) at Parkes,  it is massive.  On Friday we visited the Dubbo zoo and the next morning we fed the giraffes!  On Sunday we finally arrived in QLD and are staying in a small town called Taroom on the Leichardt Highway. 

 

All packed