Sep 2008

Awoke early to a beautiful sunrise over the heads. Decided it was too nice not to go kayaking. Paddled out the pair of islands closest to us. They were really quite well covered in plants. Surprised at the types of plants too. There were eucalypts as you’d imagine, but also black boys, pandanus grass as well as lots of unusual grasses. There were both granite with some volcanic rock, hence the good growing soil I guess. Looking back to the mainland, you can see all the surrounding hills are all densely covered in thick bush. Its really pretty.

The impatient Midget - making sure she isnt left behind...

The turtle breading season has commenced I think here around these parts. We have seen many huge turtles swimming about and hanging around the two little islands just out from us. I had one surface just in front of my kayak and then dive down. I also managed to sneak up on one (I believe they are deaf) on my way back from the island. I watched it bobbing up and down I guess searching for fish. It was just lovely. The place is full of fish. They just jump about over the water they’re so happy here!

Also heard there is an island just around the corner that was a huge resort from the 1930s. The owner apparently had a falling out with the government, I guess over the ownership rights, and so he smashed the place up and left. The locals have been trying to find bits of it, and have turned it into a park for day trippers to go to. They’ve installed BBQs and the like to allow people to enjoy it.

There are also many islands dotted around here that are setup and run by the Parks & Wildlife as campsites. They’ve got flattened areas to camp in, toilets and other facilities all laid out. I guess you have to pay, not sure how they run it, but our map is dotted with little pictures of green tents, so assume they are no dogs. Nice that they have such a place though. It should all be about high rise money making ventures.

If you look closely in the lower right hand corner of the picture, you can see me in my green kayak paddling back. Steve climbed the island hill and took several pics.

Seaforth is a place for those who really want to get away from it all. There is nothing here except for the small deli cum post office come shop, and a petrol station. There are several boat ramps to keep up with the constant flow of boating traffic.

On returning to the water the low tide we thought we’d gone out on was even lower! We had to drag the kayaks through about 100m of thick grey sludge to get back to the van.

Midget had a ball as usual! It was hilarious watching her trying to run through the mud. It was more bunny hops and she went in right up to her tummy! I think it took us more than 30 minutes to do those 100m!

A gentle breeze has pulled up to cool down the 28o day. Its really relaxing here. Just met a guy from Tassie who informs us the local caravan park is $17.50/night for unpowered sites. You then have to pay for hot showers. That’s a bit rich given other places we’ve seen. Its actually a shire run venture, so should be cheaper than that. We illegally camped along the foreshore near the boat ramp. Its totally private and quiet. We’re really over being stuck next to someone and the noise restrictions that that brings. Free camping is the way to go!

In the dark of night, we’d thought we’d found a nice quiet spot on the outskirts of town, turned out it was the main road to the sugar refinery. Didn’t get much sleep. Couldn’t raise a real coffee anywhere in town, so headed on out.

The scenery is starting to change. We’re certainly out of the rainforest and still in the tropical timber with the corkscrew palms or pandanus dotted around the place, but its not as lush as it used to be.

The drive is not attractive as further north, but the water is turning more turquoise in colour. Headed to Bowen. This place was poised to boom on our last visit some 6 years ago, but it still looked like the biggest dump we’d seen some years ago. They have lots of lovely old queenslanders around the town, and the lovely old pubs on each corner etc, but the drive in is past old dumps of rotting buildings, tons of signs showing the best parts of Bowen, but still doesn’t have an appeal to reach the seachangers that search further north for retirement and lifestyle options.

We next headed to Airlie Beach. This place was chockers with backpackers and the like all cramming their way around the quaint little main street and struggling to get out to Shute Harbour to get on a ferry to the islands as its so far out of town. We drove out to Shute Harbour to check again what’s happening to discover the community against a huge mega story development proposed for the area. You now have to pay even to park up on the hill which is a huge hike down to the boats. The new overnight multistorey carpark was about 1km walk to the ferry terminal and cost $10/day to use!

There were many of these types of ads dotted around the community. There is a huge proposal for another developement taking prime beachfront land from the hands of the community. See www.saveourforeshore.com.au for more info. They must have some money as they have taken billboards around town, as well as many of the advertising banners in the main street.

You cant even dream of a parking spot in the main street. We are just so over traffic lights and huge traffic jams that we just want to get away from them. We didn’t even want to hang around the harbour and check out the marina. It was just so overcrowded and uninviting anymore. Really sad to see towns developed out. It no longer has the appeal that drew many of the locals there in the first place. I guess many will be leaving if this big development ends up going through. I don’t think they have the road infrastructure to cope with the traffic.

We moved sadly on to the next small dot on the beachside map. It was Laguna Quays and Midge Point (our dogs namesake attracted us to that one). It was such a weird place. Laguna Quays was a golf course type development that looked deserted. We didn’t venture in, but drove by. The next bend saw a huge palm tree lined boulevard with lovely stone entrances that were completely overgrown. This was a place that had a huge vision, but for some reason it just never happened! There were a few for sale signs that we drove past as we continued on the next 10kms to Midge Point.

On arrival we noticed the traditional holiday town of old asbestos and basic queenslander style houses. But on arrival at the beach I was shocked by the smell. It smelt of poo. Steve said it was rotting seaweed, but on arrival at the water there was no seaweed in sight! Who knows. Steve went for a walk and I relaxed in the van.

We then moved on to the next stop on the map, wondering if there was such a thing as paradise still left in QLD and I think we found it! Seaforth. It was a cute lovely beachside holiday place nestled amongst stunning treed hills. With just a caravan park, a shop and a petrol station. We passed about 5 “trendy” new houses on the main road, but basically it was a boating and fishing paradise. Lots of boat launching spots and water activities. There are a few islands not far off the land and who knows what around the corner.

The view of where we parked for the night...

Steve couldn’t get out of the van fast enough. He pulled his kayak down off the roof and then threw a line in off the beach. He didn’t know what to do first!

The wind was still not letting up early in the morning. Steve took the dog out fishing off the beach and generally having fun. Got washing done and decided to get out of the big smoke. Started to head south…

Decided to check out Ross River Dam. Its claim to fame as you may well know is the invention of the Ross River Virus. Ahhh what a lovely place… Actually it looked really dry and unloved to be honest.

We then headed back to the ring road to take us out of town, and discovered a cinema on the way, so we had to check out Wall-E. What a great movie. Really enjoyed it. We had a couple of 6 month tickets that we’d bought from home and the cinema were lovely enough to honour them even though they’d expired last month – on ya Reading! Got as far as Home Hill that night.

Awoke to find we were almost right on top of a great beach. Walked along and Midget had a ball (as usual) playing with other dogs and fishing.

Today we started looking around the shops for a replacement GPS. It appears our old one just died. It was such a saviour for our trip around Europe last year, we were really upset. Steve opened it up and it was corroded in parts inside. So we decided to get the same one, as we still have our maps for Europe. If anyone out there is planning a trip to Europe and they want to take a GPS with them (they are so incredibly handy not just for driving) we’re more than happy to lend anyone our Europe maps.

Anyway we took it easy, then headed out a little north of the city and found a beach and checked out the kayaking route to Magnetic Island. We were planning to kayak over there from the closest land mass to it, but the wind wasn’t letting up and it wouldn’t have been much fun. There were whitecaps across the bay and we’d have been soaked, so we gave it a miss.

On the way to Townsville

Arrived late in the day with a nice drive down through the hinterland to the ocean. We stopped in a place called Luncinda. Its claim to fame being it’s the longest cane loading jetty in the world. As far as we could see it was the longest jetty full stop! It was huge! But unfortunately was a blot on the lovely landscape to the point I couldn’t live there. You also aren’t allowed with 4m of the jetty due to the cathodic protection, which means their electrical system installed to stop the jetty from rusting. It will rust your boat and everything metal on it if you get close!

Townsville was just as we remembered it. Its only changes were the installation of a new “toon town” (commercial tilt up concrete buildings) such as Bunnings, Harvey Norman, blinds suppliers, BCFs etc. There were a few more high-rise apartment buildings etc.

We parked the car at the North end of The Strand and walked the length and followed it into town. We cross over the bridge and out to the Port area and the Marina and enjoyed dinner at the yacht club. It appears this club too is about to undergo a total renewal. It appears there’s quite a bun fight going on with the membership on what needs to be done, as well as where the yachts are supposed to go while the renovations are taking place! Small problem I fear!

Found a nice brand new industrial area just behind the port that had yet to be built on, so camped there the night. Lost my sunnies :-(