Our Travels

It’s amazing how fast the place empties in the morning. It was always planned as an overnight stay, the one drawback was the proximity of the rail line and the lack of a curfew, the trains ran about every 2 hrs all through the night.

From St Lawrence we were heading to Byfield National Park and on the way down we came to the Caves Country Pub near the Capricorn Caves were we had lunch in 2012. It was lunchtime again so why not, to food was still pretty good. After lunch we went down to the see the caves, in 2012 there was a wedding on in the cave and we were unable to go in, this time we just missed a tour and with the tour taking an hour and another hour until the next tour we could not afford the time with over 80kms until Byfield and we had to stop in Yeppoon for a few things. Of course there was time for Devonshire tea, they had some very nice fruit scone with jam and cream.

Byfield National Park is another area of high rainfall and everything was green and lush, despite booking a site we were fortunate to get the last site.

Byfield National Park

We packed up and headed off again. We stopped at Carmila Beach for a picnic lunch,originally this was where we were going to camp overnight but Terry found a free camping spot further down the coast called St. Lawrence which reduced the travel distance for the next day. We arrived about 2pm to a huge open area already starting to look crowded. We found a spot to set up and the caravans just kept coming. I’ve never seen so many campers in one spot. Why not it was 5kms off the highway and free. The hot showers were $1/3mins, little expensive to what we were used to, but it turned out when the time came to have a shower the hot water flowed without the need for coins.

Note:  apologies for the lack of photos for the past few days, there has not been a lot to inspire photography (Terry)

No one had come to collect fees by the time we headed off for the day. We went into Mackay to fill a gas bottle and explore a little. We did our bit of shopping (including buying gloves) and headed for the marina to get lunch. There wasn’t a lot of choice so we opted for the café overlooking the marina and had a very nice lunch. We took a short walk around the marina and then took a scenic route back to camp. On the way we saw some sugar cane actually being harvested. The showers required money for hot water – 20c for 3 minutes. As no one had turned up to collect our money yet the campsite had cost us $1.20 so far – the cost of both our showers. The overnight temperature is continuing to drop, on the Atherton Tablelands we put the first blanket over the doona, now its time to bring out the second blanket.

We packed up and set off on a full day of driving. We were heading for St. Helens Beach. The camping area was just off the beach and was unmanned. The sign simply said pick a spot and fees will be collected daily. We arrived around 5pm and there was a sea breeze making it quite cool as we set up. It was a nice campsite set just back from the beach with plenty of shade provided by the council. There were even hot showers for 20c/3mins. As no one showed up to collect camp fees, it was a pretty good deal

St Helens Beach

Just relaxing around camp – checking winter clothes (still dry) and catching up on emails etc. The peahen numbers seemed to have increased to eight or more.

Burkedin Dam

After lunch we went for a drive to the dam wall and drove across the bottom of the dam spillway. The water at the top of the dam was just lapping the edge of the wall, if it wasn’t for the water being released at the bottom it would have overflowed. We checked out the track on the other side of the dam as an alternate route out but decided it was too rough and not worth the few kilometres it would save. By nightfall the couple of wallabies we had seen the night before had swelled to many more of them. When I went to the loo the caravan park seemed to be overrun with them – they were everywhere.

Travel day – from Broadwater to Burdekin Dam. We packed up slowly to allow the tent to dry out as much as possible. On our way through Townsville we stopped for lunch, fuel and shopping then headed out to Burdekin Dam Caravan Park. We have never seen so much roadkill on a road before. The difference in the countryside was remarkable as we headed inland the drier it became, at Broadwater everything was damp, at Burkedin there was a dry breeze and our damp stuff was dry in an hour. We negotiated lots of cows on the road and arrived at the caravan park around 4pm. The caravan park was a little dry and desolate but the showers were hot and for $15 for a powered site we weren’t complaining. The grounds were covered in droppings and that night it was easy to see where they came from, there would have been 30-40 small wallabies roaming over the caravan park. During the day there were two peacocks and a number of peahens roaming around as well.

As it rained most of the night we decided to stay put for one more day to give the tent time to dry out before we packed it up. It was getting quite dry by lunchtime but then it started to rain again. We did get small glimpses of the sun in between the cloud but it rained on and off all day – sometimes short heavy showers and sometimes a light drizzle. We relaxed around camp reading and playing games and enjoying nature.

Jacky Winter at out Broadwater Camp

Golden Orb Spider at Broadwater Camp

Broadwater Creek

Hopefully it won’t rain overnight so we can pack up and move on.

Today we woke up to a very overcast, sometimes drizzly day. We drove out to Wallaman Falls the tallest single drop (268 mtrs) falls in Australia. It was quite spectacular but just a pity that it was so overcast and misty.

Wallaman Falls

We tried to have a picnic lunch but ended up having to finish it in the car. We collected some wood on our way back to camp for our BBQ tea which Terry ended up cooking in the rain.

Another travel day. We packed up and headed into Broadwater Camping Grounds which are on the bank of a creek with a large, deep section for swimming if the weather was warmer. We arrived after lunch which we had in Ingham. We had a visit from some bush turkeys and a small rodent looking marsupial but fortunately no more holes in the groundsheet.

Broadwater Camping Ground

The camp sites were lush and green and each site was set back in to the jungle and quite secluded, there were even showers provided however the lack of hot discouraged Jacky from using them. I braved them, it was similar to jumping into the cold creek water.

Washing! This morning we caught up with the washing then headed into town to find a place to eat lunch. We found a nice open air restaurant (not difficult as lots of restaurants around here have only a roof and maybe half walls) and had a very nice lunch served by a friendly, enthusiastic waitress. A visit to the information centre led us to the Australian Sugar Museum. It was very interesting and gave some of the history of sugar cane in Australia as well as up to date information about the sugar industry today. Then it was back to camp and the washing.

Mission Beach