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| Pam & Bill |
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| Jeff & Karen |
It was sashimi and nibbles for entree followed by veggie bake, salad and fish for main. Nina provided dessert which was chocolate cake, ice cream and fruit salad.
It was a lovely night.
Thursday the 27th, Richard and I took a walk to the local coffee shop before heading back to the van.
We were going to go to Magnetic Island but decided against it.
Richard did some work while the kids and I went to the pool where they quickly made some friends and settled in for the afternoon. We all headed back to the caravan around 4ish where the kids continued to play with their new found friends while Richard and I had a drink and discussed where we would go the next day.
Before long our neighbours were having a drink with us, it was a final chance to catch up before we left the next morning.
The kids new friends parents also popped in for a drink, they were also a lovely couple who have been travelling for 2 years and were in the process of setting up home in Townsville for a while. It's a shame the kids only got to meet on our last night, they all got along so well together. By the time Richard and I ate dinner it was 9:30.
Friday the 28th of September, Richard and I woke early and went for a walk before heading back to the van to begin packing up.
I had an early visit from Karen and Wally, who after much hesitation decided I was safe enough to climb onto.
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| Karen & Wally |
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| There's Wally! |
Our neighbours all came over to say goodbye, thanks guys for looking after the boys while Nina and I were away, it was a pleasure to meet you all, including Wiro's Wally & Mojo...
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| Goodbye guys, it was a pleasure! |
On the road again... and our first major town was Ingham which claims to be the heart of Barramundi country. This had the boys excited. A Barra is still on their fishing wish list. Ingham was a lot bigger than we expected. More than half the population of the town is of Italian descent and the town is known as Little Italy, sounds a bit like Harvey.
The next town was Cardwell, a quaint beach-side town which looks over to Hinchinbrook Island, Australia's largest Island National Park.
We knew we were entering Cyclone Yasi country when we saw a Motel named after the massive cyclone which hit this coastline early last year.
Hinchinbrook Marina produced one of the most memorable photos in the aftermath of Yasi, with the pile up of boats that had been smashed by the cyclone.
We contined on through Tully, home of the big gumboot, which is 7.9 metres high.
The height is significant in that it's the record amount of rainfall the town recorded in one year - 1950.
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| The sign explains the reason for the big gumboot |
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| Richard and the kids climb the gumboot |
It's also where a big sugar refinery takes over the skyline - this region is renowned for its sugar cane and bananas...
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| Tully sugar refinery |
Further north and we were in Mission Beach, where we were going to stay but decided not to because being school holidays, the caravan parks were full.
We decided to go and have a look anyway, stopping to take a snapshot of the next big thing.... a Cassowary..
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| The Big Cassowary |
The whole region is called the Cassowary Coast. The "beware of cassowary" signs along the roads were a novel change to the usual beware of kangaroo and emu signs.
Lunch was in Innisfail, one of Australia's wettest towns. It copped the eye of cyclone Yasi and until 1910, Innisfail was known as Geraldton.
There was little proof that Yasi had passed through here until we ventured out of town and saw fields of twisted and uprooted banana trees.
From Innisfail we headed inland towards the Atherton Tablelands. The views were beautiful as we climbed higher and higher into lush, green rainforests reaching more than 800 metres above sea level.
We stopped in Atherton to do some grocery shopping before reaching Lake Tinaroo around 4 o'clock.
The area is beautiful and the Lake, huge and picturesque. It's a water playground for skiing, crabbing, fishing and swimming. The Lake is about 700 metres above sea level so the humidity is low and there are no mozzies or sandflies, which is a bonus.
By the time we had parked the caravan, the kids were taking part in a school holidays craft lesson in the caravan park and came back excited about a talent quest which they had entered.
So off we went to the camp kitchen where my three performers, dressed in their jeans and cowboy hats recited "The Man From Ironbark" it was very well done and Richard and I were so proud.
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| My little performers, ready to go |
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| In action... |
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| ...reciting "The Man From Ironbark." |
There were lots of kids performing, among them a joke teller, a skipper and a songwriter/guitarist. They were all cute and everyone was a winner. The kids then danced the night away with a disco following the show.. they had a ball.
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| In the groove |
While the kids were having fun Richard began chatting to the caravan park managers and before long he had a Grand Final sweep organized for the following day.
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