To Cairns & Return Pt.2

Day 4 of trip - woke up to a glorious sunrise in Mackay and just had time to take some photos before we again set off for further places north.

After Mackay it was seeing Peter & Janine off earlier than us and letting them explore Airlie Beach and it's surrounds before re-joining us and the highway at the Big Mango just south of Bowen.

 

There is a story about this 'Big Mango' - a little while ago in the dead of night the Big Mango disappeared. There was a big stink about this and the regional council for the area decided to 'use' this disappearance as a tourist boost. I understand there were ads on the radio, TV and in the newspapers about it. Eventually it was returned to it's rightful place, and the whole truth of the saga is that the council removed it to refurbish it with a new paint job etc. What a great advertising ploy!

After meeting up here, we set off for a quick look around Bowen itself. We pointed out to them the salt flats on the way into Bowen, along with the hotel that was used in the film 'Australia' starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman made there some years ago. We also showed them the memorial and place where the Catolina flying boats used to come in during World War II.

From Bowen we continued on our way to Ayr where we found the local bakery (l-o-v-e the bakeries in these small towns!) for a yummy lunch.

Next stop (an overnight stop) was to be Townsville. Here we met up with family and had a dinner of 'Australian' fish and chips. Wrapped in butchers paper - not the English Times. A tour of Townsville was given as well as a run up Castle Hill by night - absolutely fabulous views of Townsville.

It was then time back at the caravan park for a drink or two on a lovely balmy tropical evening.

Day 5 of trip - excitement day today, we complete the first leg of our adventure by travelling up to Cairns. Again we sent Peter & Janine off early to have a look at Lucinda and the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere, although possibly these days they may have lost that title - not sure.

We met up for morning tea at Cardwell - an absolutely beautiful tranquil spot to pull off and enjoy the view out into the Coral Sea.

It was here that we came across a café that sold crab burgers and a beer for $18.95!

Time to move on, and it was onto Innisfail. (My Peter) said he thought (?) he knew of a park where we could stop and have lunch, however he took a wrong turn and ..... oops! Think we lost Peter & Janine again! Finally found them - couldn't find the park there though, so ended up at a rest area just north of Innisfail for a lovely lunch. It was here we got a photo of Peter & Janine standing in front of some sugar cane that is was well and truly ready for harvesting.

Now for our final push into Cairns. We had chosen a caravan park we had stayed at before on the north side of the city, but for our needs this trip, it was the perfect place to base ourselves. After setting up both sites, we sat down with a drink (or three) and worked out our plans for the next four days that we would be in Cairns and wandered back down to the reception and booked our planned trips.

More about that next time, for now though, it is good night from beautiful tropical Cairns.