Yamba, South West Rocks & Anna Bay – 29 to 31 January 2012

With all the rain we started south, deciding to drive as far as we could. As it was a wet Sunday with no one on the road it was a good driving day. The road was cut at Grafton so when we got to Yamba, a previous favourite, [see our post of 20 to 24 March 2011] we stopped at the Blue Dolphin Caravan Park and enjoyed the  lovely view over the Estuary of the River Clarence.

The next day the River having subsided temporarily, we were allowed a shortcut around Grafton and drove to South West Rocks a town on Trial Bay named after the brig Trial which was wrecked nearby in 1817. 

The many wrecks in the area and the recognition of Trial Bay as a safe refuge for shipping against strong southerly gales led to the decision to construct a breakwater to provide a safe harbor.

Trial Bay Gaol was constructed to house prisoners who would then build the breakwater. This was intended as an experiment in a humane way of rehabilitating prisoners. The job was much harder and thus slower than expected as the granite was extremely hard and only 300m of breakwater was actually constructed before more powerful ships avoided the need for a coastal refuge between Newcastle and Brisbane. The Goal was used to house German internees during WW1, and became a thriving place for sport and culture with its own Restaurant. Trial Bay Gaol closed in 1918 and as it had no foreseeable future it was allowed to become the [now preserved] ruin seen today.

We also visited Smoky Cape Lighthouse, its stunning views and lighthouse keeper’s house made more dramatic by a scudding rain storm which kept us huddled in the old barn housing exhibits of the lighthouse until the storm passed.

From South West Rocks we drove to Anna Bay near Port Stephens. On the way we stopped at the Akubra factory at Kempsey.  John found a new hat in the colour he wanted and we were offered a tour of the factory.

Anna Bay is a lovely Beachfront location sheltered behind dunes. We had some lovely walks.

Mooloolaba–21 to 29 January 2012

Mooloolaba was hot, steamy, rainy and windy. The winds were so strong they whipped the sea into a foam, like froth on a cappuccino and great fun to walk in. We both enjoyed walking in the storms.

So much sand was stirred up the sea went strangely yellow.

It is quiet at this time because this is the wet season. We have seen Mooloolaba in all seasons now and we still like it.  The weather this summer was extreme, with a lot of rain. Visitors to Australia often are surprised that summer in Northern Australia is the wet season, when it is both wet and hot. Winter is milder and dry, and is when most Australian’s travel north.

USA, Canada, and Hong Kong–15 November 2011 to 18 January 2012

We returned to the US for Thanksgiving.

We spent Christmas in Buffalo, helping Chris and Monica with their new daughter. The whole family came to Buffalo for Christmas which was a great pleasure.

At year’s end we moved to Niagara Falls and spent time there as John had a meeting in Toronto in early January.  We walked a lot, visited the conservatory where they grow all the plants for the Niagara Park. We visited Niagara on the Lake and the Butterfly House with Jeremy and Chris.The illuminations along the Niagara Parkway were lovely.

We flew out of Toronto and returned to Mooloolaba via Hong Kong. It is always a pleasure to be back in Asia and we enjoy Hong Kong very much. We walked along the waterfront, visited a friend and enjoyed the view of the Harbour from our Hotel.

Then we returned to Australia, visited Geoff and Sue and then reunited with our caravan at Mooloolaba.

USA and United Kingdom–5 October to 14 November 2011

We returned to Washington for some meetings and then flew to London, in John’s quest to see a bit of the world which he had visited so often he thought it was all airport lounges and meeting rooms. 
In London we visited the National Art Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, saw a west end show and caught up with friends.
We visited our friends in Bristol, doing among other things, a lovely walk through the Welsh country side with a great pub lunch and visiting Tyntesfield a grand mansion, now belonging to the National Trust.

We then followed the Capital City route through the North of England. This is from the Lonely Planet Guide.  All the cities, Cardiff, Caernarvon, Manchester, York, Edinburgh and Stirling  were capitals at sometime. 


Travelling south we visited Castle Howard, Goathead Rail Station [made famous by Harry Potter]  and Whitby. Having seen many of Captain Cook’s destinations we wanted to see  the town closely associated with him and his ship Endeavour. It was a gray and misty day and quite different to Cooktown half a world away.


We spent time in Oxford with John’s Aunt Mollie and catching up with friends who were over from Australia. While there we visited Blenheim Palace and  Bletchley Park where we saw the home of the Enigma machines used to break the German codes in World War II.  A lot of things happened at Bletchley and it provided a fascinating day. The first computer in the world was built there. A lot of the actual machines were destroyed after the war but they are being returned to working order by a band of enthusiasts.

Maroochydore & Mooloolaba–27 September to 5 October 2011

Mooloolaba being unavailable we stopped at the Maroochy Palms Caravan Park in Maroochydore  for John to meet his date with dental destiny.

Our Melbourne dentist had recommended a very good dentist at Kawana and John had his dental problems fixed. 

Tricia was exceedingly glad we had taken a medical travel kit with us as we were able to treat John’s infected tooth in spite of being in very remote areas, continue our travels and get to a dentist of our choice.

 

 

 

Maroochydore is a nice place and has a pleasant walk along the river. We like to bike ride there.

From Maroochydore we drove the 5 kms to our prebooked site at Mooloolaba to pack up our van prior to leaving Australia. Once again we enjoyed it very much.  Some of our friends from Melbourne came to visit and we had a great weekend. They stayed in an apartment but we think we have the better location right on the foreshore.

We left on 5 October for the United States.

Hervey Bay [Whale Watching] – 25 to 27 September 2011

We schedule in a rest day now and then, so on the 26th we went Whale Watching on the Wind Song Whale tour. We were very lucky as the whales were playing and we saw them breaching, slapping the water with their tails and waving their pectoral fins. There was a female with her calf and support whale.

It is awesome to see 25 tons of Hump Back whale fly through the air. We also saw the calf breaching. It was so cute all 2 tons of it.

Rockhampton to Hervey Bay–24 to 25 September 2011

We left Midge Point travelling south on the Bruce Highway to Rockhampton, stopping for lunch at Flaggy Rock Ice Creamery which has good home made food and easy parking. We stayed overnight at Rockhampton at the Tropical Wanderer Resort.

Rockhampton is caravan friendly with a good supermarket complex.  Kershaw Gardens is nice for a self catered lunch.  We had dinner at Saigon on the River which is a very good quality Chinese Restaurant.

The next day we drove to Hervey Bay stopping  for morning tea at Calliope Market. This is amazingly busy. They have good products and good coffee.
We had lunch at Miriam. The Star Roadhouse at the Northern end of Miriam has home made bakery products, mud crab sandwiches made with their own bread and good coffee. The nice thing to do is to drive into Miriam Main Street which is off the Bruce Highway and have lunch on the railway reservation under a tree. Parking is easy.

Childers is an attractive town for an afternoon tea stop. Mammino Ice cream has a shop there which sells ice-creams and coffee. Parking is easy and it is a good break. We stayed at the Big 4 Fraser Lodge in Torquay near Hervey Bay.

Midge Point [Proserpine & Whitsundays] - 17 to 24 September 2011

We returned to the Travellers Rest at Midge Point. It is so quiet and we have our resident wallabies and kookaburras.

The great joy here is the large tide range and at low tide one can walk for miles on the sandbars. It is good to have an accurate tide chart as the tide comes in rapidly and in half an hour dry sand can be up to your waist in water.

 

 

The Japanese earthquake meant a shortage of Toyota parts, and although Toyota’s customer support was excellent in locating dealers with the brake pads and protective rubber boots we needed after two years on the road, it did mean our our travel schedule became a tour of Toyota Dealers in Cairns and Townsville with the front brakes pads finally replaced in Proserpine.

This is a small cane town. The Sugar Mill has been running since 1897. The mill now uses the cane waste (bagasse) to power its operation with a small amount sold back to the grid, making it extremely energy efficient.  What is coming out of the chimneys is steam. All the sugar produced is exported. Tricia thinks this is a good example of when you convince people of the need to change they do without government intervention. It is a win win situation for everyone. 
We went in to Aireys Inlet to have our camp chairs repaired at a sail loft. While we waited we drove to Shute Harbor the takeoff for the Islands in the Whitsundays. Captain Cook named the Whitsunday Passage as he thought he was sailing through on Whitsunday. Owing to an error in his log he was actually sailing through on Whit-Monday. The islands are in the Cumberland group of Islands.

Some of the Islands of the Whitsundays are very popular Resorts and the area is also very popular for sailing.

We had lunch by the lagoon, protective from marine stingers (jelly fish) at a lovely pizzeria.

Rolling Stone–13 to 17 September 2011

Rolling Stone is a new caravan Park about 40 kilometers north of Townsville. It has a great location right on the beach.  At high tide one feels like one is on a boat.

We spent a day in Townsville getting the CV Boots replaced on our car.  While we were waiting we toured the CBD.

There was strong competition to become a Capital here with the contenders being Cooktown, Cairns and Townsville. Townsville is now the Capital of North Queensland.

The Railway helped it to become preeminent and provide service to the inland towns. Once it was possible to freeze meat and transport it safely, it was possible to ship frozen beef overseas. This enabled the opening of the hinterland.

Townsville was a major staging Post during WW2 and many soldiers passed through here. The Railway Station was extremely busy. Sea was considered unsafe so everything went by rail. The fleets fighting in the Pacific and the Coral Sea sheltered in Cleveland Bay while they were awaiting engagement with the Japanese Fleet.

In the words of our guide, they walloped the Japanese Fleet in the Battle of the Coral Sea.

We spent a day on Magnetic Island. Magnetic Island is so named because Captain Cook thought it interfered with his compasses. However extensive research failed to prove this.
It is funny though how one slows down and moves immediately onto Island time so maybe that is what happened to Cook. We did an interesting tour to see around the Island which is at present a quiet and pleasant holiday back water with appealing Restaurants. Magnetic Island was a defensive location during WW2 as it overlooked Cleveland Bay.

There are gun emplacements now minus the guns, built to protect the American Fleet.

These are the first forts not protecting us against the Russians. Later as the War moved North the 'Resort' such as it was, was commandeered by the Americans for Rest and Recreation. The Americans were responsible for the roads which replaced the footpaths and travel by boat.

The ferry trip to and fro is an enjoyable journey with the evening trip right on sunset.

South Mission Beach–9 to 13 September 2011

Still going South we visited the Sugar Museum at Mourilyan.

Sugar is extracted by crushing Sugar Cane, a form of grass. Sugar is made in the leaves and concentrated in the stem (or cane) part of the grass; it grows to about 2 meters high.

It is quite hard to cut and very heavy to load and most of the museum concentrated on the development of mechanical cutters and loaders.

It is the major crop from Mossman south to Grafton. They are harvesting and refining at the moment and the air smells like toffee cooking.

We then drove south to Mission Beach, one of the nicest beaches in Australia. We camped at South Mission Beach. We have enjoyed relaxing and reading and long walks on the Beach.

Mission Beach took a direct hit from Cyclone Yasi. The beach is still lovely and the houses seem to have mostly survived.
We stayed at the Beachcomber Coconut Park.

The cafe here makes very nice coffee. If one walks along the beach towards Wongaling for about 40 minutes there is a great cafe, Nana Thai, just the sort you hope to find, home grown herbs and veggies and very refined cooking right on the Beach. If one doesn't feel like walking it is a five minute drive.

Innisfail and Flying Fish Point–7 to 9 September 2011

We drove to Innisfail with its lovely Art Deco Buildings making for a  pleasant afternoons walk around town. It is very caravan friendly and one can park easily by the river and have a cup of coffee at the Coffee Club overlooking the River. If you are in transit it is easy to walk down to the town and get groceries. We found it very easy to while away an afternoon overlooking the North Johnstone River and sipping a cup of coffee while we read the paper.

We camped out of Innisfail at the Flying Fish Point Tourist Park. Owners and Managers often love their parks and take great pride in the amenity they offer. They are frequently nicer to use than some hotels we have stayed at.   Although originally an old fashioned council park, The Flying Fish Tourist Park is beautifully landscaped and had their sites set at an approximately 45 degree angle to the road, making it very easy to back in and giving everyone privacy as one does not look directly at the camp next door.

The amenities although old style concrete blockwork, had beautiful plants at the door and a very attractive paint job on the spacious interior.  They were spotlessly clean.

 

 

 

 

The area had recently been affected by Cyclone Yasi. Although they are still repairing the foreshore there is a very pleasant walk to Flying Fish point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did the MAMU Rainforest Canopy walk. This is in the Wooroonoonan national Park. The walk was erected where cyclone Larry had cleared the land already in 2006 so there was minimum disruption to the rainforest.

Cairns–29 August to 6 September 2011

We like Cairns as it has a lovely caravan park and nice Restaurants.

As the service town for Far North Queensland it has good tradesmen close together making it a good place to clean up after a long trip.

We had the car, the air conditioner and refrigerators serviced and had an extra diesel filter put in the fuel line.  John also fitted integrated “Clear View” towing mirrors.

We found a truck wash so John could do a first clean of the exterior of the caravan before giving it a thorough hand clean to get the red dust off. 

Tricia washed the curtains and spring cleaned the inside of the van.
We spent a day driving the remaining portion of the Bloomfield Track from Cairns to Cape Tribulation. This section is bitumen and so quite an easy drive, although you can see its dirt road antecedents and it is very narrow. Still we saw a Winnebago towing a car come down so it is suitable for large vans.

Port Douglas is one of the Ports established during the Palmer Gold Rushes, now an attractive and sophisticated tourist destination.

We visited their local market and had lunch before crossing the Daintree River on the ferry.

The Daintree and its environs was settled by hippies during the sixties and seventies and is now very appealing with a mix of conservation, sustainable farming and eco lodges to stay in. There are a large number of places to camp. 

We completed the drive up to Cape Tribulation and so closed the loop.