2017 Caravanning​ Eastern​ Australia

After a slow start to the day and doing a few jobs around the caravan, we headed back to Bowen to revisit some of the beaches we had checked out yesterday. It was such a lovely day that we decided to take a picnic lunch with us. We headed for Horseshoe Bay, a cute, little bay with large rocks at each end. The water looked very inviting and as it was quite warm we both went snorkelling. Although it was nothing like Coral Bay we did see many different species of fish and even some beautifully coloured parrot fish. It was very calm before lunch but later in the afternoon the wind sprung up a little and so we didn’t go back in the water for another snorkel. Back at the park we had another lovely time around the camp-fire chatting, this time with banana damper! From Rob: The car was overdue for an oil and filter change. I asked the owner if I could do it outside the camp area, she agreed. I found a clearing in the shade and started work. Little did I know I had some interested onlookers,...

Another easy drive from Townsville to Bowen, today. We are staying at Glen Erin farm stay which is about 12kms south of Bowen. After setting the van up we drove back to Bowen and investigated some of the bays and beaches close by. We were surprised to learn that Bowen was used as the site for Darwin during the WW2, in the epic Baz Luhman film “Australia”, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. The beach-front had lots of information about the film. We went to a lookout and thought the view was pretty good but it would have been even better had there not been so much smoke in the air due to the “burn-offs” that seem to be happening all around here. Back at our farm-stay, we had an enjoyable time meeting other travellers around the fire with delicious damper that had been cooked in the fire and supplied by the owner of the park. 

We decided to check out a few of the sights around Townsville today. Our first stop was the “Palmetum”, a botanic garden that mainly featured palms. It was a very enjoyable experience, walking through tropical rain-forest areas and savannah rainforest areas. Rob was very pleased to find an unusual and exceptional palm that we had seen in several places during our journeys. He described the leaves as looking like fireworks and this was probably a good description. We found a whole stand of them! There was also a beautiful memorial to 15 RAAF officers who were killed when 2 black-hawk helicopters collided and crashed near Townsville in 1996. We stopped for a coffee in the tea-rooms in the gardens. From here we drove to the Castle Hill look-out for a magnificent view of Townsville and Magnetic Island. We then proceeded down to The Strand where we found a pleasant spot on the seafront to have lunch. Close by was a new, fantastic water-park designed for both children and adults. Following ...

Another easy day’s travel from Cardwell to Townsville today. We had a few little hold-ups as the Bruce Highway is having a major up-grade. After setting up the van we drove into the main city area of Townsville and did a little bit of walking and window shopping. We checked out the marina area and “The Strand” which is the famous esplanade at Townsville, with its many little cafes and high-rise accommodation along the sea-front.

We decided to go for a day’s drive and north of Cardwell. Our first destination took us through both rain forest and planted timber forests. We arrived at the beautiful Murray Falls and were very pleased to see plenty of water coming over the falls. There was a lovely bush camp-ground there that even had water and a cold shower as well as flushing toilets. We did the short boardwalk and lookout walks and took some good photos.   From here we drove on to Tully and then to Tully Gorge. We had fond memories of this Gorge as 10 or so years ago we did white-water rafting with the netball mob after a competition at Townsville. We stopped at a lookout and timed it so well to see about 6 rafts coming through a tricky patch of rapids on the river. The coach driver for the rafting company was there and we spoke to him. We found out that many of the rafting guides that we had are still working in the company. There was also a raft of trainee guides. They had to jump out of the raft at this s...