Dry Tropics 1

17/8/2018 Friday R & R slept well and woke to another pleasant morning at the usual time.  There was no hurry so they breakfasted leisurely before heading to Townsville about 8:30am south on the Bruce Hwy about 60kms.  At first the speed limit was 100km/hr through dry land semi tropical state forest but it shortly became 80km/hr with a sign warning to Watch For Wandering Animals.  Transpires that a couple of years ago, there were fatalities when motorists struck brumbies which wander back and forth through the area.  The speed limit increased again for a while before coming to the industrial areas, which were low lying and swamp like, on the outskirts of Townsville.  At 9:30am, RL parked in the all-day free car park, 650m via the footbridge over Ross Creek to the information centre, in South Townsville.  Townsville is Queensland’s largest tropical city, has 300 fine days and the area around it is Australia’s largest producer of pineapples.  The city is dominated by a large red rocky hill which is sparsely wooded and on which people have built up and into the hillside, no doubt affording them great views out to sea.  R & R had a coffee before venturing for information and walking down Flinders Street which just so happened to have three op shops on it.  They walked towards The Strand taking photos of all the grand buildings along the way.  The walk along The Strand provided lots of photo opportunities with memorial gardens to the Battles of Tobruk and Coral Sea , public art and four headlands.  At one of the memorials, there were soldiers practicing their parade routines.  R & R sat for a while and drank water and snacked on a pear in the shade for quite a while before walking back through the centre of the city to the Ute.  Along the way they came across the statue of Robert Towns, after whom the city was named, and a sculpture of a warup drum commissioned by the city to commemorate the role Eddie Mabo played in the fight for rights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Native Title.  It was 12:30pm as they drove out of the CBD but they stopped several times:  Salvos, Vinnies, Iveco to look at their smallest truck, and to refuel.  By 2:15pm, they were back at the camper for a late lunch and a cat nap.  They read a while, checked a post draft and went for a swim.  At 5:00pm, RL read while RA published the post and then read a while before dinner.  A lady from ADRA, community organization, drove round the park offering the campers, food items donated by Coles for a gold coin donation.  Really, there was no choice but to buy something – anything, so R & R settled on a grained bread and a salad bag. After dinner, R & R chatted with their son, S.  A while later E, RL’s sister rang and they chatted a while before heading for bed.  R & R were glad that they had ventured into Townsville … for no other reason … than to be able to say they had.

18/8/2018 Saturday R & R were both a little restless sleeping but ready enough to face another day.  It was another delightful morning at 17*C and the promise of sunny all day.  As the camper had been parked under trees for a couple of days, the canvas needed wiping before packing down.  That done, R & R packed down and were away just after 9:00am.  They covered the same ground as the morning before toward Townsville but just before 40kms RL took the Ring Road which skirts Townsville and its CBD.  The Ring Road crossed the Bohle River and had exits to the hospital on the coastal side and to John Curtin University on the other.  It was about 25kms and 25 minutes before it became more industrial again with the meatworks, zinc refinery, livestock facility, waste transfer station and a Pacific National train depot, and then, back into Savanah like dry woodland with mountains nearby, anthills and kapok trees.  About 25kms south of Townsville, RL turned 6km west into the Bowling Green National Park to Alligator Creek. The last kilometre was unsealed and a little steep and winding and there was not a great deal of room to turn the Ute and camper.  R & R had a cup and went to look at the creek.  With the changing landscape, the drier woodlands have remnants of tropical plants, like vines, ferns and palms, down in the creek lines.  Interestingly, RA noticed bottle brush for the second time recently, having not seen any for months.  Along the way R & R saw horses in the paddocks, a couple of teen girls riding horses and mango and tropical fruit growing.  RA was bitten by a mosquito and immediately doused it in alcohol hand wash in the hope of preventing a reaction.  Back on Bruce Highway there was a strip of small farms along the road and the rail ran to the coastal side before the Bowling Green National Park, with Mt Elliott at 1235m and Saddle Mountain at 882m, came to the road.  For a while, there were coastal flats and flood plains before the road veered away from the coast.  The road was flat with over taking lanes as required.  There was one cattle station with Savanah vegetation and cattle before the country opened up with the mountains in the distance all round and everywhere for miles and miles was sugar cane, and, more sugar cane.  In between there were some orchards.  The area known as the Burdekin, the district, is the sugar capital of Australia boasting four sugar mills.  The sugar growing there is supported by irrigation and still includes burning as part of the process before harvesting, quite different from sugar growing north of Townsville which is not irrigated and which is trimmed of some of its upper leaf, as part of what the harvester does in the process of cutting the crop.  At 11:30am, R & R stopped at Ayr a very large town with lights, all major shopping and fast food franchises and walked around the centre of town.  The information centre was located on the southern end of town in Plantation Park.  R & R sought information and some new maps there about noon and spent the next couple of hours there ringing S, RL’s brother, eating lunch, having coffee, watching some teens swim in the irrigation channel and taking in the openair chapel and the 60m carpet snake sculpture.  At 2;00pm, RL headed south, only 10kms, to Home Hill where R & R intended to sleep the night.  About half way between Ayr and Home Hill they crossed over the Burdekin River on a huge bridge.  It had a rail line on it and below RA could see the remnants of the old bridge. Shortly after 2:00pm, R & R arrived at the Home Hill Comfort Stop at the same time as G, RL’s brother returned their missed call message so they chatted for ages before taking a look around.  It really was impressive with toilet block, showers and a camp kitchen right next to the information centre and the rail line.  At the centre they were able to find out all about the Burdekin Bridge.  In 1945 the river and its flood plain were in flood at precisely the same time as a train with goods, cattle and passengers was crossing the bridge.  The train was washed off the line and, fortunately, all but two of the passengers survived.  There upon, a new and impressive bridge was built with the intention that it should never be washed away in a flood again.  At 1.1kms long, including the northern and southern approaches, it is bigger than Sydney Harbour Bridge.  About 4:00pm, R & R set up the camper and read, wrote diary and looked at maps for a while.  It was still 26*C.  Just before 6:00pm RL smelt smoke in the air and they rushed outside to witness black flakes of cane leaves drifting downwards around them, the column of dense smoke and a delightful pink sunset caused by a cane fire to the west of the town.  R & R availed themselves to the free shower facility and then the camp kitchen in the preparation of dinner.  After dinner they read and wrote diary.  The railway accommodates Pacific National which moves freight and The Spirit of Queensland which is a passenger line.  Throughout the afternoon, several trains had rumbled their way through the siding, waiting, shunting and hooting, all at the distance of about 10m behind a fence.  R & R did wonder how many would clatter past in the night … and how they would sleep.

19/8/2018 Sunday R & R slept well disturbed only temporarily by a couple of trains during the night.  They were out of bed a 6:00am, early, as they wanted to get a quick cup of coffee, dress and walk to 7:00am Mass.  Home Hill was interesting in that Street are all numbered from one progressively from the southern end of town and the roads that cross them were numbered from one progressively as Avenue from west to east.  So, the Catholic Church was on the corner of Tenth St and Tenth Ave.  After Mass, they returned to the camper for breakfast.  They popped into the information centre again to take in the story about the rail disaster and the building of the new Silver Link.  In its construction: more than 7,000 tons of steel, 300,000 high tensile bolts, 2,300 tons of reinforcing steel and 31,000 m3 of concrete was used in the 22 spans of approaches and 10 spans over the river.  The Burdekin River itself, at 710kms has the largest flow of any river in Australia.  The Burdekin Falls Dam is the largest dam in the State and holds about four times Sydney Harbour.   Add to that, 10m below the surface, a huge aquifer lies below the surface and holds approximately 44 times the amount of water in Sydney Harbour.  So, it is possible to see why the district is capable of growing so much cane and being called Australia’s food bowl.  Besides being a major grower of melons, all manner of fruit and vegetables grow in the district as well as rice and mung beans. Shortly after 10:00am, RL headed south on Bruce Highway toward Bowen 100kms away.  Only 8km out, he turned to Charlie’s Hill WWII site.  As part of Australia’s defence strategy, a radar station and bunker were set up on Charlie’s Hill which gives a 360* view over the sugar cane fields and to Mt Inkerman at 248m to the south.  Ground level was about 15m above sea level at the distance of about 10kms from the sea.  It was windy from the south east and already 27*C.  The road between Home Hill and Bowen veered away from the coast and back toward it, where in part, it was flat coastal cattle farming and in others cane, vegetable and orchard, crossing the Elliott River, the Sailsbury Plains and finally skirting Mt Roundback 725m and Mt Ping 420m as part of the well wooded hills with interesting rock formations of the Elliott Ranges.  About 10kms north of Bowen, R & R crossed Euri Creek and noticed an increase in cane and vegetable gardening again.  Rather than head to Bowen itself, RL turned south 4km to the information centre and its big mango where they stopped for coffee and information shortly before noon.  While driving the Ute had taken a hit from a rock and it had started to run down across the windscreen.  RL marked it with RA’s trusty biro to keep an eye on it. RL drove back into Bowen past the salt farm and parked the camper near Front Beach, Port Denison and its jetty.  R & R walked along the foreshore, reading the information about the Catalina’s and their maintenance and service base there during WWII and about the role the town of Bowen played in the making of Baz Lehrman’s Australia before walking to the end of the jetty.  They had hoped to see a green tea turtle which are frequently sighted from the jetty and understand that they are quite big, but they will never know because they did not see one.  At 1:30pm, they were back at the Ute having lunch and chatting with their daughter, H.  She too had not been getting notification about the latest of the blogs published but RA was not sure how to fix that.  Shortly after 2:00pm, RL headed out on Horseshoe Bay Road to Grays Bay where R & R stood with the warm tropical water lapping over their toes and around their ankles.  RL drove up Bowen Hill to look at the murals and then back to the main street as there were many more murals on the buildings down town.  Interestingly, they noticed a Burns Philps building which had 1873 – 1917 on its façade, remembering that they had read that this company was referred to as an octopus as its business concerns were so many and widespread (Normanton). Overall, R & R found Bowen to be very clean and tidy with open wide streets and generally quite appealing.  About 3;00pm, R & R were picking up the camper and heading south toward Mackay, 64kms to Proserpine and approximately another 40kms to Bloomsbury where they intended to free camp behind the BP service station.  For the most part it was dry tropical woodland cattle farming with good tall grasses and big trees with pandanus along the creek lines, in between pockets of cane and vegetable which were being irrigated, sometimes by overheard sprinklers, from nearby creeks. At one point, RL commented “Looks out of place.” as they passed some tall green sugar cane surrounded by dry Savanah like cattle country.  At Proserpine, R & R noticed another sugar mill. Having arrived at Bloomsbury BP about 4:30, R & R set up the camper and were reading maps with coffee.  It was still 25*C.  RL had picked up a newspaper which he read while RA started her diary.  RA rang her sister, J before dinner and then rang S after dinner.  R & R contemplated the matter of the damaged windscreen and looked up the Ute’s insurance policy number.  RL read his current book while RA finished her diary.  Interestingly, by 9:00pm, the sky was clear and the temperature had fallen to 15*C … RA had put on her jumper and bootees.

20/8/2018 Monday R & R slept well despite being aware that the traffic on the road nearby was constant all night.  They woke about 7:00am to a pleasant 13*C to find Brahman cattle feeding in the paddock behind the tall grasses covering the fence.  After breakfast they rang SGIO and sought assistance in getting a new windscreen for the Ute.  Not a problem!  At no cost to R & R, Windscreen O’Brien in Mackay would replace it at 8:00am on Tuesday morning.  That sorted they set about tidying up, packing down and heading south on Bruce Highway to Mackay about 90kms away.  At the risk of saying “Same ol’. Same ol’.” the scenery was much like that which they had travelled through the last couple of days.  Sugar cane farming alternated with cattle feeding in the grasses of the bushlands.  The rail and road followed each other, often crossing over or under each other.  The road was more or less flat and then undulating and veered sometimes closer, sometimes further from the coast.  The hills were more or less further away with flat country being about 50m above sea level and the hills up to about 400m.  What did make the journey remarkable was the wind from the south east was 24km/hr, much stronger than it had been the day before.  Further, a young P Plater displayed the most appalling lack of manners over taking in a busy line of cars and a complete disregard for his safety and others by overtaking on a bend around a corner after the passing lane had closed.  R & R stopped for a cup about half way in the small community of Calen.  R & R saw a huge John Deere dealership about 20km out of Mackay and then a rise up and into some coastal hills which indicated the beginning of built up and industrial area.  Mackay had a sugar mill on the north western entrance and R & R noticed another just west of the information centre at the southern end of the city.  Having arrived about 10:30am, R & R spent quite some time there chatting with one of the assistants about caravan parks, shopping and public art in the city and what else they should see and do.  They had a free coffee and rang to make a booking at a nearby caravan park.  It was only a few kilometres south of the city, via a set of lights off Bruce Hwy into Temples Lane and Main St next to Baker’s Creek.  The facilities were all clean and new and impressive; a far cry from the powdery bare land they had camped on the night before.  About noon, RA was waiting at the office to pay for the site and within the hour they were set up and having lunch before a cat nap.  R & R read for a while before heading to the nearest Woolworths for some groceries.  When they returned they went for a walk around the caravan park and chatted with a local who told them that the creek rose and fell dramatically with the tides and that people caught fish there.  Being low tide, there was not much to be seen.  By 5:00pm, RL was helping RA read a draft and selecting the photos to go with it.  RL surfed on his ipad with free park wifi while RA published the post.  While RA was preparing dinner, their daughter S rang so they let her chat while they ate dinner. After dinner, R & R read and wrote before a shower and bed.  RA hoped they would sleep well and be organized in good time … they would need to be, to arrive at O’Briens in good time.

21/8/2018 Tuesday It wasn’t the best night’s sleep for R & R.  Maybe they were anxious not to sleep in but it was more likely the noise from the trucks on the highway.  They had often slept right next to busy intersections and highways before and it had not been too disturbing.  It was also rather cold since RA’s nose was telling her that it was less than the 5*C on the weather app.  They breakfasted and were in the Mackay CBD at O’Brien’s on Gordon Street just before 8:00am.  They fully expected to have to fill in a couple of hours which would not be difficult armed with a map showing op shops and public art.  They walked around Jubilee Park and the MECC, back to and along Gordon, up Wood and toward the Pioneer River before returning via Gregory.  Shortly after 10:00am, they returned to the Ute and refuelled on the way to Town Beach on Binnington Esplanade where R & R had a coffee before returning to the caravan park to pick up the camper.  About 11:15am, RL headed south on Bruce Highway.  They had not long been on the road when RL stopped at Camilleri Farm Market to pick up some local produce including a pineapple.  The countryside was flat with hills in the distance and sugar cane grew.  About 15kms south of Mackay, RL turned towards Dalrymple Bay and Hay Point where the scenery was more undulating and, where it was either hilly or swampy, there was no cane.  There were little farmlets, some with horses, all along the route.  R & R arrived at the wharf about noon and spent nearly an hour walking and looking at the sea, the wharf and the redevelopment works in progress.  Hay Point is one of the largest coal exporting ports in the world servicing many of the coal mines in the Bowen Basin.  RL counted 17 cargo ships out at sea and at least 5 berthed alongside the wharf.  It was a pleasant 22*C with quite a strong 18km/hr breeze.  From there RL headed 24kms across country to Sarina Beach where RA gathered a handful of sea shells before being told it was time for lunch.  After lunch about 1:45pm, RL headed towards Sarina township 13kms back to Bruce Highway.  By 2:00pm, they were at the Field of Dreams information centre with the sugar mill over the railway line behind.  RA was interested in the story of a woman called Katie Marlla who was blackbirded and brought to Australia in 1875 at the age of 15.  Having worked out her term in slavery, in 1927 at the age of 67, she leased a farm near Mackay and began growing cane in her own right.   She died in 1944 aged 84.  The guy at the centre commented on how it had been so cold in the morning, it being the coldest night in 15 years! R & R walked around all the different buildings and downtown to an op shop and to see the public art in the main street.  About 3:15pm RL headed south down Bruce Highway over Plain Creek.  The countryside was sugar cane as far as the eye could see with cattle only where it was not suitable for cane.  The road was followed by two rail tracks with elevation of about 50m and hills to the distance up to 450m.  RA spotted at least two quarries in that section of the journey.  RL passed Ilbibie service station which offered free camping after 40kms and headed for Waverley Creek rest area about another 75kms further south.  The hills became close and the scenery was more wooded and grasses only for a while near West Hill State Forest before cattle and cane could be seen again. The soil was white and coastal scrub reinforced the fact that the road was only about 10kms from the coast.  At Clairview, R & R caught a glimpse of the ocean and the mangrove flats which are part of a dugong sanctuary. Along the road there were many signs relating to the long distance from Mackay to Rockhampton: Are we there yet? It’s still a long way to go, kids. How long to go. Mum? How long to go, Dad? Still a long way to go, kids.  Still two hours to Rocky.  Shortly before 4:30pm R & R came to a section of road that had a koala sign and it had recently been burnt.  The sight of two dead koala made them wonder if they had just been run over crossing the road or if the fire had something to do with their demise.  RL pulled into Waverley Creek rest area which was really well set up with different sections for day trippers, tourists with vans and trucks.  The sign indicated that it was deliberately selected as the distances were: 170 Rockhampton (south) and 160 Mackay (north).  R & R delighted in preparing the pineapple and savoured its fresh sweetness before walking to take a look around.  About 6:00pm RL was reading while RA was entering details on her ipad.  After dinner their daughter S rang and they chatted for longer than usual so RA’s diary for the day did not get done.  RA had really enjoyed the walk on Sarina Beach … and she had some shells to keep as a memory.