Townsville

We set off to Townsville fairly early. The roads seemed to have improved (still the Bruce Highway). As we got closer to Townsville we noticed an increasing amount of land given over to the production of sugar cane. The road was in use by more caravanners and joining us was troop movements by the Australian Army. We had our customary two stops, the last near Proserpine.

We arrived at our destination (Magnetic Gateway Holiday village) around 3:30pm and unhitched the caravan, connected up to the water and electricity supplies, tuned in the television and radio channels and made a cup of coffee.

Evening entertainment

We had read on the reception notice board that there was to be a free entertainment night comprising a free 'sausage sizzle' and a guitar wielding singer (donations gratefully accepted). This turned out to be fairly good as we had taken a couple of fold up chairs and drinks to settle in with the other like minded travellers (most if not all were of the "gray nomad" variety).

One of many historic buildings

Today we drove into the Townsville CBD and walked around the city taking in the sights and viewing the many historic buildings on offer.











Later we drove up the castle lookout for a 360 degree view of Townsville and the surrounds including Magnetic Island.







At around 1:30pm we drove back to the caravan taking with us a present for Buddy as we had confined him to the caravan while we were out. Once lunch was over we took a short drive to the local shops to stock up meat for the next few days.

We have yet to decide what we will do during our last full day here .......

For our last day we decided to revisit Townsville CBD as it had so much to offer. We spent our time in the "Strand" area which was essentially a major road running parallel with the Ocean.

The walk ways were full of information plaques and sculptures, while the road side was occupied by various hotels, motels highrise apartments and sidewalk cafes and restaurants.






There was numerous Bar-B-Q settings for families to use and the grass areas were set out for family use.

Did you spot it?

One special 'thing' we saw is in this picture - see if you can spot it!

Local wild life

The caravan park was often visited by the local wild life, while the weather was fantastic just like summer.








Tomorrow we set off for our final outbound location - Port Douglas.

Armstrong Beach

Arrived yesterday (Saturday) after a 435 kilometre drive from Mudjimba. The bruce Highway (M1, A1) was not in the best of condition and created a somewhat 'bumpy' ride. Many road reconstructions were signposted but not all had actual working sites.

We saw a lot of caravans on the road, indeed we formed a "convoy" of three (Rubber Ducky comes to mind) for quite some time before the other two pulled off the road.

The weather was overcast all day but fairly warm.

We took the time on arrival to unhitch the caravan and then a walk along the beach which was about 10 metres from our van location after which we settled in for the night.

Armstrong Beach

Armstrong Beach is about 4 kilometres south of Sarina and about 36 kilometers south of Mackay.

Later on this afternoon we will visit Sarina and tomorrow we will take a look around Mackay.

The beach here is quite nice however the ocean comes in almost to the edge of the beach so the sand is almost all compressed. Mind you, that makes for easy walking!

On the weather front, it is quite hot, so we are getting a feel of what is to come.

During our beach walk this morning we saw very interesting marks in the sand which, accoring to the park operators, is the result of miniture crabs.

Dead on the beach

Another sight encountered was a fair number of what we think are dead sharks (Very small ones) also laying on the beach.

More later on ..............







Visited Sarina, however other than the Sugar factory, not much else of interest to us.

Monday - Drove to Mackay for a look around.

Visited the Jetty Area and a look around the town at the old buildings.

Mackay central

Mackay was the first place that, to us, looked like we were in a sub-tropical location.

Mackay Masonic Lodge

Came across the Mackay Masonic Lodge which was a grand building.

Boyne Island

A lazy start to this morning as we only had to travel 446 kilometres from Mudjimba to Boyne Island. Most of the journey used the Bruce Highway (also known in parets as the M1 and A1). We set off at 8:45am which was the latest start up to now. We had our customary two snack breaks to break up the journey.

Much of the road was under construction dropping speeds down to 40 kph where the actual work was taking place. However we arrived at out caravan park at 3:45pm and encountered a very friendly park operator who took the time to take us to our van location (It was directly opposite the reception area) however it was a nice first impression.

We decided not to unhitch the caravan as walking will be the name of the game here for tomorrow, then we are off to the next location the following day - That was a long winded way of saying we are here two nights!!

I took the camera for a few quick shots around the caravan park, which has a river running along one side, however the camera battery was as flat. That is now on charge so photographs will be added tomorrow.

Boyne Island Caravan Park

First impressions of the caravan park are "It's fine" I'm sitting outside the caravan typing this blog and looking around I'd say the park is clean and tidy with all the facilities within a short distance of the van. Palm trees are in abundance giving it that sub-tropical appearance. More tomorrow ............

"Tomorrow" has arrived and we decided to make it a relaxed day - maybe something to do with the driving we have done so far.

We walked along the banks of the River Boyne, bumping into some like minded walkers and of course, Buddy and the arriving dogs needed to get to know each other before we could move on. Eventually we passed the Bowls club which looked well attended with the ladies in their bowling uniforms

There was a few boats in the river, possibly fishing although I couldn't see any lines.

The weather has been more than kind. It is a real pleasure just to sit by the caravan and soak in the sun.

The River Boyne

As we were low on petrol on our arrival, we walked along the nearby road and saw a 'BP' petrol station which will not present a problem when filling up in the morning.

Our next 'port of call' will be Mackay - around 446 kilometers again - See you there :)

Mudjimba

Finally in Queensland. We had an early start (7:30am) for the 560 kilometer trip from Arrawarra to Mudjimba, however we made surprisingly good time (Arrived at 2:20pm) The roads were very good and mostly Motorways and Highways. The Pacific Highway is undergoing extensive upgrades and that plays havoc with the GPS as we later learnt during our second day at Mudjimba.

Again we took our customary two stops for light refreshments and arrived in daylight which, although having been allocated a slightly cramped caravan spot, we soon had the caravan positioned and unhitched.

A glimpse of the coral

Time for a walk along the Beach (about 40 meters away) with Buddy and to our surprise, we encountered a lot of other travellers walking one, two or in rare cases three dogs along the sand.

We settled in for the night and watched TV which had a good reception.

Monday we took a drive to "Sealife" about 16 kilometers from the caravan park which was very good (Pictures and videos still to be added). It was our intention to also visit the "Ginger Factory" but we got hopelessly lost due to the GPS not having the latest road upgrade information. We might try again in the morning!

Never far away

Tomorrow we will most likely head off into the Hinterland for a half day tour of the sights - more later (when I can figure out how to download the photographs from my android phone to the computer.

The Ginger Factory gardens

Our second full day was spent in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. We visited the Ginger Factory at Yandina, where, there was a huge array of ginger goods on view and for sale. The factory is surrounded by a miniature train service travelling from the various internal venues within the complex (The train was out of service during our visit as it was undergoing a paint job). It was all very well run and needless to say, there was everything ginger (and a lot more) for sale.



We then pressed on to Nambour and Mapleton for general sightseeing. The views were basically that of hills, mountains and fields of what looked like sugar cane. All in all it represented quite an impressive view.

Coffee and Buddy

Next on the list was Montville where we had lunch at one cafe and coffee at another. It was a welcomed acceptance of Buddy at both venues. This location was surprisingly (to us) busy as it could hardly be said to be on the beaten track, so the locals were doing something right.

The Glass Mountains

Not stopping too long we then headed off to Maleny where there was ample opportunities to look at and photograph the "Glass Mountains" and spend a little time taking in the general view.







Next on the agenda was Palmwoods which was an approximate 7 kilometres of steep winding roads with a gradient of 10 degrees for the whole drive, Needless to say, as the driver I didn't get too much time to take my eyes off the road.

From Palmwoods we drove to Maroochydore and on to Madjimba where we did a little grocery shopping to stock up the fridge,

What's on tomorrow? No idea but it will be included in the blog

Well 'Tomorrow has arrived! We spent the morning on Mudjimba Beach with Buddy in a beautiful sunny day before heading back to the caravan for lunch. We then decided to visit Noosa Heads, about 20 kilometers North of us as we had heard glowing reports of the location.

Noosa Heads from the lookout

Frankly, it left us underwhelmed as for us, it did not have that "Sea-Side" feeling, but I guess we could have missed the best areas.

We ended up in the Noosa Heads National Park look-out and naturally took some photographs of the scenery.

Noosa Heads from the lookout

On the way back, we took the opportunity of shopping for fresh fish, chicken necks for a treat for Buddy (as we couldn't take him into the National Park) and a couple of cakes for yours truly.





On arrival back at the caravan the coffee pot was the first agenda item (and half a cream cake!).

Tomorrow we head off to our next location - Boyne Island

Arrawarra/Coffs Harbour

Well we finally hit the road at around 8:30am for what turned out to be a drive of about 640 kilometers. We arrived at the Lorikeet caravan park at 5:30pm. That was after two stops (one around 10:30am and the other around 2pm) . The road conditions were good although we hit major (and I do mean major) road works near Coffs Harbour.

Given it was dark when we arrived at the caravan park, it put a whole new dimension on parking the caravan in its designated spot, but amazingly, it was done better than usual.

About an hour away from Arrawarra, the caravan manager phoned us to ask where we were. Given the information I gave here, she said that the reception would be closed before we got there so she would prepare a "Late arrival pack" for us with all the information we needed including code for the entrance boom gates.

We are soon settled in with a hot cup of coffee and pre-prepared food which went done really well.

I avoided unhitching the car from the van as it was just too dark - that would have to wait until the morning.

After a good nights sleep it was up at around 7am and there to greet us was two Kangaroos feeding about 10 meters away. Also joined by moor hens (or something like that).


Our impression of the caravan park was that it was excellent. Really friendly staff, amenities all around us in first class condition. The ground was prepared with grass mesh for the caravan and outside tables etc, whilst a concrete pad was available for the car.

Today (Saturday) we drove to Woolgoolga to visit the vet as I had forgotten Buddy's heart worm tablets and tick/flea treatment again nice people. We then drove to Coffs Harbour and had a look around the jetty area.

Finally, back at the caravan park were watched as the "3pm bird feed" took place.

Preparation

It's the 5th of July 2014 and we are due to start our trip along the East coast of Australia in 13 days time. As usual there is a fair amount of preparation going on, generally gathering together all that we will be taking with us in the form of clothes, food, utensils and of course all the necessities for "Buddy" my Border Collie. All the caravan parks that we will be stopping at have been booked. We reviewed the "Activities" at each stopping location, partly to determine what we would like to do and see, and also to gauge the amount of time we estimated we would stay at each location.

Blue Mountain 'Point Settias' - Our Starting point

Our first stop is Arrawarra, about 600 kilometres North of Sydney, keeping us in New South Wales for the first leg of the journey (so that will be a fairly early start).

Our outbound journey will be all North of Sydney; Our final outbound destination being Port Douglas in far North Queensland

Next week I will bring the caravan out of storage and park it at Liz's place as she will be in charge of the caravan and it's contents.

As per the previous trips I have created a spreadsheet that contains all the information for the trip including calculations for costs, travelling times and distances, links to activities etc.

As far as vehicle preparation is concerned, all that (I think) is needed is a wheel rotation and a brake pedal adjustment. My Prado has been very kind to date with no problems (touch wood!).