Our Aussie Adventures

The last thing that I wanted to do today when the alarm buzzed was to get up, but get up I must. There were things to be done today. Since last night, the bathroom has been bathed in a dull orange glow emanating from the warning light on the toilet that means that we have to empty the tank within the next couple of uses, or fear a dire overflow situation. After a bit of searching, I located the designated dump point, quite some distance from the van. I almost would have been better to drive the potty around to it for emptying, rather than dragging it, by hand, across the park on a little trolley as I did.

Back at the van, our toilet ready to go again, I got Bec up, with the news that it actually felt quite cool outside. It was about 20^oC, but compared to the warm days we’ve been having, it was time to break out the long dacks again. At least it wasn’t raining again though, so it should still be a pleasant day.

We decided over breakfast that we would head into town again today, for a look at the local aquarium. Considering how well the dogs behaved the other day while we were out, we took the chance and left them behind again. With the air conditioner and the tele on, I am sure that they will be much more comfortable here than being shuffled between the back seat of ‘The Beast’ and the tub.

On our way into town, what was meant to have been a quick stop at the pharmacy, turned into a lesson in patience as the Queensland time kicked in. People were in no hurry to do anything, meaning we ended up getting delayed by over ½ an hour. Luckily, we too are not working to a set schedule today, so we rolled with the punches and continued happily along our merry way.

As we went, I got the phone call I had waited all day yesterday for, to tell me that the fridge switch I ordered the other day had arrived. As it turned out, this was perfect timing, being that we were in town today anyway. Saves a special trip in just to pick it up.

Ready to discover the deep.

At the aquarium, known as Reef HQ, I was surprised to see how quiet it was. I had imagined that the area would be a hive of activity, but this may have been due to us arriving pretty much between shows. There are several live talks and displays throughout the day, but because of our impeccable timing, we weren’t likely to catch any of them. Just our luck. We can gain free re-admission tomorrow if we desire, but we will have to see whether it’s worth making the trek back in.

Inside, the displays were arranged around a giant central tank, which contains a selection of sea life that can be found on the Great Barrier Reef. Townsville is located about mid way along the length of the Great Barrier Reef, so there was plenty of information available on the local fish, sea life and the reef itself. It was very cathartic to sit in front of the huge glass panels, watching the ever changing array of creatures swim silently by. Arranged about this main tank, were several other galleries, featuring small tanks, highlighting specific creatures of note. It took us about an hour to see all there was to see, by which time we had decided that it probably wasn’t worth the hour long round trip to come back tomorrow just to listen to someone tell us about what we were looking at.

One of them has to be Nemo! Surely?

Some of the…

…local residents.

And we’re looking…

…at them!

Having been staring at fish all morning, as we walked back to where we had parked ‘The Beast’, it was decreed that fish and chips sounded good for lunch. A quick look on the net (what did people ever do before the Internet?) located a well reviewed fish and chipperey not that far away, so off we went to get a feed.

The fish we ended up getting, although not as colourful as those which we had been hungrily eyeing off at the aquarium, was certainly tasty. The chips left a bit to be desired though, which was a little disappointing. It’s a fine line between crunchy and overcooked, and I think the line was crossed on this occasion. Ever so slightly, but crossed nonetheless.

We then raced about town, collecting the fridge parts, and stopping in at a few other places to pick up bits and pieces that we have decided we need. Bec even let me have another look at the cowboy shop, although I think that was because she is secretly ogling a new pair of boots for herself. I told her to try them on the other day, but she didn’t want to. She had another look at them today, yet still refused to try them on. I can see what’s going to happen now though. We will be making a special trip into town on Monday now, for her to try them on, at which time one of two things will occur. Number one: They won’t have her size. Number two: They will have her size, but she still won’t buy them because she will say, “I already have too many pairs of boots”. Either way, she will complain for the rest of the trip about how she should have got them! She may also give me a clip under the ear when she reads this, but only because she knows I’m telling the truth.

By the time we got back to the van, we’d been out for close enough to 6 hours, and the dogs had again been well behaved (as far as we could tell). As we approached the door, we could hear the thump, thump as they jumped off of the bed, landed on the floor and raced to greet us, which would indicate that they’ve been doing nothing more than sleeping all day. The excitement and pent up energy they displayed would positively support this theory.

Cuddles were had all round as they welcomed us back to our humble abode, before we took them for their evening, energy expending run around the park. I’m, not sure who expended more energy however, and I returned to the van worn out, exhausted and ready to settle in for the night.

Time to relax. FNQ Lager. F$^&*N Good.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.

I was up well and truly before Bec arose today, and not wanting to wake her up, I took the computer outside to the annex, in an effort to catch up on the reviews I have been writing for Trip Advisor. Having left the air conditioner on overnight, the moist heat hit me like a sledge hammer as I stepped from the van. I was taken aback a little by the high temperature, but sat outside nonetheless, perspiring profusely despite doing nothing more strenuous than flitting my fingers across the keyboard as I poured out my honest thoughts about places we have stayed, things we’ve done and eateries we’ve frequented. I’ve submitted enough reports now to have reached the lofty status of ‘Senior Contributor’. Sounds exciting, but in reality it just means I have too much time on my hands and have provided more than 21 reviews. Don’t forget to check them out if you want to hear what I’ve thought about the some of the places we’ve been to. There’s a link on the links page.

When Bec eventually dragged herself out of bed, we decided to cook up a big hearty Sunday breakfast of bacon and eggs. We did figure out that it wasn’t actually Sunday, but given the rate at which we lose track of days, and with a quiet day relaxing in the van planned, we figured we’d treat today as a Sunday anyway. We also figured that since by now it was already close to midday, our breakfast could easily be considered our lunch.

With all that in mind, we devoured our delicious breakfast come lunch, before retiring to the sitting room, also known as the cinema room, which in turn is also known as the bedroom, to watch a movie. That’s the great thing about having an impromptu weekend in the middle of the week while on holiday. We haven’t worked our butts off for the whole week, and let our entire list of chores bank up waiting to be completed at weeks end. Nope. Instead, we did put a load of washing in the machine, and then the afternoon was ours to do with what we planned.

Well, so I thought. Once the movie was over, Bec announced that the afternoon was our to do with what she planned. Her plan, she described, was that it was time for the dogs to have a haircut. Both Alvin and Bethany have reasonably long hair, and Bec has decided that in this climate, they will be better served with a coat of short hair. Out came the hair clippers, and Bec launched into transforming Bethany from a beautiful long haired pooch, to a rebellious looking tomboy.

Here we go. Bethany’s up first.

In the sweltering heat beneath the awning, we clippered and cut and trimmed, as we fought to rid Bethany of the majority of her coat. She was a great sport about the whole episode, obediently doing everything she was told, much to our surprise. Usually it’s a struggle just to groom her, and yet she looked like she enjoyed all of this attention.

With Bethany transformed, it was my turn next, as we let the dog clippers cool down. Much the same as Bethany, I sat obediently doing everything I was told. It feels so much better for me to lose what was becoming an unruly mop, so I can only imagine how good Bethany feels now, and how good Alvin is about to feel.

Like Bethany, Alvin was very well behaved, although not exactly happy, as we liberated him from his thick, long, wooly coat, shearing him like a sheep. The undercoat was so thick, it was hard to cut, and continually clogged the trimmers, necessitating constant cleaning as we went.

Alvin’s not looking too happy about his trim.

What we though would take an hour at most, and that was accounting for both dogs, took closer to three hours in total. By the time we were finally done with the hairdressing, we looked as if we’d been tarred and feathered with sweat and dog hair. The floor of the annex was strewn with great clumps of hair and we were tired and sore from having been leaning over the dogs all afternoon. So much for what was meant to be an easy day of relaxing, but Bec is sure it will be much better for them. Looking at how much hair came off them, I would tend to agree. In the looks department, despite Alvins head looking about 2 sizes too big for his body now, they came up all right. For the effort it took however, I think I’d rather pay someone to do the job next time.

Alvin’s still not too sure about his new do…

..while Bethany is quite content.

To try and blow some of the stray hairs off of them before allowing them admittance back into the van, it was off for a run with them. This was however brought to a quick conclusion, as several large drops of rain thumped into the arid ground, kicking up little clouds of dust as each drop smashed into the dirt. By the time we made it back to the van, the few drops increased to a steady stream of cooling rain which eventually seemed to set in for the evening. The temperature thankfully dropped substantially at the first hint of rain, which was a relief, because the slight fall we had yesterday just made everything even stickier. Not that we ought to be whinging about the high temperatures. We headed north to escape the southern winter, and after watching the weather bulletin on the news tonight, if we’d been at home, I know for sure we would have been whining about the cold down there instead.

A quick shower brought us relief from our scratchy coating of stray dog hairs, before we cooked up dinner, then continued with our planned schedule of relaxation for the remainder of the night.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.

It was up and off for a day trip today, driving 100 kilometres or so north, with the aim of visiting the regional town of Ingham. Ingham will in all likely hood be the northern most point of Queensland that we reach given the changes we’ve made to our itinerary. We had been going to make it as far up as Cairns, but changed our minds having previously visited the region. Cruising up the highway, we were subjected to dozens of billboards and signs urging us to stop at the ‘Frosty Mango’. The not so subliminal advertising campaign worked, as we found ourselves turning into the driveway at what promised to be a haven of good food, good coffee and good local produce. Being about 11:30AM, we were considering an early lunch if it was anywhere near as good as it was pledged. It wasn’t. I think that the frosty in the name may well have related to the reception we received upon entering. As for the mango, well, the jury is out. There certainly weren’t any fresh ones to be had, although there were some jars of locally produced jams, some of which appeared to contain mango. Needless to say, we didn’t make a purchase, deciding to wait until Ingham for lunch. They are obviously used to people not buying anything, as it was going to cost us 50 cents, just to spend a penny, if you didn’t spend a dime. I’ll wait until Ingham for that as well then, no matter the urgency.

Ingham itself has little going for it, apart from being the home of the ‘Original Pub With No Beer’. There is some consternation as to which pub Slim Dusty was singing about in his 1957 worldwide, number one, hit song, ‘The Pub With No Beer’, but the Lees Hotel in Ingham claims the right to being the original. As the story goes, during World War II, the hotel did indeed run out of beer, an event that was immortalised by a local punter, Dan Sheahan, in poem. This verse was later added to, when Gordon Parsons reworked it to include characters found at his own local watering hole in New South Wales. It is this version that became the world renown hit song.

Not Really That Iconic From This Angle.

As it turns out, even though it is known as ‘the pub with no beer’, the beer is back and flowing in Ingham. Or at least it would have been if there had been anyone behind the bar, willing to pour us a cold frothy one. I am sure that it has its moments, but today it could have been better served by the moniker of ‘the pub with no customers’. Still, we had the chance to wander unmolested through the main bar, looking at the historical newspaper articles adorning the walls and reading about its history. Disappointingly, whilst I had a picture in my mind of what I expected, which was of an old fashioned, wide verandah shaded, timber clad hotel, the reality was a simple characterless brick building. If not for the overly prominent signs proclaiming its fame, one would most likely wander past without a second glance. As it was, we lunched down the road at the much nicer looking Royal Hotel.

We then wandered about the main street, before heading to the nearby supermarket to do our grocery shopping before getting ready to return to Townsville. Before leaving Ingham, we decided to give the dogs a bit of a walk. As I lifted Bethany out, I felt her leash slip from my grasp. Quick as a flash, she sensed her freedom, and hitting the ground, she made a run for it. In shock, and hoping against hope that she wouldn’t make the nearby road, I took a flying leap, looking somewhat akin to a cowboy hatted Superman. I was at full stretch as I landed prostrate on the damp grass, regaining a grip on the leash with my finger tips in a display of athleticism that would have been lauded had I been a rugby player attempting to ground a game saving try. I don’t know what she would have done had I missed, but it was a great relief that she was back under our control.

Heading back towards Townsville, it was time for Bec to get a decent chance behind the wheel of ‘The Beast’. I threw her the keys, took up residence on the wrong side of the car, and off we went. Apart from negotiating a little bit of traffic in Ingham, it was a pretty straightforward drive for her back to the caravan park. Perfect to get her confidence up, not that she needs it. She did it with ease. Probably better than me in the passenger seat, but I never have been a good passenger. Bec can claim another 100Km of driving now.

Bec Pilots ‘The Beast’.

Safe and sound (naturally enough), we arrived back at the van with enough daylight left to sit out in the annex for a bit of a rest, take the dogs for a run in the wide open dog exercise area, and then prepare dinner, before relaxing for the remainder of the evening.

Relaxing in our alfresco area.

Funny story before I go. We went over to the bathrooms earlier. Having done what needed to be done, I emerged exclaiming to Bec that I had saw fit to take a happy snap of the bug zapper in the gents. She was rather dejected, decrying the fact that there was no such luxury in the ladies room. Then I showed her the picture.

Bug Zapper.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.

The hot muggy weather that is typical of the tropics greeted us again this morning as we unfurled the annex canvas. We have only erected the entire annex up once before, and it showed, as we struggled to successfully set it up. What in theory should be an easy task of sliding a few bits of canvas onto the matching awning tracks turned into an hour long hard fought battle to get it all lined up and pegged out. It was easier than I recall though, so I’m sure we’ll have it down pat within a couple of months.

By the time we were done, we were drenched in sweat, but elated at our efforts, and we have now effectively doubled our living space for the time we are here in Townsville. It’s quite relaxing sitting out beneath the canvas roof, with a nice breeze flowing through the large open windows. Alvin and Bethany love it, because it gives them plenty of space to lounge around, without being confined to the van.

With the annex all strung up, we got ourselves tidied up and ready to go into town for a look around. Being that there doesn’t appear to be any written rules about not leaving your dogs in the van at this park, I let Bec talk me into locking them in the van for the day again. I am concerned that if they misbehave, they will get us kicked out of the park. To ward off the chances of such an outcome, we took them for a jog around the park before we left. It certainly left me breathless and wishing I was heading back to bed, so I hope it works for the dogs just as well.

In town, we drove around in circles as Shazza tried to direct us to the information centre. It ended up being human error, when we realized that the address we had inputted into the GPS was the wrong address. Well, no. It was the right address, it just wasn’t for the information centre. We at least got a bit of a look at the city centre, before finally parking ‘The Beast’ and walking the final few hundred metres to the right locale. Armed with a bundle of brochures and a head full of information, courtesy of the friendly staff, we then looked about for somewhere to get a bit to eat.

We ended up in a café that looked quite busy, which is always a good sign when in a strange land. If the locals are game enough to eat here, it can’t be too bad. As it turned out, the food was good, but given the time it took them to prepare a couple of grilled chicken sandwiches, you would be forgiven for thinking that they were sourcing fresh chickens especially for us.

As we ate, we had a view across town of the dominating peak of Castle Hill. An orange, craggy topped peak, almost right in the middle of town, it is apparently called a hill due to its height being only slightly too demure to be classified as a mountain. After a bit of research, I have concluded that this claim is rooted more in advertising spin than in truth, but it sure makes for a good story.

In any case, sensational 360^o views are promised to be had from the lookout at the zenith, so following lunch we made our way up. There are multiple walking tracks to choose from, which can be trod to reach the 386 metre apex, each varying in degree of difficulty, but we relented and took the winding 2.9Km path that allowed us to navigate our way up with ease, and in the comfort of ‘The Beast’. You surely didn’t think we were going to exercise on a recently filled stomach now did you?

Worth the walk?

Hell yeah.

No more walking for me.

Even from the uppermost car park, the best views still required a short walk, including the ascension of a step series of stairs. The resulting view was indeed worth the effort as we looked out across the city centre, Rowes and Cleveland Bays and out to Magnetic Island sitting tranquilly a mere 6km off of the coast. We spent quite some time atop the mount, I mean hill, before slipping in behind the wheel of ‘The Beast’ for an easy ‘run’ back down to ground level.

Back down, we went in search of a caravan dealer, whose website indicated that they have a well stocked spare parts store. Still in search of a switch for the fridge, I am thinking that Townsville will be the largest town we see for some time, so it’s fingers crossed that I can source it here. I was seemingly out of luck, when I got nothing more than a blank stare from the bloke who was introduced as being the spare parts guru. I tried to explain what it was that I was after, before whipping out my phone and showing him the photos of the gadget that was the object of my desire. He had no idea what it was, and certainly didn’t have any such trinket in stock. Thankfully, despite him not knowing anything about them, he made some phone calls to his supplier and can have one here by the end of the week, for less than what I would have paid for it in Melbourne. What sensational service. I just have to wait for his call now, which I pray comes before we strike camp and move on to our next destination. As I waited for confirmation that my part would be delivered, Bec was scouring the yard, finding what she described as our next caravan. Only $90,000.00 I had to agree that it was a very nice van, but given that we didn’t care too much for the interior colour scheme, we had to pass up the offer.

As luck would have it, directly across the road was Donohues, a massive cowboy emporium, stocked with all manner of attire for cowboys and aspiring cowboys alike. To my shock, Bec even picked out a new hat for me, which was ornately adorned with elaborate leather scroll work on the underside of the brim.  I tried it on, but Bec decided it didn’t quite suit me, an assessment I was inclined to agree with.

We had to get a move on then, as with our grocery shopping still to be completed, we had been out for a considerable length of time, and we were beginning to worry about the welfare of the dogs. It’s been a hot day, so we did leave the air conditioner running to keep them cool, not to mention the TV to keep them company, but they’ve still been locked indoors for the entire time. When we returned to the caravan park, we found the dogs to be very excited to see us, but certainly none the worse for their time alone. Invigoratingly, the van was also still in one piece, hadn’t been towed by disgruntled campers out of the park, and no one said anything untoward to us, so we can only guess that the babies were well behaved during our absence. As a reward, we took them for another sprint about the park, which they thoroughly enjoyed, before we all kicked back and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.

Thankfully, the rain seemed to hold off for the most part overnight, so we awoke to a gloriously warm, sunny morning, although the humidity was nearing 80%, making it muggy and stuffy. Not only that, but the ground had barely even started to dry out, so the slush was still evident around the van as we began to pack up. We really are hitting our stride with this packing up business, even having time to have a bite to eat for breakfast as we each busied ourselves with our assigned tasks.

Much easier than backing in yesterday afternoon, we drove ourselves out of our miniscule site with a minimum of fuss, waving and wishing the nearby neighbours safe travels, we were out of the gate by 10:10AM and continuing on our north bound tack again. (See you at 8:00PM towards the middle of October.) Our day today was again to be spent staring at the white line flowing endlessly down the middle of the road, as we made our way towards Townsville. For those of you who have a copy of our proposed itinerary, and are playing along at home, you will note that todays drive will put us in Townsville a whole day earlier than anticipated. This is because of the changes we made to our plans the other day, prior to leaving Rockhampton. These changes will become even more evident over the next couple of weeks, until we slot back into what we had penned out before we left. I won’t give too much away, but we are sure to continue having a ball despite the alterations.

The drive today was much the same as yesterday, although the roads were less than perfectly surfaced and the much despised road works zones made a recurring appearance throughout the day. We got stuck a couple of times for almost a ¼ of an hour each time. Sitting there in “The Beast’, the warm sun uncomfortably invading the cabin, twiddling our fingers, waiting impatiently for the bloke holding on to the stop/go sing to weave his magic and have us on our merry way again. Very frustrating.

The scenery was lovely today though, alternating from expansive fields of lurid green sugar cane, to sprawling forests scrubby gum trees, to bright blue ocean vistas, to towering ranges crowned with foreboding rain clouds.

Surrounded by sugar cane fields.

We made time to make a couple of stops today, rather than pressing on in abother non-stop marathon. The first was a little way out of the small costal town of Bowen, home of the ‘Big Mango’. Stopping to solely view the mango, a fiberglass effigy that apparently cost $90,000.00 (only $60,000.00 over budget), yet hardly resembles the fruit it is meant to depict, we didn’t stay for too long. Enough time for an obligatory snap or two, and we wheeled back out onto the highway.

The Big Mango?

Not much further down the road, we chose to pull in at Ayr, to let the dogs out for a toilet break, and to allow us to stretch our legs and fill our bellies. We had been intending to dine at a little deli, that we saw advertised on a number of roadside billboards, but upon closer inspection, nothing appeared appetizing. Strangely enough, we then went next door and bought some lunch which consisted of uninterestingly bland meat pies. The pies were followed by a pretty good caramel tart however, so it wasn’t a complete and utter bust. So much for our homemade lunches of healthy goodness each day though. We can’t keep this up.

From Ayr, it was only an hour or so later we were rolling into Townsville, although the caravan park we are staying at is located a further 25Km north of town. We are staying at the Black River Stadium Caravan Park, as it promised a wide open expanse to run the dogs about, and as a bonus was cheap. Just under $25.00 a night, which is good value. It’s got none of the fancy stuff that some of the other parks have had, such as pools, playgrounds, recreation rooms and so forth, but since we haven’t used any of that stuff so far, we figure if we don’t need to pay for it, we may as well not. So basically, we have a large spread out patch of grass, with plenty of room for all of our stuff, no neighbours right near by (at the moment), and easy access to water and power. The showers and toilets are nearby and look clean enough, so what more could we want? As a bonus, phone reception is good, so we can get access to the Internet, and TV reception was also meant to be good. That’s a big plus, as it’s my turn to get all excited about the tele, hoping to watch the finale of Survivor. Having seen Bec miss out on My Kitchen Rules, I had my fingers crossed that the TV would work tonight. Imagine my disappointment, when having tuned in the TV, our mate Murphy made his presence felt, as the only channel we didn’t receive was the one I needed. Crest fallen, I frantically twisted and turned the antenna this way and that, until all of a sudden, the stars must have aligned, and through the crackle and hiss, emerged a perfect picture and sound. Well, that’s not quite how it transpired, as digital TV doesn’t pop and crackle, but you get the idea. Not only that, but excitingly, we haven’t seemed to lose, damage or otherwise destroy anything today.

A quick walk around the park to check it all out, found us in the open air camp kitchen, laughing at the page of rules and regulations posted on the wall. Whilst it wasn’t advertised as such, at least not anywhere we read, the park is designated as an over 50s park. I think it’s as a way of keeping out loud mouthed young bucks and annoying families with hoards of kids, so even right smack bang in the middle of our thirties, we ought to fit right in here.

Some of the local wildlife comes knocking on the door.

With all of our ducks in a row for the night, we cracked open a couple of cold tinnies, from our seemingly functioning fridge (fingers crossed), kicked back and congratulated each other on making it through 4 weeks on the road without yet resorting to homicide.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.