WE HIT THE ROAD AGAIN - KURRIMINE BEACH TO MACKAY (10 - 13 SEPTEMBER 2015)

Much of what I present from now on in our journey south from the Far North Queensland tropics back to Adelaide will be both brief and somewhat lacking in my usual photographic detail, courtesy of both the outcome of the hackers who decimated our records and the fact that many of the towns in which we stayed during this leg of our adventures are those to which we plan to return and spend more time in the future. Much of this trip was of a reconnaissance nature, and quite frankly, I knew how far behind I was getting with this blog....something had to give. 

So, early on the morning of 10 September, after just over two marvellous months at Kurrimine Beach, we were back on the Bruce Highway heading south towards Tully again, under threatening skies, and this time with the van in tow.

Operations at the Tully sugar mill, like all others in this district and throughout the cane growing areas, were in full swing. 

Steam and smoke were belching into the humid tropical atmosphere.

Within less than two hours, with Cardwell and Ingham behind us, and on the southern outskirts of Townsville on our way to our first planned overnight stop at Ayr

the skies in front of us were again filled with smoke, but this lot was very different....and very threatening looking. There was not a sugar mill within cooee....this was the real thing....a bushfire.

We were surprised that the traffic was still moving, and decided that we might as well push on based on the premise that if it was too dangerous to continue the authorities would have blocked the road.

As we came closer and closer to the action, we were amazed that there was no-one apparently fighting the blaze, apart from a couple on workers on the end of what looked like a garden hose, valiantly attempting to douse the flames as they approached this factory.

The fires was on both sides of the highway, and in patches was more than well away through the thick, dry grass and scrub.

But, obviously, we made it through unscathed, and later heard news reports describing how this outbreak had caught the authorities napping. This was not news to us! Oh, PS...the factory did survive.

With this unexpected challenge behind us, and any thought of potential boredom on a road previously travelled going with it, we plodded on the remaining 100 kms or so to Ayr and made our way to the entrance of our chosen park, The Silver Line.

And what an impressive entrance it is, with a replica of the Burdekin River bridge forming the archway.....and hence the park's name. This bridge (the real thing that is) is called 'The Sliver Line'

As we pulled up at the office, checked in 

and then made our way along the road 

past the (very good) ablutions block and camp kitchen area 

to our narrow but quite pleasant drive-thu' site at the end of the road, I was already beginning to notice that this park seemed different.

And it is.....this is a backpackers park, which soon became evident when I went for a stroll. Just past a couple of the very well presented park cabins, of which there are quite a few,

I stumbled on 'tent city'.......this shot shows less than half the area. There had to be at least thirty small (and decidedly uninviting looking) tents pitched cheek by jowl in this small area.

Beyond this, I came across a row of motel type rooms, obviously well occupied, and complete with a babble of languages worthy of the Tower of Babel and the associated mess that only young backpackers seem to be able to accumulate. Fortunately this is well away from the transient caravaners' section of the park.

There is a good reason for this, of course. Apart from the fact that this is another very productive cane growing district, the fields and orchards around Ayr produce almost a third of Australia's mango crop and many varieties of melons, fruits and vegetables, all of which have to be picked. And guess what? Like so many other similar districts around this country, the growers here have to rely on foreign backpacker tourists to do the work.....Australians do not seem to find this palatable or sufficiently well paid toil!  We have been told by many we have met on the road, that work can always be found by grey nomads if they are prepared to 'go picking'.

I estimated that there had to be over a hundred of these international young workers housed here at the Silver Line park one way or another. As I have said previously, they were quite separate from us, and had I not wandered around the park, we would not have know they were here.

Apart from at the pool, that is, where a group of muscle bound young Brits (judging by the accents accompanying their loud, boorish chatter) were busy suntanning and yelling over the raucously loud music (?) coming from their strategically placed ipod. This was all very uninviting, which is a shame, 

because the pool itself is a ripper. I think it is just as well that I had neither the time nor the inclination to bash out some laps or there may have been something of an age driven contretemps!

  

We did spent an hour or so having a quick wander around the township of Ayr, which is obviously flourishing judging by the number and style of the shops in the commercial hub. 

But the thing which really did amaze us were the pubs....or more to the point, the prices of meals in the many (and obviously fiercely competing) hotels.  They were ridiculously cheap. Full meals such as schnitzels, salads and chips, or roast of the day with all the trimmings, were being offered at $7.50!  Frankly, in Ayr, it is cheaper to eat out than to cook. We can only hope this situation is the same when we return for a longer stay, which we fully plan to do.

But for now it was back to the van and a quiet sunset libation. It had been a longish day. Liz

and Max were particularly relaxed, as was I until...........what the hell is that crackling noise, and the ash raining down on our evening parade?

I could not believe it. For the second time in one day, our sky was filled with smoke and again it was coming our way.

At least this fire was controlled.  For some reason I've not been able to fathom, the cane growers in the Burdiken district, unlike their far northern counterparts, still burn their cane before it is cut and the results can be spectacular, albeit somewhat alarming and a bloody nuisance (if a constant rain of fine, black ash is not your thing during happy hour!)

Fortunately cane fires tend to burn with spectacular intensity but only briefly. This was no exception. Within ten minutes the peace of a still evening (rather than cane ash and smoke) had again descended over our park, but I have to say, at one stage as I peered through the park gate, I was seriously concerned that this cane fire may have been too close for comfort. 

The morrow could not have been more different.  We made our way out of Ayr, across the quite impressive Silver Line bridge

from which we could see the waters of the mighty Burdekin River spread out below us (well it is mighty when in full spate....at the moment it was a comparative dry season 'trickle') in bright sunlight.

But this was about to change. As the small highway town of Home Hill came and went,

so did the sun. By the time we were making our way past the outskirts of Bowen, the clouds were rolling in from the south. 






We had been fully expecting this deterioration in the weather. In fact our original plan had been to spend three nights at Airlie Beach (which we had visited briefly three years ago), but this idea had been based on the intention to wander about this tropical paradise in bright, warm sunshine, with a possible inclusion of a day trip across to nearby Hamilton Island.

The forecast put paid to that idea. We did not make the decision to push on to Mackay until the morning we left Ayr, when a quick phone call secured us a spot at the Mackay Marine Tourist Park. We could see no point in languishing inside our van in downpours at Airle Beach when we could put more distance under our wheels and do the same thing further down the coast.






Good decision! The approaching front was on a mission of mayhem.





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By the time we were approaching Proserpine we had been pushing through driving rain and squalling southerly winds for quite some time. This was a serious front....at times visibility was so bad I had to reduce speed to less than 60 kph. What happened to 'sunny Queensland'?




Fortunately, after covering the remaining 150 kms or so to Mackay, the worst of the front had passed. Continuing heavy downpours were now interspersed with short dry breaks. 

I have only taken a few shots of the Mackay park in which we stayed, and none of the town. We plan to revisit this area next year when we'll 'do our normal tourist thing'.





Because of our size we were allocated a site at the rear of the park. This is still under development, and the large, flat slabs are a real indication that this is new....they are designed for big rigs.









We were on in no time, and with no desire to haul out the awning, settled in record time, which was just as well....you can see what's coming!

At this end of the park there is no communal ablution block. We were given a key to the ensuites next to the camp kitchen. Each unit is a self contained toilet and shower facility, something I particularly like, and these were immaculate. The camp kitchen was a bit rough around the edges, but as I said, this section of the park is a work in progress.



At the other end of the park is one of the best water features we have come across, with a good sized pool and aquatic playground for kids. Needless to say we did not contemplate a dip on this occasion.

The quite expansive lawned areas near our site looked out over a waterway which is actually an inlet from the sea. Not surprisingly, given its name, this park is situated quite close to the port of Mackay, some three kilometres from the main CBD, but connected to it by a very good road system.





In fact, Mackay did surprise us a little by its size. The Bruce Highway completely by-passes the town (as we did last time), so these few days gave us our first real look at what is here. 




By the time we were ready to push on, the weather had lifted considerably, and we had taken the opportunity to explore to not only the CBD and its associated river front walks, but also the nearby coastal areas, which we found interesting but no quite as inviting as some of the blurb would have one believe. 



The CBD and port/marina areas were a different story, and we plan to spend a few more days here at some time in the future. On this occasion we had contented ourselves with a general scout around, some shopping and a couple of rest nights before we took on the next leg of our journey....we were about to free camp again, but the question is, where?