The bags were almost packed, so to speak, but we couldn't leave our winter quarters without a couple of farewell functions. Those of us regulars who were still on site decided that the Friday 'fish night' at the local motel would serve as a fitting finale.
When the starter's gun sounds, the queue forms quickly. For once your scribe was in the van, making a selection from the various salad plates before heading down the line to the real business end of the catering section.
Apart from the essential (good) chips, this august establishment offers battered fish, crumbed fish, grilled fish and calamari. Nothing remarkable about that I hear you say, and indeed if one had to make a choice before retiring back to the table I would agree. But no, not here.....the proffered plates are graced with fillets in each style and a sizable serving of squid.....for, wait for it, $10 per head! And once all this has been hoovered up off the quite large plates (they have to be) sweets are on offer....usually a crumble of some type with cream and ice cream. This has be the best value for money offered anywhere in Australia.
Needless to say we made a jolly table. One of the park owners, Kay, was having a particularly good evening! (as was yours truly at the far end)
With our Monday morning departure set, we had planned a very quiet Sunday, but we were ambushed. And I guess it served us right. We had not let any of our friends leave without a final farewell in the camp kitchen, where on this occasion the 'no nibbles' rule was overturned. The season was definitely over. By the middle of the coming week all pictured here with the exception of Kay and Marcus (owners) and one other couple, all would be on their way back south,
including the owners of little Bob, a really cheeky Jack Russell. He was a bit miffed that he could not join in the festivities other than at a distance, and, at one point made his feelings very clearly known. Ever the most considerate of hosts, Marcus wandered over to join Bob in the temporary dog house for a placatory pat. "What took you so long?"
So let us leave KB with one last happy snap.........of me and 'my twin'. In the course of a yarn a couple of days previously Bob and I discovered that we share the same birth date, well not just the date, but also the same year. That's right, what are the odds on two of us in the same park having been born on exactly the same day?
As usual we were on the road bright and early, although the word 'bright' could not be applied to the weather. The Misty Mountains were living up to their name
and the steam and smoke belching from the stacks at the Tully sugar mill were soon lost in the low cloud.
But despite the general gloom, our road ahead was open, well at least as far as Townsville. I can comment at this stage that these road signs took on much more significance later in our trip, but that's a different story.
As is often the case, the weather through Cardwell was relatively clear
which afforded us our last look at the redeveloped foreshore as we made our way south and out of the town
and on over the high ridge which heralds the approach down into Ingham.
This town always seems to be busy, and today was no exception but we have travelled through here so often now that navigating our way through the morning rush hour
and back out onto the open highway presented no problems.
The same cannot be said about the weather. for most of the 100 kms or so from Ingham to Townsville we sloshed along a very wet and miserable Bruce Highway where the rain varied from annoying to disruptively heavy.
As we expected, the skies had cleared as we made our final run into 'Townie'. Because of the local topography, this major coastal city is often dry when all other areas are being saturated, and today was no exception.
On approach to our right hand turn which would take us up over the Great Dividing Range and on to our destination for today, Charters Towers, I was hoping that we had seen the last of the rain.
Well, almost.
By the time we were 10 kms into the 140 kms left to travel,
the cloud base was showing some signs of lifting.
In what seemed no time at all we had crossed the ridge and left the wet tropical coast behind us. After some four months in sugar cane country we were now having to adjust to being back in drier grazing country again. We were now nearing the border of the official 'Queensland outback'.
Unlike during our previous three visits to this unique town, the Aussie Outback Oasis Caravan Park is now pet friendly....we decided to give it a try, and we were very glad we did.
As Liz checked in I checked out.......the pool complex, that is. Sadly, in complete contrast to what we had been experiencing for so long, 'The Towers' had been suffering relative drought conditions for some time. Much of the grass in this open and very spacious park was struggling.
With the formalities completed, we made our way down past this group of good park cabins to our allotted site,
a convenient drive-thru with a good slab.
A deal of thought has been given to the layout of this park. The majority of the sites are drive-thrus
and all are easily accessed with plenty of room between them. Add oodles of shade trees, open spaces
a couple of good amenities blocks
and camp kitchens, both of which were quite close to where we had pulled up, we have now decided that this is the park for us during any future visit, which, given the town's location, will be inevitable at some point in our later travels.
How pleasant it was to relax with a couple of late afternoon drinks without having to run for cover to escape approaching showers or smother ourselves with insect spray. This seemed like a real novelty. All was well in the Mobile Marshies' world, but this was about to change, and dramatically!
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