Judy & Brian Tour Oz

Mulambin Beach & Great Keppel Island Qld 25-27 August 2019 Last time we came this way was in 2014 and we stayed at Kinka Beach, with which I was less than impressed, mostly because it's a mudflat hidden behind thick mangrove and scrub foliage. Mulabin is the next beach north, a distance of about 1/2 a kilometre. Now I'm not going to say that its a million percent better, but at least its readily accessible, and is more a flat tidal beach than a mudflat. Our stay was made all the better for staying at the 'new' NRMA Capricorn Yeppoon Holiday resort. It was obviously an old park, but had been done up really well. The most appealing thing to us is good sized sites with screening vegetation for privacy, and first-class amenities. It was just a peaceful relaxing kind of place. Mulambin Beach from the south end. Mulambin Qld About 8km up the road is Yeppoon itself, and the same sort of distance south takes you to the delightfully named Emu Park, one supposes from ...

Mackay Qld. Eungella Qld. Broken Creek Qld. 22-24 August 2019 We had originally planned to go back to Blacks Beach in Mackay and stay for a week. But something was niggling us both about the place and the length of time we had booked. Judy rang and cut the time back from 7 to 5 days and copped an earful of abuse for her trouble. By the next day, having read and reread all the rules and regulations they have to cover every facet of human activity, and keeping in mind our run-in with one of the long-term inmates last year, she rang again and cancelled completely. And that's why we are now in Mackay, but much closer to town, in the Big 4 across the road from the harbour. When we pulled in at lunch-time the place was deserted. By the time night fell it was bulging at the seams! I tried the pool but it was the normal fresh-to-chilling, so we went over to the marina to have a drink and watch the boats go in and out, of which there were none. Today I went over to the Harbour Beach for...

Townsville / Bowen Qld 19-21 August 2019 Two short-run days. One from South Mission Beach to Townsville, where we stayed at the Woodlands Big 4 overnight, right out on the northern fringe of town, and the second from Townsville to Bowen. Our first stop out of South Mission Beach was Ingham, where we thought we might get a nice coffee overlooking the wetlands. The parking is near the info centre and you walk across bridges spanning the wetland to get to the cafe, but sadly the cafe has closed. We stopped on one bridge to look at the Lotus flowers and scan for birds, of which there were none other than the usual wetland varieties. What we did notice though was that as soon as you stopped on the bridge and looked down, turtles started coming straight toward you, from all over the pond, not one or two but 30 or 40! Obviously these are being fed by someone. Judy trying to tickle a turtle. Ingham Qld In Townsville, the park was deserted except for 'tradies' who have picked ...

South Mission Beach Qld 18 August 2019 Finally had a few very pleasant days lazing about in the sunshine here in and around Mission Beach. Friday the skies cleared and the warm weather came back. We spent some time on the beach, in the pool, and wandering about. Saturday we were up 5:45am to get down to Cardwell, which is 70km south of here. I wanted to do the Parkrun, which starts at 7am and is one of the most pleasant I've done to date. It runs from this jetty and along a perfect path right along the ocean, down almost to the entry to Hinchinbrook Harbour. Cardwell,Qld After the run, we had breakfast at the nearby cafe before venturing down to have a look around this troubled marina development. The harbour has silted up, the operators and developers have gone bust, several times, the place is neglected and run down Hinchinbrook Harbour. Cardwell Qld Hinchinbrook Harbour. Cardwell Qld  Hinchinbrook Harbour. Cardwell Qld Hinchinbrook Harbour. Cardwell Qld ...

South Mission Beach Qld 12-19 August 2019 We moved camp down to South Mission Beach, and lucked into a reasonably decent spot in the Coconut van park. The newest attraction to Mission Beach is a brand new council swimming pool complex, pool heated to 28℃ and inside another pool for aquarobics and stuff, purportedly at 34℃. Just throw in a bar of soap and do the washing as well! Cassowaries are alive and well in and around the district, we never fail to see at least one on the roadside, and here's one that strayed into the van park looking for a feed. Cassowary. South Mission Beach Qld From our park there is a 1/2km stretch to the end of the beach, where there is the beginning of the Kennedy track, starting with a boardwalk that goes for about 300m, and then a path, with steps, (60+ up each way) which continues round the headland to another beach, Lugers Bay to be precise. This is beautiful, except for the stairs down to it, pretty much untouched and except for the odd oth...

Port Douglas Qld 11 August 2019 Well, our week here in (or almost in) Port Douglas is coming to an end. After the first few days of coolness and drizzle, the weather has cleared up and it's pushing 30c most days. What have we done? The big items were the tour of Mossman Gorge with the native guide, which was interesting and enjoyable. Drove down to Cairns and went to the markets up at Karunda, which is a pleasant enough drive, but the 'markets' are just more of the same tourist-trash as everywhere, and basically it just provides somewhere to go. We did have a rather nice lunch at the pub though, one of the place's redeeming qualities. We also had booked on a music tour up the river on the Lady Douglas. supposed to go from 6.30pm to 7.30pm, but wait, what a surprise, they called and cancelled it citing us as being the only guests. But of course wouldn't we love to go on the 4.30pm sunset tour. What a giant pain, and a mistake to be sure. The boat was packed and noi...

Mossman Gorge, Mossman Qld 7 August 2019 Mossman Gorge is the second biggest attraction up here, but at least you can drive to this one! We have been there a few times and weren't too fussed about going again, but then we thought, 'Why not pay the cash and do the Aboriginal Direamtime Tour?' Why not indeed? The tour leaves the Centre on a small bus, along with an Aboriginal Guide, and follows up the normal track to the start of the gorge walk, but then proceeds past this and further up into the rainforest to a smaller camp. Here we were given the introductory chat and were duly 'smoked' and introduced to the Spirits of generations passed, who live in the forest, which is why it  is a sacred place for the locals. Our guide was a young lady who chatted the entire time, pointing out various plants and describing their uses and / or dangers. First stop was a large cedar tree, where we were shown some weapons and shields, and then surprised all of us by demonstrati...