Innisfail, Qld 1Aug2022 385km

 Innisfail, Qld 1Aug2022 385km

Up early and away! On the road at 07:45 and heading to Innisfail via Townsville. Road east and across to the coast is good and a drama free run, except for a bunch of roadworks, some of which seem to be only signage, the road work looks to have been completed long ago. One disappointment is that the fabulous dual carriageway they build around the back of Townsville is now just a suburban road and you can't help but wonder if they looked at any other big sprawling city to see what was going to happen. Fortunately it leads onto the Motorway, which is great, except that its not finished yet, but it will be, one day, and then it will be world class. After the excitement of the motorway, you are of course returned to the Mighty Bruce, which continues to be everything that it reputation claims: narrow, no overtaking, congested and basically a pain. The only overtaking lane between Townsville and Ingham was blocked of - doing roadworks of course.

We finally stopped at Cardwell, about 50km north of Ingham, for a cuppa and a rest. At Cardwell the highway is right on the ocean and apart from a must-stop place for travellers looking for a coffee and food, its the home to my favourite Parkrun, which runs right along the ocean front.

We were sitting admiring the scenery and counting the zillion or so vans going in both directions, when we noticed the Army on the move, heading north. Thought nothing much of it really, untill we finally caught up to the traffic jam they were causing as they tootled along at 80kph. We tried to change our plan and go straight through to Cairns, but they were fully booked and couldn’t fit us in for the extra night. So we pulled into the park we had booked at Innisfail, the August Moon Caravan Park. Far too many daggy old permanent vans and workers truck for my liking. Has the oddest pool however, its claim being that it is ‘tri-level’, which I assume means it has three depths. It is clean and maybe even warm enough to swim, but the tiles are falling off, the concrete surrounds are uneven and weedy and like the rest of the park, nay, the entire town, looks unloved and neglected.

Water Tower, Innisfail Qld