The sun didn't have any opposition this morning when it first rose into a beautiful clear blue sky, however there were a few white fluffy things up there by mid morning. There was some humidity in the air but it was quite a pleasant morning to get up to and greet the day.

Our first task for the day was to ensure cousin Judy could get a flight to Melbourne if the Eagles won their way into the Grand Final, but this took a little working out as if they don't make it, then the flight has to be to Perth instead. After working out where we wanted to be on the 28th September and searching the airline flights available, we found Virgin Blue could provide the required flights out of Mackay and after some soul searching, a flight was booked using the website on line booking facility. With the ticket receipt printed out, we knew where we had to be on the morning of Thursday 28th September, our only question now was as it is school holidays in Queensland, could we get accommodation for our caravan and a cabin for Judy in the same places on the way down to Mackay.

Our first two calls to caravan parks in Airlie Beach proved to be unsuccessful, however one of the park reception staff members suggested we ring Tourism Whitsunday (Tourist Information Centre) and they may be able to assist us. A call to them proved to be extremely well received and the woman who took the call did all the work for us, ringing around the location and then called us back with details of the Island Getaway Caravan Park that had both an en-suite cabin and powered site available for the three days we intend to stay there. After giving our credit card details and seeing the card do a bit of a melt down, we confirmed the accommodation in Airlie Beach, then only had Mackay to organise. Fortunately this was not such a problem and now we know where we will be through until Judy catches her flight out of Mackay on Thursday 28th September.

With all this sorted out we then did our tourist drive around Townsville, with our first stop being the top of Castle Hill where we were able to view all of Townsville from the one spot. Whilst up there we (naturally that really means the 'girls') started to talk to another couple and then discovered that they came from Darlington in WA, only a few kilometres from where we live.

After our photographic session on top of the hill, we drove down into the centre of town, passing a pink fountain on the way and that caused quite a commotion in the Patrol and as we could not park nearby, there was a promise battered out of the 'Other One' committing him to take the girls back there later in the day. After a good drive around (and around, and...) the town centre we stopped briefly at the Magnetic Island Ferry terminal where the 'Other One' had to run the gauntlet of the parking Inspectors whilst the girls casually wandered into the terminal to check out the fares and timetable to get to Magnetic Island if we (once again.. read this as the 'girls') decide to go there.

Escaping before the parking inspectors managed to get their clutches on the Patrol, we drove out of the town centre and past Lavarack Barracks, the army base that was home to the 'Other One' for a few months back in 1968/69 before he was given a free tour of an asian country for a period of twelve months, two days, two hours and forty five minutes. (Not that he was counting!)

Just after passing the barracks, the girls noticed a shopping centre so they wrenched the steering wheel out of the 'Other One's' hands (well verbally anyway) and the Patrol found it's way into the car park of that centre. After stocking up of a small supply of non-essential food, they made the call into the liquor store where, Yes, another cask of white whine was purchased. "Not that we really need it" they said....

It was then time to return to the caravan park and on the way we filled the 90 litre main fuel tank of the patrol with 90.3 litres of diesel at only $1.21.5cents per litre before arriving back at the caravan park at about 2p.m.. in time for a late lunch and a bit of afternoon relaxation. Tonight it will be happy hour looking out over the water to Magnetic Island again, followed by a menu of roast lamb and vegetables that Pammy is preparing, then it will be time to sit back and watch the Fremantle Dockers play Sydney Swans for a place in the AFL grand final the next weekend..... Life is a Beach! (But there is not always water on it in Townsville)

Saturday 23rd September 2006

Anyone for a swim

Another saw point in the water

Pink Pammy likes this little fish

Townsville, on the sunny coast of Queensland... and it rained quite a bit last night, leaving puddles all over the roads within the caravan park. However the morning came without the rain but the sky was grey and the humidity level had risen, as can be expected. This didn't dampen our spirits this morning but there will be a few Fremantle Dockers AFL football supporters feeling a little low after their loss to Sydney Swans last night. They tried hard but the Swans were too good on the night and will be a strong contender to take out the grand final again this year. We will find out later today whether they play the West Coast Eagles or the Adelaide Crows for the flag. Time will tell but whatever happens, it won't change the world and our travels will continue, we will just have to duck the comments of the 'Eastern Staters' when they see we come from Western Australia. Fortunately it is all in good fun though.

After a slow start to the day we decided to visit the local Living Reef Museum in Townsville and drove out of the caravan park at about 10:30a.m. and headed into the centre of town via The Strand where the museum/aquarium is located. We managed to park in the street not far from the entrance of the building and made our way in. The entry fee was $21.50 for adults and unfortunately we couldn't sneak in as children so after paying the required fee we found ourselves browsing around the aquariums at the start of the passage through the displays. We had only been in there a few minutes before the announcement came over the PA system saying there will be a diver in with the sharks in a few minutes, so we made our way to this area and were entertained by a staff member on the outside and a diver with voice communication on the inside of a large aquarium tank. There were some small sharks in the pool with him, along with a large range of other fish of varying sizes, although it didn't look like there were too many real big vicious creatures in there to be afraid of. Once this show was over we continued to wander around the displays in the aquarium, viewing a great range of fish in all sizes and colours. If not going for a dive on the Great Barrier Reef this aquarium would give a good idea of what there is in the water out there.

When we left the aquarium building we discovered it was raining again so out came the pink umbrella and off to the car we dashed, with the girls almost being run over on the road because they couldn't see where they were going - it's a good thing the car driver could see the bright pink umbrella. Once in the Patrol we went looking for a large shopping centre that we knew was out there somewhere, but it took us a bit of a sight seeing tour around a fair bit of Townsville before we found it. Jude found a Kodak shop in the centre so she could download a number of photographs from her camera as she may need more space for more photographs over the next week or so. Then there was a loaf of bread purchased and a couple of other essentials before returning to the caravan park at about 1:20p.m. for the afternoon.

There was little additional activity completed as the AFL football started at 3:p.m. and with Judy here there was no movement at the caravan when that game was on. Even Happy hour was late starting and if you knew these girls, it had to be something almost life threatening to cause that. Even dinner was delayed due to the game because Judy was cooking her specialty tonight (Chicken & Mushroom Rissoto), but she was one real happy girl and she had a REAL BIG HAPPY HOUR.. This win means she is off to Melbourne for the grand final next weekend.....

Tomorrow we will be packing up and leaving Townsville and heading south to Airlie Beach for the next three nights, maybe we can outrun the rain as we drive south.

Sunday 24th September 2006

Time to leave Townsville today and 'One of Us' was up early enough to have a walk along the foreshore before starting the morning preparations to leave (By this time Judy had already had her walk). The 'Other One' didn't make the walk but started the packing up process. In fact we were ready to leave by about 8:30a.m.

Once out of the caravan park we drove through the centre of Townsville and out onto the Bruce Highway and made our way south. The first town we passed through was Brandon, then we continued down the highway until we came to Ayr, where we made a brief stop in the main street of town to take a photograph or two, then started south again, only to stop in a little park just on the south side of the town where we were lucky to escape the jaws of a hugh snake as it reared up in front of us. He must have caught sight of something scary as we walked up to him as he appeared to be scared stiff... didn't think we looked that bad!

From Ayr we traveled through Home Hill and down past Mt Inkerman, then through Merinda before skirting around the edge of Bowen. About 14 kilometres before we reached Proserpine we turned off the Bruce Highway and headed East toward the ocean, driving through Canon Vale before arriving at Airlie Beach. We were not sure where the caravan park was located so we drove through the town centre of Airlie Beach and out along Shute Harbour Road, catching glimpses of the water and numerous recreational boats floating in the bays. A couple of kilometres south of the town centre we came to the Island Gateway Caravan Park which was the one we were looking for. After registering our arrival at reception, we drove to our allocated powered site and found that it was a pretty tight turn to get in beside the raised concrete pad. This took a few wriggles and twists but we made it in the end and set up for the next three nights.

The rest of the afternoon was not very active and we have discovered the telephone reception is not strong, so the Bigpond broadband connection does not always connect, so website page uploading may be a bit hit and miss whilst we are here. That will be a blow, we just might have to relax and put our feet up for the next couple of days. Maybe a visit to the local Visitors Centre will be the first thing on our agenda in the morning, however tonight the priority is definitely the happy hour as far as the girls are concerned, and then a barbecue for dinner.