Thoughts on Food

Food – essential stuff, and finding it out on the road is a surprising experience.

For example, we have recently travelled through central QLD and found roadside stalls, often unmanned and with a simple honesty box, that have provided us with some of the most tasty, fresh and cheap food you could imagine. We have recently found avocados and tomatoes (half a dozen avos for $2.50 and 2kgs of farm fresh tomatoes for $2) that have provided us with tasty and healthy lunches with bananas fresh from the farm (a dollar a kilo or thereabouts) for dessert. On top of that we have come away from our friends’ place with a huge bag of sweet mandarines from their fruit trees.

Country butchers are also pretty good news too with some of the tenderest meats we have eaten plus some interesting smallgoods and pies etc. One in particular is the "Continental Butcher" in Wangan (near Innisfail) who has some superb products.

We are enjoying this gourmet travelling!

Cairns

Cairns is the same as it was last time we visited – busy, expensive, stuffed with backpackers and really just too big a city to hold our interest.

The walk along the esplanade is still nice though, with the views out over the lagoon (with its attendant backpackers soaking up the sun) being much more attractive than the view out over the mudflats to the sea.

We did manage to have a Steinbauer chip fitted to the Troll to give us some much needed  mid range punch and it has had the additional benefit of smoothing out the engine as well. I hope it doesn’t adversely affect the fuel consumption though.

The weather has improved since leaving the wettest towns in Australia (Tully and Innisfail) behind though and while it has been showering on the Cape I am still hopeful that the roads won’t be TOO bad and we can get through to the top. I suppose some poor conditions will keep the masses away and that will be a good thing.

Heading off towards Cooktown tomorrow before hitting the Cape.

Innisfail

Innisfail - we arrived here in the rain and caught up with Neil and Liz, long time friends of ours who live here.

They have showed us five days of fantastic hospitality, providing us with a site to park our van and feeding us a series of superb meals as well as their company. We have had a fantastic time - thank you guys!

Those gorgeous meals were accompanied by far too much red wine and lots of chat and discussion. My liver will need some time to recover!

While we were here we organised a couple of things. We have had a stoneguard fitted to the van as well as booking in the Troll to have a Steinbauer chip fitted in the hope that it will help us find a little more power and make towing an easier and simpler affair. Fitting is next week in Cairns.

We also took a drive up to Josephine Falls - a magical place that was pumping as a result of the rain that has fallen.

As always, there were backpackers splashing about and risking life and limb in the water - crazy buggers - we watched one come oh so close to being swept over the top of a fall.

Beautiful isn't it?

Back at Neil and Liz's we endured a night where over a foot of rain fell in a steady stream. The next day we needed to get out and have the stoneguard covered and we found that the Troll had been parked in the downstream path of an overflowing stormdrain and had simply sunk in the liquid mud.

Hitched to the van, there was no way we could drive out so the Maxtrax were wedged under the rear wheels and I gently drove onto them where the wheels simply spun and we failed to get anywhere.

Ahhhh!

After a few failed attempts I then put some of those foam flooring panels (those things you by from camping stores that clip together to provide a soft floor) behind the front wheels and voile! We just reversed out without any further problems.

It kept raining though and over the days we were there and the need for me to move the van I ended up almost ploughing their front lawn and I remain embarrassed about it.

Still, the sojourn has ended and we will miss Neil and Liz and we remain grateful for our time there.

South Mission Beach

South Mission Beach is wet and horrible right now, but as we need a little remedial work done on the van we have to stay close to the place doing the job.

However, the van park has one redeeming point and that is that they have a cassowary that visits in the hope of scrounging a feed.

I never actually thought I would see one!

Here is the big chook just about to walk past our caravan.

The next day was miserable, cold and mainly overcast, but we managed to take a walk along the South Mission Beach itself and have a look at the place.

This is the view across to Dunk Island as seen from our camp site.

Looking south down the beach.

This is the main road along the beach.

We also took a drive along to the main Mission Beach and grabbed a coffee there. A nice enough little town, but it lacks a little something. Then again, miserable rainy weather will make anywhere look less than wonderful.

Jourama Falls

And so, we continue north and found ourselves at Jourama Falls where the campgrounds (National Parks, but obviously not managed by the same control freaks that manage Bowling Green Bay) are open and spacious and we found ourselves a nice spot.

The walk up to the Falls was well graded and easy, albeit steep, and the falls themselves were well worth the effort.

The creek is full of fish (sooty grunters I think) and saw shell turtles. I know they are saw shell turtles because that is what the NP information booth called them! 

Anyway, here are the falls themselves. A beaut series of cascades.

This is the creek.

And this is one of the turtles!

The national park has several points of entry and we took a drive out to one of  the others to see the Crystal Creek and the Rock Slides"

Well this is the creek, obviously low in water.

The Rock Slides turned out to be a series of waterholes on what will be a real waterfall when there is enough water, but for now they serve as swimming holes.

Karen cooling her feet.

Leaving the Rock Slides we drove up the escarpment (about 18klms of twisty and steep road - I never got out of second gear) to reach some lookouts near the township of Paluma.

This one was McLellands Lookout and although it is a bit hazy you can see the ocean out there.

Scary man at the lookout!

We drove over this bridge on the way up and we stopped to check it out on the way down.

It was built in the early 1930s as part of a work creation scheme to get people employed during the depression and the bridge was hand built using local stone then. It really is a work of art.

There are always the nutters though and this lad was jumping off the high rocks and into a pool below. Spinal damage anyone?

Bowling Green Bay NP

Just to make a bit of a change, we checked the map to see where we might fancy sleeping the next night and we booked (yes! We actually booked ahead!) a slot at the Bowling Green Bay National Park.

Let me advise anyone reading this to not bother going there. We found the camping area to be limited to tents and camper vans only and the spots they allowed you were bounded by low fences forcing you to camp on the gravel surface. We couldn’t fit into the place as these spots were about 3 metres by 6 metres and while we could get the van in there we wouldn’t be able (due to the fences) to open the door.

Very poor show indeed.

So we toddled off and ended up in a free rest area near a Caltex servo surrounded by backpackers in a variety of beaten up vehicles, but all of whom were polite and generally nice people to meet.

The servo offered showers and toilets and even a TV room although in our new van we have our own TV. It was there that I watched the Cats get beaten by Collingwood due entirely to some very, very poor marksmanship by the Cats forwards and some great opportunism on the part of the Collingwood midfielders.  90 seconds from the end it was tied, but Collingwood kicked the last two goals and we lost.

Bugger.

Hydeaway Bay

Wow! This place is a real throwback to the way things used to be on the QLD coast years ago. It is quiet and unassuming and the van park (yeah – another van park as there are no legal places to just set up camp for a while) is not overly technologically endowed – even our Telstra mobiles don’t work out here – but it is friendly and it is beautiful.

After arriving here, and ”here” is just a few klms north of Airlie Beach, we took a drive down through the township to get a feel for the place. The road through the township continues as a gravel road along the coast and after about 5 of 6 klms we found a couple of resorts right on the water.

These were the Cape Gloucester Eco Resort and Montes and they are both right on the beach with views out across to Gloucester Island and are surrounded by glorious bushland. Yes, we liked them both, and once you take a look at these photos I am sure you will see exactly why.

If anyone is planning a wedding or a honeymoon then either of these places would be a brilliant venue. They would also be good for a weekend getaway. The Whitsunday’s Airport (near Proserpine) is just 30 or 40 klms away so getting here from a major city would be easy.

Don’t spoil the place though!

This is the "Oar Bar" at Cape Gloucester. Reasonably priced everything and friendly staff. There is also a glorious pool off to the side.

 As we neared Montes, walking down the beach for half a kilometre, we found where the boaties anchor up.

 

The view from Montes Bar

Montes bar itself.

Walking to Montes - just half a kilometre down the beach.

Loking west along the beach

And back at Cape Gloucester - this is the view from the bar.

Back at the van park we bumped into a couple that we first met at an overnighter in Marlborough (north of Rockhampton) and we joined them and some other people for a beer or two around the campfire. Great fun.

Our next day there was also pretty good. We took a short drive to Dingo Beach where we found more glorious Whitsunday sights.

<sigh>

This is the anti stinger swimming enclosure - basically a safe(ish) pool for the kiddies.

For any non-Aussies out there reading this you might want to read the notice below to get an idea about the stingers.

Oh yeah - the place has a pub overlooking the beach too!

After  enjoying that place I decided to get a little fishing in – the tide had turned and was making fast so we drove past the Eco Resort to a quiet little bay where I chucked out a bait and also tried my hand at squid jigging off the beach and lure fishing.

Not a single bite never mind a fish. Karen had more luck recording six or seven bites, but as these were all sand flies biting her ankles as she sat reading in the shade of a tree they don’t really count.

Back to the van park then for lamb chops coked over a wood fire and a few beers with the others there to pass the evening.

Airlie Beach

While we are still camped at Midge Point, we took a drive into Airlie Beach to both get an easy fuel fill (using 16.5 litres per 100 klms while towing the new van) and to check out the town as it has been five years since we were here.

Well, the town is as lively as ever and they have turned the park that was at the back of the main street and facing the harbour into a pretty special place centred upon a couple of lagoons and it is really nice.

Lots of backpackers lying around soaking up the sunshine only added to the visual joys!  :) 

Talking of visual joys, the harbour is as beautiful as ever.

One for my brother and SIL - Hey guys, I think that is the cruise ship you sailed around Australia on!

They have also added a few bits of art work around the place. This one of the dugong is my favourite.

We ended the day eating fish and chips as we looked out over the harbour before driving back to Midge Point.

Lovely!

Midge Point

Midge Point - not named for the biting insects (thank deity for that!), but instead named after a ship that sank just off the point here.

We are in a van park as it seems to be getting harder and harder to find free and interesting spots to camp legally.

Many rest stop places along the road that have some excellent looking facilities also now have big signs up forbidding overnight stays, usually with a sign indicating where the nearest caravan park can be found.

Frustrating.

Still, the park here is friendly and has widely spaced spots. It is also right on the beach.

The beach - well our first sight of it was not encouraging - the water was a looooooong way out and there were acres of rippled sand. Still, it may turn out to be a decent whiting fishery as a result.

Cape Hillsborough

We've been to Cape Hillsborough before, so we knew what to expect and the place didn't disappoint us.

We ended up with the furthest camp site from the entrance, but we thought that would be good and we set up happily. What we didn't expect were the sheer number of people who drove down the track to our site presumably just having a sticky beak and then three point turning to go back where they came from. Seriously, there seemed to be someone doing this every five minutes or less.

The beach and the points were beautiful - no pics though as I forgot to carry the camera, but here are a few from our visit in 2007 and they will do as the place hasn't changed.

This was our camp then. Shady and right on the beach.

The tide is out and Karen decided to take a walk.

These are pictures of the points. Pretty eh?

Back to this year though and on one walk through the bush we came across a felled tree growing these fungi.  Not quite as impressively neon bright as those we found in Tassie, but cool all the same.

Tin Can Bay

Tin Can Bay - people rave about this place (I am thinking of you Marnie), but I fail to see quite why. It is a pleasant enough river/beach side town, but it isn't anything particularly exceptional.

The one big drawcard is the dolphin feeding and that is indeed good to see.

Here is a pic of Karen with a 2.7 metre Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin called "Mystique". I don't think anyone could deny that there is a certain magic when it comes to dolphins.

Where there are free fish being handed out you'll also find these little bludgers - cormorants. Quite surprising that we didn't have pelicans around too.

The biggest down side of Tin Can Bay were the sand flies though - vicious and numerous. They forced us inside as soon as dusk fell.