Friday, April 13: After filling Keith up just outside Bowen, we happily headed up the Bruce Highway....leaving the ill wind behind us. And just as Danny had predicted, ahead was a wonderful free camp site - RV FRIENDLY (that Sammy had heard about from other Nomads): Bluewater Park just north of Townsville. Lots of green grass, right next to the creek with toilets & taps.
And yes, the water is very blue! Parked next to us, was Dirk (originally from Holland) who lives in his station wagon. He was a very interesting chap who had lived for 10 years in Coober Pedy and various other places. Then across the paddock, we saw a sign that said "Country Music" and wandered over to the community hall to see what was happening.
Danny spoke to any old guy setting up music equipment:
"Hi Mate. We've just come from Bowen and - "
"You're welcome. Do you have a guitar?"
So after an hour or so we wandered over again, guitar and ukulele in hand, and sat down for $5 hamburgers & cheap drinks.
We were about 6th on the blackboard line-up which featured a variety of performers from the Thuringowa & Townsville club. Dirk turned up in his black stovepipe jeans and cuban heels, and we did our 3 numbers and were asked for a 4th. We stayed for most of the singers, then crossed the paddock for a peaceful night's sleep.
April 14: In the morning we had a closer look at the creek, said Happy 50th Birthday to Dirk for the next day and then motored off to Cardwell.
The ocean front didn't look the same as remembered from 8 years before, but cyclones will do that to you.
We weren't planning on staying at a caravan park, but we needed to charge our phones and do some washing, so we picked a small one for $17 a night. B grade is probably generous, but it had nice grass and was across the road from an IGA.
Indigo enjoyed meeting "Junior" a Mastif X (below) who was definately pleased to see her.
We liked the toilet signs: Man & Lady written in electrical tape.
And I rang Bruce, from the Buoys B & B to see if we could start our HelpX stint earlier than we had anticiapted. He said that was cool and we organised to go there on Monday.
1. Along the beach front to the mangroves and Danny found this cemented plague which states that it is an offence to remove it!
2. To the beach just a couple of streets from the van park to do some hula hooping.
3. To the bottleshop at the beginning of town. I've always liked seeing a man carry a whole carton of beer cradled in his arms.
We had our dinner, took our beers / wine and went and chatted to the English and Italian banana working backpackers. We had already met one of the Italians who had been smoking a rather large 'cigarette'...
So although Cardwell didn't look like the lush, tropical town right on the highway that we remembered, we still had a fun couple days just hanging about in our C grade caravan park.
The tree sculpture below really brought home the impact that Yasi had on North Queensland over a year ago.
Now we were heading for a place that copped it right in the guts by Larry then a couple of years later by Yasi.
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