We were sad to farewell our mates, The Gough's, as we knew it was unlikely that we would see them on the road again as they were on their way home. We had a big day of driving to do, taking two days to get from Mission Beach to Mackay as l had a job interview to get to.
We traveled on the winding coastal road lined with lush forests and banana plantations making our towards Home Hill where we had hoped to stop for the night. It was around 340 km down the road, so we thought we could pull up in the arvo and then take a look around town. We had heard that it was a great free camp by other travelers on the road. When we arrived in Home Hill, it was a much smaller town than anticipated with only a main street really. We checked out the free camp, which if it was later in the day, would have been great. But with it only being in the early part of the arvo we thought that the girls would drive us crazy with nothing to do and having to keep an eye on them constantly.
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| Yet another sugar cane train... |
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| Burn off..... |
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| Love the small town humor...plane crashed thru the roof! |
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| Big snake at Ayr.... |
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| So many 'stacks' along the way.... |
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| Marty loves bridges.... |
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...he was very impressed with this one coming
into Home Hill.... |
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| That's pretty much the town....cosy little one, |
So with that, we set off for a bit longer down the road, arriving around 4pm at a free camp called Guthalungra Rest stop. It was literally that, a patch of dirt, shaded by trees with a grassed area in the middle with some tables and chairs. At least the girls could run a muck without getting into too much trouble. Marty and l cracked the top off a coldie while we set the girls up to do a little school. After that the girls had a great time running about and playing together. Later in the evening an old man pulled up on his bike with a mini trailer in toe. He looked exhausted. We went over to say hi and thru chatting found out he was 80 years old and this was his fourth time riding around Australia. He was a tad strange, which we found went with his cause, raising awareness of Jesus! I still felt for him as he had no hot water and was low in funds, so l boiled the kettle and made him a cup of tea and gave him some hot two minute noodles. He was so appreciative, poor bugger.
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| Camp for the night... |
Next morning we woke with the sparrows and set off towards Bowen, only 48 km down the road. We were on a mission to make it to Mackay today, so only stopped off to get a pic in front of the Big Mango and take a quick look at the coastline around town...
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| Impressive old Queenslander architecture.... |
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| Tides out.... |
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| Girls love Mango's! |
We decided with our funds low and time being of essence that we would call into Airlie Beach for lunch and a few hours to have a look around. We would have loved to stay for a few days but sometimes you have to pick your places, and obviously spending so much time in Mission Beach meant we had to forego some other treasures in this amazing country of ours. We squeezed thru town, and l mean literally. For such a tourist destination, the roads were so windy and narrow that Marty was a tad stressed driving the van around the town center. We stopped off at Woolies to get some essentials then found a car park that we could leave the van in for a few hours while we hung out at the Lagoon. The girls and l had a great time cooling off while Marty chilled out under the shade of the palm trees. This place was so busy with heaps of back packers lazing about. Best we were only calling thru as with the laze about time we've had in Mission Beach, we felt a bit claustrophobic and overwhelmed. We also thought that we could call up for a weekend sometime whilst being at our work stop at Mackay......
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| Back behind the wheel... |
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| More trains.... |
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| Coming into Airlie Beach... |
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Girls and l cooling off at the Lagoon...
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| Bombs away... |
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| Gorgeous colored water.... |
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| Airlie Beach..,, |
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| Girls had to have a play before we left... |
Off we drove again, the girls a bit excited to be getting closer to Mackay as they were excited to be starting mainstream school again next year. The 150 km went quick and as we made our way into Mackay l was left feeling a little disappointed and underwhelmed. It wasn't what l imagined but you cant judge a book by its cover, and maybe the next few days would sway my mind. We booked into the cheapest park in town, the Big 4 Mackay Marine Tourist Park. Apart from the new water park and pool area, this park was run down with no shade. It had no personality or warmth, apart from the nice and helpful bloke who checked us in. We set up and both looked at each other deflated. But we had to give it a go as funds were running low.
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| Back in the car again....loving the green surrounds of the farming tropics! |
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| Finally we arrive in Mackay.... |
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| Wonderful birdlife in the small pond out back of the park. |
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| Set up at the park.... |
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| While dad's out looking for work we hit the books... |
The next two days were a downward spiral with Marty having no luck at all with job hunting, it was very slow at the moment with no opportunities in the near future coming up. We looked around at other caravan parks that could be possible for a long work stop, but they were either worse that the one we were at or too far out of town. So after a bit of chatting, l phoned up Mackay Hospital to pull out of my interview and we decided we would head down to the Sunshine Coast to catch up with Boof, Nikki and Ella over Christmas and try for work there. The girls were so excited to be seeing their uncle, aunty and cousin that it put all our stress of money out the window. We still had enough that we could get thru for a few more months if need be. On-wards and upwards they say don't they???
Bell Xxx
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