Airlie beach to Jourama falls

Day 58
A milestone day today, my first haircut since leaving Sydney as the afro was getting a bit big.

 Before

After

Packed up Polly and headed for Bowen (Famous for Mangoes and the location for a lot of the filming for the film Australia) and on the way stopped at our next 'big thing, the big Mango just outside Bowen next to a helpful tourist information office. The mango itself was pretty big but unlike the big banana you couldn't go inside it, it was just there on the side of the road and a little plaque told us that it had cost $90,000 to build!! (I thought i could have done it for half of that and thought about emailing the council to tell them).

Did a circuit of Bowen only to find all of our prefered campsites campsites (ones near the nice beaches) were booked out but finally found a spot on Queens beach which actually turned out to be OK.
Set up and had a stroll along the beach and then popped just across the road to the local pub.

Seemed a bit rough at first with lots of loud youths and people with missing teeth, but luckily it was darts night and so soon filled up with the two competing teams.
Turns out both teams were both from the same pub but they had different jerseys. We stayed for a few rounds (of beer and darts) and headed home.

Day 59
Up in the morning and as we hadnt been able to stay at the nice beach we packed our lunch, jumped on the bikes and headed for horseshoe bay right up around the end of Queens beach.
Arrived at the lovely beach, a little bay surrounded by big rocks (Ill be exploring those later I thought)
Settled in for the day and although the sand wasnt as nice as Whitehaven beach the water was just as lovely, so lovely in fact that it prompted Carmens 2nd swim of the trip (theres no stopping her now!).

There was coral just off the beach as well so I donned my snorkel and went for a paddle around which was really good but it was pretty cold so after a swim spent the next hour warming up in the sun.

Then it was off to explore those rocks, brilliant and i could have spent hours hopping about ("you did" says Carmen).

As the sun went down on another perfect day we cycled back to the campsite for a BBQ dinner and bed.

Day 60
Packed up again in the morning and on to Townsville (150km's up the road) and we are excited because we are going to catch up with Davey, our old flatmate from Sydney who was in town for a family wedding.
Checked into a campsite close to where he was staying and parked next to a familiar van.

It was the two lads who we had first seen in Noosa and then again in Hervey bay (where i gave them a jump start, not that they were grateful!) and then again in Airlie beach! Not the most talkative young men so we asked tham where they were going next just to make sure we could avoid that place!
walked along the Strand (promenade) to meet Davey in the Sea view hotel, a lovely art deco pub right on the water. When he arrived we both thought it was some dosser approaching us and turned away but it was Davey, just with a beard. He explained that he had to have it for an acting job he is doing but we suspect he was in disguise as he is currently appearing in an Imperial leather advert and didnt want to be recognised.

Caught up over a few beers and got all the latest gossip on our Sydney friends.
Picked up some great fish and chips on the way home (much nicer than the campsite in 1770, not that it would have been difficult) and went straight on you tube and check out Davey's soap ad.

Day 61
Up and its on the bikes over to Daveys hotel as he's cooking breakfast this morning, bacon and egss are on the menu and a chance to meet his dad and sister who are also staying in the same hotel for the wedding. Dined on the balcony looking out over the bay and the Strand.

After a great breakfast were off to do some fishing and to catch our dinner but it was low tide and the fish werent biting yet so we return to the hotel for a dip in the pool and a relax in the spa.

After a while sunning ourselves and convinced that there must be fish off the rocks we return to the same spot and almost immediately we all catch something. Only small ones but we persevere and Davey lands a cod that is almost worth eating but not quite big enough. A few more of the same sort of size and I am beginning to wonder if there are any fish in the sea that are big enough to be eaten. We must have caught half a dozen fish but again none of them big enough to take home with us.

To console ourselves we head off into town to track down a $10 dollar T-bone steak ($9.90 actually) that we had seem advertised in the paper earlier. Pretty good it was as well, still not up to the high standard that had been set in the Trinity but good all the same (I think we have been spoilt in Sydney all this time and didn't know it).
Rode home in the dark with no lights (stupid we now) and nearly ended up in the mangroves with the crocs a few times but made it safely and vowed to take our lights next time.


Day 62 (23.07.11 and our Two months on the road anniversary)
A day trip to Magnetic island, cycled to the ferry and took our bikes across on the 20 minute journey, just across the water. You can see the island from Townsville and we had both heard good things about it so were looking forward to it.
Arrived and whilst everyone else jumped on the bus we donned our helmets and took off, first along Nelly bay which was nice and then continued over the first hill to Picnic bay which was quite a ride, strolled along the promenade there but decided not to have our picnic just yet and so returned via Nelly bay again and over another hill (Mountain Carmen says) to Gordon bay and Alma bay.

Alma bay was lovely but we had seen coral just offshore at Gordon bay so returned there for lunch and a snorkel.

All excited with my waterproof camera i rushed in, swam out quite a way and started snapping away. As soon as i had taked one picture though i got the 'memory card full' message on my camera and so swam back to shore annoyed. The coral hadn't been as good as Horseshoe bay off Bowen though so it didnt really matter. More rocks to clamber over and explore kept me busy whilst Carmen read the paper and before long it was time to head back.
So it was up and over the "mountain" again and back to the port to catch the ferry.

By the time we got there it felt like we had done a stage of the tour de france and if Cadell evans is reading this (im sure he is) you should go to magnetic island for your training for next year!
Cycled home in the dusk (Didint have lights again!!).

Day 63
Time to move out of our camp site and unsure of our next stop we head over to Daveys hotel to park up. This was the morning after the wedding and so we weren't surprised that he didnt answer his phone and so thought we would take a stroll around the Sunday markets which weren't that good (unless you wanted a stuffed cane toad) so after an hour we call again but he's still not answering...
So a stroll along the strand and another call (and text) and this time he answered, well i think it was him but he didnt sound good. We thought we would give him some more time so went shopping and then turned up at his door after another hour or so and he let us in.
Looked like he had a big night and once we made him a cup of tea he regained some colour and told us all about it...
Whilst he was in a nice hotel we took our chance to use the facilities and so did some washing and cooking and hung around on the balcony drinking tea whilst Davey regained consiousness and showed us the photos he had taken in one of his roles as wedding photographer (the other was master of ceremonies). Once he had come to properly he suggested that instead of heading off out of town that we stay with him in his hotel apartment for the night and not wanting to dissapoint him we agreed (it didnt take much arm twisting).
Headed out in the afternoon for some more fishing, determined to catch something to eat and it wasnt long until we had all caught fish. Would you believe it they were too small to keep!

Its just as well that fishing is quite enjoyable in itself and that we werent relying on it to eat because we would have gone very hungry by now.
Thirsty work fishing so we headed to the pub  to talk about the one that got away and then treated ourselves to a Thai take away (Our first in two months!) which we ate in front of the tele (Oh how quickly we slip back into our old ways) and Davey kindly let us have his room with two single beds (he took the couch).

Day 64
You would think sleeping in a proper bed inside that we would have had a lie in this morning.
Oh no and in fact were up even earlier than usual (6.45 for some reason), crept out to make a cupa and try not to wake Davey and returned to the room to drink it. Half an hour later and the making of the second cup did wake Davey so made him a tea and we were all up.
Davey cooked us another hearty breakfast (good service at this hotel) which we enjoyed on the balcony. Started to pack the van and the family had donated all of their left over food so we were stocked up and ready to go. Dropped davey off in town as his flight was in the afternoon and said our goodbyes and with a tear in our eye we drove off.

Destination unknown we drove up the highway and decided to turn off and drive up the Paluma ranges. Great winding drive (20kms took an hour) up the mountain in search of a rainforest campsite we arrive at Paluma. Now if Anna Bligh (premier of Queensland) is reading this (and im sure she is) we would like to give some constructive feedback about the tourist information and signage. Its crap!
We did a couple of circuits of the very small village in search of the signposted tourist information to obtain our camping permit but couldn't find anything, all relavant phone numbers were unanswered and so after a frustrating half an hour we drove back down the mountain (another hour), stopping briefly at little crystal creek.

 and continued along the highway to Jourama falls and enjoyed a cheap nights camping in a National park. Another first for Polly was not one but two creek crossings to get to the campsite and she seemed to enjoy getting her toes wet.