Cairns to Port Douglas

A strange thing happened this morning. A bright light appeared in the sky and some of the clouds turned blue, so we took off for a drive up the coast to Port Douglas. The pic shows the view of the World Heritage Listed coastline from the Rex lookout between Cairns and Port Douglas.

Lunch was on the foreshore at Port Douglas, then we went up to the Cape Tribulation Ferry but ran out of time to cross there so we returned via the Shannonvale Winery. Not grapes, but Tropical fruit wines. Very different to Barossa wines, but we brought back 4 bottles of tropical wine. Maybe we will have some left when we get home.

Josophine Falls

On a rainy day, all you can do is go driving, so we went to Josephine Falls. Tiffy stayed in the car park while we walked to the falls. There was a huge amount of water pouring down the rocks, the pic shows the top pool, with two other levels before the river level out. The spray from the falls was worse than the rain, getting the lens of the camera wet.

Getting back to the caravan turned out to be an adventure. We followed a road on the map through a beach side village and on towards a river. Crocodile warnings everywhere so we did not go for a swim. Further on the road turned into a dirt track that meandered through banana plantations, twisting and turning, cut up by trucks and tractors and crossing flood ways and creeks. We got back to the van eventually.

Next day we moved to Cairns, and Tom Tom wanted to send us down the banana track with the caravan. We took the main road.

In Lake Placid, Cairns now, still raining, and we have booked in to give Tiffany a training session at the Cairns Dog Club tonight.

Innisfail

The Crystal Creek Caravan park recommended a trip to Paluma, a little village with tourist things. Getting there was an adventure, narrow twisting road climbing up to 2900 feet. When we finally got there, the top of the mountain was in cloud and we could barely see the road. The lookout there was like standing inside a cotton ball. On the way back we stopped at Little Crystal Creek, the pic shows the waterfall from under the bridge. It was worth the trip just to see the creek, and the spectacular views from the road.

We are now in Innisfail, meeting up with friends. Last time we met was at Bermagui, where it rained non-stop. Here it is raining too, see Tiffy's Blog. Maybe we should meet in the middle of a desert in future.

Going on to Lake Placid near Cairns tomorrow. If the rain keeps up, we may have to give the Cape York part a miss as Kathy is reluctant to wade through crocodile infested water to check the river crossings. I said I would be right behind her in the Navara but that was not enough for her.

Crystal Creek

Just behind the Service Station at Crystal Creek is the caravan park. You can not miss it, there is nothing else there.

It turned out to be a marvelous park, lots of palms and plants around each large site, very well maintained and very clean. They also don't mind if Tiffy uses the big area out the back for her run. The only down side is we must not let Tiffy run down to the creek as there are crocodiles in the creek. The locals said not to worry about the snakes because the spiders keep them under control.

If you look carefully at the picture, you can just make out the caravan hidden in the palms.

We will be staying here until Saturday morning, then we move on to Innisfail to meet up with friends.

Whitsundays

The pic shows the pool at the bottom of Cedar Falls, no Cedars, no water falling, but a pleasant place to visit. There was an eel swimming past in the pool, but it would not pose for photos.

We are at Midge Point, about 70 km south of Airlie Beach. We went there for a drive, it is a big tourist destination, so it is way too commercialised for us. Beside that they were not dog friendly so we just drove through and gave Tiffany a leg stretch at Shute Harbour, about 10km past Airlie Beach.

Some spectacular coast line and views of the Whitsunday islands from the roads and lookouts along the road, and all done in a temperature of around 30 degrees.

Gracemere

A whole week in one place seems like a lifetime after the traveling. I broke a tooth on a peanut and had to get it fixed at Rockhampton. O'Reilly Dental, High Street if you need a dentist in Rocky. Anyway, I had a temporary filling which will be replaced on Thursday with a permanent fix. In the meantime I have to be careful what I eat.

The Gracemere caravan park is 5 km outside Rockhampton. The weather is warm as you would expect as we are about 1 km north of the Tropic of Capricorn.

Today we went round the Rockhampton, Yeppoon, Emu Park tourist drive, stopping at the Singing Ship, see pic. The monument to Captain Cook's visit has holes in it that whistle when the wind blows - hence the singing ship. It is not a ship, the wind was not enough to make any noise, so it was all a bit of a let down really. The good news is we found Sea Glass at Yeppoon when we stopped for lunch.

Gracemere

At last we are in warm weather. Shorts and sandals, bare arms, cold drinks under the palm trees. We have set up at Gracemere which is close to Rockhampton, in a dog friendly park. It looks like having a dog is a pre-requisite as just about all of the vans have a resident dog. The pic shows us set up with the annex up, the clothes line installed and dog proof fence back and front. We will be here for a week. We just missed the Rockhampton Agility and Obedience trials, but there will be a show here on Saturday.

The dog exercise area is near the road, so we will have to find a safer dog park to give Tiffany her runs.

Bundaberg

You can not go to Bundaberg without visiting the rum distillery. Kathy and Tiffy posed beside the big bottle just to prove we were there.

I went in the shop to stock up with the Royal Liqueur Rum as it is only available from the distillery. It is used to make the Whales Tail cocktail, one part liqueur rum poured over ice, one part Bundy Ginger Beer, one part fresh cream, give it a quick stir and sit back and enjoy. One is refreshing, two are relaxing, three and your legs stop working.

Of course we also had to get some Ginger Beer, so that meant a trip to the Big Barrel to get a selection of Bundy soft drinks.

That took care of the morning, and as Tiffy had been in the car most of the time we took her for a run on a couple of dog beaches. Acres of sand, no people, warm sunshine and a long walk, so by 3 o'clock we were ready for an afternoon siesta.

Lake Monduran

A short drive north got us to Lake Monduran near Gin Gin. The caravan park is just behind the dam so it is a short walk to see the view in the picture, which was taken from the top of the dam.

It is a popular place with the boaties as just about everyone in the park has a tinnie on top of the tug, with a few pulling boats and putting their tents up.

We stopped here because it was dog friendly, looked nice, but mainly it was within range of Bundaberg and I will be able to buy some more Bundaberg Liquor Rum as it is only available from the distillery.

Esk

The pic shows the set up at Esk caravan park, where we will be for several days. It is good to relax a bit. The long drive, setting up camp every night in a different town, just to be sure we reached the dog trials on time took its toll on us.

The last few days have seen us visiting relatives and taking things easy. Tiffany is getting lots of walks as there is a pleasant walk along the creek behind the caravan park. It takes about 15 minutes if you don't stop, but halfway round is a big open grassy area where Tiffy spends 10-15 minutes chasing a ball.

Lots to see around here so we will be a tourist for a couple of days before we move further north to the warmer weather. Last night was the first night we have been away where we did not have the heater running all night.

Tiffany's training is falling behind a bit. Getting her to heel is almost a joke because she gets so excited about seeing all the new places, people and dogs. She has been confined in the car a lot during the traveling so she is due for a bit of freedom. Next week we will be back in training.

Caboolture

We stayed one night in Esk, just in time to catch the local fish van selling fresh fish. It was Barramundi and Prawns for dinner. On Friday we moved to Caboolture trial grounds for the Trials. A beautiful day after a cloudy start for the first trial and hopefully a beautiful evening for the second trial tonight. The pic shows us set up behind the club rooms with the rest of the competitors around us. We will be here until Sunday Morning.

We intend to return to Esk for a few days while we rest and visit relatives. Esk is a pleasant town in a valley surrounded by hills, with a good walk for Tiffy along the creek and a dog friendly caravan park. Maybe the fish van will turn up again.