Yeppoon to Torbanlea - August 2014

From Yeppoon we drove into Rockhampton and spent a few hours at the zoo at the Botanic Gardens. This is a great little zoo and it has the added benefit of being free! 

This gorgeous guy came straight over to say hello

As we were driving around Rocky we spotted a caravan and camping expo so we spent a few hours wandering around there. There have been a few times on this trip that I have thought maybe we would have been better off in a caravan, but after looking through loads of caravans today I am so thankful that we have our bus, we really do have so much more room inside. Yes it does occasionally make it harder to get into some places but I think it is definitely worth it!

We stayed at a free camp just outside Rockhampton called Woolwash Lagoon for the night, which we had all to ourselves. The best part about this was that we could have a night off from constantly telling Chloe to be quiet. She could be (and was) as loud as she liked!

Once again we got a pretty early start and headed just a bit further south to another free camp near Calliope. Brad and I spent the morning catching up on the washing and a bit of housework while the kids played and then drove into Gladstone for the afternoon. We spent another night here and woke up in shock on our final day to be surrounded by thick fog.

Lucy doing some school work in the sun

Next stop was Gin Gin rest area for the night, where we did absolutely nothing! Lucy did a bit of school work and Chloe made friends with a little boy about her age. The next morning we drove into Bundaberg, we left Bruce at a rest area and spent most of the day driving around the area. One stop that we really liked was Bargara. It had a fantastic playground that the kids did not want to leave. I definitely want to come back to this area in summer to watch some turtles laying their eggs on the shore.

We picked Bruce up and drove about 20km south west of Bundy to a free camp that I think was called Wallum Reserve for the night. We had a surprise visitor here, our neighbours from a camp in Calliope spotted the red stripe on Bruce from the highway and called into say hello. There was a short walk here at the back of the camp that the kids enjoyed so much they made an extra effort to get up early the next morning and do it again before we left.

Practising for the circus that she wants to join one day

A bit of a flashback to childhood being surrounded by these horrible banksia men!

Love these two xxx

Because the kids got up early to go for a walk we were able to leave pretty early and get to the next free camp, which was at Torbanlea. We left Bruce here and drove into Hervey Bay for the day. What a beautiful place! I'm not sure if its always like this but the water was so calm it was more like a lake than ocean. 

We let the kids decide what they wanted to do at Hervey Bay which was to play at a park (easily pleased) so we spent a few hours playing at a couple of different parks before heading back to Bruce for the night.

Bowen to Yeppoon - August 2014

We left Bowen and drove into Airlie Beach for a look around. The kids attempted to have a swim in the beautiful lagoon. Actually Lucy did have a good swim around. The water was pretty cold and it was cloudy which made it even colder when you got out. After a swim we wandered around the shops. 

The kids soon got sick of walking around, all they wanted to do was go swimming, so we drove on to Prosperpine where the sun was shining and we found a pool that was heated to a very comfortable 28 degrees. It was so nice and we had the place to ourselves for most of our time there. This was definitely the highlight of the kids week! 

After about 3 hours we managed to drag Chloe out of the pool and drove on to find a camp for the night. It was late in the afternoon so we thought we would drive until we found somewhere to pull over for the night. This took us a bit further than we planned and we ended up missing Mackay altogether and staying on the side of the road near a truck stop halfway between Mackay and Sarina.

We had an early start the next morning and drove to St Lawrence. I don't know why it was only about 120km but this felt like such a long drive, I think we may have gotten used to only doing about 50km at a time! I had heard really good reviews about St Lawrence so I think I had higher expectations than I should have. It is a pretty good campground with toilets and showers and they just ask for a donation. The town itself is very small and for some reason I thought it had a beach but it just has a very large bay called Broad Sound. It does have a very large tidal range from 6 - 9m, we did head down to the bay one evening to watch the tide come in which comes in really quickly.

Chloe testing out the fitness equipment at the park

Low tide at the sound

Some beetles the kid spotted on a walk

We did have a lovely few days here relaxing and enjoying the sunshine.

Watching the tide come in

After St Lawrence we drove to Yeppoon, we had a caravan park in mind as there didn't seem to be any free camps in the area. Once we got to the caravan park there was no way Bruce was going to fit on the site the owners had for us. On the way to the caravan park we did spot a few caravans parked up next to the beach so we headed back there to see if camping was allowed. Turns out you can camp there, we spoke to a council worker who said they prefer if you only stay 1 or 2 nights but said he wouldn't mind if we stretched it out to 3. It was such a beautiful spot I could have stayed here for a week! 

There was a 2.3km mountain walk a stones throw away, which was just perfect for the kids. Lucy surprised us by doing the walk everyday we were there and running for most of it. I think I'll just let the photos do the talking about this beautiful spot.

Bruce on his little patch of paradise

Townsville to Bowen - August 2014

We left Billabong Sanctuary mid afternoon and decided that we would drive until we had enough and hopefully find a free camp somewhere along the way. We ended up at a free camp in Home Hill for the night where just on dusk we got to watch a sugar cane field being burnt. We were a fair distance away but it was still a pretty impressive thing to see and hear.

There was loads of rain predicted all along the east coast, there was no way we were going to avoid it so we tried to pick a spot that was supposed to get the least amount of rain. We decided on Bowen which was were parts of the movie 'Australia' was filmed. We stayed at a nice little caravan park next to the beach with a huge pool, which the kids made a beeline for as soon as we set up, but like all the other pools we have been in it was freezing! 

The kids and I spent a bit of time doing school work and doing some experiments.

School work at the beach - Sight word stomp!!

Surprisingly our plan worked and Bowen didn't get as much rain as a lot of other places nearby. I think we had 2 nights and 1 day so it wasn't too bad. And what did we do on a rainy day in Bowen, we watched Australia of course. It was interesting to see where they made the movie even though there is nothing left expect a empty paddock, the kids found it a bit hard to comprehend though. Cabin fever started to set in after lunch so we headed to the library for a change of scenery. 

The next day we went to nearby Horseshoe Bay to find a couple of Geocache's that took us on a great little walk that we all enjoyed despite the drizzling rain. We had to practically force the kids (mainly Lucy) to actually come with us but by the end of the walk they didn't want to stop, luckily there was another trail that was slightly longer, the rain had cleared and the sun made an appearance.

Horseshoe Bay

The kids had a great time at Bowen, I think they enjoyed just having a couple of days to play with their toys. They made friends with an older lady who actually had family that lived in West Wyalong - its such a small world!

Billabong Sanctuary in more detail - August 2014

Billabong Sanctuary is a great little place, just south of Townsville, its only small but it has lots of talks and its pretty interactive for the kids. The kids got a bag of feed each to feed the kangaroos, ducks and 1 very friendly emu that wander around the park. There were also some very game Magpie Geese that if you weren't careful would try and grab the bag of feed out of your hand. Lucy is a bit scared of ducks and other birds so there were many times during the day that she needed to be rescued from hungry ducks!
First up we went and saw the cassowary which Chloe was able to feed through the cage. Lucy wasn't quite game enough to give it a go.

Next we saw the most adorable wombat, he had been at the sanctuary from a baby and was very tame and more like a domestic pet. There were lots of Koala's with a few that were actually awake and walking around! 

Scared of a duck but was the first one to line up to hold the crocodile

This was such a great day, the kids got to feed and touch so many different animals and the talks were all really interesting. Lucy stood listening to the crocodile talk so intently but she now of course is extremely worried about going near any water incase there is a crocodile lurking. 

Lucy's favourite part of the day was the snow white barn owl, and Chloe's was of course the part where she had a rainbow lorikeet on her shoulder. 

  

Billabong Sanctuary - A post by Chloe - August 2014

Happy Birthday Pa. xxxxx (Chloe wrote this on your birthday Dad, I've just been a bit slack and hadn't posted it)

I patted a koala.

The baby koala is very clever and its name is Puzzle

I had a rainbow bird on my shoulder.

I saw a Mummy kangaroo have a baby kangaroo in its pouch. 

We had a turtle race and the turtle on our side was named Solomon and our turtle won. 

We saw the zoo keepers feed the crocodile. The crocodiles ate chicken.

Tolga to Townsville - August 2014

The next few days were pretty uneventful. We left Rocky Creek and headed across to Ingham and back down to Tully. After we set up and had some lunch we went back to Mission Beach to catch up with our friends again. It was so good to see them again even though it had only been a week since we left it felt a lot longer. It was so tempting to stay here another week but the weather was not looking good with rain forecast for all the next week. And sure enough the next day in Tully it rained steadily all day long. Lucy did a fair bit of school work, the kids and I hung out at the library for a bit, while Brad bought a new fishing rod and that was about it for the day. I think the highlight may have been the scones and pikelets we made for afternoon tea!

It was still raining the next day as we drove towards Rollingstone, the rain stopped not far out of Tully and the sun came out but it was very windy and we were glad that we didn't have far to go. Brad was very keen to try out his new fishing rod so once we were set up at Rollingstone we headed to Balgal Beach which has a great inlet perfect for fishing. A few weeks ago when we were here we had a lovely time on the beach, it was a different place today with the wind so strong the waves were crazy and it was so cold on the beach, but around the corner at the inlet was protected from the wind so it was actually quite hot. We were entertained by a turtle that hung around in front of us the whole time popping its head up every so often. Then we had a visit from a small string ray that just sat at the edge of the water so close to us! They both made up for the fact that we didn't catch any fish.

Yes, she is playing in a pile of ash...

It was Lucy's turn to get sick, so we spent another lazy day, while Lucy slept all day. Chloe and I spent a bit of time down at the creek feeding the fish and cute little turtles bread.

Sorry for the dodgy photo - only had my phone on me

Lucy was back to normal the next morning but now it was Brads turn. We got to Townsville pretty early but they let us book in anyway, after we set up (in the same site we were at last time) Brad crashed in a big way and spent the majority of the day in bed. The kids were super excited because the friends they met here last time were still here, it was a very cute reunion!! I spent the day catching up on all the washing, it does actually take all day to do a weeks worth of washing, because I use a little pink twin tub that I love because it saves me spending $4-$5 a load at caravan park washing machines, but it does take a bit longer because its so small, which is not really a problem because time is not really a big issue at the moment!

We originally only booked in for 2 nights at Townsville, but because Brad was so sick and we were waiting on some mail we ended up staying 5 nights. The kids were thrilled with this plan and once again spent every moment that they could with their friends.

While the kids played and Brad slept I spent a couple of days, doing housework and catching up on the blog and trying to catch up on the mammoth task of going through all the videos and photos we have taken and start turning it into a DVD for ourselves.

Lucy received some mail from her teacher at Dubbo School of Distance Education and was thrilled to receive an award - I think the smile says it all!!

On our last day Brad was feeling slightly better so we dragged the kids away from the park and went for a walk around Kissing Point. It was a beautiful day and Townsville has done such a brilliant job with this area making it so accessible and really informative. This area had a huge role in the first world war. 

We spotted so many turtles along this walk

Such a calm and beautiful day!!

A little bit of history 

The kids were very sad to be leaving their friends once again, but as we were heading to the Billabong Sanctuary this sweetened the blow slightly. We really hope to catch up with these lovely people again soon!!

Saying goodbye to friends xx