Day 29 (16 August) – Proserpine to Townsville (Proserpine Tourist Park – Bowen Golf Club, Home Hill Golf Club & Sue & Laurie in Townsville)
On our way North, up the Bruce Highway, our first stop was to do some shopping in Bowen and then on to the Golf Course at 12:00 for 18 holes.
I miscalculated the distance and the ability to get what I wanted in Bowen so we arrived at the golf course at 10:30. We were fortunate to be able to start straight away and discovered that Bowen was another 9 hole 2-tee course. It was picturesque but not at all challenging so we decided to only play 9 holes and then head to Home Hill to play in the afternoon. It was the first time since we left that we’d hired a cart and had not pushed our own buggies. We completed the Bowen holes at around 12:15 then drove up the Bruce Highway to Home Hill.
Home Hill was another 9-hole course with dual tees but this time the 6th and 7th holes were waterlogged after the rain. We arrived just before 14:00 and were met by a guy (he said he was like the manager) who asked us to park further away as they had 30 players arriving at 15:00 for a competition. What was very interesting was that Home Hill had an EFTPOS machine mounted on the clubhouse wall – only 6 playing fee options so we had to pay $19.00 for any number of holes up to 18. As it turned out we could only play 7.5 holes. The 0.5 hole was hitting off the 6th tee onto the 7th green – Lyn had to hit around a tree. It was getting quite hot as we were pushing our buggies this time and I must admit I was pleased to just be playing the 7.5 holes.
After the golf we headed back into Home Hill and emptied the cannister – no more needs to be said.
Travelling further up the Bruce we notice the fuel prices were dropping and stopped just South of Ayr to refuel.
Our next destination was Sue and Laurie in Alligator Creek – one of 4 Alligator Creeks in Australia – although Australia doesn’t have Alligators. I’m beginning to think some explorers were lucky to get around and survive their travels.
We arrived just on 17:00, set up the motorhome and then had a wonderful evening with Sue and Laurie chatting, reminiscing and discussing some philosophical topics.
Day 30 (17 August) – Townsville (Sue & Laurie in Townsville)
Laurie does a lap of the property every morning (sometimes with Sue) at 07:30. This morning, the four of us did the lap and also checked out a couple of other areas that Sue and Laurie don’t normally visit – especially down by Alligator Creek. It seemed much more overgrown than the last time we were here. Also, the grass was green. Laurie told us that it was highly unusual to have green grass in August. Also, one of his colleagues from James Cook University, Chris, was doing a study of plant growth for animal feeds with several hundred varieties in a paddock that we circum-navigated.
Breakfast, and some help to get some of Sue and Laurie’s CDs onto a USB key so they can travel and listen to the music. The CD player had packed up in their campervan so we transferred a couple of CDs onto a USB with the second one being done by Sue taking notes so they could do the same themselves later.
We then did a tour around Alligator Creek; one of the local lookouts; and a swimming hole by the creek in one of the National Parks. What amazed Lyn and me was the amount of development since we were last here around 15 years ago. It was a common observation all the way up the coast making some areas almost unrecognizable.
As we arrived back, Bridget and her two children had arrived – Bridget is Sue and Laurie’s youngest daughter and the only one who still lives in Townsville. Sue and Laurie were looking after the kids for the night while Bridget went out with some of the other soccer mums.
I disappeared into the motorhome in the early afternoon to watch the Demons take on and soundly beat (in the second half) the Gold Coast Suns. I’ve found I’m better watching sport by myself for reasons I’d better not go into in this blog. After the game I went into the house and watched the AFL, NRL and Rugby Union (parts of the games, anyway) with Laurie.
A quiet evening in front of the TV, a simple dinner and then off early to bed as I’d picked up a cold over the past few days. Actually, I think it’s a bad case of Man Flu, but don’t tell Lyn.
Day 31 (18 August) – Townsville (Sue & Laurie in Townsville – Townsville Golf Club & The Strand in Townsville)
I’d been up for a while sitting in the Motorhome doing some admin work on the computer when I saw Laurie walk past on his early morning property round. I quickly put on my boots and joined him as we checked the area around Chris’s trees and to check one of the horses whose foot had been injured a couple of days before.
Sue and Laurie go to Mass on Sunday mornings so Lyn and I made a booking to play 18 holes at Townsville Golf Club. We were told there were two options – 09:00 or 13:00 so we quickly got ready and headed for the golf club. Laurie had already told me that the club used to have 27 homes and that it had sold some of its land and put an estate in the middle of the course. Lyn and I couldn’t believe the change since we played there 15 years previously – an unbelievable amount of development.
As we arrived and registered for the golf, one of our playing partners (a member) arrived and told the professional that two of them were playing 9 holes, then another person was joining them for the second nine. The professional said that the group in front of us hadn’t registered so we could hit off at 08:52. So, straight to the first hole and away. The course is completely different to the last time we played, only a couple of holes showing familiar signs. We managed the first nine in 1 hour 30 minutes with just the 2 of us playing and behind a group of 3. As we approached the 10th hole, we noticed a group of four – 2 girls and two young men hitting off from the yellow tees. The group who had been in front of us were nowhere to be seen. As I was approaching the tee, the group who had been behind us appeared and had an additional player – apparently, it’s common for players to start or finish after nine holes. They kindly let us play first. We noticed the new group in front of us were very slow with the girls clearly not experienced and even the boys didn’t seem to be too good. On the 11th hole I thought they were out of range (I’d measured 200 metres then they moved off) but my drive landed just behind them. They were waiting on the 12th tee, I went over and apologised and they said no problems and let us through. A very slow round after that as we caught up with the pair in front several times. It was around the 13th hole that the heat kicked in – I’m not used to playing in 28-degree heat. Lyn had her umbrella up and so I had to wet my towel to put around my neck. The towel made a difference and enabled me to finish the round. We had a bite to eat and a couple of drinks in the clubhouse, more to recover from the heat, than to spend more time at the club.
As Sue and Laurie were tied up with their own activities for the day, we went into Townsville, did some shopping then went back to the motorhome for a rest and more admin stuff then finished the evening with a meal of prawns that Lyn cooked and some food that we’d brought in from the motorhome.
Day 32 (19 August) – Townsville (Sue & Laurie in Townsville – Shopping & Chores)
I got up fairly late for me around 07:00 then got ready for Laurie and Sue to arrive for the early morning walk around the property. Nothing special this morning as we went up to the front gate and picked up the daily paper.
Laurie was asked by Sue what he’d like for his birthday and he said he wanted a iPad. Laurie is a musician and is now using a new app Onsong that he wanted on an iPad to help with his sessions. He asked if I could help him get one as he wasn’t sure what features he needed and so we headed in to Officeworks and walked out with a purple iPad – it was the only one they had with the specifications and features we wanted. Then on to the Men’s Toy Box to get a battery charger. Whilst we were on our way we got a call from Sue and Lyn. Lyn had purchased some shoes and the only store that had her size was in the area where we were. So, after the Men’s Toy Box we picked up Lyns shoes before trying to get a toilet seat from Bunnings. The first store near their home didn’t have the model Laurie wanted and we found that there were some at a store on the other side of town Over we went, got the seat then agreed to have lunch at the Riverside hotel.
Back home after a great meal with the four of us. I’d wanted another key to the motorhome door as I’d worked out a key/locking combination where I only needed one key when we leave the motorhome rather than the keyring I’d been using with multiple keys. I’ve found through the Winnebago Iluka Facebook group that Mister Minit is the only store that has the key blanks. I’d tried most locksmiths including Bunnings with no luck in Melbourne until helped by the Facebook group. As I arrived to get the key cut the Mister Minit man asked if the key was for a caravan (the keys are the same). On confirming it was he said that he couldn’t help as he’d had two people in this morning and the keys he made didn’t work. Fortunately, I showed him one of the keys I’d had cut in Melbourne, he cut one using a similar blank and it worked well when I got back and tried it on our door.
Some ‘me’ time in the motorhome for the rest of the afternoon that was topped off by a call from Wren and Luna who had been bowling that day. James had sent us a video each of the girls bowling and I played the video so they could see through the facetime call. Luna loved withing the video of her that I played a few times. It is always great to get a call from them and to catch up and hear all the news. James had mentioned in the call that we’d had a number of people at our door that day as he’d installed a wireless video doorbell on our door just after we’d left. He’d sent me a link but I couldn’t get it to work so hadn’t worried about it.
I was regaling Laurie with the saga of our time locked up by the NSW government in the first weeks of COVID when I got a call from our neighbour in Melbourne. Belinda asked if we knew about a hooded person who had been seen running from our place at 06:30 in the morning. One of her daughters had seen this person and passed on her concerns to her parents. We have wonderful neighbours who look out for each other and help if anything is needed. We also have motion activated cameras in the front of our place as well as lights that will turn on if they detect movement. I was able to see a person in a hoodie and backpack leave our place at 06:30 in the morning. What I noticed was that I couldn’t hear our dog bark (I could in later video recordings) and there was no footage of the person arriving. What I also saw was the garbage truck go past at around 10:00, Mike leave for work in Lyn’s car at around 12:00, Andy (Belinda’s husband) come over and check out our place mid-afternoon and then an hour or so of Melbourne Water people come in, park their truck in our driveway and then run cables down the side of the house. I tried to contact Mike at work without success but managed to get on to Belinda who was with one of our other neighbours, Rob, and filled them in on what I’d seen. We then decided we’d call our other son Lach who spends a fair bit of time at home and some time with his girlfriend, Catherine. Lyn called Lach, and after explaining the concerns of everyone involved (including the neighbours), Lach said he’d left for work at 06:30 and was running late for the bus so ran down the street … What a relief to find the culprit and that there was no ‘dodgy person’ hovering around the street. We let everyone know what had happened and then got James to help us set up the remote connection to our new doorbell that he’d installed. Now we have access to the door camera as well as the two floodlight security cameras in our front yard.
Laurie’s comment was that he was glad that we weren’t his parents.
An eventful day with positive outcomes so time to update the blog and prepare for our departure tomorrow for Cairns.
Day 33 (20 August) – Townsville to Cairns (Sue & Laurie in Townsville – First City Caravilla – Cairns)
I started to prepare for our departure – moving the Jimny so I could connect the motorhome on the driveway and checking all the internal doors in the motorhome. We are getting better at preparing to move.
At 07:30 Sue and Laurie arrived for the morning walk. We went up to the gate (around 200m) and on the way back I decided to get my hearing aids – I’m finding I need them more and more these days. So Laurie said they’d walk down the East side of the property, I could walk down the West and we’d meet at the paddock gate. My walk was shorter as the other 3 went down by the creek – about 15 minutes longer. I thought I’d help out and opened the gate to the paddock – it has a sister lock catch and has an extended bottom wire section to keep the wild pigs out. I’d opened the gate and then slightly latched it to keep it slightly closed and then went over to the horses nearby. I turned around to find the gat opening and as I walked back one of the mares decided the paddock was better feed and brushed past me and into the paddock. I spent the next 10 minutes trying (and partially succeeding) to get her back to the gate. However, the other horses had seen what had happened and congregated outside the gate. I thought it best not to tempt fate so made sure the mare stayed close to the gate and waited for the others to arrive. Laurie arrived with a wry smile, took a halter off the fence (I hadn’t noticed it) and gently led the mare out. No major dramas but I was wet from perspiration by the time we got back to the motorhome.
Final packing and Laurie arrived with a bottle of his home-brewed rum, then inside to say goodbye and thanks for the stay. It was one of the best stays we’ve had so far – great hospitality and conversations.
I’d picked up a cold down South whilst preparing to leave Caravan Parks (CPs) in the pouring rain and had run out of my Cold and Flu tablets so our first stop was at the Ingham pharmacy to get scripts filled (for our trip North out of Cairns) and restock the Cold and Flu tablets with a warning that I could only take the contents of this packet as it would impact my blood pressure.
As we headed further North, we experienced more rain. Lyn had noticed that Tully has The Big Gumboot honouring the highest rainfall in Australia – we could understand that as we travelled up. Apparently, there is a town just up the highway that now boasts that title but doesn’t have the gumboot. The stop had quite high shelter on both sides of the facility block so we were able to park under the canopy and look around. I took a photo of Lyn in the rain near The Big Gumboot which was surrounded by a fence for Wren and Luna. A quick look around for a coffee shop in the facility, as there wasn’t one, we left the facility. As we were leaving, we noticed a nice shop on a far corner of the block – on the other side of the fenced in big gumboot so we did a lap of the area and parked again under the canopy. A walk in the rain across to the coffee shop where I had lunch and coffee.
The on to First City Caravilla in Cairns where we’ll be staying for a couple of weeks – at least the motorhome will be while we take the Outback Spirit Cape York tour. It was pouring with rain still, I unhooked the Jimny, reversed the motorhome into our site, connected the power and water and we were done setting up. Inside the motorhome I started the self-levelling system – it makes the inside more level (der) but the main benefit is the stability. Once down the motorhome is resting on legs rather than on the suspension of the vehicle.
We took a trip into town in the Jimny and found our hotel for the last night of the Outback Spirit tour and then headed back. I put the awning up and we sat outside in the rain (undercover) and read our books. It was nice to be in Carins where we could stop for a while.
It was while we were reading and discussing plans that we realised that the caravan storage didn’t have power so we realised we’d have to empty the fridge of items that would go off. That meant a few nights of home cooked meals, thawing out the muffins Lyn had bought and considering options to deal with any remaining items.
As I was due to do a check flight in a Cessna 206 the next morning, I put all my aviation devices on charge and settled in for the night.
Day 34 (21 August) – Cairns (First City Caravilla – Cairns; Mareeba Airport [NQAC]; Cairns foreshore)
It was an early start as I had to travel 70kms to Mareeba Aerodrome and wanted to be there before 07:30.
It was an interesting trip to Mareeba, leaving Cairns then travelling up through the mountains, through fog and then on to the plains near Atherton where the weather was overcast with fairly low clouds.
I arrived at 07:15 and found the Aero Club open and met my instructor Jack who explained that he was taking another student up and should be back by around 10:00. I like arriving early, doing a reconnoitre and considering any options that may be worthwhile. I also have a portable aviation radio so that I can listen to the traffic before actually flying. I had a good lock around the club and met a few other pilots – one refuelling his own light aircraft. On looking around it was clear the clouds were quite low. Mareeba is at 1560′ in elevation so it doesn’t take much for the weather to stop VFR flying. On my previous calls I’d spoken with Jack many months ago to determine the feasibility and to explore flight route options. He suggested that to take passengers, a great flight was down the coast to Dunk Island/Mission Beach then inland to a station, Pinnarendi, then return. Pinnarendi has an airstrip right next to their cafe. It’s common for pilots to visit Pinnarendi for lunch then continue. Our friends Vicki and Pete, called in to Pinnarendi on their way to Cairns from the Simpson Desert and the Birdsville Pub. We are taking an Outback Spirit Cape York tour with them starting on the following Saturday. I’d also spoken with Jordan of the Aero club who told me I’d have to do around 3.5 hours dual then 1 hour solo for them to “endorse” me on the 206. I thought it was a bit much and sent the engineering paper for the 206 with a summary of my flight times which included aircraft types I had flown. It became clear that this hadn’t been looked at when I spoke Jack the day before – as detailed above.
Jack finished his flights with the other student around 10:00 and around 10:15 we started the flight check. The first was a walk around the plane doing a pre-flight briefing and check. There were a few differences such as the right-hand flap being shorter than the left-hand flap so the double cargo doors can be opened in an emergency. The next step was for Jack to look at my medical, licence and logbook. It was interesting talking about some of the planes I’d flown and it seemed Jack was surprised about the amount and types included. We then headed out to the aircraft and undertook the test flight. First, I went through all the pre-start, start and pre-take-off lists and did a dummy run on all the radio calls. We taxied out to Runway 10 – took off and headed to the training area (it’s not marked and just to the West of the field). Jack asked me to climb to 5000′ as we were to do some manoeuvres. As we approached 3500′, I mentioned that the clouds were quite low so Jack asked me to level off at 4000′. I actually think that was part of his check to see if I’d try to go higher. We did a couple of 30 degree turns – left then right – under normal flight configuration; a left hand 30 degree turn then a right orbit (360 degrees) under slow flight conditions (80 KIAS); a forced landing simulation then returned to the field for some circuits. 5 circuits – the first under normal configuration (20 degrees of flap); the second the same as the first was OK but me getting used to the attitudes; the third was a flapless landing; the fourth was a short field landing (40 degrees of flap) and finally a glide landing. There was a fair bit of crosswind and quite a lot of turbulence which meant some bumpy landings but nothing serious. We taxied in and Jack signed me off for the 206 and any other aircraft in their fleet that I’d flown before. I was really pleased that the check flight had taken 1 hour and that at the end I’d been given permission to fly their planes – certainly better than the 4.5 hours I’d been expecting. After completing all the paperwork, I headed back into Cairns. The trip took about 1.25 hours.
Just as I was turning into the caravan park, I got a call from Jordan at the flying school. I’d inadvertently taken the aircraft keys with me – not being used to the procedures and as Jack had been doing all the paperwork. Jordan said there was no rush as they had a spare set of keys but I’d have to get them back to them. I told Jordan that I’d drive back (the round trip would take about 2.5 hours). As I was driving in to the CP, I continued to the motorhome, told Lyn about the keys and asked if she’d like to go for a drive. It was as I was preparing to leave that I remembered that Jack was due to take another student to Atherton but that there were clouds over Atherton so he said they’d fly to Cairns airport. I wasn’t aware that Carins took light aircraft before. I then called Jordan and asked if Jack was flying into Cairns (10 minute drive away), he said he’d check with Jack. A couple of minutes later, Jordan confirmed Jack was coming to Cairns and so we arranged to meet at the GA (General Aviation) gate to hand over the keys. As I was driving to the airport there was a massive rain shower and lightning and I thought the flight may be cancelled. However, when I arrived there was Jack at the gate, I handed over the keys and was back at the CP in 10 minutes.
I sent a message to the Cape Crusaders (our co-tour colleagues) that I’d successfully completed my flight check but that the weather didn’t look good – low clouds, mountains around the flight path and moderate turbulence. We’d check the weather in the morning for the possible flight to Dunk Island and Pinnarnedi.
That afternoon we took a walk around the foreshore, watched a helicopter take off from the Shangri La where we’ll be starting our tour and had coffee on the esplanade.
Lyn cooked up some prawns and prawn dumplings for dinner as we had realised we needed to clean out the fridge whilst Elsie was in storage when we were away on the tour.
Day 35 (22 August) – Cairns (First City Caravilla – Cairns; Chores & Dinner at Splashes)
Overnight I’d realised that it would be better to keep our motorhome where it was in the middle of the CP rather than put it into storage where the security wasn’t quite as good and we didn’t think we’d have power. (We actually found out later there is some power on the rear fence). So, I arranged to keep Elsie on our site (it’s fairly big and can take the motorhome, annex and have Lucie alongside – you can see from the photo below our situation as well as the amount of water in the CP after all the rain we’d had.
I checked the forecast and found there was BKN (broken cloud means more than half the sky is covered by cloud and VFR flights need to meet certain criteria to fly above them) from around 2500′ in the areas along our proposed flight path. I sent out a note to the CC (Cape Crusaders) about the weather, that it wasn’t on that day and we’d see for the next day.
Lyn had spent the time when I was doing the check flight to pack for the tour.
Lyn likes to swim as much as possible and a few minutes after she returned from her swim realised that one of her new earrings had gone. We spent quite a lot of time looking for it without success. While Lyn was checking the pool and surrounds, I spent some time doing my packing.
We went for a walk near the beachside pool and esplanade in the afternoon then returned later to have dinner with Vicki and Pete at Splashes. It was a fabulous meal but it had been a hectic day looking for jewellery so back to the CP for a relatively early night.
Day 36 (23 August) – Cairns (First City Caravilla – Cairns; Chores & Dinner at Splashes [again])
First check the weather forecast as this was the last full available day before our tour for our proposed flight. A similar forecast as yesterday but low visibility added – it was pretty murky when I looked out in the morning.
And on to Week 6.
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