Rollingstone - April 2010

We traveled a massive 68km north out of Townsville before pulling in to Rollingstone Beach Caravan Resort. This park is absolute beach front; when you drive down the road to the park it ends by you driving in to the park gates, no other traffic comes down this way.

This is a Big 4 so no dogs allowed, it is also quite expensive ($240 to $280 per week less big 4 discount if you are a member) but after the Townsville rat race we decided on some peace and quiet. We arrived on the Friday morning but come the evening there was quite a few in the park; seems like it is a favorite with the locals (Townsvillians etc) for a weekend getaway.

Come Monday morning the park had about 5 or 6 vans/camper trailers so back to the quiet. The amenities here were spotless and so was the huge BBQ/camp kitchen area. All the sites are very big and some are capable of taking 2 – 3 camper trailers (happy family types). Be prepared to do bugger all here as there is literally bugger all to do; the general store at Rollingstone is 7km away and close to this is a BP service station and the Rollingstone pub.

Another part of Rollingstone is the Mystic Sands area (12km from the park); this has a fish & chip shop, golf club and community hall. At the community hall you can do line dancing on Tuesdays and play carpet bowls on Wednesdays, Linda went to the Wednesday bash and I stayed back at the van (thanks very much), I don’t think my poor old ticker could stand the stress and strain of carpet bowls and I almost broke into a sweat thinking of the line dancing (Yee Ha).   

Our site above right on the beach, the road in front is one of the many that circle the park for access to sites all of which are grass but well maintained (no slabs here).

The above picture was taken at about 5.30am; it is a gazebo which was just opposite us, it was a great place to have breakfast and also had a small BBQ separate from the camp kitchen.

The free-form pool is very big and has a nice easy beach access for the oldies and kids. Linda enjoyed it (yes, that’s her) especially after the Sunday when all but a few buggered off. 

Found this “Thong Pole” at Mystic Sands; there was a sign nearby that said “donations accepted”. As you can see at the base of the green bush some have been donating more footware but I am thinking the owner of the pole may have preferred cash.

You can see by the above sign that the Rollingstone pub is doing it’s bit to stamp out passive smoking; they must have a close relationship with the bloke upstairs to guarantee the correct wind direction.

I did say in my last post I would show you my nuts but first I have to get them out; this is a bugger of a job and I can see why they give the bloody things away as it is quite difficult to get the husks off.

Well here is one of my nuts (what was you expecting!!!); I was too knackered to get the other one out but it would look pretty much the same with maybe a slight difference in size, colour and fluid content (it still would be quite hairy though).

Hope you all enjoy the read and are fit and well; we are currently at Kurrimine Beach (another quiet location) and enjoying ourselves. We will be in Cairns on the 7^th May so will post this location (Kurrimine) then.

Keep smiling and safe travels.

Love & warm regards – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig

 

Townsville - April 2010

Arrived in Townsville about the 2^nd week in April and the park we decided to stay at was Rowes Bay Caravan Park which is on Heatley’s Parade, this is approximately 4km from the city center and 1km from “The Strand”. Across the road is the beach and a great walking/bike track to either the strand or to Palaranda. The sites are quite big and the amenities block we were close to was almost new so great facilities; the park has 2 other smaller amenities blocks; they are older but still kept in a very clean condition.

The bad issue with the park is booking a site as they do not take bookings; if you ring after 10am on the day you would like to check in they will then allocate a site and hold it for your arrival (with a deposit). Seems a strange set up and I would be reluctant during peak periods to try and get a site. When I spoke to the park they advised about the book in arrangements (or lack of) but also let me know that with it being outside peak we would not have a problem getting in. Price for us was $195 for the week, not bad given the site size and location; no pets are allowed at this park.

The sites are quite large in most of the main area of the park but some of the trees are a bit of a pain, location wise it is well worth staying, the park has a small pool and a half size tennis court; this assisted me in keeping my abs, pecks and other parts of my tight,taught and incredibly muscular body in good shape (well at least my 4x gold can opening finger). Townsville is very big and suburbs around the city center stretch out for 30 – 40km so it is very busy (too busy for me).

Linda arrived here from the UK in 1968 so it was great for here to visit some of the places she remembered; with so many changes since then it was hard to imagine 1968 to now and the growth Townsville has had. Townsville was one important place for Linda to visit having not seen it since that time; this was a “must do” for Lin and filled in another page on her life in Australia.

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Our site above; the tree was a bit of a pain with some small leaves and pods creating a bit of a mess. 

One of the many views from Castle Hill, not much you cannot see from up here. 

We spotted the above house (there are several of these) jutting out the hillside to take up the view. It looks incredible but not sure how I would go after a few grogs; I could see myself waking up in the neighbors yard. 

We did go to the ReefHQ but not into the aquarium; we went to the dome I-max (see below model). 

The seats seem to sit at about 45 degrees and viewing area is the whole top of the dome itself. The movie goes for about 40 minutes and 5 are screened a day, we watched an underwater one but there is a thrill ride movie that could be a rush to watch.  

The above shows one of the stinger enclosures on the strand; these are quite common on all the northern beaches. 

The above is the rock-pool on the strand which in the main is stinger free; council still have notices up warning it is not a guaranteed stinger free environment (typical council statement; “all care taken but no responsibility accepted).

Our next posts will be Rollingstone (just left there), Kirrimine Beach (just arrived) and Flying Fish Point (next park).

Stay well, travel safely and we hope you enjoy the read.

Love and regards – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig.

Bowen - April 2010

Traveled from Mackay to Bowen the home of the movie Australia and got bedded down for the Easter break; we arrived on the 28^th March and stayed until the 9^th April. Bowen is a relatively small town but not lacking on services (Woolies, IGA, Pubs etc). After trying to buy a computer in Mackay which has every shop known to man the best decision I made was to deal with Bowen Business Machines (fantastic service, great help and very efficient).

Well, the caravan park we stayed at was a Discovery (Big 4) picked mainly based on the location but given the parks we looked at whilst in Bowen we should have stayed at either the Tropical Beach Caravan Park or Wangaratta @ The Beach Caravan Park; both these parks were significantly cheaper, in as good a location but the sites were larger than the Big 4 we were in.

The Big 4 sites were very tight with just enough length for our van and the car was parked at the back at 90 degrees to the van (parallel to the road); not so bad until the park hired out 2 red peddle carts to kids that seemed to think that by looking backwards at your mate in hot pursuit somehow was okay and the bloody thing would stay on the road (not so), expect damage if you stay here in peak.

This park is for sale, seems Discovery has purchased to many so looking to off load a few; this one is $5.3 million. The park has had several managers over the few months and things are not well according to another source. The amenities were spotless and stayed that way until the start of the Easter break when they were not cleaned from Good Friday until late Easter Monday; the same source told me the management were told not to bring in cleaning staff on the Easter Weekend (cost).

If you do venture here and consider this park do your research on the owners/management first, otherwise stay at one of the other parks. This was in the $240 a week slot and no where near worth it. The above is our opinion only and may have been different for others that stayed in the past and may get better in the future.  

Our site above; it should be classed as “Water Front” not “Beach Front” as the park describes it, the sand is almost three shades blacker than a crow. 

Great butcher in Bowen as you head into town on the left; I think it is called Riches but not sure but if you are here the meat is really good (steaks, mince chops etc) and all the snags are made on site. The prices for snags is not cheap but well worth trying a few of the flavours. 

Bowen has some 20+ murals that are painted on the side/front of some of the businesses; all done by local artists. Looking closely at the above mural you can make out the outlines of thebesser block wall. 

Above is the Grandview Hotel in Bowen that was dressed up to be several shop fronts of the movie and the name of the pub was changed to the Territory Hotel for the movie. 

We met up with a couple on a 10 week holiday from Sydney (David & Janet); they a considering taking the plunge in to full time traveling. We all got on really well and especially Lin & Janet (craft nuts). Both Dave & I were glad the only place you could get craft stuff was a a Sam's Warehouse in Bowen; heaven forbid if Bowen had a dedicated scrapbook/craft supply shop, Dave and I agreed it at least kept them out of our hair, anything for a peaceful life (Amen).

Townsville will be up at the same time as this post.

As always stay well, travel safely and hope to see you soon.

Love & regards – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig

 

Mackay - March 2010

Well this turned out to be a real hoot; been through a couple of hail storms which are now quite boring so thought we should give a cyclone a go just to get the old adrenalin pumping, I was never quite sure what adrenalin was but after this episode I can certainly tell you what color it is.

The park we stayed at was the Andergrove Van Park on the northern side of Mackay, the park sits about 8km from Mackay City and 4km from Mount Pleasant shopping center. The park is well maintained and the owners are very sociable and good to deal with; nothing is to much trouble and they are very eager to please.  The park has a pool and is a Top Tourist; rates are $29 per night less the top tourist 10% if you are a member, even if you are not a member the rate of $174 for the week is pretty good.

Our site above and this is typical of most sites with concrete pads for the van wheels, awning slab and runners for the car to the awning side of the van. We were booked and paid for 7 nights but on the Saturday (6^th day) we left the park to take shelter from the pending cyclone. We towed the van out west of Mackay and over the Clark Range in to Nebo; we stayed out at the Nebo showground along with another 4 vans that had pulled out of Mackay and headed in the same direction as us.

It was a wild and wooly night even at Nebo with several trees and large limbs from trees falling at the showground; we all made it through without any damage but it is not something we would want to go through again.

We headed back to Mackay on the Sunday and to get the 100k in to town took about 4 hours; we were delayed by a lot of debris on the road and on one section a low hanging power line. Above is the same site we were on in the Andergrove Park so compare that to the first one; most of the caravan park was in the same sad state; the park had an abundance of fan palms all of which had suffered damage of some sort and required trimming back. 

we headed off on one of the days on the Pioneer Valley scenic drive which ends at the Eungella (pronounced yungala) Range & township; the range is above and has an incline of 12% so quite steep and some of the bends are hairpin and not the place for larger vans as noted on the signpost some 10km before the range.

Camper trailers and maybe small vans but a definite no-no for the big ones; there are campgrounds at the top and in the national park.

Mackay harbour; there is a good marina front here with several cafes, restaurants, fish & chip shop (good fish here) and a pub. 

The photo above is taken from the large deck of the Pinnacle Pub which is on the Pioneer Valley drive; make sure you get to this place either on your way or on your way back at lunchtime. The pies are all made on the premises and are very very good. 

The above and below photos show why we stayed at the Nebo showgrounds; the sign should read “Don’t Stay At All” Caravan Park; even staying at the showgrounds had power, water with tiled showers and plenty of hot water. By the way there are no camping signs at the grounds but the council don’t seem to mind; it was in one area of the grounds a caravan park as there are plenty of caravan park style power heads and taps to connect up to.  

Nice park to stay at in Nebo if you are blind and have no sense of smell. 

“Excuse me please”; above is just on of several rigs we met between Rockhampton and Mackay. These rigs carrying mine equipment have police as well as wide load escorts and you must clear the road completely and stop, failure to do so earns you a ticket to the policeman's ball.

We are currently in Bowen until the 9^th April then on to Townsville; from there a couple of stops on our way to Cairns for a week before we head up to Cape York. We catch the Trinity Bay boat from the Cape to Thursday Island then launch to Horn Island before flying back in to Cairns; from there we head west (I think).

Keep well and drive safely and hope to catch some of you on the road somewhere in this vast country of ours.

Love and warm regards – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig

Rockhampton & Yepoon - March/April 2010

The park we stayed at in Rockhampton was a Big 4 Discovery Park on the north side of town; very close to the major shopping center (Canelands) and pretty much local to everything. We were quoted a big 4 rate ($27 per night) even though we were not big 4 members, this was most likely because of it being a quiet time of year. The sites were big with concrete sections for the van wheels and concrete tracks on the awning side for parking the car. We drove around to our site and was greeted by a member of their staff who asked if we would like the van parked on the site for us; great service and we are never ones to knock things like that back “go for your life”. The park was very clean and tidy with the amenities being very clean and tidy, the park has a pool and games room and is very quiet, it is on a main road but all the sites are well back and traffic noise was not a problem.

Our site shown above; plenty of room and very tidy. 

We visited The Caves which are about a 30 minute drive north of Rockhampton; this place is quite spectacular and if you do spend tourist $ then this should be on your list. The cost is $22 per person and lasts an hour or so, each tour leaves on the hour commencing 9.00am and the last tour is 4.00pm.

Above shows the stalactites and stalagmites formed by water dripping of the limestone; these have been formed over quite some years.

The caves also houses a cathedral for weddings; without the lighting it is pitch black; we were told many opera singers perform here as the sound from the natural formation of the caves is equal to the Sydney Opera House. The tour guide put on a CD which was truly amazing; what Linda did not find amazing was how black it was when he turned the lights off for 30 seconds, also the words she said “shit, what's going on” seemed to be quite loud and echoed for quite some time. 

Linda in the caves; don’t be fooled by the smile she was pooping bricks. 

We went to the Rockhampton zoo and gardens; no charge for this but not too much to see. They had a few different types of lizards, a few roo's, a dopey looking emu and the usual koala, ducks and birds. It was a good couple of hours looking around and we worth the visit, good place for a picnic with plenty of places to set up and the gardens does have a kiosk. 

One of the many residents of the zoo was the bloke shown above; he seemed to like sleeping a lot with his fingers up his nose and had about the same amount of hair on his back as Linda’s brother, Steve. 

The water catchment or lake that is part of the gardens was abundant with turtles; all you needed was a few slices of bread and these little buggers came in by the hundreds.

We drove out to Yepoon for the day and the photo above was taken from one of the steep hills in the area, this shot overlooks part of the township. There is about 6 or so caravan parks here but we did not check any of them out. If you do the tourist drive Rockhampton to Yepoon it is about 90km and well worth the trip.

The above stands elevated close to the water at Yepoon and is called “The Singing Ship”; the mast is made up of various pipe lengths and diameters. When the winds hit the pipes they put out musical notes which is quite eerie; near this is a time capsule which was placed in May 1975 and is due to be opened in May 2070 (look out for Auntie May’s knickers).

The next post will have Mackay and how we faired in tropical cyclone Ului.

Keep well and stay safe

Love & regards – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig

Emerald - March 2010

A bit late in posting but a major hardware failure on the computer caused a bit of a problem but all is well now and we are back up and running.

After Cania Gorge we headed to Emerald to catch up with our son John. We stayed at the Emerald Cabin & Caravan Village; the new area is called the development as it is all new sites with drive through’s. The amenities block which you can see in the foreground to the right was being refurbished so it was a fair walk to the other block; the amenities consisted of 12 en-suite type rooms, you pick an empty one and then lock it from the inside, each one of these had its own toilet, shower and hand basin. This is a good idea but the older block was not well maintained.

The park is pet friendly and priced at $30 per night; don’t bother asking for a weekly rate here as it is still $30 per night. The other options are the Nogoa Caravan Park (named after the river) but on checking this place out it definitely is a NO GOa. The other option is the park at the dam, this is about 18km out of Emerald and 2 days after we hit town was cut of and the roads closed due to localised flooding. The other place is the Emerald showground and van park; we have stayed here before and was our first point of call when we arrived but owing to all the rain it was too boggy, price here is $15 per night and is quite good when dry.

Above are the tourist sites at the Emerald Cabin & Caravan Village; drive through slab sites (2 on each run through). The insects (biting type) were very bad and I still have some scars from these buggers almost 4 weeks after being bitten.

Above shows the extent of the flooding through the Botanic Gardens; this is also part of the Nogoa River. 

The sign above says it all; just hope the car and passengers have a snorkel fitted. 

Sadly to say on this trip the best view of Emerald was as above in the rear view mirror.

Keep well and keep in touch.

Love & regards – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig