mackay to townsville
Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 10:09PM Not such an early start this time.
The big fella had excelled himself this time in snagging the last room in the miner's lodge motel. The folks there were beyond helpful, when we asked if there was a good thai place, they recommended one (which was good), but then we found out it was too far to walk and we didn't want to get back on the bikes again, so the owner of the motel got her son to drive us in his car so we could pick up the take away. Nice.
So after a relaxing night in comparitve compfort and facing a relatively short hop we decided to have a bit of a sleep in and as a result we were pretty much the last to leave the miner's lodge at 9.00am.
doing it tough
Again the weather was brilliant and the first port of call was proserpine for fuel, coffee and cake which is becoming somewhat of a morning ritual. On the road the big fella observed that queenslanders appeared to be extremely nomadic given the inordinate number of caravans on the road. From that point (about 35km out of mackay) I started counting the vans. By the time we got to proserpine (about 75km) I had counted seventy five vans on the road. So after a short break we were off again and enjoying a great run with not much in the way traffic.
The only real excitement came when wal and a truckie decided to play out a few scenes from duel. We have no idea what the truckie's problem was but he came within a couple of metres of taking the big fella home as a hood ornament. The truck was behind wal who was behind a car and i was behind all of them so i saw it all unfold. The car slowed to turn left off the road, the big fella started to go round but the truck thought it was a great idea to go round all of them as close as he could across double white lines. Wal opened the taps to get the hell out of there and was left shaking his head.
When we got to bowen we saw a sign for the big mango so of course we had to stop for the maditory photo which was very kindly taken for us by a lovely woman from berlin. Natuarlly.
me and big wal propping up the big mango, a feat never none before.
Other than that the rest of the trip was uneventful. The country was wide, flat and brown, dotted with trees and flanked with mountains in the distance. It also looked a little depressed, and by that i don't mean economically, i mean it looked a little sad and in need of cheering up.
Townsville is a beautiful city with some fabulous old buidings and wonderful public spaces. We caught up with the big fella's sister at the rockpool which is a man-made facility with a park, swimming and a cafe all looking out to magnetic island. The strand, which runs along the shore line, is a fantastic boulevade of palm trees and parks which runs right along to the marina.
the rockpool
one of the great old buildings in townsville. no idea what it is but i like it.
fig tree roots, the strand.
So after a great afternoon of sightseeing we headed back to the caravan park (yes the irony was not lost on me) for dinner and an early night with a planned early start for cairns.
a waterfall on the strand
Our exact location: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-19.272,146.7841&ll=-19.272,146.7841&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Craig if you're still following this, stop whinging, i'm updating as fast as i can! the furthernorth we go the worse the net connections get. you'ld think the government would do something about this.
The Tour de France is over for another year. Another great race, sadly now we must wait 49 weeks before it returns! Go Cadel and Michael in 2010. A special message to Andrew's friend Annie who is following our progress from her home in Northern France “Vive le Tour”.
Reader Comments (4)
Russ > The frequency of your blog updates has reached a satisfactory level... I'll cut you some slack for a few days. :) Enjoying the words and pictures, travel safe.
No complaints about the update rate from where I sit. There's only so much of someone else's sunshine you can take in a day. That said, I am loving the story of your adventures.
It there is enough juice in the internet connection you might like to check out this safe driving instructional video by
Stoner and the Doctor
Doing a wonderful job with the blog, Russ!! Big mango v. impressive!! FYI sport, dinner on Sunday will be a fab leg of lamb!! Will send photo.... Hope you are enjoying cooktown.
Hey there little bro and Wal you guys look like you are having an absolute ball. Love the photos and the updates. Have just worked out how to comment, I wasnt ignoring you I am just a gumby. Shame you couldnt get to the tip of the cape but there will be plenty of other adventures. I sent Findlay you blog link so he is following you now. Fi said you might be going to Darwin seeing as you didnt go as far noth as planned. Let me know if you are and I will get in touch with JD and Roy, they are always up for a drink or two. Take it easy and stay safe.