A trip to Townsville - another day another seaside town - another lagoon and water park and more beautiful weather. Every seaside town along this stretch of coast has a protected ares clear of marine stingers, which is safe to swim in and a free water park.
The Australians seem to do outside living very well and everywhere we go there are free bbqs and picnic tables for public use - these are well maintained and everyone seems to respect the space and look after it. Equally the play areas are quite inspiring - particularly the water parks - with a range of equipment. There are always amenities which, again are for the most part clean and well maintained and at the very least a cold shower available. At this water park there is an enormous bucket which fills and empties from a height every 2 minutes or so - to much excitement and whoops and screams of delight - happy, wet children all around! There are also slides, mini water cannnon and tubes and tunnels galore and we install ourselves at a picnic table in the sun and watch our girls let rip! Sadly it is shortlived as Tiegan falls over and bangs her head quite hard and time is called.
We take time out at the local mall, which is out of the sun and air conditioned, to catch up on emails and have lunch, and to give her time to recover. In the afternoon we sample the sea water lagoon which is distinctly cloudy and the girls manage to lose a pair of goggles in the murky depths while splashing around.
Our accommodation for tonight is another free camp, the journey takes us over the longest road bridge in Australia at Ayr and the girls ooh and aah and remark how they have done this in NZ and here!
We arrive in Home Hill and find we are located on a side road sandwiched between the railway line and station and the main street. Long passenger trains clatter through most of the night on their way down to Sydney stopping briefly at the little station house.The freight engines either stop and hook up another few wagons before continuing on their way or thunder through sounding their air horns as they go making us all jump. The facilities here however are second to none with a covered almost indoor bbq and seating area and hot, yes readers, HOT, FREE showers!
Predictably we wake very, very early and in the drizzle it is decided that we should drive to Mackay to have breakfast instead of attempting to cook in the wet. We park in the lagoon carpark and eat - the pool is not yet open which means we have to walk across the road to the shopping mall to use the facilities as al fresco wees are out of the question! The rain has stopped and we are the first people splashing around in the (quite chilly) water! Our plan while we are in the area is to head inland and into the National Park at Eungella in the hope of seeing the elusive platypus - but given the weather and the fact that there are several creek crossings and potential "off road" sections which we are not really allowed to attempt in our van, it is decide that we should abandon this plan and continue on.
Our next camp is at St Laurence and we head off in the afternoon to find it. It is off the main highway and as we enjoy the views David suddenly gives a shout "Oh my goodness, I think I just ran over a snake!" We pull a u turn and are amazed to see a 6ft snake lying across the road, very obviously not runover, and very obviously still alive, catching the last few rays of sun and heat radiating from the tarmac. A quick photo session from the safety of the van and on to the campsite. It is here we meet an Australian family with 4 children (Poppy 3, Sandy 7, Rosie and Hazel) on a 3 month road trip through Australia starting in Victoria, up through the centre, through Northern Territories and down the East Coast. The girls are thrilled to be around other children and rapidly make new friends. It is heartening to hear their enthusiastic chatter recounting some of the experiences we have had so far and comparing camping notes!
