Heading Into The Wet: Mission Beach and Tully

Driving north from Townsville and the countryside changes dramatically. It's about now that the sugar cane fields which are usually broken up with fairly dry paddocks of gums, with bushy gumtree spotted ranges in the distance, are now framed with lusher, denser vegetation. And then, as if all of a sudden, the mountains are covered in rainforest and it's clear that we are now truly in the tropics.

En route to Mission Beach, we stopped for lunch at a terrific spot - the Tyto Wetlands in Ingham. What an amazing surprise! This place was completely free and was such a great stop-over point on the Bruce Highway, just when the kids were getting wriggly. The wetlands are named after the  endangered Eastern Grass Owl called the Tyto owl, which makes its nest on the ground and inhabits the Wetlands. There's a great interactive information centre where you can learn all about these unusual birds and the other creatures in this unique habitat. We also had fun exploring the boardwalks and feeding the tons of turtles with special fish pellets from the centre. A bonus is a beautiful cafe with great coffee, perfect to fuel up on before setting off on the next leg of our trip.

Luke and I had been excited about hitting Mission Beach since we started planning our trip. A truly beautiful and peaceful little town on the ocean, with palm tree lined streets and calm water beachfront, this little community is surrounded by world heritage rainforest on one side and world heritage reef on the other - it truly is where the forest meets the sea and the townspeople of Mission Beach are passionate about conservation and living in harmony with their gorgeous surrounds. The area is also famous for having the highest density of the endangered Cassowary in Australia. With all the road signs warning of these beautiful birds being out and about, we were hoping to spot one and were all pretty excited to come across a mum and a baby as they casually crossed the busy road as we drove into town!

There was one big difference to our visit to Mission Beach this time around... it began to rain as we drove into town and it continued to rain and rain and rain and RAIN!!! Locals said it was the wet season coming late, but it was a bit of a shock to the system for us, having now had no more than an hour or so of lousy drizzle of wet stuff since we embarked on this trip, some seven weeks ago!

And anyone with a caravan or tent or campertrailer can attest... it's not fun for anyone setting up camp in the rain... Except for the kids that is, and then they ended up in the puddles, then in the pool and flying down the playground slippery slide at tremendous speed, and they couldn't get over how amazingly fun this rain-stuff can be!

But the novelty wore off a tad when the rain continued and continued and got heavier and heavier. Later we found out we were camping in the biggest downpour that the area had seen in yonks and that nearby Cairns had just had more rain in a day than they had recorded since the 1930's!  

   
The next day we counted our blessings that only the corners of our mattresses were a tad soggy and as soon as there was a break in the weather, we hit the beach to assess the damage of the delude. The kids played for ages with the washed up drift wood and in the puddles and the rain proved just another chance to see Australia in all of its changing beauty and glory.

More rain and a visit to nearby Tully was our attempt to avoid it. But if anyone knows anything about this quaint little sugar cane town, they know that its not just named after my little brother (the kids were super excited to visit their Uncle's 'town'!) but also that it is famous for being the wettest town in Australia, with an annual rainfall exceeding 4,000 millimetres. So in fact, instead of attempting to escape the rain on the coast, we drove into more rain at Tully! Raincoats on and the kids climbed the Golden Gumboot and we took a little drive around the town and were amazed to see the river was roaring - if we only had a couple of babysitters in tow, we may have found the nerve to join the other thrill seekers at Tully Gorge for some whitewater rafting fun! Next time...

Sage's Video Blog #2

Sage is back with another little update for her friends back at her preschool in Newcastle, and for you too. She's a little bit on the shy side compared to travel-journo wannabe Arley, but she'd hate me to say that and doesn't want to miss out on the reporting action!

Mangos and Footy Heros: From Bowen to Townsville

It's a delicious sight driving into the small coastal town of Bowen, famous most obviously for their Kensington Pride Mangos (affectionately known as the Bowen special). First the mango groves and then the BIG mango itself, but it was the local mango sorbet (pure mango frozen and whipped) that we sampled at the Tourist Information Centre that really sent the kids a little 'fruity'.

A small-ish town at the top of the Whitsundays Coast, Bowen is sometimes referred to as the 'salad bowl' of Australia because of the diversity of fruits and vegetables farmed in the area. Fishing is another big local industry so the Bowen residents may just be completely set in life - especially if relaxing at hidden beaches, enclosed by the distinctively Bowen boulders is a prerequisite for the good life! We spent three slow and relaxing days here, with the kids climbing rocks, hunting for washed up coral and shells at Horseshoe Bay and swimming in the warm ocean waters (surprisingly despite the rest of the northern QLD coast wrapping up in stinger suits to swim, no one at Bowen wore suits - same ocean right? The locals said the stingers stay away from their little cove...hmmm)

    

The rock climbing in and around our caravan park on the point proved a hit for the kids and they wore themselves out each day from all the exploring and salty air. We still have our daily 'rest' time  whilst on the road, mostly to give Bastian a chance to sleep in peace but also so the other two can catch up and stop for a minute - spending nearly all of our time outdoors each day, its nice to chill out with a movie in the van or some quiet craft to recharge the batteries...

Even though the Horseshoe Bay caravan park seems like it hasn't had a makeover in quite a while, and the ammenities are old but very clean, it's still our pick of the places to stay. The only park right out on the point, its a stone's throw from the water's edge in both directions, has direct access to the Rotary lookout walk which is beautiful and it has a terrific little cafe right next door which serves great coffee but even better hot chips!!

After waving goodbye to the peacocks and boulders, we left Bowen and drove another two and a half hours up the coast to Townsville, where we pulled up stumps for three nights. We haven't had to book anywhere in advance just yet, simply rocking up as we arrive and always managing to get a site, but at Townsville, our pick of the caravan parks on the foreshore and closest to town was unexpected chockas! We managed to squeeze in but couldn't work out why all these people were dressed in long pants and puffer jackets and waiting out the front on the road... later we discovered that the town was buzzing because there was a NRL Footy game on that night between the Broncos and the Townsville Cowboys. Of course!?!? But after we admitted to some shocked locals that footy wasn't really our thing, we hit up the local Sizzler for a trip down memory lane... and yes, the cheesy bread is just as good as you remember!!  

We spent our days exploring the city and were very impressed with the Far North Queensland Museum in the main drag - we spent the entire morning here and with a new Lego exhibition in full swing, the kids could have easily spent the day.

Milkshakes at one of the terrific little cafes about town and an afternoon washing the caravan, and Townsville was a top little stop over and the biggest taste we have had of 'city' life for a good few weeks!