After nearly six terrific weeks in Townsville, it was time to start heading South to see more of this great country of ours. The weather in Melbourne still looks pretty terrible so we’re not necessarily in a huge hurry to get there and we’ll be taking our time.
The first stage of our journey today was to Ayr, which we had travelled on a day trip a couple of weeks ago. We stopped for coffee at a very tranquil spot by the river near the Ayr Tourist Information Centre.
Coffee stop in Ayr
From Ayr we headed to Bowen for lunch. We were able to bypass the main centre of Bowen – not much fun in a caravan – and stopped in a good rest area opposite the Big Mango and Bowen Tourist Information Centre. There was also a track to the beach and we thought the view was pretty good, and hopefully a preview of what is to come.
Big Mango outside Bowen Tourist Information Centre
View out to the Whitsunday Islands from the beach at Bowen
Our final destination was Airlie Beach and unfortunately Gabby the Garmin let us down again and we got hopelessly lost. To be fair, when we were here last year the entire main street was undergoing major roadworks and presumably some roads were changed – maybe the Garmin GPS doesn’t know about the changes?
After a desperate phone call to the caravan park for clear directions, we finally arrived at the Island Gateway Holiday Park. Ann had previously booked us into a drive through site which was just as well as Airlie Beach seems to be a very busy place. Interestingly, we are seeing a lot more Victorian number plates here than we did in Townsville, but there is a lot of traffic on the Bruce Highway heading North. After finding our site and squeezing in, we got set up and then went for a walk to stretch our legs after a reasonably long day driving.
Arriving at the Island Gateway Holiday Park
View of Island Gateway Holiday Park
This is quite a nice park with good amenities. One thing of note is that the birdlife here is quite overwhelming. There are flocks of ducks wandering throughout the caravan park looking for food and plenty of strange brown birds that sound just like babies crying at night. There are also heaps of white cockies screeching loudly and dive bombing caravans. Some also seem to understand that food comes from the door of a caravan and hang about outside various vans waiting for dinner.
When back from our walk it was time for an early tea as we have a very early start tomorrow morning.
Stay tuned …….
Shorty's RV Adventures 