It has been said that ‘the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.’ We have been planning this road trip for at least two months, but there was always something we wanted to stay put for, prior to heading off. There were birthdays to be had for all of our boys, one wife and the birth of our second, sweet grand daughter, Matilda Mae. We know we will encounter school holidays during our journey, so because of this, we’ve booked every night we are away, to ensure that we don’t find ourselves without a place to lay our head. This is not our usual modus operandi. We often book pivotal spots on our holidays including arrival and departure nights, but then we usually just ‘wing it’ for the rest. We are so glad we haven’t done that this time. School holidays start tomorrow, but prior to this, already on two occasions we have found that places we were staying in are completely booked out. We can only assume that more Queenslanders are travelling within our home state, than ever before.
It was difficult to say goodbye to our two darling grand daughters, but we just had to stiffen our resolves and take off, or we would never have gotten away.
Childers: 1 night
Our first night is spent in Childers at the Avocado Motor Inn. We have visited this town many times due to its being the ‘jumping off point’ to go to Woodgate Beach where we have stayed quite a bit now. It has a charming and welcoming atmosphere but unfortunately also a main street which funnels all the Bruce Highway traffic through it, to parts onward. Need I say more about the less than melodious night we spend camped on an uncomfortable bed just off the highway. Ear plugs helped!
It was difficult to say goodbye to our two darling grand daughters, but we just had to stiffen our resolves and take off, or we would never have gotten away.
Childers: 1 night
Our first night is spent in Childers at the Avocado Motor Inn. We have visited this town many times due to its being the ‘jumping off point’ to go to Woodgate Beach where we have stayed quite a bit now. It has a charming and welcoming atmosphere but unfortunately also a main street which funnels all the Bruce Highway traffic through it, to parts onward. Need I say more about the less than melodious night we spend camped on an uncomfortable bed just off the highway. Ear plugs helped!
In Childers on 23 June 2000, the Palace Backpackers Hostel was destroyed by fire. Fifteen backpackers - nine women and six men lost their lives when Robert Paul Long lit a wheelie bin in the Hotel’s lounge room. He had previously been evicted from the Hostel for rent arrears and had returned, he said; ‘to beat up a mate’. At about 1.00 a.m. in the downstairs recreation room the bin quickly caught the wooden structure and without any working smoke alarms, the place was engulfed quite quickly, trapping unwarned people upstairs. Seventy survivors were housed locally after the event. Identifying the remains for those who perished was made very difficult by an inadequately kept Hostel register and the loss of peoples’ passports in the fire. Long was imprisoned for the remainder of his life. The Hostel has been restored in the style of the original building and now stands as a touching memorial to the young people whose lives were so horrendously shortened. A glass wall with etched resemblances of the ones who lost their lives stands as a touching memorial to them.
Yeppoon: 2 nights
We scored a good sized room with a shaded Balcony right on the foreshore and facing a quiet street. The difference in volume is extreme from our previous night but then I would be personally amazed to see a B-Double roar up the steep one way hill outside our Hotel! There seem to be very few people about, but we are surprised to learn that the place is fully booked. The fellow at the counter, who ‘only wants to stay beside the Hotel on the opposite corner, so he doesn’t have far to walk after an evening drinking’ - is sent elsewhere! We are availing ourselves of some free internet in the Reception, (the only place it is available). No doubt about it, the one thing all travellers agree on is ‘free internet’ - if only it could be put to music, we would sing it!
Yeppoon: 2 nights
We scored a good sized room with a shaded Balcony right on the foreshore and facing a quiet street. The difference in volume is extreme from our previous night but then I would be personally amazed to see a B-Double roar up the steep one way hill outside our Hotel! There seem to be very few people about, but we are surprised to learn that the place is fully booked. The fellow at the counter, who ‘only wants to stay beside the Hotel on the opposite corner, so he doesn’t have far to walk after an evening drinking’ - is sent elsewhere! We are availing ourselves of some free internet in the Reception, (the only place it is available). No doubt about it, the one thing all travellers agree on is ‘free internet’ - if only it could be put to music, we would sing it!
Whitsundays: 2 nights Our walk down memory lane commences when we moved in 1985 to Whitsunday Ambulance Centre for Stephen to take up a position as Officer-in-Charge here. As we open our Airlie Beach memory boxes, we spend the drive here remembering our individual thoughts about our stay here for eighteen months during Stephen’s promotional climb. It was here that our youngest son, Timmy was born, completing our family and teaching us to learn to manage as parents without any grandparents nearby to help out. A challenging but worthy lesson indeed!! It was here that Stephen fully understood the importance of fitting into an existing community whilst providing a service which set him immediately apart from the locals. One of those challenges where you are never a local and not a tourist, just someone necessary who provides a service to the community. My memories are of taking our older two to kindy which was held in a run down community centre which wasn’t well equipped for three and four year olds. During my involvement in the Kindy’s committee, I managed to get a piece of land excised from Crown land, beside the Ambulance station where a new Kindy could be built. I never saw the completed building, because we moved on before construction had commenced, so it was particularly poignant to see it up and running - some thirty years later - and know that I had a pivotal role to play in its establishment - in the suburb of Cannonvale - a burgeoning family area in this busy tourist town. Would have loved to have looked inside the building, but I suspect the current staff would have thought I was some sort of ‘sicko’ posing a threat to today’s four year olds! Stephen no doubt remembers the countless times he flew down to Shute Harbour to collect a hapless tourist who had been stung by an Irukanji marine stinger. He used to say that the pain experienced from a sting, could fell a prize fighter, and resulted in several days recovery - no doubt bringing some people’s holidays to a sudden close. We stay in an apartment organised by me through Air BnB and have a splendiferous view over the same beach we looked out upon when we lived in the residence attached to the station. I believe taking a ‘walk back in time’ can be good and it can be bad, but mostly good in my book. Cairns: 3 nights We are really in familiar territory now, having lived and worked in Babinda (40 minutes south of Cairns) for three years from 1989-91. On our way past the turn off to the township of Babinda, we decide at the last minute to go for a drive through the township, which then turns into a walk down memory lane. We know nothing ever stays the same, but why also should it look so familiar and then not be? It’s a Sunday and so its not surprising that the place is deserted, but my guess is that due to the closure of the Mill sometime ago, the place is slowly slipping into obscurity. The only sign of financial success is the well maintained Babinda Hotel and the rise, like a phoenix, of another Hotel opposite but these we know, are funded by cyclone insurance payouts and not by customers! I guess they might come into their own with backpackers who assist with the sugar cane crush, soon to start, but with Covid, my guess it that this will be handled locally this year. All up the highway from Mackay onwards, we notice preparation for the harvest. Cane is crushed from June to December - we are glad that it hasn’t commenced as otherwise, we would have had to carefully check every cane train crossing of the highway before passing over it. We also stop for lunch at Paranella Park located at Mena Creek just outside of Innisfail. This spot is quite different from any other tourist attraction as its the restored and hand built ‘palace and gardens’ of one man - Jose Paranella in 1930 on the banks of Mena Creek. We have visited a couple of times before, but decide to have another look, just because it’s such a unique spot. Unfortunately the entrance price puts us off - its $50.00 per person. This is highway robbery, on the backroads. Over the years the place has been periodically buried in flood water and debris and has required extensive restoration but nevertheless, the admission price is frankly insulting. It relies on the passing trade of people who don’t know what they’re getting until they go through the gates. We vote with our feet and keep on the road to our destination. Our Hotel is located near the cruise ship terminal and a short walk from a reclaimed and very nicely displayed foreshore and mall lined with places to eat. This spot has been known to get a bit rowdy and unsociable as its also a favourite spot for homeless people to camp for the night, but the very evident police presence keep things shipshape and our walk back to the Hotel in the dark, feels safe. Our reliable Hybrid has a visit to Toyota today for her service prior to aiming her westward, young man and so we take the time to put our feet up and relax a bit. Tomorrow we will visit Yungaburra National Park - a lovely spot for a bush walk and sightsee. | Townsville: 1 night We only consider this spot a transit stopover, but it seems to be the way - as our apartment door opens onto a huge and roomy two-roomed apartment with self-contained kitchen. We take the opportunity to utilise the washing machine whilst here, spreading our clothes to dry on the balcony chairs in the warm, balmy air. We drive up Castle Hill amidst all the joggers and soldiers who are stationed in this garrison town. Atop the hill affords the most spectacular view of the beautiful waterways in this part of the world. Australian Air Force Cadets are established here as well as Lavarack Barracks which provides a key military centre and airfield which is shared with Townsville airport. This defence was first established in the late 1930’s and then further developed as part of Australia’s military preparations for the coming war. A fully operational squadron of fighter aircraft was in service fourteen months before Japan entered the war. The base still functions with many of its early buildings performing their original purpose nearly 70 years after the plans for the base were first drawn up. |