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| Bushy Parker Park 27 July 2010 |
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| Outside Laundromat at Townsville 26 July 2010 |
We were up and going early as it wasnt a very exciting capmsite - we are trying to find somewhere that we can stop for a couple of days and relax!!
We travelled through to Townsville and stopped to do some washing. Us girls were in charge of the washing at the laundromat while the boys went to Supercheap looking for bits and pieces that they needed for cars and caravans. Seeing as we were going to be there for a while we made ourselves at home and set our chairs out on the footpath outside the laundromat and put the kettle on - may as well be comfortable! Boris was a hit for some reason - everybody wanted to pat him and feed him - he didnt seem to mind!
You wouldnt believe it either, towards the end when we were drinking cuppas and eating cake i said to mum - we should put a sign up - cuppa and cake $2 and we could make some money back for what we paid at the laundry and she did and people were actually interested!!
We moved on and found a great little park about 45 ks north of Townsville called Bushy Parker Park - strange name but the guy they named it after was called Bushy Parker. There is a 48 hour limit for staying here, it's free and, there are cold outside showers and a great little creek for swimming in - ahh - we have finally found somewhere that we can stay and rest for a ccouple of days!
27 July 2010
Nice relaxing day today - swimming, bike riding, Ross did a few jobs on the caravan, etc.
We had a great casserole made on in the camp oven and then sat down to play cards afterwards only for it to start raining. We only had a couple of very little awnings up to sit under so we were having trouble staying dry!! It was fun though and the temperature is great at the moment with us being in shorts and T-shirts all day without it being too hot.
Mum and dad are definitely out of their comfort zone in the car and trailer rather than their usual motor home - they are being great sports about it though - I keep telling mum that she must be having a good time - Im sure I will convince her of it one day!
Paronella Park
29 July 2010
We decided to stay one more day as it is such a lovely place and headed off fairly early today. We had heard about Paronella Park- http://www.paronellapark.com.au/ - so we headed towards Cairns and there is a turnoff at Silkwood to go there.
We arrived at around noon and from the moment we pulled up there were ladies out the front making sure we had somewhere to park, offering to look after Boris while we were in the park and generally not being able to do enough for us. Once we got in there it was the tour guide was great, she knew heaps about the place and great to listen to. The place itself was just incredible and I cant even begin to imagine what a brilliant man Jose Paronella was. What a FANTASTIC place to visit!! I can't even describe it - it was like a fairytale - I would have loved to have seen it in its heyday. They are working on restoring it as much as the Heritage Listing will allow.
It had been raining quite a bit when we arrived and we could have stayed in their carpark for free overnight and used their amenities but mum and dad had found a quiet little park down the road that had been recommended by one of the locals so we camed there for the night - great little spot with a creek running through it for swimming, etc. There was a sign up saying no camping but the locals reckon people camp there all the time so we didn't take any notice of the sign.
Mum and dad had been to Paronella Park before so they didn't go again but we decided to take the night tour which was on offer too because we couldn't get enough of the place - it was a totally different experience again with lots of wildlife spotting including snakes, frogs, turtles, etc. We also went to the "bamboo forest" and turned out all our lights and it was almost like "Avatar" with all the mushrooms and fungus glowing in the dark - it was great! They also lit up the waterfall and the main buildings - we got some great photos.
We would definitely go there again, absolutely loved it.
30 July 2010
We headed off again to go to Cairns for some last-minute shopping - we thought we would only be there for a couple of hours - BIG mistake that was! Trying to navigate your way around an unfamiliar town (thank goodness for the GPS) - trying to find the shops you need and it is such a BUSY place - it was a total nightmare!! We didn't get out of there till about 4 pm after a whole day of driving around in circles trying to do what we needed to do in the last big town before heading up the Cape.
We originally were going to go to Mount Molloy campgrounds for the night - a great little freebie camping spot but by the time we got up the mountain it was getting late so we stayed at Mareeba Rodeo grounds - you wouldn't believe how many caravans, RVs, etc were there - very popular spot with $12 unpowered and $14 powered sites with a laundry and hot showers - it was great to have a hot shower at the end of the day and we did some washing and made some new friends with the people we were parked next to.
31 July 2010
Up early again because our neighbour was an early riser and decided to unzip and zip up his annexe several times - in the end we decided it must be time to get up!
We took Boris for a walk around the park and there were kangaroos everywhere! Boris of course thought that was great but we had to keep him on the leash so he didn't get in a fight with the big buck that was there looking after his harem - we had been warned by the caretakers that he was notorious for standing up to dogs. Saw some hot-air balloons - it was a beautiful morning.
By the time we got our washing dry and headed off it was 10 am and by the time we stopped to refuel, grab some shopping and water it was 12 so we headed for Mount Molloy which was only about an hour's drive away and set up camp there. We are going to be dropping the trailer at Cooktown at our next stop so we decided we had better make camp for a day or two and do some sorting out. Went for a walk down to the creek and Boris had a great time swimming. Cooked on the campfire again - chicken satay - big day!!
1 August 2010
Far out - what hit me??!! What a night! Started out with some of the locals deciding to come and visit the park after they had gotten themselves well and truly smashed at the pub and going out of their way to wake up the enitre campsite including banging on the sides of peoples vans etc. After that a stoned/drunk woman spent most of the night driving around the campsite alternating between wailing/singing/making a lot of noise. After she left at about 3 am I did manage to get some sleep but then at 6 am one of the neighbours, for some unknown reason, decided to start their 4x4 right next to our van and leave it running. After that there was a REALLY noisy bird in the tree above us. At about that time I gave up trying to get any sleep and got up at about 6:30.
I worked in the morning and the rest of the camp spent all morning organising the stuff that is going to be taken to the Cape and the stuff that is going to be left behind in the trailer - I helped after I finished work. We were all pretty buggered by the end of the day and really appreciated Happy Hour!
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