Townsville & Mission Beach QLD (May - 2 & 3 days)

Townsville was a bit of a mixed bag in all. We stayed in a very average caravan park as the ‘recommended’ one was booked out until September! We ended up alongside a series of permanent residents at the ‘shady’ end of the park. One grumpy old man came and told us to pipe it down at 6.30pm as he was trying to sleep! The children were being fantastic at the time and Annabelle was simply having a not-so-loud tap on the bongos.

The highlights of Townsville did include a great water playground for the kids, the amazing ‘Castle Hill’ (massive rock formation) that boasts spectacular views of the town and a visit to Reef HQ – national education centre for the Great Barrier Reef. This is a specialist aquarium really, but is was great to see and learn more about the reef and the kids really enjoyed it.

Our unplanned lunch stop on route to Mission Beach found us at a beautiful spot (Jourama Falls) where the children fed turtles in the water and Tim trekked in to an impressive boulder-lined creek and waterfall. This experience reminded us that this is what this trip is all about – experiencing these delights of nature as a family and discovering these magical spots along the way. It is so thrilling to be enjoying these wonders on an almost daily basis. Places that we may not otherwise ever visit. This trip truly is a once in a lifetime!

Mission Beach was quite beautiful and quiet. It was unfortunately rather wet, but this turned out to be quite good for walking through spectacular rainforest areas. We went on some lovely rainforest walks in search of the elusive Cassowary, a large flightless bird native to north-east Queensland. (Mission Beach happens to host a fair number of them). We searched by foot and car, sure that we would see one with ease, as signs to take care of Cassowaries on the roads were posted every kilometre or so! The closest we came was a pile of Cassowary poo! It turns out that they really are a protected species and there is only approx 50 adults dwelling in the Mission Beach area. After reasonable efforts hunting for a glimpse of one we felt quite cheesed when the grey nomads across from us (who had barely set foot off their annex pad), reported sighting one from the comfort of their RV, on the side of the road as they arrived in town!

We certainly noticed the change from the dry tropics of Townville to the arrival of the wet tropics in Mission Beach. Its quite lush up here, more humid and the rainforests are much denser and truly tropical in feel.

Kate has been doing remarkably well on the bug front, coping exceptionally with leeches in the rainforest, flying insects in the van, frogs in the shower etc. Tim has developed quite a fetish for maps of every kind and he now loves visiting the Tourist Information Centres to stock up! Georgie is talking a little more and looks slightly closer towards taking her first steps. Hannah keeps asking "When are we going around Australia?" Harrison recently bought some binnoculars that remain glued to his head wanting to look at everything up close. Annabelle continues to be very helpful with Georgia and is capturing many special moments with her interest in photography. The kids continue to soak up the experience and are getting on very well.

Heading north tomorrow. Destination still undecided! (How unplanned, lovely and free!)