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Published: August 15th 2009
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Rod and the kids had a swim in the heated pool at Proserpine, right next to the caravan park, while I uploaded the travelblogs and recharged the computer at the camp kitchen. Drove out to Dingo Beach, a little secluded beach town with its own stinger net for swimming in the summer. On the way to Airlie Beach, we drove through Cannonvale, well it is positively huge compared to Proserpine. It has 2 shopping complexes and it’s own industrial area, as well as a beach. At Airlie Beach we found a park for the car and camper (no easy feat) and wandered around the shops. Kate & I got a headband each, Kate a vase and Alex his hatpin.
Down towards Mackay and turned off at Marian, through Finch Hatton (a cute little town) to Eungella. Stayed at a self registering campsite. Cooked up the rest of the sausages for tea, with mud cake as dessert. Bonus is there are no mozzies here and a beautiful view of the valley. Got up early to see the sunrise over the valley. Everything was damp from overnight. Drove out towards the Eungella Dam and stopped at the sky window - beautiful view.
Went past Credition Hall loop through rainforest to open fields with cattle farms and back into rainforest, then open fields. Back to the main road to the dam and it was very dry. Arrived at the dam about 9.30am and decided to have an easy day and set up camp. Only $15 for a family. Relaxed all day, sat in the sun, kids did some schoolwork, Alex a swim (the rest of us chickened out) and I had a lovely foot massage with moisturiser from Kate, that continued to my legs and my back. In the afternoon, we sat in the sun, played cards and ludo. Rod & Kate cooked tea whilst Alex lit the fire.
On the way out we stopped at Broken River to see if we could spot any platypus. We were lucky, spotted a couple and plenty of turtles. The kids were bored with the waiting, especially quietly, but were rapt when they got to see the platypuses and turtles in the river.
Into Mackay and looked around the Northern Beaches & town. Lots of industrial growth going on. Got our groceries which included cheese & bacon rolls for lunch with mini mud cakes.
So much cheaper than KFC or McDonalds! We then continued down the coast, past the “Rosella” store, past Sarina to Carmila Beach - a free camp. Thick dirty sand and smelly toilets. In the morning, we drove further and found many more camps where we could have stopped had we known, but no improvement in the toilet situation. There is a huge variance in the tides. The low tide was probably 250-300m from the foreshore. The kids decided to walk to the water while we were packing up - convenient!
Drove into Rockhampton and looked around, not a lot to see other than historical buildings - not the kids cup of tea. We decided to drive out to Water Park Creek in Byfield National Park to camp, so we can do the coastal road through Yeppoon tomorrow. Well there are some very tame kookaburras and bush turkeys that roamed through our campsite - as close as 30cms from our feet (if you are quiet and sit still). Whilst the kids were in the toilet even a bandicoot came up sniffed around and hid under my chair until the kids came back and they saw him for a minute before
he scampered.
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