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Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Townsville
June 18th 2015
Published: June 18th 2015
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 Great Keppel Island  Great Keppel Island Great Keppel Island

We were promised great sunsets here, but the lack of cloud cover did not help.
Our camp at Lake Proserpine was in fact the Lions Camp, which hosted school camp groups, with a section at the back for caravans and tents. Although it is 20 kms from Proserpine, it did not look good on entry with every visible window covered in security mesh, however the section at the back could not be seen from the road (which really only serviced the camp and the administrators at the dam), so concerns about security quickly disappeared. There was reticulated water, power and an ablution block for travellers, and you cannot ask for much more than that at a cost of $25 per night. We were 1 of 4 caravans to make use of the facility although there were approx 30 sites available, and that meant that we had plenty of room to ourselves. We haven’t spoken about our satellite TV lately, but the further North we go, the harder it is to get a good quality signal; the issue is that we are getting more underneath the satellite and the beam is therefore narrower and more difficult to lock onto. We failed on the first night, partly because Geoff got sick of standing in the rain (and that
What leaves a black jetstream?What leaves a black jetstream?What leaves a black jetstream?

En-route to Lotus Creek, we spotted this jet-stream. the correct guess will get a mention in the next blog - who could resist that?
in itself with the wind and heavy cloud can be the cause of a weak signal) for only average results on his signal meter – got signal, but not of good enough quality to sustain a picture worth looking at. I raise that because our dish was still up when another vanner came across to ask Geoff for help with his set-up (yes, blind leading the blind does come to mind). Everyone’s equipment is different and after failing to get any better response with the owner’s signal finder Geoff put his own on the line and almost instantly got a hit stronger than anything he had on our own set-up! Needless to say the owner was thrilled to be able to watch the footy. Encourage by this success, we tried again and it rained again the next day and did get a signal we could watch. We used the time here to good advantage, checking out a couple of potential sites on the beach. Well the first was not really even close to the beach in the sense of stepping out of the van onto the beach, but a lot closer than were have been for some time.

In
Seaforth Sunday MarketsSeaforth Sunday MarketsSeaforth Sunday Markets

Marg the super seller...
the end, we did not find anything really suitable and there is a bit of a shortage of good beach side free camps in the immediate vicinity. The fact that it was raining on and off did not do much for our enthusiasm either. So the next stop was a cheap and cheerful caravan park that we had always said we would try the next time we were in Bowen. Apart from the town being painted in murals and being the site for Darwin in Baz Lurhmann’s film Australia it also has some other quirks. Geoff could not understand why anyone would call a motel Arrow as we were heading into town, but there it was “Bowen Arrow”! We spent a couple of days at the caravan park, and listened to all the Victorians who had come up for their regular 6 mth holiday complain about the rain! I don’t think they knew what they were missing back home. We got chatting to a neighbour who had just returned from a day trip to a place called Collinsville some 85 kms inland. When asked about it she pondered for a moment and replied “don’t bother”. Now Collinsville has a big
 Camp Kanga - Proserpine camp friends Camp Kanga - Proserpine camp friends Camp Kanga - Proserpine camp friends

The back of the van is less than 2 mts away.
write up in the local tourist booklet as a place to see, so despite the advice we headed off the next day. Our opinion – don’t bother! Although the area was opened up for grazing in the mid 1800’s, coal was found and eventually mined in 1919. The town that was established in 1922 for that purpose, and reflects the very tough business that is coal mining. The mine, sadly, was the site of a disaster in 1952 when seven men were killed after an explosion and a pocket of Co2 gas (known as black damp) swept through their work area.

The time in Bowen gave us the opportunity to cook a few meals for the freezer, do loads of washing (how exciting is this life?), and Geoff got the oil in the car changed. Speaking of the car, here are some interesting figures for those who are interested: total distance travelled – 7979 kms, total fuel consumed – 1200 lts, total/ave. Lts/100 kms – 15, ave. cost of fuel $1.31/lt. Wow, how exciting is that?

Next stop, mainly due to a lack of appealing free camps is a place some 45 kms North of Townsville. We would
Camp friends Camp friends Camp friends

Another prize is up for grabs if you can spot the second wallaby.
have liked to have stopped before Townsville, but there was nothing in our bible, and as Bowen to Townsville is not far we ended up looking at camps on the north side. The first had a good recommendation in the bible, but was packed. There was barely enough room to get an awning out, so we moved on to the next site which turned out to be full and completely unsatisfactory for our large van. So we ended up at a place called Toomulla Beach. It is definitely a contender for the sandfly capital of Qld., and you will have already guessed that Geoff has been almost totally devoured by the little buggers. Yes, he has tried Bushman’s and Johnsons insect repellent, sometimes both together, mozzie coils and sandalwood incense sticks and ended up with a lather of anti itch cream on when going to bed, but they still get him. He stoically says he is attracting them away from everyone else here! Meanwhile Marg is being overcome with mozzie coils and anti sand fly sticks being lit a few feet away from here.

We have to return to Townsville for a day or 2 as we have experienced some issues with the gas appliances – the water heater and the fridge that are not starting up (restarting) properly – or at all sometimes . If that happens with the fridge at night, which it does, then we could potentially lose our frozen meals. Geoff could cope with that, but not with a cold shower in the morning! Meanwhile Marg has been welcoming cold showers and today Geoff went and got a bucket of cold water from a tap and Marg tipped it over herself. It is 6.30 at night and 27 in the van. Not to Marg’s liking at all.

The gas repairs were extremely expensive and a story in their own right, but we have moved on and at least the fridge is now fixed. Sorry about the scarcity of interesting photos in this blog, but there has not been a great deal to see so I have sneaked in a couple of oldies...

Heading West now - the sand flies beat is

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18th June 2015

Interesting Figures
Keep up the fuel consumption data please. Most informative. Ron would like you to also log the tyre pressures and perhaps graph the tyre pressures versus steady fuel consumption on the flat. Also if you could at some stage swap the air in the tyres with nitrogen which is supposed to help tyre life and fuel consumption. Were the fuel consumption figures obtained with the aircon on or off? There was a Japanese research paper (Watanabe et al in 2003) that outlined possible fuel economy savings of up to 0.0000274% if the dashboard lighting is dimmed by 50% provided the stereo volume is also kept below 86dB(A). The effect of the radio aerial on the aerodynamic drag would also be interesting? In the next blog can we also get the oil consumption figures please. Seriously this is a great blog; we love keeping up with your adventures and are enjoying the wry humour - keep it up guys!
19th June 2015

Interesting figures
I am going to use your response in the next blog - do you want to be cited?
21st June 2015

Cite all you like!

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