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Published: August 10th 2012
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Pattie prevails
41 points at Ayr From Townsville, we moved 100km south to Ayr, the heart of the Burdekin Shire. This was at the suggestion of Terry Franzmann (See previous blog) to play at a Veterans’ Golf Tournament. We played 36 holes, 18 on each of Monday and Tuesday. We weren’t really eligible, as we don’t have Australian golf handicaps, but the club was very generous to let us play. 36 holes of golf, a barbeque lunch and a dinner for $50 each seemed good value to Don. We both had an average day on Monday, but on Tuesday, Pattie played a blinder. She won the day and won an iron! (Steam iron). She’s got bragging rights in the golf now, especially as she won 4 golf balls too, and Don left empty-handed. Ayr Golf Club is a lovely (flat) 18 hole golf course, with grass greens, and is laid out within a mango farm. Would be lovely to play in November!
We were camped in Ayr for 3 nights, and each night “Burdekin snow” fell. Every morning the car and caravan were covered in large black smuts. Luckily there was little or no dew, so they didn’t stick. They come from the practice of burning
Campsite
Just past Airlie Beach - cycle to town the cut canefields. Further north, they harvest the whole cane and use the leaves, etc to generate electricity, but here they burn the trash. As a result every night, it snows!
Then south again to an old favourite – Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays. Gosh, how Airlie Beach and Proserpine have grown over the past few years. However, it seems to have been overdone, as there are lots of empty apartments around the place.
We went for a curious look at Laguna Quays, a resort about 30km south of Proserpine. We had stayed there twice before; the first time the golf course was probably the best in Australia, then later when it was in a bad state. Now it has closed and looks really bad. Its not often you can visit a complete failure, they must have lost millions! Eerie to look through abandoned rooms and see the roof with large holes, ceilings fallen in, but pictures still on the walls, and a piano in the reception area. Overgrown everywhere, but the course is still being mowed. They’ve lost the greens and bunkers, but it wouldn’t take a lot to get the golf course going again. So sad.
Laguna Quays
Derelict anjd decaying A stay in Airlie Beach would not be complete without a trip to Whitehaven Beach. We took a day out on a tour boat which included lunch and a swim on Whitehaven and a snorkel at Butterfly. Lovely day, perfect weather, but the water is a bit chilly. Airlie Beach has a very long waterfront boardwalk which runs for about 6km along the foreshore; it’s great to cycle too.
After Airlie, we moved rapidly south, broken by a one night stop at Carmila. There is a lovely free camp right on the beach about 10km from the highway. Then on to Yeppoon, on the coast fro Rockhampton. We’ve been here twice before, too and its also grown lots since our last visit. We played the Resort Course at Capricorn, and Pattie’s skill and confidence left her totally. Here got a Gas Certificate and a Road Safety Certificate for the caravan, which is needed to sell a vehicle. The car failed as it has developed a small oil leak, which isn’t serious, but has to be fixed, so we’ll do both a bit further south as we hadn’t the time in Yeppoon.
1770. What’s this? Yes, it’s a
Laguna Quays 2
From resort back to jungle date and a number, but in Queensland its also the name of a town. Just had to see it! It was named Round Hill by Captain Cook in 1770, but in 1970, the town decided to rename it. Good move. It is the second place in Australia that he set foot on. The authorities don’t like the name of a town being a number. On the road in, we saw three roadside signs: 1770, Seventeen Seventy, and Town of 1770.
It’s a very small settlement surrounded by land parks and marine reserves, very laid back, and with a fabulous campground right on the beach. Their beachfront sites each have their own fireplace. (We could only get one back). We went for a sunset cruise on a Larc, an 8 tonne amphibious vehicle, an elephantine Sealegs. (Lighter Amphibious, Resupply, Cargo - designed to land cargo on surf beaches). Could easily stay here longer.
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D+P
10 August 2012
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Craig
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An iron!
Great to hear that woman obviously need an iron Pattie! You must have cracked up. Was the men's prize a chainsaw?