Mission Beach

We spent the next two weeks at Mission Beach (2.5 hours North of Townsville) and had a wonderful time.   A lovely little beach side town, a really great spot and one of our favourites so far.  My brother has been working here and my sister flew in from the Gold Coast so we all could catch up.  We stayed at the council run caravan park, right on the beach, power and water $20 a night.  Amenities were old but was a great spot with a view of the ocean from the front of your van, the caravan park across the road would have cost us $50plus per night. 
 Mission Beach was quite badly affected by cyclone Yasi, they are still doing repairs on some houses.  Lots of builders etc in town.  The council build emergency housing where we were staying for all those people who lost houses in the cyclone.  The town itself is all tidy and fixed up so don't stay away if your thinking of coming this way, its a truly beautiful spot and tourism has markedly slowed down.  Mission Beach overlooks Dunk Island, a really popular resort destination.  Unfortunately cyclone Yasi destroyed it and it is up for sale, but sounds doubtful if it will be rebuilt as it is the second time a cyclone has damaged it.  Such a pity, apparently it used to be lovely.

Dunk Island

My brother James is a kayaker and was organising a trip out to the islands off Gardners beach. Mark and my sis Megan got to go with him, but alas I opted to stay home with the kids.  My choice, just didn't think I was up to sitting in a kayak for hours paddling in the ocean when I have only kayaked a couple of times.  They went with James friends Jarah and Ruth who were here on their honeymoon.  They packed their sea kayaks up and headed to the Barnards to stay the night.  Sounds like they had a wonderful time, hard work though! 

Megan and Mark shared a double Kayak, not sure who was boss!

James 'cheating' with his sail.

The team back after their adventures, I was nice and greeted them with a cold beer!

Mark had read about Paronella Park, and since we were in the area we decided to go for a look.  It has been voted the number one thing to do in Queensland, so we had high expectations.  It was a gorgeous garden and old castle buildings that were built by a man called Jose' Paronella back in the 1930's.  He was one of those crazy hard working people who built it all himself, tennis courts, pool, cinema, ballroom and all.  We went on a guide a tour around the grounds with a lovely local girl, it was very informative.  We even got to go into a tunnel that had these tiny (10cm) micro bats.  The kids had fun playing with the water fountain, feeding the fish and the turtles and even an eel.  Its a great place to stroll around on a hot day.  Our only slight negative was the cost.  If you are in the area with your van, your best to stay there at the park, just book ahead.  The reason being as part of your entry fee you get a free nights at the van park and a yearly pass to the park.  We only wanted to go for the day, but it was all the same price, we felt that $108 was a lot for a family of four.  We're hoping to go back before we leave this area of QLD and will use our free night accommodation and go see the park at night.

Feeding the fish and turtles

After we left Paronella Park we headed to Josephine Falls.  A really beautiful spot, about half an hour from Paronella Park.  You park in the car park then its probably a ten minute walk in to this water fall and rock pool.  There were a few people swimming and sliding down the rocks which looked heaps of fun.  We hadn't taken our bathers so opted to have a splash in the water and a drink instead. A definite great spot on a hot day, just watch out for the March flies at the moment. Hopefully we'll get back here so we can try the rock slide out one day!

About 40 minutes from Mission Beach is the Tully River.  This is where James has been working as a rafting guide.  You can go up there at one pm each day and see lots of rafts going down the river.  It looks like it would be a lot of fun and a great experience.  There is a camp ground and swimming areas up here that would be a nice spot, probably not this month, as the march flies were horrendous and they kept attacking us especially me, I'm talking 15 or more at once.  And of course we didn't have insect repellent, but luckily this nice man came over and gave us some of his.  Then when we got home Mark found the repellent in the back of the car, hmmm you can imagine how impressed I was!! They only stay around for a month or so then its safe to venture back up there.

So far in this trip we have lived off my long service leave pay and our savings but we have started getting low in money, so after five months on the road we have decided to stop for a while and work.  This had been our plan all along but it seems to have come around quick.  Mark has a job in Townsville with Workforce Express, working with Roadtek, QLD government.  So he left the kids, the caravan and me in Mission Beach and started work for the week. 

Now I should firstly say that we missed Mark and felt really bad that he was back working in the heat, but we had an awesome week hanging out at the beach.  We had no car so we couldn't go far.  From where we are staying you can walk to the shops and restaurants.  We found a great cafe on the beach that hires kayaks and paddle boards.  So we spent the week at the beach swimming, paddling and basically having fun.  It was fabulous to be able to spend so much time with my siblings, we don't always get much time to do this as we live in different parts of Australia.

It always seems when Marks not around unexpected things happen.  There we were cooking dinner when all of the lights went out when I turned the fan on.  Oh crap it was dark, we fished around and found torches but had no idea what was wrong.  We still had power to the van, power points etc working but no lights.  I was worried about electricity still running to the van and didn't want to get shocked.  I called Mark who tried to give me suggestions over the phone but  I had no clue.  Luckily we had met a lovely couple (Darryl and Megan) and Darryl said it was the battery.  We ended up deciding to have dinner and deal with it in the day light the next day.  This was after we had changed power leads, power points and fuses etc.  I was washing the dishes when I had a brain wave (they happen occasionally!)  and I remembered some switches we had missed, low and behold I found that one of them had been knocked and it was the power point for the battery!!!  After that our battery charged nicely and we were all good!  Then the sink blocked and wouldn't drain at all.  Now I had seen Mark fix this before but it was one of those jobs I left for him, aren't I nice.  I found the problem but couldn't get it undone.  Luckily James came over and wrenched it apart for me.  What a disgusting job it was, yuck!  I was very proud to think I fixed both problems with Mark away, but then realised I had sorted out both problems but another bloke had to fix them for me!  Oh well..... :)

The kids and I were sitting on the beach one day when we saw another child looking at something in on the waters edge. We went to investigate and found it was a turtle that had died.  Apparently it had washed up earlier alive but had died before the wild life rescuers came.  Our kids were fascinated, the other children were touching it and lifting it up, we had our very own mini science lesson on the beach that day.

Living in a place like Tassie we are used to swimming in the cold water.  It feels completely foreign to be swimming in the warm ocean.  We made the most of it and swam a few times a day.  Its the first time this trip where we have really stopped and had a beach holiday.  One day Mark, the kids and I were wading out through the waves and I was saying how I spoke to a lady seen a reef shark near the beach, when I spotted a stingray.  I wasn't fazed, it was swimming away from us, I pointed it out to Mark when it seemed to change direction and get a bit close to Jake.  We grabbed him and stood still thinking it would just swim away but it didn't it came right up to us and swam up and over Marks feet.  We all screamed, Mark the worst and headed to shore.  Once we got over the fright we jumped back in the water but kept a watchful eye out.  We think maybe someone has been feeding the ray as it seemed very inquisitive for a wild animal.
As you lay on the sand on Mission Beach you can watch the sky divers land.  They put a red flag up on the beach as a guide and away they go.  They did lots of jumps each day.  I really loved laying on the beach watching them swing down to land.  My sis tried to convince me it was something I should do but it wasn't going to happen.  Maybe before I had kids I might have done it but now I wouldn't want to risk it.  I should add that the day we arrived a skydiver got into trouble and died near the highway, we didn't see it but what an awful thing to happen.
Mission Beach is a great little place and we definitely hope to come back again soon.  We had a wonderful time and meet some great people.  Was pretty sad to say goodbye to my siblings though, hopefully we will see them again soon.  Now we're off back to Townsville for the next three months to earn some kanga.  The kids are enrolled in school and I'll have to find a job.  Oh gosh it sounds like the real world again!!!  Fear not we will be back on the road again soon.

Townsville and Magnetic Island

We left Airlie Beach bright and early to get to Townsville in good time to set up and collect my parents from the Airport.  We're staying at the Rowes Bay caravan park.  It's a great spot by the beach, but a bit of a pain to get a reservation, as you can't book ahead, you just call the morning your going to arrive and hope they have a spot!  Lucky for us we were able to get a spot.  It was fabulous to see Mum and Dad.  We surprised them at the airport with a nice hand made welcome poster (thanks Charlotte) and lots of hugs and smiles.  We planned to spend the next five days relaxing, hanging out and exploring Townsville before we head to Magnetic Island on Sunday.

 Our fabulous friends from home had sent letters and gifts for the kids with Mum and Dad.  The kids were so pleased to get mail, they don't tend to get it very often.  Thanks guys it was a wonderful surprise for the kids.

We went for quite a few walks along the fore shore at Rowes Bay.  Lots to look at, mosaic sculptures and pirate ship playground to name a few.

Wrestling a giant croc!

We went for a bike ride and walk to the Strand which is this really great area on the waterfront at Townsville.  They have a rock pool, water park, lots of bike tracks and play areas, great for kids.  We were lucky enough to be there when this wonderful art display was on.  All these local artist had their work displayed all along the beach and in the parklands.  It was such a wonderful and interesting way to view the pieces.

They even had a workshop where the kids could make their own metal sculpture, all free, was awesome.

One of our favourite spots along the Strand in Townsville is the Rock pool.  It a huge man made pool filled from the ocean.  Was so much fun swimming and jumping of the dock.  We had a BBQ and layed in the sun, very relaxing!

Mum and Dad finding the holiday challenging!

The caravan park has a nice little pool, that the kids and adults loved.  Dad took to having a morning swim, but I'm not sure it really was warm enough at that time of the day!

Overlooking Townsville is Castle Hill, a huge weird dirty rock looking mountain!  Its an isolated pink granite monolith, a fancy name for a big rock!  With an excellent view and viewing platforms.  It was fabulous to stand up their and look at all the places we had been.  A definite must if your ever in Townsville.

 As part of our holiday with my parents we decided to spend three nights on Magnetic Island (or Maggie, as the locals say).  It was named by James Cook because apparently his compass was affected when he went past the island, 'Magnetic" effect. Magnetic island is a short twenty minute ferry ride from Townsville and we took our car.  We stayed in a nice shack at Horse Shoe bay, it even had a spa bath, but was far too cold to use!  Maggie Island is really well set up for holiday makers.  Lots to see and do, and a bus service that runs all day to all the main places.  Handy when we all couldn't fit in our cruiser.  First stop at Maggie Island was the local markets, small but had a lot of nice little things.

What to buy???

We even had time for a game of Monopoly, which we all loved, it's a game I've been playing since I was a little kid on my family holidays.  Was wonderful to share this with my kids, bought back lots of fun memories of old family holidays.  Especially when Dad got annoyed that we all ganged up and tried to beat him, but he won in the end!

We spent a lovely morning swimming and playing at Alma beach.  I even had a go at snorkeling which I haven't tried in years, with some encouragement from Dad, thanks.  Was pretty cool, saw some pretty coral and lots of little fish swimming by.  The kids swam and made sandcastles, then we had a picnic lunch.  I should mention that Mark wasn't here that day, he was busy doing his diving, more about that later.

We went for a drive around the island and ended up at Picnic Bay, a nice older shack area.  Has an awesome jetty but unfortunately cyclone Yasi all but destroyed it.  You're not allowed on it anymore but thankfully they have just received a grant to have it all rebuilt, for millions apparently.

Charlotte and Grumpy enjoying the view of the beach.

Since we started this trip Mark has been keen as to go scuba diving.   He did his course 12 years ago but hasn't done any diving since.  The local dive school on Magnetic Island were great.  He did a day long refresher course then did three dives with them, you can imagine how happy and excited he was.  Needless to say Mark had an amazing time on Magnetic Island.

We all had a try at snorkeling and had heaps of fun.

Horse Shoe Bay beach

We were pretty lucky to have my parents visit, Mark and I even got an arvo/evening off.  We went for a drive around the island.  Swam and snorkeled at the beach then went and had a lovely Mexican dinner with a few cocktails.  Was a wonderful day, thanks mum and dad.

Nice sunset over Horseshoe Bay while we had dinner

On our last day on Maggie Island we decided to try some water sports.  Mum, dad, Mark, the kids and I all hired kayaks and headed out for a paddle.  Was pretty wonderful, once I got the hang of it!  We paddle over to a beach and saw some turtles in the water, had a swim then paddle back in amongst the moored yachts.  All was good until dad said he and Jake saw a sea snake, it swam right past them.  Now I know there are creatures in the ocean, but I prefer to not know or think about them!

Mark and I even hired a jet ski.  Must to Jake's disgust he wasn't allowed on it.  Apparently you have to be eight, we had a few tears over this but I promised him I would take him on his 8th birthday!  I have never been on a jet ski and am not so sure I'll go back on one.  I love fast speed boats but the jet ski just felt a little unsafe.  If you went slow it was boring but when you went fast you glided over the water but felt like you could slip over at any minute.  Maybe I'll have to give it another go another time.

Maggie island was a pretty great little place we had a wonderful fun and relaxing time there.  Will definitely head back for another visit soon,.

We had one night with Mum and Dad back in Townsville before they flew home.  We went to The Brewery for a few drinks then out to a Thai restaurant for tea.  The kids said goodbye to Gran and grumps that night as they flew out early the next day.  I got up and took them to the airport, was sad to see them go.  We miss them, but will definitely see them again soon.  One of the hardest parts of this trip is that we always seem to be saying goodbye to people.