Coast to Tablelands

Saturday, 12th March -- On the road again
Just a short journey today to stay with the lovely Pat at Toomulla Beach, just 40kms north of Townsville.
An easy drive along the Bruce Highway with a couple of lovely small towns between Bowen and Townsville.  There was a lot of water alongside the highway and most of the creeks were in full flow after the heavy rains in this area over the last two weeks. This is an area that produces mainly mangoes, bananas, and sugar cane and there are acres and acres of both along the highway. There are also coffee and tea plantations here.

Coffee plantation

The two main towns we pass through are Home Hill and Ayr. The former is a very small community and this may be reflected in the way the streets are named. There are no street names as such, but each street is individually numbered. I guess with only 20 odd streets giving them a number rather than a name makes it easy to find your way home from the pub!

Crossing the mighty Burdekin river at Ayr

After crossing the mighty Burdekin river we took the by-pass around the town centre of Ayr. Taking this route one can clearly see the influence of Italian immigrants in this region - with even further evidence in the local cemetery where there are magnificent Italian mausoleums marking the resting places of many of those hard working and brave men and women who settled this area so far from their homelands. Many homes in this small town and surrounding region reflect an Italianate style building with arches and courtyards.

Driving northwards the highway now bypasses the main central area of Townsville and we were amazed at the growth and ongoing development we saw on the outskirts of the city. It is 30 years since we lived in this area and it is certainly no longer the small coastal town it was back then!

Hostess Pat at Toomulla

Rain clouds at Toomulla

Driftwood at Toomulla

Arriving at Toomulla around lunch time we found it still very hot and extremely humid even though the rain had recently passed through. After our unplanned extended stay at 'Dylisglen' and the stay at Bowen, our time with the lovely Pat was to be very short with only an overnight stop. So we made the most of our time and after a delicious lunch we walked down to the beach before going exploring in 'Big Red'.  As 'Big Red' has only seating for two our hostess sat in the "tray" giving the OWO directions along some great tracks to a wonderful beach and river area.

Beach fun in Big Red

Muddy tracks to beach

Preparing Big Red

Pat's favourite river spot

We certainly had a fun time driving along the muddy tracks to the beach. Oh my!! What fun we had driving along the beach with the cool sea breeze blowing through the open vehicle. We spotted some beach stone curlews and sandpipers in the shallow water and passed a couple of other vehicles enjoying the same adventure as we were. On the return trip our hostess guided us to a beautiful riverside spot with a cool swimming hole before travelling back along the muddy track. What a wonderful fun afternoon we had.

Beautiful swimming hole on the river

Sunday, 13th March -- From coast to Tablelands -- Toomulla Beach to Millaa Millaa
Today we must say farewell to our lovely hostess and continue our travels north. After a lovely breakfast our hostess took us on a short tour of the local area. We visited Balgal Beach, Mystic Sands, and Rollingstone. Lots of lovely "free" camping spots but the mozzies were horrendous and drove us back to the car very quickly.
Our farewells said, and a promise to return for a longer stay, we left the humidity of Toomulla and headed for the cooler climes of the Atherton Tablelands.

Our travels today took us through many small coastal towns including Tully (the wettest town in Australia), Ingham, and Cardwell. All these communities were severely ravaged by cyclone Yasi in 2011, particularly Cardwell which is built along the ocean front. It was wonderful to see the work that has been done to restore the Cardwell foreshore after such devastation.

Cyclone Yasi damage

Cardwell foreshore

Cardwell jetty

First settlers cairn in Cardwell

Cardwell history

More history

We enjoyed lunch here and explored the 'new' foreshore before continuing north towards Innisfail, where we left the Bruce Highway and started the long haul up the range to the cooler climes of Millaa Millaa.

Cardwell's symbol was destroyed by Yasi

ANZAC Memorial at Cardwell

Hinchinbrook Island can be seen from Cardwell

MILLAA MILLA --- This 'sleepy' little village is located at the southern end of the Tablelands and is known as the 'village in the mists', and is home to the elusive Lumholtz tree kangaroo. The town is nestled amongst lush, emerald green hills and is surrounded by rich dairy pastures, wonderful rainforests, and magnificent waterfalls. Throw in a few historic mining towns and sumptuous gourmet produce, and these RRs are in for some wonderful hours of exploring during their three days at Millaa Millaa.