Day 12. Another lovely day dawned in Townsville as we packed up and headed north through Ingham and Tully to Mission Beach. We drove into some misty drizzle as we drove into Mission Beach but we saw our first cassowary by the side of the road. How lucky was that! Nowhere to stop and take a photo unfortunately. Our CP is lovely and right on Wongaling Beach opposite Dunk Island. The beach is part of Mission/South Mission Beach, which together stretch for a few ki...

Day 11. Today RM and I went our separate ways, me off with Imogen and the grand kids to Magnetic Island and RM and Elle stayed in Townsville for a bit of swimming and shopping. Our day on Magnetic Island was most enjoyable. It is a lovely place with idyllic beaches and national park. The grand kids swam, we had fish and chips for lunch and two ferry rides to boot! The only drawback turned out to be the public bus, billed as a relaxed way to see the Island. It tur...

Day 10. Quiet start to today with some housework, jawboning with the neighbours, Sunday type breakfast. Then off to The Strand for lunch with the Selfies and the afternoon spent moving slowly from the water playground to the beach to sundry other playgrounds. Our progress was peppered with inquiries as to Elle's background. We assured about 500 people that she was a blond kelpy, and not a dingo. About 1% believed us! She plowed on regardless, tangling us up in he...

Day 9. Arrived in Townsville mid morning and all set up by midday. It is Show Day here and a public holiday. Drove down past the Showground to The Strand, the jewel in the cityscape of Townsville. The foreshore consists of a lovely park that looks out to Magnetic Island. There is a substantial marina and the terminal for the ferry to Magnetic Island. Some lovely old buildings around this area that will need further inspection. Then we drove around to the next bea...

Day 8. Easy drive up the last of the Gregory Development Road and onto the Flinders Highway at Charters Tower. Stopped for lunch by the Burdekin River where we watched some canoeists going through some small rapids. A lot of campers around there so we motored on to Reid River, just short of Townsville. Some nice countryside as we came towards the coast. We spent the drive arguing the toss about the workings or otherwise of the entail causing problems for the folk...