Day 57 – Friday 12 August 2016 – Townsville - Proserpine

Today should really have been Tewwwwwsday because I can't begin to tell you how much Ewwww it had in it.  With just over 260km to travel today we did a lot of our morning packup last night and so got away at a reasonable time.  As we were slowly driving out of the caravan park which had certainly thinned out a lot - and I mean a LOT - we noticed one caravan on an end site with a very elderly lady sitting under her caravan awning reading a book with her morning cuppa.  Unfortunately she was sitting in a short nighty and short dressing gown both of which clearly buttoned up at the front.  Now this wouldn't have been quite so bad if she hadn't been sitting with her legs wide apart.  But she was.  An you know that once you've seen something you just can't unsee it.  Ewwwww #1.

South of Townsville are the areas that are still burning cane fields prior to harvest and we saw a few significant plumes of smoke but unfortunately with the van on we just couldn't get close enough to see or photograph the process.

I did have to laugh at one point when Shane started lecturing a B-Double Truck sporting a "Road Train" sign.  I believe the words were "We've seen Road Trains - and you, Sir, are not a Road Train".  You tell em Shiney!

There have been a number of smaller towns that we've thought were interesting and would have liked to spend more time looking around.  But you have to be realistic when you have a limited timeframe.  Ayr would be one of those towns.  It was a quaint and tidy little town with lots of interesting shops, shady parks and just looked like it had a bit of a story to tell.  Maybe next time.

Along the way we spotted this dude walking along the highway.  We couldn't see what or why but hell if you are going to walk miles for a cause - who wouldn't do it in yellow tights and a brightly coloured cape!

And tell me these little cane trains aren't cute!  Next to a big train they look like wind up toys.

We located a van park around midday and got ourselves settled.  It was certainly a smaller/older park but we found ourselves in a secluded spot total shaded by trees and surrounded by all sort of bird life which unfortunately were a bit camera shy.  The only real down side to the site was that it faced that of a gentleman who was clearly caravanning alone, who spent most of the afternoon in his budgie-smugglers sunbaking on the grass out in front of his van.  Now look - I don't have a problem with budgie-smugglers or men sunbaking - and I'm all for "if you've got it - flaunt it".  He didn't have it and frankly aside from being Ewwwww #2 - the only thing missing were the sharp sticks to poke my eyes out.  

We unhooked the van and decided to take a drive to Airlie Beach which was only 25km away.  Apparently Kitty and Scheppi had other ideas about how we should spend the afternoon!  Sorry guys - plenty of time to sleep tonight!  

We passed right by the Proserpine Sugar Cane Refinery which is right in the middle of town.  Both stacks were certainly working overtime pushing out smoke and it continued into the night.  

On the way we happened to stumble across a Sugar Cane harvest in progress and sat in the car watching and taking photos.  I couldn't help but think the harvester reminded me of something out of a Mad Max movie.  Remembering back to our visit to the Sugar Cane Museum, we watched as the harvester moved up and down the rows, getting closer to the end of that particular crop while huge birds circled in the air just above the activity.  They knew exactly what they were doing and as we watched literally dozens of huge rats, fleeing the harvesting machine, ran out from the crop and the birds swooped in to pick them up.  The closer the harvester got to the end of the rows, the more rats came out.  On the last pass, the harvester obviously got a snake because half of it flew in the air and plopped on the ground.  Ewwwwww #3.

Yes.... that is a rat

Going...

Going...

Gone

Entertainment over we continued on to Airlie Beach and further around to a very pretty spot in Shute Harbour.  Airlie Beach, although quite touristy, was very interesting and made the most of its harbour views.  Definitely somewhere to visit again in the future.

We headed back to camp to get settled for the night and hopefully enjoy a bit of a sleep in as our trip tomorrow is relatively short.  Some of our neighbours obviously had other ideas as they drank, chatted and laughed until well after 11.30pm.  In the end it was just easier to turn on the air conditioner to drown out the sound.