Day 8 – Townsville

 
We went back to The Strand today to take Ryan to the Water Park – it’s closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so we had to wait for our last day to try it out.

It’s basically a large playground covered in sprinklers with a giant bucket on top that fills up with water and then empties over the top of the playground every 90 seconds or so:





Ryan had an absolute ball, so much so that we went back in the afternoon to play some more!!



Quiz Question – Which major department store has just announced that they are opening in Townsville?

Accommodation – Woodlands Holiday Park (Big 4 Caravan Park)
 

Day 7 – Townsville

 
We had a great day today having spent the morning at the Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary. They have lots of animals there including:

· Koalas, Kangaroos, Sugar Gliders, Wallabies, Snakes, Wombats, Possums, Cassowarys, Turtles, Ducks, Swans, Emus, Owls, Cockatoos

Ryan thoroughly enjoyed himself (as did we!!) as most of the animals are roaming around free and can be hand fed!!

He absolutely loved feeding and patting the kangaroos and wallabies (although he kept wanting to ‘cuggle’ them instead which made them a little scared). Some of the kangaroos were quite large!!





We also got to feed the ducks and swans (with the same food interesting enough – a mixed seed that you can buy in small bags from the café for 80c a bag):



While I was feeding "Jacko”, a large Magpie Goose snuck up behind me and tried to grab the bag of seed out of my hand!! Is this one a Gallah or a Cockatoo?



The highlight of the morning was a walk through the Koala Peninsular where we learned all about Koalas and we even got to pat and hold them too!!







Did you know that a baby koala has to eat diarrhoea from it’s mum in order to get the bacteria it needs to digest eucalyptus oil that is otherwise poisonous?

The other main ‘interaction’ of the morning was with one of the local wombats:





Ryan loved the wombat so much that he talked us into getting him a wombat teddy bear from the gift shop on the way out – he hasn’t let go of it since and he’s just taken it to bed with him too – he’s normally very fussy about which teddy bear he wants to take to bed!!

Quiz Question – What does a Koala use its SECUM for (say it slowly)?

Quiz Question – The Koala and what other marsupial decent from the same ancestor?

Quiz Question – How many million years have koalas existed for (between 0 and 50 to the nearest round million)?

Accommodation – Woodlands Holiday Park (Big 4 Caravan Park)
 

Day 6 – Townsville

 
A little overcast today with a light shower, but otherwise a good day.

While I know that QLD is the capital of cane toads, I still can’t believe how many there are, particularly at night when I’m going out to do the laundry. They are all over the place, and particularly attracted to the lights (and therefore bugs) in the laundry!!

We spent the morning at ReefHQ, the Great Barrier Reef Aquarium where they have the world’s largest living coral aquarium. There were lots of fish, sharks and turtles – including a turtle hospital where they assist injured turtles recover.







This afternoon we drove down to The Strand (their equivalent of our Esplanade – but significantly better) and Ryan had a good play around at one of the playgrounds:







To continue on with the aquatic theme of the day, we even came across a statue of a turtle at The Strand:





To top of a fun day we had a short stroll along the ‘beach’ at The Strand – it’s hard taking photos of yourself!!



Quiz Question – How many types of turtles live in Australian waters?

Accommodation – Woodlands Holiday Park (Big 4 Caravan Park)
 

Day 5 – Townsville

 
We got to sleep in today (7am, yeah!!) and we were able to lounge around until 10am as we only had a short drive (less than 150km) to get to Townsville.

We’re staying here for most of the week and we spent the day planning our time here:

· A water park at The Strand (their Esplanade equivalent)
· ReefHQ Great Barrier Reef Aquarium
· Billabong Sanctuary
· A day trip across to Magnetic Island

It should be a good couple of days!! Look out for lots of photos and reports of our adventures!!

Quiz Question – What is the population of Cloncurry (to the nearest ‘10’) noting there is significantly less than 1,000?

Rest Stops – None (less than a 2 hour drive)

Accommodation – Woodlands Holiday Park (Big 4 Caravan Park)
 

Day 4 – Charters Towers

 
A much more exciting day today compared to the last couple of days that have been essentially travel days.

The morning started with some stares from some passing Hells Angels as we stopped by the side of the road to go to the toilet – we must have missed the sign that said there was a rest stop just 3km up the road……

We came across an interesting sign at the Julia Creek Roadhouse that went something like this:

“We know that your dogs have tender asses but please don’t let them shit on our grasses”

The real fun started at lunchtime when we got to Richmond and had lunch at the Dinosaur Information Centre. Ryan absolutely loved it as he’s obsessed with dinosaurs (but he keeps calling them crocodiles)!

Here’s a photo of him with an Anklysauraus:



And another one of Daddy and Ryan with the giant ‘crocodile’ that’s outside the Information Centre:



Everything was done in a dinosaur theme, even the signs for the toilets (yes, we’ve now stopped using the side of the road and we’re back to more civilised means):





We had a nice visit with Kylie’s Aunty Heather and Cousin Frank in Hughenden. For some reason we thought they lived in Cairns but evidently they don’t. We had coffee in the FJ Holden Café, which is owned and run by the Holden family (no relation to the car maker, but you wouldn’t know that once in side given all of the Holden memorabilia – and Elvis?!).

We were meant to stay in Hughenden, but decided to travel another 2 hours onto Charters Towers instead (see, I can be flexible).

As we were leaving Hughenden, we came across one more ‘dinosaur’ – the rubbish bin at the local service station!!



On a final note, I spoke too soon about the roads being better than we expected. It didn’t take long for them to become completely crappy – windy, narrow, bumpy, holey, falling apart, no lines, signs stating ‘rough surface for the next 60km……..

Quiz Question – What to the outback QLD towns of Richmond, Hughenden and Winton have in common (and it’s not that they’re all outback QLD towns)?

Rest Stops – Cloncurry, Julia Creek, Richmond, Hughenden

Accommodation – Aussie Outback Oasis (Big 4 Caravan Park)
 

Day 3 – Mount Isa

 
The picture below tells it all – hundreds of kilometres of flat, straight country along the Barkly Highway from Three Ways to the QLD border………



We passed less than a dozen cars or trucks (all going the other way – no-one going our way) in about 5 hours – lucky we didn’t break down or it could have been quite a wait! The road across to QLD wasn’t as bad as we had expected.

There were very few stops along the way, basically Barkly Homestead, about 250km from Three Ways and then Camooweal, another 250km……

We came along two other places, both basically a shed with large signs stating ‘Sorry, No Fuel Here’ so luckily I filled up at Barkly Homestead after all……

Mount Isa is pleasant enough, although we’re trying to get used to shops being shut on a Saturday afternoon (we think maybe a QLD standard) – god only knows what will be open in the morning.

We went to the Buff Club for dinner and Ryan had fun playing on the indoor playground and eating the ice cream the staff were only too pleased to offer him……

And for those of you who are wondering, no additional efficiency in the trailer today (I know, I'm disappointed too) - and no, I didn't just chuck stuff away, I'm getting better (and quicker) at packing and unpacking!!

Quiz Question – We drove through Three Ways twice - once on the way to and once on the way from our accommodation at Tennant Creek, but I saw Three Ways 4 times. How? You’ll have to use the FRONT and BACK of your brains to work this one out…………

Rest Stops – Barkly Homestead, Camooweal

Accommodation – Argylla Tourist Park (Big 4 Caravan Park)
 

Day 1-2: Katherine and Tennant Creek

 
Lights! Camera! Action! Wiggles!

That's a line from Ryan's favourite Wiggles song which is fitting given he wanted to watch the DVD as soon as we got in the car (I guess I should have charged the battery after all)!

We got off to a late start given we only had a short drive to Katherine with an obligatory stop in Adelaide River on the way.

We had intended to go on a Gorge cruise however it departed at 3pm and I didn't realise that it was another 30km out of town!!

Instead we checked into the hotel and had fun creating 5% space efficiency in the trailer - apparently Kylie doesn't like being packed into the car surrounded by crates like a Tetris game......

We had dinner at Galloping Jacks Steakhouse (and had steak of course) and Ryan kept trying to convince us that there was a horse in the restaurant. He was most unimpressed that we didn't believe him.

As we were leaving we noticed a motorbike frame in the window that had a saddle on it and had been made up to look like a horse........he delighted in reminding us about the horse at breakfast.......

Today we headed off for a longer drive - onto Tennant Creek, about 700km away. I hooked up the portable DVD player to keep Ryan amused with the Wiggles - and then put my iPod on so that I didn't have to listen to it for 2 hours....

Traffic was very light - we only saw another car every half an hour or so and no road trains at all!

We stopped at Larrimah to stretch our legs and I got a good photo of Ryan with a giant Pink Panther sitting next to an even bigger bottle of beer.





Elliot came and went (frankly as it should - not a lot to see and do there - and no petrol at BP!!) and we made good time getting into Tennant Creek in the mid afternoon.

And good news, another 5% space efficiency in the trailer - now I can put the car fridge in the back of the car where the second 12V point is (yes Kylie, you were right - late model cars do put an extra point in the back)!

Rest Stops – Adelaide River, Larrimah, Elliott, Renner Springs

Accommodation – All Seasons (Katherine) and Outback Caravan Park (Tennant Creek)