Day 070, Sunday, 7 June 2009

Distance travelled – 93.7 km
Avg speed – 19.1 kph
Max speed – 37.4 kph

Ayr to Townsville

We had a nice grassed shady camp spot last night squeezed in amongst a group of 4WDs heading for “The Cape”.

The only down side of this caravan park was the loud music being played in the amenities block. Denise found it very off putting ;-) We are not sure how people with sites near the block got to sleep at night. In the morning our 4WD neighbours rose at 5.30 and started getting ready to leave. However in the end they only left 30 minutes before us who tried to stay in bed until 6.30. I think they must have all been very excited to get going on the second day of their 4 week trip.

On the way out of town we stopped at the local bakery to buy some lunch, so it was nearly 10.00am before we left Ayr. 10 km out we came across a driver reviver stop and being a long weekend it was open. We discovered they also serve cyclists, so after a refreshing cup of tea we headed off again. Someone outside the bakery had warned us about the narrow bumpy road out of Ayr and unfortunately he was correct. After the rest area we found the road extremely bumpy, (which did nothing to help the boil on Denise’s bum ;-{ ).

With limited shade close to the road, today would be a day of rest stops in bus shelters. We had lunch in the stop at the Woodstock – Giru Road intersection.

After lunch the road surface got smoother and we found ourselves stopping at another bus shelter about 20 km south of Townsville and then another stop at the Visitor Centre 10 km south of Townsville. The sign outside proudly said, “Welcome to the Capital of North Queensland” and when we turned into the drive we hit the roughest and most potholed piece of bitumen road we have come across! We later found out the condition of the road was due to floods earlier this year.

We think today was one of hottest yet with our biggest water consumption so far. We suppose this is something to get used to but combined with another day of head and side winds we were glad to arrive at Palm Waters Holiday Villas where we had an apartment booked for the next two nights. When we walked into the apartment after such a hot day it felt extremely stifling and we wondered if we had booked the correct place for a two night stay. However, when we compared the conditions at the same time the next day we realised we were just extremely hot and the place was not as hot had we had originally thought.

Lots of leg stretching exercises were had after our showers and before going to bed, perhaps our week off in Bowen did have an effect after all!

Zoom into the map and use the 'Satellite' layer to see our new location.

Camp site at Silver Link Caravan Village - surrounded by 4WDs on their way to "The Cape"

Lunch stop at a bus stop, intersection of Bruce Highway and Woodstock - Giru Road

"Not happy John" I have a boil on my bum. (I will take a horrible one of you one day!)

Townsville Visitor Centre approx 10km south of Townsville.

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