Day 194 - Monday 10 July - In Ingham and there are no chickens

Day 194

Monday

10 July 2017 –  Completed my book Kimberley Sun by Di Morrissey. I really enjoyed this novel; for as it turns out, it was a follow up to the Tears of the Moon that I read earlier in the trip. I am now super keen to get to the Kimberleys next year an check out all the places mentioned around Broome.

South Mission Beach – Ingham (CMCA member stop)

Rain woke us through the night and had Paul scrambling to close the vents to prevent it coming in. I slept restlessly after that and eventually crawled out at 7.15am to go to the loo. My initial hopes of having a walk on the beach one last time were dashed with the inclement weather, so I returned to bed to read, also hoping we would receive the “cassowary are in” call.

An hour later we were up for real and busying ourselves for the move. Paul went off for his shower while I sorted breakfast and began placing things ready for moving. I had my shower after Paul returned and once back it was time to set sail, sad to be leaving the paradise we had found but eager to explore new spots.

While we didn’t receive the cassowary call we came across one anyway as we made our way towards Tully through the cassowary conservation area. I was shrieking “Cassowary! Cassowary! Slow down”, but the time we had stopped it had moved off into the bush and no longer visible. Paul now believes they are not mythical creatures like the Bunyip having seen one in the wild for himself.

We continued to make our way south. I sat sewing on another button to his shorts and then fixing my damn hat again. I am sure by the end of the trip I will have sewn up every section of it.

We made our way through Cardwell, which looked like an interesting place right on the water and close to Hinchinbrook Island. It was overrun with fellow caravaners and as we were wanting to get on to Ingham, we didn’t stop.

At 11am we made it to Ingham and found the CMCA RV park to hang out at for two nights at a cost of $12. We set up our site on the large grass oval, took stock of things to do and then drove in to town for a quick grocery shop and look around the main street.

There wasn’t much that impressed us, in fact it came across as quite a low socio-economic town, bare-foot residents who had definitely seen better days. We were told to check out the street with the mosaic art which we did and it was well put together, but certainly nothing to write home about.

We also came across Lees Hotel made famous by Slim Dusty and his song “The Pub With No Beer”. While they have beer today, Paul was not impressed with the run of the mill stuff they offer.

We returned to the van after our look around and had lunch, making our plans for the afternoon. First stop was Hinchinbrook Lookout, a stop we had passed on the way in. It afforded a good view of Hinchinbrook Island as well as the Hinchinbrook channel and Seymour River that winds its way between the island and the mainland.

Our next destinations were the beachside hamlets Lucinda, Taylors and Forrest. Lucinda is the base for the sugar mill export and boasts the longest Australian jetty at 5.7km. We took this with a pinch of salt, as we have seen this claim numerous times in our travels, but it certainly did seem to go for a very long way.

Taylors Beach was somewhat smaller and there wasn’t really much there, even the water had bid a speedy escape, leaving an very empty roped off swimming area. We did a walk along the short esplanade, being serenaded by some bloke practicing his bugle playing.

We finished up at Forrest Beach, which was right on the beach, with the surf rolling in. We did a very short walk, before driving the extent of the town and returning to Ingham for 4.30pm, time to relax and sit back.

There was now quite a gathering at the park and happy hour was in full swing at one of the vans. We weren’t particularly interested in sitting around so we stayed put in the van.

I started dinner when I began to get hungry and we ate soon after. It wasn’t long before it was well dark and we sat back enjoying the quiet. However, I was keen to get out and walk to get the steps off, so just after 7pm we set off on a walk around town. It was quiet on the street, but there were plenty of cars parked up alongside the pubs, pokies do wonders for these venues.

When I was happy to reach my step goal, we made our way back to the van ready to head to bed.