And we thought the sand flies were bad when we posted you last.....the next morning at the Elliot river we were awoken by people launching their boats for the day and about a kabillion sand flies in Lulu. They were small enough to get through the mesh of the fly screens and had a wonderful morning wee on us! A very red spotted Brons got up and we took to the road, with Ruth still in bed! We headed back to a rest stop on the highway for breakfast without the sand flies! Our plan was to head to Bowling Green National Park for a spot of fishing but the access road was a little to extreme for Lulu so we camped at Alligator Creek in the NP instead. Here we had a wander about and saw some turtles and were inundated by all the Townsvillians making the most of the end of their easter break in one of the few croc free swimming holes.
We rolled into Townsville for some supplies the next morning. Was quite suprised that it was an ok town really. Not much to do there given it was still a public holiday, except for a restock and some more bacardi (the duty free just ran out). We ended up camped at Balgal Beach in a nice little spot that was free right on the beach. Sadly the inlet yielded no fish - think it had been well and truly flogged over the easter period. The weather started to cut up rough that night with horizontal rain and huge winds carrying the sand from the beach with it, our dinner was cold 30 seconds after hitting the plates from the wind. No wonder the beach there was covered in shells and coral. We did find some cowries, a turtle bone and a few nice bits of coral. Next morning we headed to Paluma NP for a walk and check out some falls, a nice walk with some pretty clever track design over the creeks and creek beds. On to Ingham and we decided to call into a tyre shop to check out a slow leak we have had since Christmas. "Sorry mate this tyre is no longer serviceable". $105 later and we replaced the tyre, as the puncture was through the side wall.....hmm.
On to Wallaman falls, the tallest single drop waterfalls in the country. 50km from Ingham and we got about 20km in and found out that the road was shut! Turn back around and head for plan B. Onto Hull Heads for a spot of inlet fishing. We did a lap around Tully on the way to take in the big golden gumboot. Then out to Hull Heads in the sheeting rain. We got there and Yasi had left her mark big time. Not many houses left down in there of at Tully heads that were livable anymore, roofs everywhere and not a window in sight. The campground at Hull Heads was shut as it has been set up as a place for the remaining locals to go and have a shower etc. Bugger, the inlet looked mighty fishable but mighty crocy too Pushed on in the rain to Mission Beach. Now this is supposed to be where Yasi hit the hardest but all looks ok on the house front, a few munted up coconuts but nothing like back down the road. It poured and poured and poured and it's going to keep raining for the next three days! We had a very sleepless and soggy night. The door seal around the boot - yep the one above our heads started to leak last night. Shiiit! We did a little giggery pokery and moved the mattress and tried to direct the flow but sleep was not really much of an option after that.
So we're wet, tired, grumpy, itchy as all hell from the sandflies and Ruth still has a cold for when we were standing in the rain in Emerald fixing Lulu. Hopefully the weather is better on the way back down so we can go back and do some of the stuff we've missed out on. Thinking of you all xxxxxxx
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