Rollingstone Beach, Ayr, Airlie Beach

The last few days have been wonderfully lazy and relaxing. Surprisingly, we haven't done a lot of that, as with all the excitement of visiting new places, we tend to be out and about looking at the local sights!

On Rollingstone Beach

Rollingstone Beach was recommended to us by a couple we met at Cooktown. Given the mixed results we have had with recommendations, we always arrive looking at each other with raised eyebrows, mouthing "well here we go again!" This time they were spot on. It is a little bizarre really, with The Big 4 Caravan Park right on the beach, but miles from anywhere. Actually it is half way between Townsville and Ingham. The tiny village of Rollingstone is a few kilometres away, with a general store and a pub, but you really need to come prepared, which we did. The sites are large, and very sandy as a result of cyclone Yasi, but the beach is lined with coconut palms, and at high tide, the waters edge is only 20 metres away. At low tide it is about 500 metres away! The park has a beautiful pool area, as in summer it is stinger season, so no ocean swimming, once the first big wet has arrived. We were still OK. You can fish off the beach, though no one was catching much.

Happy Hour in paradise!

When we arrived, the park was deserted, so we took up extra space like the others, to sit side on to the ocean. However, over the weekend the place blossomed, with locals from Townsville swarming in. They arrived after work on Friday and were gone before ten on Sunday. It was one of those "did it really happen" moments, as one minute we were all alone and quiet, then we were surrounded by families and noise, and just as quickly it was peaceful and quiet again!

Looking back to the park at mid tide.

We just walked the beach for miles in both directions. Threw ourselves in the pool, read our books, drowned some bait, and generally did as little as possible. There was a lot of bird life, with dozens of sea eagles the highlight. These majestic birds soaring above the beach, looking for dinner, then diving into the ocean to grab a fish in its talons, is a spectacular sight. We were doubly fascinated by one eagle, who kept coming back to the vacated site of one of the weekenders. He kept swooping down and picking up something black! On investigation it was some hard plastic that the kids had cut into small shapes, and the eagle kept coming back until he had it all. We assumed it was going back to his nest, but as David Attenborough was not our neighbour, we may never know. Perhaps he was a keen recycler!

We had a wonderful few days, with perfect weather, and were sad to leave this idyllic spot.

We headed on down the coast to Ayr, which is a prosperous sugar cane town on the Burdekin River. Carol's sister and family had lived in Ayr for a while about 20 years ago, and we had come up for a Christmas visit, during a cyclone! They had enjoyed their time there, so we decided to spend Melbourne Cup Day in Ayr.

On the way we stopped at the coastal town of Cardwell, our attention grabbed by the sign that said "Fresh Crab Sangas". We asked how fresh was the crab. We got told that they caught their own the day before, so we pulled up a chair and Carol said "will we share one?" John relied "you've got to be kidding!" and next minute the two most beautiful fresh crab sandwiches arrived at our table for a very short visit!

Ready for Melbourne Cup

The Cascades Caravan Park is a council owned park right on the edge of town, so you can walk to everywhere. The park was full of semi permanents, from all over Australia, who come up to work in the sugar industry, for 3 to 6 months each year. The harvesting season is June to December. They made us feel right at home, and welcomed us into there activities. The ladies, have transformed the gardens while the men are at work, so there was fruit and vegies and herbs for all. The men would come back from the farms with fruit and vegies given to them by the farmers, so we came away with a van stocked with goodies!

Hats of all styles

Under Starters orders for the
Burdekin Cup

The ladies had been planning a huge day for Melbourne Cup, with fancy hats, broomstick horses and lots of food! The broomstick horses were racing around the caravan park in the Burdekin Cup! There were stables, a mounting yard, stewards, members enclosure, and the placegetters stalls. Carol won a prize for her rose hat, that perfectly mirrored the famous Flemington Roses enclosure. The race was a scream, as the girls of all ages, did a lap of the park, amid raucous support from the huge crowd. It was a fantastic day all round.

Next day, Carol did the shops, whilst John played a round of golf on the famous Ayr Golf Course. Remember why it is famous? Yes, it is the home of Karrie Webb, our champion golfer. Unfortunately, she wasn't in town for a few tips, but I enjoyed the day anyway. Meanwhile, Carol had found a shop she had purchased from 20 years ago, and still had two outfits from! The lady was till the same owner, so the two of them had a grand old mag, the lady so impressed with the fact that Carol's garments had lasted 20 years, she thought she would put a notice in the window!

Crossing the Burdekin River Bridge

Leaving Ayr, we headed for Airlie Beach, the gateway to the Whitsundays. We crossed the mighty Burdekin River, on the amazing bridge that is a kilometre long, and includes the railway line. It joins Ayr's twin town, of Home Rule, which is much smaller, and doesn't exude the same affluence as Ayr.

Boy has Airlie Beach changed since we were last here some 15 plus years ago! There is a now a huge new marina, which has virtually killed the harbour at nearby Shute Harbour. There are new apartments all up the hill, new shopping centres and housing estates, all of which took place before the GFC. It has all stopped now. The place is backpacker central. Our caravan park, The Seabreeze, was in a great location, but it was in need of repair. It was clean though. We crossed the road from the park, and did the wonderful walk and boardwalk, that follows the coast past a lot of the empty new apartments, the marina, and into town, where a lovely public swimming lagoon has been built along the beach front.

We didn't do much else in Airlie. We did get some Xmas shopping done, after being told about an unbelievable gift shop in nearby Proserpine. Called Colour Me Crazy, it is off the main street, but girls, if ever in town, seek it out! That killed the afternoon!  Dinner was taken at a lovely little Thai Restaurant in town. The services was appalling, but the food was excellent, or we were just so bloody hungry when it finally arrived! No, it was very good.

Last thing we did, was take nostalgic trip out to Laguna Quays Resort. We had gone there about 15 years ago, when it first opened. Magnificent golf course, rated in the top 10 in Australia when it opened, and fantastic facilities. It is now a derelict site, with the buildings in ruin, and the golf course the same. It was so sad to see it in such a way.

So now it is off to Emerald for the family catch up, so no blog updates for a few days.