Busy Camping: Townsville to Mission Beach

After spending just over a week at Townsville, we picked ourselves up and headed north again. It was great to spend some time with Nan and Pa (Amy’s folks) in Townsville, and the kids got a lot out of it. We did feel however that we spent nearly the whole time doing ‘jobs’. We did a big reset of the car, stocking up on food, water, drinks, and other bits and pieces. We also got Slim (our 4wd) serviced, and Glenn did a check over, and rotated tires across the camper and Slim. We managed to fit in a little swimming, (still a bit cold) and a number of coffee / lunch expeditions. Amy and Glenn even managed to squeeze in a very luxurious ‘date night’ out at a speccy restaurant. Very spoilt!!!.

In driving out of Townsville, we’d heard a lot about Mission Beach, and were really looking forward to our stay there. The drive was beautiful, following along a number of large mountain ranges, as well as the seaside. We also started into the rainforest country.

Mission Beach definitely lived up to expectations. We headed straight for a caravan park right opposite the beach, with a great pool, and more importantly, a playground right beside our campsite. The girls were in heaven!! It was hard for them to decide what to do, play on the playground, go for a swim in the pool, or walk to the beach for a jump in the sand and waves. We managed to fit all of the above in at various times. Very exhausting!

Even though it has been 6 weeks since we left a very cold and wet Melbourne, we really have noted just how much this visit to Mission Beach seems to have marked the real ‘start’ of our holidaying. Things have been really enjoyable to date, and definitely busy. We have done a lot of lovely visiting, and checking out some of the countryside, but probably not what we really consider ‘relaxing’. We have also been trying to escape the cold, especially the freezing 1 – 3 degree nights, which we have finally done. Pretty lucky that we can say 6 weeks in that we are ‘starting’ our trip.

The 4 days we have spent around Mission Beach is the longest camping stay we have had, and has been full of those real holiday activities. The beach got a good workout with Glenn teaching Savannah how to dive under the little waves that were rolling in. Amy also enjoyed showing the girls how to play hop-scotch in the sand. The park has been reasonably busy with long weekend visitors as well, which the kids have enjoyed given all their new-found play buddies. One of the nights we had splashed out and went out for a family dinner. We got drawn into the ‘Fish Bar’ by the atmosphere, and a guy playing guitar and harmonica. The food was very enjoyable, (none more so than Amy’s oysters, or so she said / moaned). The girls entertained a lot of people, including the staff, with their dancing to the live music. One lady remarked how impressed she was with the dancing, and that there were some dance moves that she’d never seen before!!!! Very nice experience.

We definitely enjoyed watching everyone pack up and race back to their homes, knowing that we didn’t have to do that this time!!

We have been deliberating just what to do about our trip to Cape York. There is an offroad main section of the trip to Cape York referred to as the Old Telegraph Line (OTL). This has quite a few creek / river crossings, and depending on conditions, can be interesting. Glenn had been reading an offroad 4wd / camper forum online (MySwag) for quite some time, and coincidently, they had been organising another Cape York trip for the same time. This year there is quite a big group (up to 27 cars). After MUCH deliberation, we have decided to join the MySwag group on the OTL section, which will be a lot of fun.

They leave Cairns on the 23rd June, so we have a week and a half to fill in. Should be able to do that ok I imagine!! We will head off and explore some new places tomorrow, saying a fond farewell to Mission Beach. I’d hazard a good guess and say we should be back here.... one day!