Day 55 Cairns to Ayr

 From the moment I opened my eyes this morning, I was reminded of a couple of things.  The first is that I am in the 40th year of my life, and I don't recover from very strenuous physical activity like I used to, and the second is that I have had a knee reconstruction.  Diving yesterday has ensured I remember these two things.  Add to that a screaming headache, and you have the recipe for a fantastic day.

Lisa was feeling a bit the same, so I gave her leave to go and shop whilst I packed up the caravan after being established for a week. Thankfully the kids were no help at all, and I didn't have to check that the world was ending.  There were dishes to wash and dry, washing to fold and put away, food to stow, beds to break down and it seemed to take forever to get packed up. 

Well literally it did, because we checked out late at 1030, and didn't leave the park until 1045.  Still, we were stocked up on food, and leaving stinking hot and humid Cairns behind us.  Our goal was to reach Townsville via Mission Beach, but that would be a tall order given the 380km drive is almost suburban passing through an endless string of small towns.

We continue to find classic Queensland signs along the trip that we can't help but photograph to prove their existence.  Here is todays peach.

We drove through Innisfail and couldn't really see the damage of last years Cyclone Yasi, but the closer we got to Mission Beach, the more apparrent the damage was.  Almost no tree has branches on it.  Many trunks are just starting to sprout new branches and leaves, and the forest floor is littered with fallen dead wood. 

We drove into Mission Beach to have lunch, and spent a little time on the beach looking out towards Dunk Island, although it was mostly covered in low cloud.

We enjoyed a really good home made hamburger from the beach vendor.  It was nice to sit and relax and eat our lunch whilst staring out across the water.  The other picture here is the tree line along the beachfront.  Notice the hap hazard direction of the coconut palms, and how they have managed to survive in their lopsided state.

My GPS in the car says there should be a street on the other side of this tree line, so I am not sure if it was destroyed and washed away in the cyclone, or if my GPS is just stupid...I have some suspicions.

There is a lot of construction work going on still, and some of the houses have for sale signs up for 5 different real estate agents.  Signs of desperation.

We drove out of Mission Beach, stopping briefly to snap a picture of the BIG Cassowary.  It was the first of 3 big things today.  We missed out on the BIG Golden Gumboot in Tully which has the highest recorded rainfall on average per annum in Australia.  But it wasn't signposted very well and we couldn't find it.

Lunch was catching up on me and I was getting a bit drowsy in the car, so it was fortuitous when we came across the BIG Crab a short while later. 

The driving today was through endless fields of sugar cane, which only gave way to rainforest around Mission Beach, and then reverted back to sugar cane again.

When we arrived at Townsville, we called around for a caravan site, but there was no room anywhere.  We decided to keep going and ended up driving all the way through to Ayr.  That made todays driving 470km which is a bit insane, and for the first time on this trip we didn't arrive until after dark. 

It is only a short trip tomorrow to Airlie Beach where we are booked for a couple of nights, so tomorrow should be relaxing.  

I had to fuel up today, and I must say that since arriving in Queensland I have thought the fuel prices to be pretty good.  The Perth Metro Average for Diesel today was 142.6.  I purchased my fuel at a Caltex Woolworths at 135.9 on the bowser and got 10c litre off for my rewards card and an in store purchase.  That is I paid 125.9 for diesel.  How can diesel be 16.7c per litre cheaper here?  Don't we have a refinery in Kwinana? 

Just sayin that's all...