11/9/15 Hull Heads to Cardwell
Well, finally we’ve met up with Perry & Maree. Doesn’t look like they’ll be fishing anytime soon; tho the boys will take the boat out tomorrow to see what’s about. Very threatening – looking sky today, tho not much rain.
The s’morning started slowly, got away about 9.00. A woman came to have a chat, & apparently a group of indigenous camped right on our Babinda friends patch, drinking & yahooing. We didn’t hear anything! So much for thinking we’re not sleeping well…
We called into Tully, but were too early, the bottleshops don’t open til 10.00. Tully has the Golden Gumboot Award for the highest rainfall. Innisfail, Babinda & Tully were the major contenders. Tully won with 7900 mm (311”) of rain in the year. Can you believe that?
The highest one day fall was 45” There’s a poem on the info board at the Giant Gumboot. It tells the story of a possum who peed in the raingauge… We have heard a different version of that story: anything is fair in a competition for the biggest…?
And so, onto Cardwell. There’s only an IGA supermarket here, but 2 pubs have bottleshops. So stocked up a bit before getting to the park. Weren’t sure what facilities there are, here. Turns out there’s a really good Camp Kitchen, with electric hotplates, so I’ll be cooking Apricot Chicken over there, later.
Col, the owner, puts on scones at 3pm. Not sure if that’s every day, or we just fluked it for a Friday… Very good scones, and a good chance to meet a few others in the park. I had a yack with Ros, interesting lady from SA. She’s wanting to write a book on her extraordinary life!
The Apricot Chicken was a success, so too was the watching of the TV News on a big screen telly… I enjoyed a little tipple from the bottleshop, the boys had started early…
12/9/15 Cardwell
The call to go fishing came at 8.15, but they got away after 9 I’d say. It rained on & off during the night, with strong wind, but the sun was shining the s’morning.
I caught up with computer work, then took a walk down along the “boardwalk”. Great set-up. It’s concrete, edged with great plantings, walking right along the seafront. The views are to the off-shore islands. Hinchinbrook is the big one. We went there in the boat in 2003, & had lunch at a nice little resort there. Someone told us last night that it was just abandoned, and has become overgrown by the rainforest.
The sea has settled somewhat. I had a lovely time, walked down to the old Telegraph Office Museum. Like I said to the guy in there, the scarey thing is that I grew up with this stuff! The kitchen could be my mum’s kitchen; slightly different colours.
It tells the history rather well, I thought. We’ve seen commentary on the Inland Telegraph line from Adelaide to Darwin. I didn’t realise there were 2 factions, with a Race to the Top, on. Another line was put in from Cardwell to Normanton, but wasn’t the first in place. A section of it, tho completed, was abandoned because the terrain was too extreme to maintain.
So although this line didn’t connect Australia with Europe, it did serve to connect a lot of these northern towns & communities. It’s strange to think that these sleepy little towns once were so important in Australia’s history.
When you read the history stories, the place names come to life. Kennedy was an early explorer, his mode of travel (wagons) not at all suitable for the Rainforest… Dalrymple was an early landholder, who created a route to the coast from his holding, and so started Cardwell. He followed the Aboriginal Trails, no doubt they’d been set since the dawn of time, almost, if you were smart enough to utilise them.
Next I wandered over to the Gallery. I saw last week the work of Daryl Dickson, wildlife Carer & Artist. I do like her work. So I bought some little bits & bobs, nice momentoes to take overseas. I also indulged in a little pottery piece of a Pink Robin. You know what? I might even go back & buy a few gift cards and stuff. It’s hard to find nice Aussie things to give away overseas…
The guys aren’t back yet, so they must be finding some fish. Perry & Maree are here with the Bundaberg Fishing Club, so I guess they’re all pretty keen fisherfolk. Maybe I won’t have to think of something for tea…
Later…. One fish in 6 hours of fishing…
13/9/15 Cardwell
Cyclone Yasi struck here in 2011. I’m thinking they must’ve got some compensation. The walk to the lookout has had some $$ input; and the esplanade has all new signage and exercise equipment along it.
The homeowners at Port Hinchenbrook are now hit with a $15,000 yearly insurance premium, so almost every home is for sale down there. It was a new subdivision when we were here in 2003. The likes of Kylie Minogue were reportedly owners in there.
Still windy, not good for going out in the boat. So today we did some sightseeing.
Ros had said they’d been down to 5 Mile Creek, so we went down there. Nice picnic spot, blocked off with huge boulders tho, so no-one can camp there. There was a canned beef operation here in the 1860’s. We cannot imagine this creek being deep enough for boats; but that’s how they got the meat back out & then down to Bowen. They also processed tongue, I remember from my childhood it was a delicacy to some people…
There’s a Lookout just a few kms up the road, not too the high mountains tho, which surprised us a bit. We had a 265 m walk up to it from the carpark. That was quite a hike after no exercise of late. Went pretty much straight up.
Next we drove to the “Spa Pool”, but no water over it. Col said it’s the first pool to dry up. A big orange rooster met us at the carpark… What the…? Looks very healthy, and knew people mean food. He walked straight up to us & followed us around. Didn’t like tic tacs tho…. That’s all I had, no food.
I asked Col when we got back. He laughed. Said he’s not surprised. Before Yasi there were about a dozen of them at the esplanade park, always cadging food off tourists. The cyclone blew them all away…
The boys soldered our TV connection, so we had 27 channels tonight. The park has free wifi, and also free cable around the perimeter, that you can hook your TV into. Apparently normal antennae don’t work, I guess the big mountains block the signal.
Perry & Maree went to Lucinda today. There’s a long jetty there, takes the sugar out to ships. I think it’s something like 6 kms long. Cyclone Yasi blew waves right over it (& it’s very high) and did $50million worth of damage. That shows you the value of the sugar industry…
We have 2 separate lots of bananas… Perry gave us some Lady Fingers off his own tree, and the guy next door gave us some “real” bananas. He picks for a living. They were hard & green, but are ripening quite quickly. Another few days they’ll be ready to eat.
Went to IGA to get something, and the Connoisseur range of icecreams is on special, but none on display. I asked. Ended up in the freezer room, myself, pointing them out to the Freezer lady. Wouldn’t be allowed when I worked in a supermarket…
Had a walk down town the s’morning, to get the Sunday paper. So we’re starting to move again. Still sitting, reading, a lot tho. There’s quite a good selection of swap books in the laundry. I can read one a day when we’re just sitting around.
14/9/15 Cardwell
Arranged last night to go out in the boat for a picnic – if the weather is good to us. Sea looks fairly calm, in the Passage, but I gather we might be going out the other side of the island. I’m taking a Kwell.
Also packed a (new) book and Sudoku, cos no doubt the boys will be fishing. I cooked up our ½ a fish last night in the left-over Apricot Sauce. It was good, teamed it with some Mexican Rice, and green beans.
Calf muscles are a bit stiff today, after our step climbing, even tho I did some stretching.
Well, it was nothing like a picnic up North Arm @ Lakes Entrance! The sea looked quite calm, indeed it wasn’t too bad… until we got to the other side of Hinchinbrook Island. Then we had to punch through big waves, with salt spray washing over us. I’m afraid I get emotional in those conditions. I know in my head that we are all safe, & the boys will not endanger us, but my emotions tell another story.
Maybe it comes from Atlantis, you know, the swamping memories. Whether it’s Whole Conciousness or not…
So anyhow, I was also clutching camera, hat & grab rail, and trying to “enjoy the moment”, and the boys decided another 20kms of this would be too much. Goodoh.
We found calm water, round on the inside of the Passage, up a creek system. So it was a good spot to read on, sunny , warm. No fish tho. We moved around a few times, then finally caught one fish. Now I know how come they were out for 6 hours the other day for only one fish.! So we went back to what they call Shark Alley. Not that I fish, at all, but that was a bit of excitement. Nothing big enough to keep though.
Off home again, our last night in Cardwell.
travellinwithbarryandrobin 
