Day 43: Tue 7 Jun - Sarina to Ayr

 Day 43: Tue 7 Jun - Sarina to Ayr (via Bowen)

350km Towed

19 – 27°. A cloudy day, with some very light drizzle on the way to Ayr. It was a long and tiring day with a lot of roadworks. Greg and I went for a morning walk around Sarina. At 8:15 we drove out of one of the nicest caravan parks we've stayed at yet. First stop 90km into the journey was the small rural town of Calen. The main attraction located behind the Calen Pub were the 2.5m 'Big Thongs' built from an old mining conveyor belt. The Calen news and General Store was also pretty interesting, selling just about everything and anything including old collectables. Our next stop for a late morning coffee was at the Whitsunday Gold Coffee plantation at Hamilton Plains just north of Proserpine. It was a surprising setup including some nice gardens and a menagerie with piglets, goats, lamas, chooks and a variety of birds. The coffee was pretty good too. From here we continued towards Ayr, taking a slight detour into Bowen for lunch on the foreshore briefly stopping at the 10m high 'Big Mango' for a photo. 

In Bowen, we parked on a very large old concrete slab at the foreshore, which turned out to be the original Catalina hardstand from WW2.  The site was used to maintain the Catalina Flying Boats from 1942 and included various RAAF operational and maintenance units. All that remains today is the large concrete slab and a nice (and modern) tribute to the Catalina. After a light lunch and a bit of a rest, we continued towards Ayr. Wendy seems to have taken a liking to photographing all things 'Big' in north QLD, so next stop was not far up the road at Gumlu for the 'Big Pumpkin'... Thank goodness she didn't spot the 'Big Jack' Bridge. 

At about 3:00pm we arrived at the Discovery Caravan Park in Ayr. It's a little bit tight for parking, but nice and clean and located fairly central to town. I'm sure it will serve it's purpose for our 2 night stay here. After setting up, Noeleene and I set off for a short walk into town, returning for our daily planning meeting and refreshments, followed by dinner.   

The road conditions today were a mixed bag, ranging from excellent to badly damaged, obviously from all the rain. The stop / starting at all the road works today became a bit frustrating and made the day so much longer and driving more tiring, but generally, traffic was well behaved. The scenery along the way was also amazing; very green with fields of Sugar Cane as far as the eyes could see, and around Bowen, Mangoes becoming the dominate crops. 

A few more photos than usual today.


Our tropical setting at Sarina - the air thick with the scent of molasses overnight and in the morning

Morning walk past the very busy sugar Wilmar Sugar Mill in Sarina

Wilmar Sugar Mill in Sarina

Our lunchtime venue yesterday doing early morning coffee


Some wildlife at the Sarina Palms Caravan Village

Sarina Palms Wildlife


Sarina Palms Wildlife

Sarina Palms Wildlife

Sarina Palms Wildlife

Township of Calen with endless crops of Sugar Cane and scenic mountains in the background

Calen Pub attraction...

Calen Pub


Calen News and General Store


Calen News and General Store

Calen News and General Store

'Kids' playground at the Whitsunday Gold Coffee Plantation

Lamas ...or Alpacas?

Shut your eyes Bronwyn 🤭.

Percy's

Coffee setting

Lots of lovely birdlife

Definitely big, but didn't look much like a mango


Bowen foreshore - the Catalina Hardstand

Bowen forseshore - a shame it was low tide

Catalina memorial

Catalina memorial

Catalina memorial


A relaxing lunchtime setting

Big Pumpkin

Set up for 2 nights at Ayr








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