Day 45: Thu 9 Jun - Ayr to Ingham

Day 45: Thu 9 Jun - Ayr to Ingham

Towed 197km

10 – 24°. Another beautiful sunny day, a little cooler, but that's cooler by our expectations for QLD weather. Tomorrow morning will be much cooler again. Another morning walk to start the day, back the van for breakfast and we drove away from the caravan park at about 8:30am heading for Ingham. We got a heads up before we left that the Bruce Highway was closed about an hour north of the Ayr due to a caravan rollover, and that there were slight delays. We left anyway, and by the time we arrived at the scene, the site had been mostly cleared and traffic was flowing freely. It appears they either hit a kangaroo which caused the accident, or they hit the kangaroo which they tried to avoid. It was a beautiful day and apart from the slightly stronger winds, perfect driving conditions. It's always confronting to see another caravan come to grief, and it's a good reminder to not become complacent. It is very upsetting to hear truckies on UHF saying that it always makes them happy to see a caravan 'smashed up'. Thankfully, they are a minority - many truckies are also caravaners, and the majority have been very good. First stop after 90km was the Black Hawk Memorial monument in Annandale near Townsville on the way north. We will save a visit to Townsville for another trip when we have more time - so much to see and so little time. The Black Hawk monument commemorates the 15 SAS members and 3 Army Aviation Corp killed in a night-time Black Hawk training exercise in 1996. Unfortunately, caravan parking is limited to one spot, so i had to park in a loading zone and make a quick dash to the memorial. We had planned to stay a little longer for morning tea. Onwards we continued 36km north to Bluewater Park Campground for that first coffee of the day (for me at least). This would have been great overnight free-camp stay in a beautiful setting. After a nice coffee and one of Noeleene's fresh baked (yesterday) muffins, we continued along good road conditions (save for more road works) to Ingham. Our accommodation for the next 2 nights is 'off-grid' behind the Information Centre at the TYTO Self-Contained RV parking campgrounds. Self contained means you must have your own water and must contain all grey water. For $10 per night, it's a fantastic setting right next to the TYTO Wetlands - tomorrow morning's walk. After setting up, we had lunch and then set off for a ride around town. Sunset drinks at the back of the van overlooking a sports ground with a colourful sky for sunset, then off we went for a Chinese dinner in town. It wasn't a memorable meal, but it was tasty, and an enjoyable evening nonetheless.