August 23 Proserpine

It was a bit disappointing to have to leave Townsville but on the positive side the car was heading south, towards home!

It was an interesting drive to Proserpine. From Townsville to just south of the Burdekin River there were widespread areas of sugar-cane interspersed with mango orchards. The bridge over the Burdekin is a beauty – 1103 m long with ten main spans. The bridge joins the two communities of Ayr and Home Hill – both quite pleasant looking places. We pulled up to get a photo and while walking down a steep embankment I put my foot in a deep hole covered with grass to crash quite ignominiously. The end result was a few abrasions and a sore right knee. I suppose it could have been worse – a broken leg would have put mum in the driver’s seat.

Just north of Bowen we passed through a lot of vegetable areas and stopped at a roadside stall to pick up some reasonably priced fruit (pineapples, rockmelons, oranges and mandarins) and vegies.

Bowen was a huge disappointment – a very daggy looking town and apart from the harbour and fishing didn’t appear to have a lot going for it. We couldn’t even find an Information Centre until we left town and discovered it a few kilometres south.

As we approached Proserpine we were back into sugar cane country. Between Townsville and Proserpine we counted 6 sugar mills! Proserpine isn’t anything great – just a smallish town with a population just under 5 000. It serves as the commercial centre for the Whitsundays.

We had planned to go into Airlie Beach, the jumping off point for the Whitsundays, and spend a few nights there but it was suggested to us that there’s not much there to see and do. As a result we opted to stay here and will do a day trip into Airlie Beach tomorrow. Alongside the caravan park there’s a heated pool which is free for park residents. Mum took advantage and had another training session.