Today we travelled 139km from Charter Towers to Townsville. After reading the bad reviews of caravan parks on the net we thought we would see them first rather than book ahead. We weren't impressed with any of them, either on the Bruce hwy with the Big 4 having a service station in front of it and the others were either full of permanents or in the industrial estate. So over lunch we decided to head up the highway and stay the extra 2 nights at Rollingstone which is 60km north of Townsville and have a day trip down to Townsville on the Monday for A medical appointment. We were originally going to free camp the 2 nights in the area ( after staying in Townsville) there are several free camp spots but all had a 48 hr limit. So we booked ahead for a powered site for4 nights at the Big 4 Rollingstone Beach. Beautiful spot right on the beach about 5km from the highway. Big spacious park with beachfront campsites a swimming pool with waterfall over a cave and a toddlers pool. The beach has signs warning of swimming in the ocean due to stingers and crocodiles.
Monday 20th May
Prior to heading in to Townsville we thought we would check out the free camps sites for future reference. Bushy Park (Camps 7 QLD) is in Rollingstone town itself and looked to be good with plenty of room and shade. Balgal Bay (Camps 7 QLD) is about another 5km down from Rollingstone but is right on the beach with a stinger net and a small playground. This is a tiny free camp with room for only 16 vans. From the highway we saw Bluewater (Camps 7 QLD) it too looked like a nice camp with a playground and not that far from Townsville (25km I think it was).
We had lots to do in Townsville, Rob had to go to the bank, I had to pick up a backpack that I won on eBay to carry A in which will allow us to see places that aren't pram friendly, a quick stop in at Bunnings to get a few bits and pieces and A medical appointment plus we wanted to take the boys to The Strand's free water park
After the boys had fun at the water park we sat down for lunch looking out to Magentic Island then it was off to A's appointment, some grocery shopping then back to the caravan park.
Rest day, just a day spent at the caravan park doing washing, cooking etc. J made friends with a German boy who didnt speak English (his father occasionally translated). It was amazing to watch the boys play for a good 2 hours, watching their body language as they communicate to each other. For lunch we headed to Balgal Bay and to Fisherman's Landing which is opposite the free camp and boat ramp for fish n chips for lunch. The afternoon was spent in the pool and wandering the beach looking for shells.
Wednesday 22nd of May
Today was waterfall day. We had been told by one of the travelling families we met at Charter Towers to go and see Wallaman Falls and also Jourama falls. So we headed up the Bruce hwy to Ingham then out to the Girringun National Park ( about 51km south west from Ingham). Wallaman Falls is Australia's highest permanent single drop waterfall. 268 metres high and the pool at the end of the waterfall is 20 metres deep.
You can do a walk that takes you down to the bottom of the falls but it takes a couple of hours and with children we decided against it as it was a long climb back up.
We stopped for lunch in Ingham before heading to Jourama Falls which is about 35km north west of Rollingstone amd only 5km from the Bruce hwy.
So after 4 nights here it was time to move on. Next stop.........Mission Beach
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