11 July 2011 - Black River Stadium, Queensland

We were up and away from our over night camp bright and early, greeted by yet another clear sunny day, heading northwards (or rather westwards up the coast) towards our next camp spot. We had telephoned a couple of caravan parks to quiz their tariffs, having discovered that the 2011 Caravan Park book and the 2011 RACQ were already out of date and often quoted prices as much as $5 short of the up to date sting. Both those phoned, confirmed that their tariffs are close to $40, and so were crossed off our possible choices. On the other hand we had discovered that the Black Water Stadium, advertised in the Camps 5 bible (we appreciate that the fifth edition was published 2009 – the sixth edition has been out on the shelves just this year) and on further investigation discovered the cost was a fair $25, and so we booked a site for a couple of nights. We were however surprised how far beyond Townsville the camp was situated and I did wonder if perhaps we were cutting off our noses to spite our faces, but Chris says that one should not encourage these greedy camp owners.

The camp is at the rodeo ground thirty kilometres from the centre of Townsville, spacious with excellent facilities, presented as brand new in elevated re-locatable buildings. The caretaker is a sweet prim senior lady who rides around the camp on a golf cart, with her Chihuahua. I could not imagine her wielding a mop and toilet brush, therefore was not surprised to learn that an elderly long term male resident does the cleaning in lieu of discounted “rent”.

We were set up, and the washing was on the line drying, by 11.15 am, and we had our first morning coffee guest seated under our awning.

After lunch Chris and I headed back in to Townsville, and drove up Castle Rock from where we took each short path to the most wonderful vantage points. Townsville is a fast growing city of 172,000 people, and most impressive from the heights of Castle Rock, a red rock monolith in the heart of the city. Magnetic Island sits out from the coast; a high rugged island, home to 2,000 reliant on tourist trade. Well back behind the city, mountain ranges provide a back drop.

Views of the city from Castle Rock

We descended the hill and found a park in the main street and walked to the central post office to pick up our mail. Nothing!! How can that be! Mail posted nearly ten days ago has yet to arrive. Chris is firmly of the opinion that it has been binned by dissatisfied postal sorting staff. I have a more optimistic view, forever the Pollyanna.

We then walked around to the Information Centre and picked up a handful of pamphlets, a wad of suggestions on how to fill a day or six in Townsville. Perhaps we will have to extend our stay.

This morning before lunch when Chris was hunting out the dump point, he happened upon familiar faces; Charlie and Sue of the Perth Brigade. Geoff and Denise had been going out on an errand as we had arrived; we had actually passed them at the gate but not recognised them. We were delighted to be invited to share their fire late this afternoon and so, bearing our cups of coffee and chairs, we wandered down to their camp, to catch up and share our travel experiences since last meeting up at Calliope. At seven, we tore ourselves away, wished them all safe journeying as they set off tomorrow morning until we meet on the road again. Our paths are still the same, our choices of time and place of pausing en route do differ.