26 July 2011 - Bilyana Rest Area, Queensland

As I start this, I am sitting on the bed, with the warm sun streaming through the window, fresh from an early shower. We are camped once more beside the Bruce Highway, once more alongside the railway, but screened from the former by a belt of cyclone effected coastal rainforest. Apart from the odd train, the drivers taking delight in tooting their horn as they pass, it is a wonderfully private camp.
 
We came away from the Palm Tree Caravan Park at Ingham well before check out time, having appreciated the warm and friendly service the owners, Craig and Kate, offered. We would be pleased to call again if we felt the need to stay over at Ingham  and would certainly recommend the camp to anyone else.

Pausing at the Coles in Ingham, we bought fresh bread, the day’s newspaper and some other odds and ends, then headed north once more, initially traveling some of the highway we had covered yesterday returning from Lucinda.

The road continued across the valley plain, through sugar cane plantations, and then climbed up over the southern reaches of the Cardwell Range, as steep as we have encountered since returning to the eastern Queensland Coast, revealing the magnificent mountains on Hinchinbrook Island and the Channel of the same name as we came over the top. We then traveled on down through the bush clad hills, to Cardwell, 53 kilometres north of Ingham. 

Cardwell was one of the settlements more seriously effected by the cyclone in February and evidence is all around. The hills behind the built up area are covered in trees stripped of leaves as are those that remain along the coastal strip. Many roofs remain un-repaired, just covered by tarpaulins, and some structures wait almost bare in their framing for rebuilding. The highway runs along the sea edge in front of the town, a strung out affair, and immediately after the cyclone had passed through, half the road was gone along with the beach front. This has been restored to functionality but lacks the charm it apparently once had. One shopkeeper told us that it was funnily enough a plus, because now he could sit at his shop counter and see right out to sea, whereas before the trees along the foreshore had entirely screened all but the highway.

The development of residences and marinas at Hinchinbrook Port  sits to the east as one approaches the township, announced by smart large gate portals. Behind the walls are the remnants of the ruin that headlined immediately after Yasi had finished there, illustrated by piles of luxury marine craft piled one on top of the other. One local’s opinion was that in the building of the marina, the mooring posts had been reduced in length by a couple of metres, because at their original height, they obscured the splendid views of the channel and Hinchinbrook Island, hence the craft had slipped their moorings in the midst of the storm. We had read this opinion before in the media however as to it’s truth? I imagine that is a legal matter or at least one of great controversy.

I had been curious to see how it all looked now, almost six months on, however when we asked the woman in the Information Centre if there was a suitable park at the port for us to lunch, she was quick to suggest an alternative spot; the Coral Sea Battle Memorial further around the bay.

We found the suggested park, had lunch in the caravan then went for a wander about the park area. Again, the trees were stark, the area quite bare, the beach lined with uprooted trees, the plaques suitably dismal to mark such a battle.

It was time to be on the road again, and so we completed our planned trip, through more cane fields and banana plantations. I suspect however we will not be doing a tasting of the local produce; in Ingham we did find a deli selling bananas at $7.90 a kilo, which beside the supermarkets $17 a kilo was a steal, however we do not want to encourage these greedy producers. Bananas have been off the menu for a while now.