Murphy's Law

Is is really a week since we left Lake Awoonga and headed north! Time flies when you are relaxing.
So we headed off from the Lake on Monday morning and headed for Cape Palmerston Holiday Village on the coast from Ilbilbie. Ilbilbie has been a regular fuel stop since we first headed north with the kidlets in 1988 in a small 16 foot caravan with no luxuries. There used to be a big concrete tank there with live barramundi but it has disappeared some time over the years.
The trip north and then the short drive to the coast took us past sugar cane fields and then past Mount Funnell which overlooks Cape Palmerston.

 The caravan park there was one of the best, great facilities and drive through sites. Best of all, it was only a one hundred metre walk though the bush to a magnificent deserted beach with a deep creek at the north end of it. We explored on our first day, and then set off with towels and books, on the second, but alas we were chased away  by the biting midges. The beach walk was one of the best we've done and the tide went our for miles, leaving cowrie shells for us to add to the collection. On our second afternoon, we walked along the road and discovered a small village called Green Hill not far south of the park. The cheapest beach side houses we have ever seen on our travels.

Mount Funnell

Cape Palmerston stay

Cape Palmerston sunset

We packed up on Wednesday morning and headed  north to cover the two hundred kilometres to our favourite destination-Airlie Beach. On the way north we stopped for morning tea at Kuttabul and remembered how the kids had disappeared into the sugarcane there back in 1988!

Smith style morning tea on the road.

Love pulling up and being able to make a cuppa as we travel.

The first sight of the bay at Airlie Beach is one we enjoy every time we see it. Whether we are off sailing or camping at the Island Gateway, there is nothing to compare to that brilliant vista as you come over the hill from Cannonvale into Airlie Beach.

Our favourite place

For the first few days at Airlie we were favoured with brilliant weather. Clear, deep blue skies and no wind, and winter temperatures in the low thirties. We walked for the first few days, up to ten kilometres each day, explored the local coffee shops for morning tea, and the tavern across the road for dinner on Thursday night. One brilliant morning was spent reading  by the lagoon pool and only a short stroll away from the Beach Book Boutique  and coffee shop next door. Evenings are spent strolling along through the marina to watch the sunset and take some photos. We're doing it tough.

Airlie Beach is truly our favourite spot!

I called into the Beach Book Boutique to meet BJ in preparation for the book signing on Saturday and was excited to see all the advertising!

The weather stayed clear for Saturday and the book launch was great fun. I was interviewed by the local paper and it made the paper online the very next day!

http://www.whitsundaytimes.com.au/news/author-sets-sights-airlie/3043410/

It was good to catch up with reading and author friends, David R Garms, and Lea and Peter Payne. I first met Lea in the bookstore back in 2000 and we used to stock up our reading material before our sailing trips out to the islands!

A successful day and lots of new readers met, and books sold. It was great to meet local author Gail (Gi Gi) Harvey who will also be at the Whitsunday Writers' Festival in September.

Sunday dawned bright and clear but with the forecast of rain and wind,we squeezed in a huge walk before the weather turned, which it did late in the afternoon.

So Murphy's Law kicked in today (Monday) 

Torrential rain and I had decided to wash! While we were over in the park laundry waiting for the dryer to finish and brave the heavy rain back to the once cosy van, a water pipe decided to let go beneath the kitchen sink.

Luckily Ian came back before the van could completely flood, but was still greeted by a Niagara Fall of water when he opened the door.

It took us two hours and all the freshly washed, clean and dry towels to clean up the flood! A quick trip to the caravan place, a new connection, back to the laundry to wash again and all is well.

The weather is lifting slightly, but the winds and rain are forecast to stay around for a few days.

So no more sunsets for a couple of days, and we have bunkered down in the cosy van to catch up on our reading ...and blog. Maybe heading north later in the week... tune in to follow our next adventure.

Some of the fun photos taken on our walks below.