Saturday 15 May 2021

 


Days 8-20

We arrived at our favourite place, Airlie Beach,  on a cloudy day in late April. The weather gods played with us. Rain overnight and in the mornings, sunny afternoons and cool nights for the first ten days.

We spent some of the 2 weeks  helping our dear friend Lea getting her five acres under control. Ian slashed and chopped and dug and replanted and whipper snipped and mowed and her property was a picture when we left in early May. 

I was supposed to write while Ian did the work, but I spent most of the time walking around with my camera, chatting to Lea, and playing with rag doll Molly, and Ruby dog.


Lea's wonderful garden overlooking the Whitsundays




RUBY


The back view overlooing Proserpine


There were fabulous photo opportunities, pink moon, sunbird on the clothes line,  catching up with locals,  Danielle and her sweet Roman, Brian and Linda, and David R Garms, author (if you haven't read his book, make sure you do... an excellent read)

https://www.amazon.com.au/Hades-Double-David-R-Garms-ebook/dp/B01B2UP934






Pink Moon


Gypsy and Ian


Sunbird nest on the clothes line


More Ruby

On other days we went touring... up to the scenic Hydeaway Bay, and Ian went on a few fishing charters. We ate coral trout five nights in a row!

Cape Gloucester






We caught up with our friends, the Mudgee Smiths', daughter, Felicity and her partner, Lochlan, who became her fiance during their visit to Airlie Beach. A romantic proposal at Cedar Creek Falls!


The night we caght up with them to say goodbye, Airlie Beach put on an incredible sunset.

Airlie Beach, always spectacular






The boys went fishing and caught lots of fish!



Some of the restaurants up here will cook your catch.
Lea took us to Northerlies... superb!


Another fish night at Anchor Bar with Felicity and Lochlan



The soon to be engaged Felicity with me at Paradiso. I might have to write a romance about the proposal.





Coral Sea Marina (This appears n my next book in October... Osprey Reef)



A few more dinners out and then it was time to head north again.
Next instalment: Rollingstone Beach, and Mission Beach on the way to Cooktown.
Oh, and I didn't get my book finished. I was having too much fun!
That means more work at the next destination!





Friday 14 May 2021

 Day 7



We left Tannum Sands bright and early and  headed 403 km up the highway to break the long journey at a much loved spot at Cape Palmerston. The road from Rockhampton to Mackay is long, and always brings back memories of our non-event honeymoon up there. We had booked a beachside bure at Eimeo Beach (which coincidentally features in my November release, Osprey Reef, in the 1930s)

Two months before our wedding, there was a particularly nasty double murder on that lonely stretch of road.

 Due to the high frequency of crime, the highway also earned the nickname "The Badlands". The highway between Marlborough and Sarina was realigned in 1982, and the sealed road which had served as the Bruce Highway at the time of the Weckert murders is now known as Marlborough-Sarina Road.

A couple of hundred kilometres south of that stretch of road, we witnessed a man carry from the bush what looked like a body in a sack. We, in our 1970 HT stationwagon, and several other cars, turned around and went back to Howard Police Station to report what we had seen.

Needless to say, we did not make our bure at Eimeo Beach! We spent our honeymoon at Hervey Bay, the Gold Coast and Nambucca Heads, where we moved to fifteen years later.

Back to Cape Palmerston. A very quiet and peaceful night ... the photos tell it all! The two things to mention about Cape Palmerston are the fresh prawns from their prawn farm and the Taj Mahal of amenities blocks!









We departed bright and early for our next stop ... two weeks at our favourite Airlie Beach.