What To Do In Ayr

Having been impressed with the vastness of the Burdekin River the previous day we were interested to see more. So we drove through the main part of town to get a map of the area at the Tourist Information Centre. As Karen wanted to look for a few things we went back in to town and parked. The Post Office with it’s adjoining clock tower was a real blast from the past with its art deco design.

Once the shopping was done we drove out to the edge of town south east towards Rita Island. Our aim was to reach one of the points near where the Burdekin meets the sea. Past the outskirts of the town we drove through Jarvisfield with all its many canefields.

As we drove we came to one of the many small railway crossings you see in this part of Queensland. However this time the bells were actually ringing and the lights were flashing so we had to stop.

Sure enough along came a ‘cane train’ with heaps of cane carriages.

Once it had passed through we went on. After a few minutes we came upon another group of full cane carriages on the tracks running parallel to the road.

Next we saw a tractor coming towards us. We started to pull to the left side but the farmer pulled right off the road and tucked in the machinery attached to his tractor so we could go past safely.

After driving about 15 minutes from town we came to the end of the road – literally. As well as road barriers there was a now familiar sign warning us of the dangers of crocodiles.

I parked the car and we took a short walk. Here’s the view out to the ocean end of the river.

Here’s a view back across the river. The presence of this small boat confirmed this was probably a good fishing spot.

Back in the car we turned around. We couldn’t help but admire this colourful tropical garden belonging to one of the farmers.

On our return to town we bought some lunch which we took back to the caravan to eat.

Mid afternoon we took another drive. This time to the north east to Alva Beach. It was a dog friendly beach we had been told. As we arrived at the carpark entry we spotted some local birdlife on a small pond.

We put Mel on her lead as we weren’t sure which part of the beach would be leash free. Once on the beach we were blown along by a very strong wind as we walked.

The creek was really flowing fast.

The strong wind was a bit off-putting so we returned to the car and drove around further, coming to a different carpark soon after. There was quite an avenue of large trees.

The path led us to a viewpoint of the beach.

Further along the path we could again see over the Alva sand dunes to the fast flowing creek delta and the sea further out. Many birds and turtles make this area home at various times of the year apparently.

There were a few helpful information boards along the path.

This warning information board certainly caught our eye but we had no intention of driving on the sand.

We completed the loop walk and drove back to the caravan park for another barbecue tea.

Next post we head further north to Ingham.