Ayr to Ingham

Left Ayr after an easy start to the day and headed up through Brandon

before making our way to Townsville. We caught up with long time friends for lunch. They are staying with their daughter and son-in-law whilst having a house built in Brisbane. After sharing lunch and a dog walk we continued on our way to Ingham. It is always good to see green Open signs on roads

but we aren’t as excited to be held up by roadworks

but eventually we made it Ingham and checked into a grassy site at the Ingham Tourist Park.

As we took Mel for an orientation walk around the caravan park couldn’t help but notice these stunning Grevilleas.

The next morning as we were eating breakfast the manager popped by. As quite a few caravans were leaving and it was forecast for rain he recommended we move to another site with an adjoining concrete pad which was on gravel. So we packed up and moved to a vacant site. Once set up we decided to take a drive out to …….

Taylors Beach

The drive through sugar cane farms took about half an hour.

On arriving at Taylors Beach we made our way to the foreshore to find a carpark.

We quickly found a sealed path along the foreshore to take Mel for a walk. This catamaran was certainly sitting high and almost dry as the tide was well out.

Even though it was very cloudy it was pleasant to be out and about.

Along the trail there were a number of information boards.

It soon became apparent that crabs were a bit of a feature.

Local artist John Heard had created this metal sculpture, entitled ‘Cranky Jenny’, after a cranky aggressive crab he’d noticed on the beach attacking other crabs.

After an up and back walk we drove through the small township. As we went we saw another piece of crab art; this time a very colourful mural.

Halifax

On our way back to Ingham we did a loop through another small town, Halifax. Yes, it had the ubiquitous pub but what initially caught our eye was the butcher shop with it’s colourful, fun murals.

We also found an information board detailing the early history of the town in words and photos.

Just as we started to wander the rain came down so we scampered back into the car. It was quite gloomy so we began our drive back to Ingham, firstly crossing the Herbert River

before continuing through yet more sugar cane territory.

We returned to the caravan for lunch. Due to the rain we sat inside and read. Later on I headed over to the barbecue area to cook dinner. Another impressive mural was on the wall just near some tourist information brochures.

Pub with No Beer

Now, Ingham is well known for one of it’s pubs, the ‘Pub With No Beer’, which we could see as we drove into town.

So on one of trips into town we stopped and parked up the road a bit. In the middle of the main street there is a a lot of parkland and a playground. So we took Mel for a walk along this green belt as we made our way back to the famous Lee’s Hotel (originally Day Dawn Hotel). Along the way we noticed a number of signboards detailing historic events in Ingham’s history, which we found quite interesting.

After a short walk we found ourselves outside the ‘Pub With No Beer’.

Now here’s a photo of Karen outside the ‘pub with no beer’ – as Karen doesn’t like beer it wouldn’t bother her.

Here’s the signboard outside the hotel detailing the pub’s history and how during World War II there did come a day when the pub had no beer due to wartime shortages. Local poet Dan Sheahan penned the poem and famous Australian country singer Slim Dusty turned it into a hit song. In 2005 the hotel achieved due recognition from the Queensland National Trust.

Needless to say you can definitely buy a beer there nowadays.

Back at the caravan we ate lunch and adjusted our plans due to more showers. It would have been a boring afternoon but a surprise phone call turned it into a good afternoon. A friend of Karen’s cousin had seen some of our social media postings and as he was driving south through Ingham he dropped in for afternoon tea. It was good to be able to compare our journeys. He had been on the road longer than us so had lots to tell us. As Ian was staying back down in Townsville he drove off late afternoon and we ate another barbecue dinner.

The following day was our last day in Ingham and we visited the Tyto Wetlands. More about that next post.