Mel woke us up quite early the next morning which didn’t turn out to be a bad thing as we saw the sun finish rising

and took a quick walk along the beach before breakfast.

The rest of the morning was a washing day as at last it was sunny enough to dry it. That done we drove out to the Frosty Mango at nearby Coolbie.

Frosty Mango

We were meeting friends, Phil and Dorothy, who were staying in Townsville, for lunch. As it turned out we ended up in adjoining parking places. Lunch was duly ordered and eaten amidst lots of conversation and tail wagging, as our friends brought their two dogs too. (Dogs are welcome in the outside eating area.) Needless to say I made sure I finished with one of the house specialities, a delicious mango ice cream.

Paluma Range National Park – Big Crystal Creek

After lunch we drove into Paluma Range National Park to Big Crystal Creek.

After parking our cars we split up. Karen and Dorothy stayed in the cars with the three dogs while Phil and I did the short walk. This was because dogs aren’t allowed to walk in national parks.

At first it was a sealed path followed by stone steps then you ended up just walking across massive rocks

to the creek.

Three or four people who were probably camping were in a section of the creek swimming in a waterhole but we were not a bit tempted as even though it was sunny it wasn’t a warm enough day to take the plunge. We headed back up the steps

and returned to the carpark and swapped over with Karen and Dorothy so they could have a wander while we sat in the car with the dogs.

Rollingstone

When Karen and Dorothy returned we drove back towards Rollingstone itself. Apart from the school and a general store there isn’t much to see. Not sure how long it had been up for sale either.

However we did go and check out the free camping area. It was quite a nice treed area but the amenities block looked like it had never been cleaned. Yuk! From the camping area we followed the path down to the creek to give the dogs a bit of a walk. The water was very still and the view provided me with the opportunity to take a couple of reflection shots. It’s amazing how trees can survive when so much of their root system is exposed and not beneath the earth.

Back at the cars we farewelled our friends as they would continue heading south back to Townsville and we would be going north back to the caravan park. It had been a fun day and the brilliant sunset capped it off beautifully.

Golf at Mystic Sands

Our last day arrived and as it was sunny again I headed back to Balgal Beach to have a hit of golf at Mystic Sands.

I was hoping the course would have recovered from all the recent rain. After paying my green fees I walked over to the first hole and joined another guy. As you can see the first fairway looked pretty good. But even though I was hitting the ball quite well it took me quite a while to adjust to the speed of the greens.

Alongside one of the other fairways were a few kangaroos.

On the first three holes I had too many putts but finally on the fourth hole I managed a bogey. Sadly that was as good as it got. It was far from my best game. Just as well a local had guided me around! I guess I can use the excuse there was a lot of water still around.

Along the edge of the fairways there were also some beautiful plants in flower. Here’s an Acacia I spotted.

By the time I finished and drove back to the caravan park it was a late lunch for me. After a bit of a rest we took Mel for one last walk along the beach.

On our return we packed up the caravan awning in readiness for our departure the next morning.

Next up we head a little further down the Bruce Highway to Bluewater.