September 5th to 14th - Sarina to see My brother

                Monday 5th
     We moved our rig to Gail's place to un-hitch the Trailer from the bus so we can travel to Sarina and back without the car or trailer, not going to be needing them on this trip. We are on our way tomorrow to catch up with my little brother, whom I haven't seen for about four years, looking forward to catching up with him and his partner Virginia.

                Tuesday 6th

Yip and Dot at Balgal beach  6.9.16

     Made our way to Ingham first up this morning to attend to some business and do a larder restock.  Only traveled as far as Balgal Beach by lunch time. We camped the night at the R.V.camp, spending the afternoon relaxing and taking the pup's for a walk on the beach. They had a ball running and exploring.
This photo and video tell the story of their antics.

                       Wednesday 7th

Sunrise at Balgal beach

     It is a beautiful sunny day today, walking the beach this morning resulted in another sunrise photo opportunity, as in this picture.
  Left Balgal beach mid morning with me as the chief pilot. Heading for Townsville and our good friends Gill and Steve.      
     I really need more driving practise, I did not feel particularly relaxed and only drove a few kilometers to Yabulu roadhouse. Jim resumed the drivers chair and took us comfortably to Boundary road, south Townsville, where we stocked up with dog meat from Supreme Pet Meats, they specialise in kangaroo meat, which our puppies love.
      On to the new boat ramp parking area to park over night. A lovely 2 or 3 hours catching up with gill and Steve in the afternoon. Tried my luck fishing off one of the pontoons without any result catch wise, but it was good fun.
             
                                    Thursday 8th

Port access road bridge Townsville

Sun up on another great day.
     Left the port area early to beat the business traffic to make Jim's appointment in Ross River Road, which is at 9.30 am. A bit early but we found a park and had a coffee 'til it was time. 
     Nearly lunch time by the time we were ready to head south. Refueled the bus in Ayr and traveled on to Home hill early afternoon. the Homehill comfort stop is in the middle of town and has all that one needs, hot showers, toilets, laundromat and a camp kitchen if needed. I made use of the laundry facilities. Visited the shops to catch up on some goodies I wanted and took it easy 'till dinner.             Time to rest for the night and be ready for another day tomorrow.

                          Friday 9th
     Bit of moisture this morning with light drizzle rain, cleared to a nice day later in the morning. From Homehill to just north of Bowen today, parked behind the Merinda hotel, The footy is on tonight so here we are 'till Saturday.

                           Saturday 10th
     It's a beautiful day today. We made our way into Bowen to avail ourselves of some fresh fish from the fishermans co-op shop. Got some fresh prawns and fish fillets.We parked up for a while and I took some pictures of our stay.

Jim and Dilligaf at Bowen

Dilligaf at Flagstaff Hill, Bowen

Whitsunday Islands from
Bowen

Decided we will go all the way to Sarina today and called the Van park to make sure they could accommodate us a couple days early, no  problem! I did another stint of driving and feel a whole lot more comfortable this time. We arrived at the Sarina Palms Caravan Village early afternoon, checked in and set up camp. 


 Went for a walk to town and found this statue, bit ugly but there it was. Back to camp and a relaxing evening.

Cane toad statue mid town Sarina

                       Sunday 11th
     Took a tour of the Sarina Sugar Shed today! very interesting to learn the ins and outs of how the sugar mill works, it is a mini version of the real thing. The best part was the tasting of the products they make, Rum and rum liquor along with various other spirits and sauces, chutneys etc. The Rum liquor was to my liking so I purchased a small bottle. The Rum itself is $99.00 a bottle, I don't like rum that much but Jim does so I bought him a sample 50ml bottle at $12.00. A lovely way to spend my day.      
     The Van park plays host to an odd array of statues - elephants, crocodile, Brolga, emu, giraffe, rhino, an ape and many more. this photo of a rhino beside Dilligaf was fun, and Jim had a bit of a laugh with a baby elephant. (He's so funny sometimes)

One of the many statues at Sarina van park

 

Ride 'em, Cow-Jim at Sarina

     Took the dogs for a walk later in the after noon and prepared to wait for my brother to arrive sometime tomorrow.

                                    Monday 12th
     Trying to be patient!  Went to the supermarket to get food for dinner, a B.B.Q. and salad, simple.
     finally they arrived at about 8pm. A long day for us all but we sat up burning the midnight oil 'til fairly late anyway.

                         Tuesday 13th
     What a great day!! Spent the day with Karl (my brother) and his partner Ginny, starting the morning looking at photos, a late breakfast, and lots laughter and chatting.

From left-Ginny, Me, Karl and Jim sitting at camp Sarina

Karl+Ginny with the ape at Sarina

 He hired a car,so we took a drive to some of the local beaches, leaving Jim at camp dog sitting. Stopped at the Leagues club for a beer and a game of pool or two then back to the van park for dinner more laughter and gas bagging!!  Another late night but I had a ball.

                            Wednesday 14th
     Coffee and toast for breakfast. Bit sad, they have to go home today, short but sweet get together.