MONDAY 21 OCTOBER   TOWNSVILLE TO MIDGE POINT   300kms

From other travellers, I had heard glowing reports of a caravan park at Midge Point, near Proserpine. It seemed a more peaceful alternative to staying at the nearby backpacker haven of Airlie Beach. This was an ideal time, I thought, to satisfy my curiosity about this place.

We drove south from Townsville, passing through Giru and wondering whether the mango shed work there would really eventuate. Initially the way south from Townsville was quite hilly, but closer to Giru the land flattened out, with just the Dividing Range in the western distance. Great fields of sugar cane appeared and then some mango plantations.

From Giru to Ayr was through flat, sugar cane growing country. Ayr was a good sized town. We would get to know it better if we came to stay here. Just south of Ayr, we crossed the impressive metal bridge over the Burdekin River. It is all metal girders and struts and the overall impression is rather temple like. This bridge is almost as long as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and testament to the sometimes huge floods of the river, with its large catchment area.

Just across the river was the large Inkerman sugar mill.

Beyond Home Hill township, the sugar cane country soon gave way to grazing lands – not as interesting to drive through. There were some pockets of crop land though, especially around Bowen, and closer to Prosperpine.

The highway skirted Prosperpine, then several kms south of the town, we turned onto a road that would take us past the Laguna Quays resort development to Midge Point.

We booked into the Travellers Rest Caravan Park – $97 for the week, after Top Tourist discount. Then we set up in what appeared as a very attractive, lush, green, shaded, tropical park.

There were almost no other guests, a fact that I initially put down to the time of year, well outside the tourist season.

There were peacocks wandering about the grounds. A male made us a great display of his tail feathers.

We were not far from a beach, just down a little walk track, but decided to leave exploring until tomorrow, and just relax for the rest of the afternoon. However, sitting outside and enjoying the lush surrounds did not last for long, as the bities soon arrived. We retreated inside.