TUESDAY 22 OCTOBER TO SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER   MIDGE POINT

The name should have told me to be wary! Midge Point! Yep – midges in the form of sandflies. Not just in the early morning and late afternoon, as we had previously encountered in tropical coastal locations, but all day.

Whilst the place itself was idyllic, the bugs totally spoiled it for us. It was probably really great in the cooler months, hence the glowing reports we’d heard, but we certainly landed in the full-on sandfly season.

There was a very pleasant beach fronting the park, but the ability to go walking on it was hampered by the ever-present midges.

From the beach we could see some of the many islands that make up the Whitsunday Group, in the distance.

Could also see some of the areas of coastal mangroves in places along the beach, and in the creek at the southern end of the beach. The extent of these in this area helped explain the midges.

John reacted badly to the bites he received in the first couple of days, while we were still realizing the full prevalence of these critters through the daytime. We had to drive into Proserpine so that he could obtain some anti-histamines from a chemist. He was feeling too poorly with his itches and swellings, for us to do any looking around the town, so we retreated  back to the van. Refilled Truck whilst in Proserpine – 89cpl.

John spent most of the week holed up in the van, playing computer games, even after the anti-histamines began to do their work. I didn’t fare much better – copious applications of repellent didn’t seem to offer much protection.

Not one of my better choices!