The Big Lap - Proserpine to Townsville

We froze overnight at Proserpine. You see, as the nights were getting warmer we packed away our big doona and are now just using a patchwork quilt.

That wasn't quite enough for 4.6 degrees! We couldn't believe how cold it got. It wasn't forecast to be that cold. Fortunately, it wasn't too dewy and quickly warmed up. 

There had been background noise throughout the night, like distant traffic.  It was the sugar mill, which is right in town. I dare say you would quickly not even hear it. 

We noticed as we left town that there were lots of lovely Art Deco buildings up the Main Street.

We were glad we didn't meet this wide load on the road. 

The next town up the road is Bowen, with its big mango.

As we didn't have all that far to go for the day, we went in to have a look. As we have travelled along, Mick has caught occasional glimpses of the sea, but I haven't as there has been a bike and Mick in the way. Here is Snubby by the sea. 

There was a nice marina in town.

Mick liked the green boat. 

We saw a sign to "Flagstaff Hill" and cafe so headed on up. There was no cafe but the view across to the islands was stunning, complete with little lighthouse. 

Another Snubby by the Sea photo opportunity. 

There were somelovely buildings in Bowen.  There were also still a few with cyclone damage and many with new rooves. Cyclone Debbie certainly made her presence felt here. 

For quite some time we have seen lots of large birds. Not sure if they are falcons, kites, or hawks, but they are certainly hard to photograph. 

Home Hill also had some lovely buildings.

The sugar season is in full swing.  We haven't seen any cane trains running, but have seen lots of carriages ready to be hauled to the mills. Some were really quite long. 

We crossed the Burdekin River over this impressive bridge. We will cross it again going out to Charters Towers. 

Lunch was in a nice shady park in Ayr where we were surprised to see three cute little bantam roosters. 

They say things are big up north. This gum nut was a fine example. 

Ayr was yet another town with lovely architecture. 

The landscape continued to change, with mango orchards starting to line the road.

More interesting hills to go around. 

Our destination was Townsville and a highlight was to meet one of my blog friends. Back in 2008, just after I started to blog, I took part in a swap of a redwork cushion. I sent mine to Jenny Reynolds, better known as Jenny of Elefantz, in Esperance. We started to follow each other's blogs. I thought we could meet as we were going to WA in 2010. We visited Townsville later in 2008. Just after we went home Jenny moved to the Townsville area. We missed her at both places.

Finally, nine years later we met in person and hit it off straight away. Both Jenny and Mr E are warm and friendly. It really was nice to spend some time with them.

Back to stats.....We have now done over 2,500kms in 8 days, which is on track. The weather is glorious, reaching mid 20s and getting down to mid teens. 

After a very social east coast the real adventure is about to start.