Italians, fishing and a damp camp.

Friday night...Taylor's Beach
We were woken a few times during the night by an unfamiliar sound and it took a moment to realize it was the noise of raindrops spattering on the canvas roof of our little home.Hmm...would we stay dry! The first night of rain in five weeks . Maybe it would wash some of the red dust from the camper trailer and the canvas?

Our site at Talyor's Beach. Unpowered but private,

All was good and only one small leak in the corner near my pillow...but alas, I had put the dongle there on the shelf before I went to sleep.
Unfortunately the laptop was flat and as we are on an unpowered site, I had to wait till it charged in the back of the ute in the special battery setup Ian installed for me before I could test the dongle.
I am pleased to report all is well and we had no casualties from our minor leak.

Saturday.. a restful morning, drying out a few damp bits and pieces. Ian went fishing and got 'smashed' on the rocks but alas the fish lived to tell the tale. We left out little camp site to head through some lovely countryside to the annual Australian/Italian festival in the Wetland Centre in  Ingham. The sky cleared and we drove through beautiful cane fields, past the Victoria Sugar Mill which was pumping huge clouds of white smoke into the brilliant blue sky with the lush green mountains as a back drop. Absolutely beautiful scenery as we drove through huge mango trees and past old buildings. We walked across a high bridge through the Wetlands and were amazed by all the turtles among the lilies.

See the turtles?

Ravioli, lasagne and really good coffee for lunch!

A very busy food court on the grass

Great food!

A mango tree in Halifax

Then we headed down to Forrest Beach for a drive through more beautiful scenery

Sugar cane train and Hinchinbrook Island in the background

but Taylors' Beach gets the vote for the best spot in the district.

Forrest Beach with the exclusive Orpheus Island in the background

On the way back to the campsite we called into Halifax to buy Barry, a new fishing hat. The disgustingly dirty, lucky fishing hat has gone missing and a replacement was needed. A tiny little village with character as can be seen by the two signs outside the pub.

Read the small sign on the right too...

A lazy afternoon spent reading and editing, and being eaten by midges... the private camp spot has a couple of disadvantages.Midges and Sandflies.  The Stingose lotion came out for the bites this morning.
The day finished off peacefully on the edges of the serene waterways of Taylor's Beach. New camping acquaintances, Bob and Dell from Tassie, met us over there and we fished, barbequed (alas steak not fish) and shared a bottle of Pinot Gris.Bob is a fisherman and Dell is a romance reader so we all got on very well!
A beautiful setting ...it's a shame you can't swim because of marine stingers and crocodiles!

A peaceful end to a great day

Today we are thinking about a drive inland to some local waterfalls. But of course the mandatory fishing expedition on the high tide first!