With only a few weeks to travel before a planned (northern ) summer break back in Canada, the weather app has taken over as our “compass” of sorts. Simply put, our aim was to maximize the hot weather at a time when both the season and direction we were headed would be gradually putting more cooler stuff in our path.

Prior to following the Bruce highway south, a short detour was made ( west) to the old gold mining town of Charters Towers. It met the “hot” test and the “historic” test – fortunes were made and lost in this town during the gold rush era ( and it still emanates affluence today with three large active mines driving the local economy ). Who would have known ( we didn’t ) that this small town once had its very own stock market ! The town is vibrant, prosperous, the locals super friendly – and it has one of the best visitor centres we’ve been to.

Ducking back to the coast our route took us through Bowen ( one of Queensland’s most under -rated coastal towns ), Proserpine, Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays, and then on to Mackay. The good weather held for us in Bowen but by Proserpine the clouds were gathering and we only got an afternoon of the good stuff at Airlie Beach before the rains came. And came. And came ! Not “supposed” to be rainy season but there are exceptions to every rule. This was the exception!  Disappointed with the Whitsundays weather, especially, since it meant our hopes of taking the tour boat out to pristine Whitehaven beach were dashed thus missing it’s main attraction- in three visits to this immensely popular town ( two in high season ) we have never had a clear run of weather . Perhaps we’ll get better weather further south, where we hope to get to stunning Fraser Island.

During the week we added a few hundred kms to our trip, exploring as we went, and, as always, looking for interesting park-ups ( camp spots ) where we could. We have had some wonderful (and memorable) ones on our travels – one such was the Kuttabul Pub just north of Mackay. Hugely popular with campers, it was a great layover with some of the best pub food we’ve tasted – very much living up to its reputation. “Pub camping”, as it’s known, is very popular right across the country – stay free as long as you eat/drink at the pub.

Waking up to a miserably wet morning, about to depart we had a moment of sheer terror as all the instruments on the dash of the van went blank. Like……BLANK. Not a single thing illuminated as the van was started. It started, fortunately, and we drove the 40kms into nearby Mackay very nervously as it alternated between complete darkness and then suddenly lighting up like a Christmas tree. Fortunately, there was a Mercedes dealer in Mackay, which we made our first port of call. They helpfully saw us on the spot and initially suspected a rodent had nibbled through a wiring harness ( usually a VERY costly and non-warrantable repair). We feared the worst.

A few hours of nervous shopping later a call came from the Service Manager – fortunately a very simple problem ( a failed seal had allowed moisture to penetrate an electrical connection – which is warrantable ) with a simple solution ( reconnect with new pins and replace the seal ). All good and we were on our way the same day. A huuuuge relief …!

The dash drama behind us, weather now improving we decided to find a beach and just “chill” for a couple of days. Nearby Carmila beach filled the bill nicely – a beautiful, calm spot with few people around. Exactly what we needed. Heaven…!

Till next week…….