Saunders Beach 16 - 17 5 05

Got up early from our free camp spot near a lovely park and parked in the city on the river. Had breakfast and scored a great car parking place near the Reef H Q. This is a fantastic aquarium that displays only fish and coral from the Barrier Reef. We stayed nearly 3 hours as it was a lot easier than snorkelling! We will get to snorkel soon. We also went to the Catholic Church diocesan office to look up some family history about Peter’s dad and found a few extra bits. It seems the family were definitely living along the Railway towns, Charters Towers, Richmond and Torrens Creek around 1912 -1918. The lady actually got out the original books with all the hand written details. Found the Botanic Gardens nearby and took all our lunch bits in for a picnic. It was all set up for a Shakespearean Play in the garden and some primary kids were doing a few activities before leaving. Peter loved it as it reminded him that he was not at work. The Gardens were lush and green and had a few extremely large trees. The backdrop was a huge red mountain rock with no grass and speckled with eucalypts. No one makes much reference to this rather incongruous scene.
Drove up the coast from Townsville and found a beautiful campsite at Saunders Beach, about 20 metres from the beach. We had 2 great nights there with perfect scenery. Lay around on our deck chairs with perfect warm breeze overlooking islands - very blue water, soft gentle waves, coconut palms, super green grass. Wonderful free picnic facility, though sandflies were bad and although we sprayed we still got a few bites. Will be more careful in future.
Peter took the motorbike off and we rode around the town a bit and down to the boat ramp where we read the sign about crocodiles. Gone in a FLASH when I read that!!!! First encounter with a crocodile sign. Quiet a few free campers now at these spots- say 8 lots. One big caravan was a lovely young couple with 3 kids 3 -7 years taking two years off and travelling and home schooling. They were so set up and organised. Turns out she is a G.P. which is quite a commitment to stop work for.
The toilets give everyone entertainment with the big green frogs under the lip of the bowl. When you flush they only just manage to hang on with one or two legs then get back to surprise you all over again. They are at least 6-8”. When Heather went in to the ladies, a Dutch couple were both in there with a torch for their first encounter with a Cane toad. 2 frogs in one toilet!!