On the Beach

Today we had the ultimate tourist brochure experience: a pristine sandy beach and no other people around... Hardly any clouds either just perfect! This was just north of Townsville at Toolakea on the Bruce Highway from Townsville to Airlie Beach, which was our goal for today. This was pretty much the most boring stretch so far, just scrub and sugar cane plantations for ever and ever, and we were glad of the turnoff to the local road to Airlie Beach just north of Proserpine. Here the countryside suddenly turned more lush again. While we're on the subject of roads, another annoyance is the quaiity of the road surface, which is pretty abominable considering it's the major (and only!) highway. The "repairs" remind me of the American freeways, a patchwork quilt of little asphalt postage stamps that sometimes appear to have made things worse rather than better. In the camper you feel every last bump (and hear it because of the rattling cutlery!)