It was only an hour drive to Homehill, a place I remember going to a couple of times to compete in Highland dancing competitions. The venue for them was just off the main Hwy and I recognised it as we drove past. I also remembered the big sugar cane mill there, right near the Burdekin River, and I remembered the long steel bridge over the river. The area is surrounded by sugar cane farms and we had to stop at a crossing as a sugar cane train went across with its load. It all brought back memories. Just 10 mins further north was Ayr, another place where I competed in dancing Eisteddfodds. It is slightly more built up than Homehill and the centre of town is nicely done with an attractive looking mall. We didn’t stop there, but just looked as we drove through. We continued on towards Townsville.
The maps showed a place named Alligator Creek about 28km south of Townsville. I recognised the name as somewhere our family used to go for day outings and I think sometimes with people from my Dad’s work. It is within the Bowling Green National Park (I don’t remember this name, so perhaps it’s been made a national park since i lived there). Reading up on it in the car (iPads are great devices:)) there is the day picnic area and overnight camping area near the creek, just 5km in from the Hwy, and this area is surrounded by a rural residential area. We decided to have a drive in there since I remembered it. We went to the day picnic area and went down to the creek – the kids loved the look of it and would have loved a swim if we’d had a bit more time. We did a short walk to a lookout area and saw how the creek had lots of great swimming holes. It was nice to see it again.
We went back out onto the hwy and continued along into town. I didn’t recognise the area we first came into as it was the south-east, where I didn’t go much as a child (we lived in the south-west). Once we got to the 3ways intersection of Bowen Rd, Ross River Rd and Charters Towers Rd, I recognised the area. Charters Towers Rd is where my Dad’s business, NBE, was located for most of the time we were up there. It is also where I road my bike along for many years to and from high school. Michael wanted to stop at a Supercheap Auto store which we had looked up as being on Charters Towers Rd. when we got there, I realised it was just across the road from my high school, St Margaret Mary’s. So after Michael finished at the store, I hoped across the road with my camera and took some photos of the school – some parts had changed and some hadn’t. While walking around there, I heard loud engine noises. I wondered what it was for a minute or two, and then remembered we had read that the V8 Supercars were in Townsville this weekend. The circuit was obviously close by. I rejoined the family in the car, and we continued out to Rowes Bay to settle in to the caravan park. Hannah and Bethany are always keen to get straight on their bikes once we stop somewhere. Sam goes on his bike a bit, but also likes to find a tree to climb if possible. Lauren will often just stretch her legs and explore the van park for a bit. Rowes Bay van park turned out to be quite nice with lots of trees around. It wasn’t long before the kids had found a large Moreton Bay Fig Tree to climb and swing on the hanging roots.
After a cuppa and a short rest, I new I needed to go to the grocery store again (going through lots of fresh food). This time Hannah came with me. We went to Castletown shopping centre, which I remember was only a few years old before we left Townsville. We did our shopping and then I took a bit of a drive to an area close by (at Pimlico) where my ballet school was – Croft-Gilchrist School of Dance. I had looked it up on Google Maps and found out it was still there. It hadn’t changed that much on the outside, but there was now a dancewear shop right next door in a house, and the car parking area was now sealed and had security gates on it. I took a photo and then Hannah and I drove back to the van park. Michael and Sam had been watching the end of the V8 Supercar race on the TV. They were then on dinner duty (another quick packet meal) while I sat down for a while – yay. I think we all did separate reading that night before bedtime.