Ingham to Cardwell

It was move on morning again, however it was only a very short run today of about 60 kms.  The morning dawned with fog that only lifted about 0730. Not quite as warm overnight but a pleasant 14 degrees that soon warmed up to 20 by about 0800.

I went for another bike ride and this time riding through the town onto the road to Forrest Beach. This took me past the Victoria Sugar Mill. As I was traveling at a slower pace, I took in the smells of the Mill and also saw more of the activities around the mill. There are literally hundreds of small gauge rail wagons loaded with sugar cane waiting to go in. There was a train moving wagons under the chute to commence loading raw sugar. I deviated onto the Halifax Road for a while and then returned back to the Caravan Park the same way.

After a shower it was only necessary to finally let the Karavan down as I had done most of the pack up before the shower. As we departed we said farewell to Kate and Craig, the owners of the Park. They are a very friendly couple.

We left the Park and drove the few kilometres into Ingham. Our first stop was again JK's Deli. We had the same order as yesterday. We obtained our lunch there as well. Karen, the owner, recognised me from last year as did Megan who works there. It ended in a lovely conversation with them. This is a must stop location in Ingham.

Then we drove onto Cardwell being amazed at the amount of road construction going on especially over the range. Several stoppages as we drove along due to road work. It will be wonderful in the next year or so.

Soon we were in Cardwell. Our overnight stop is at the Cardwell Village Beachcomber Motel and Tourist Park. They are most certainly open for business following the cyclone.

We walked along a small part of the beach front, near where we are staying, taking in the majestic view of  Hinchinbrook Island to the east. There are other much smaller islands away in the distance, such as Goold, Garden and  the Brook group of islands in the far distance. To the west of the town is the massive Cardwell Range.

Poor old Op shop!

It is apparent that the cyclone caused a lot of damage. Even this Caravan park has had to demolish a big lot of cabins and their motel has been damaged extensively. As we strolled along the foreshore, the damage was even more obvious by the tarped roofs on houses and buildings and also some sites have been levelled. Trees have been uprooted and sand blown quite along way from the beach but it all seems to be business as usual.

Later in the afternoon, our longtime friends, Robyn and my former  agronomist, Paul, arrived back from their fishing out near Hinchinbrook Island.  Just after they returned, Paul took me around and I met up with several people I had known a long time ago in the Gunnedah area. Later, we had lovely nibbles and drinks before having a barbeque with them.