BACK TO THE COAST AND CANE COUNTRY

From Emerald we headed north to Clermont and then across towards Mackay. We spent one night at a free camp spot called the Retreat. It's out the back of a pub on a huge area of grass. The next morning we drove through thousands of acres of cane fields and made our way to Seaforth, a small seaside town north of Mackay. We hadn't rung ahead, but managed to get a great site closest to the beach for two nights (photo above). It was school holidays, so there were heaps of other kids there. I hardly saw Casey, Brodie and Tara - they were off playing with their new friends in the playground and down on the beach the whole time. The campsite was run by Mackay council and cost $18 a night for up to 6 people. There were coin-operated showers (40c was enough for a decent shower), but no powered sites. Generators weren't allowed, so we kept an eye on how much the solar panels were charging the batteries. We would have been fine, except the tv's use a lot of power. On our last night there, the fridge seemed to just turn itself off. We weren't sure if it was just the power situation, or if something serious was wrong with the fridge. We went through a few towels mopping up the leaking water as the fridge defrosted itself! The next morning we bought a bag of ice to put in the crisper to help keep the food cold, and headed to Bowen.

After three nights without power to plug into, it was good to get to a caravan park. And hooray... the fridge started working! We didn't even lose any food. Darren has an uncle and aunt in Bowen and he's hoping to get some work here. We're all hoping too, because it's so nice here. The caravan park backs onto a big park area with playgrounds and a skate park. In the photo above you can just see some of the caravans in the background (our van is above where Casey's head is.) Just next to the park is the beach - and the caravan park also adjoins the golf course - so everyone's happy!

After all these months (and after playing on their cousins' Wii game inEmerald), the kids decided they wanted to hook our Wii up. As you can see, the table comes out easily to make room.

The other great thing about the caravan park is that there is a pool. The kids just had to get in on our first day here. The weather is really warm (I was ready to get in myself), but the water was quite fresh! They eventually all got in and swam happily around until their lips went purple!

It's overcast today, but still really warm. I went through all the clothes again this morning, packing away the winter gear and pulling out all the summer stuff.
We had another minor drama last night (actually 4am this morning) when Tara threw up in her bed. Luckily I'm a light sleeper and jumped out of bed quickly enough to grab her down from the top bunk, wake Darren and get him to take her outside before she let rip a second time! I pulled the sheet off fast enough to save the mattress. It all could have been a lot worse, and she was fine straight afterward.