An easy move from Townsville to Airlie Beach for a few days. A stop in Bowen for fish and chips for lunch (:-P taking my wife for lunch was purely an excuse to restock my fridge with Fresh Prawns – and they were delicious (Fish and Chips were good too!) and then into the park at Jubilee Pocket. Then a swim for me while Philip has a snooze. Airlie Beach is always a good spot for boat watching, cycling and walking.
After visiting the market on Saturday morning we cycle around to the Coral Sea Marina for a coffee and cake and to watch the yachts coming and going.
This marina has developed into a mega yacht area and there are plenty here to drool over. While we have our drinks we watch as people board the DeLisle 111, a charter yacht, for a few nights of expensive fun. This can be chartered for 3 nights minimum from $127,500 plus tax or for a week for a cool $165,000 plus tax. Sleeps 10 so that is just $16 500 per person for a week and that doesn’t include food or drinks.
Another super yacht there was the Pleiades 11, my favourite, this also has a capacity of 10-12 guests and is $98,000. Guess it will be a while before we charter it for a week.
07-09-25
We packed up and started to head south this morning. We have 3.5 days to fill in before our next few days stay. I am assuming we will just head down the Bruce Highway, taking our time and looking around. The first 180 k went as I thought. Then as we pulled out from the fuel station at Sarina, we take a turn to the west and start to head away from the Bruce a Highway and the coast and head inland. I look at Philip and he smirks and says “ I’m sick of the highway let’s see what’s down this road, it will bring us out somewhere near where we need to be”. So off we head up over the Sarina Range on a narrow country road, through small towns and then mining areas. Now Philip can spout on about the mining in this area. (P:- yes the author was correct with her thoughts of our travel plans the next few days! After a couple of hours tracking down the Bruce Highway I figured it was time for a change. We did this “Grey Nomad Trail” last year so time for some more exploring. Fuel in the Tank and Food in the fridge, no need for discussion the Chev is Heading West and up over the Great Dividing Range with us and Van in Tow. We are heading to Cattle and Coal Mining Country! The thought of all that large mining machinery encourages us – Opps- Me on.
Coal Mining, agriculture, small towns, winding roads, road trains and great views entertain us over the next couple of days as we travel from the coast, inland to Emerald then back to Blackwater and down to Nanango. Roadside camps small towns bakery, painted silos and fruit and veg stalls along the way.
We were up very early (3 am) one morning to watch a lunar eclipse and red moon, (Philip spent more time watching than me in the fresh morning air. But it was special to see.
(P:- Once we got to Blackwater we headed South again on the aptly named “ Australia’s Country Way” a great drive through diverse areas of Agriculture, Cattle, Grain, Hay, Citrus, Vegetables to name a few. Where there was irrigation water the thriving crops were a kaleidoscope of shapes and colours. Unfortunately, due to a malfunction in our “scheduling and planning” department we had to rush this area. For some unknown reason we have lost a day in September 2025, when we realised it was a bit of a rush to get to our next (prearranged) destination. We rarely plan too much in detail but we stuffed up here. Our 3.5 casual touring days became 2.5 very quickly! I will put the “Australian County Way” back on the list for another visit in the future).
The name Three Moon reportedly comes from several legends all with a similar theme. One tells of a Stockman retrieving water from the creek on night when he noticed the moon and the sky and its reflection in the creek and also in his Billy. The second is of a Chinese miner who also saw the moon reflected in the creek and his pannikin. The third is that of European landholders who employed aboriginal stockmen on their stations. To ensure that the stockmen returned from their walkabouts when needed they were asked to return every third full moon.
Tassie Travellers 