Getting a haircut in Babinda
When we awoke this morning the rain had almost stopped. We packed up, then walked the short trail to the Boulders, which is a set of rapids and falls along the creek. Normally there is a swimming hole above the rapids, but because of all the rain the river is really flooding, and it would be very unsafe to swim. The current would be too strong and you could easily be swept over the rapids. By the time we’d walked to the end of the trail (600 m) it had stopped raining and the sun was starting to break through the clouds.
We drove north along the highway (it’s the main highway to Cairns) and got to the town of Deeral ahout 25 km north of here. That’s as far as we got, because the bridge was washed out. They were working on the road, dumping rock into the river. I asked how long it would be until the road reopened, and the highway worker said “12:30 at a mininum, mate” so we turned around and drove back into the town of Babinda. There we pulled in to the sports grounds, which are marked with an RV parking sign.
This is not really the campground, as we found when we got here and spoke to a woman travelling in her van which she has parked under a rain shelter (our motorhome would be too tall). It turned out she is a hairdresser, just living out of her van and free camping. She cut my hair for $10. It’s the first time I can recall ever getting my hair cut in the outdoors. While cutting my hair she told us that she was camped on the other side of the road last night, and a worker from the council told her she’d have to move, as the creek was flooding. She said by this morning the water would have been half way up her van.
It was nice and sunny when we came in here, and we set up the awning and hung stuff out to dry. It is very damp and humid though. Now it has clouded over again, and will doubtless rain more this afternoon.