Funny Dunny Park

You heard it right --- Funny Dunny Park is where we spent a memorable night on Saturday night. Once again, referring to our new best friend “Australia Wide Camps 4” we ventured off to Funny Dunny Park after spending a night in Townsville to recharge the batteries in the van. Well ……. If you have watched any ‘spagetti westerns’ with Clint Eastwood or John Wayne remember the Mexican towns they rode into which were windswept, desolate, dry and had four poles supporting something to provide shade and seats beside a forlorn fireplace and people sitting around looking like they had been there forever. Check out the pictures! That’s pretty much Funny Dunny! We decided to stay anyway just so we could say we had. As you can see it does indeed have a funny dunny which made me very grateful to have one in the van, however Ian said it was very clean.
After we settled in which didn’t take long as we decided not to unhitch the van (or wagon, to keep us in the western theme) we met the fellow travellers. Yes, there were others who made the same decision as us. In fact there were five other groups. Some have chosen to stay for ten days or more and one young man who had a quad bike for transport appears to be a permanent resident. Everyone was very friendly and seemed to be quite content battling the mozzies (in army numbers) and sandflies (in battalions). We were warned by two groups not to leave our shoes outside the van as the DINGOES would visit during the night and take them away, no kidding – so we didn’t!
We had an early tea after investigating the beach which was not very good and expected to retire early when there was a knock at our door and an invitation to join the others around a large and cheery campfire which we accepted. The news was comforting – the sandflies and mozzies would be deterred by the smoke! Ahh - what a great idea. However we had a great night and our hostess cooked a magnificent cake in the camp oven which was delicious and a testament to a true bushie. Even though our surroundings were a little disappointing the warmth and friendship more than compensated and in some ways we were sorry to leave and our neighbours were genuinely disappointed. The cost ---- a three dollar donation in the post box to help pay for water and improvements!
This trip is full of surprises and we are learning not to judge a book by its cover – the flashest parks haven’t been as friendly as Funny Dunny Park.