Lucinda

Our goal on Monday night was to make it to Lucinda, just outside of Ingham where we had reservatons for two nights. We found that it had taken us slightly longer than we planned to drive to Port Douglas and then through the Tablelands, back to the coast road to Ingham. We stopped in Innisvale and asked a real estate office if we could call the motel in Lucinda and let them know that we would be late. We also needed directions to the motel because TomTom could not pick it up. Well, the girl in the office was very nice and we got a hold of the reception desk at the motel and the girl gave us general directions that went like this:"Get off the highway at the green sign and follow the signs to Lucinda. You will cross a bridge, turn left, then right, follow the road a ways, you will come to a pub, turn left go to the end of the road and the is where we are."
It was dark by the time we turned off the main highway. We crossed two or three bridges not knowing which one was "the bridge". The signs said 27 km to Lucinda! We had no idea it was that far. We just kept turning left and believe it or not we made it and found the motel in the dark.
Lucinda is a very small town that caters to the sugar cane industry. It has the longest pier in Australia that runs from a factory way out in the ocean where the sugar cane is loaded on ships for transport all over the world. The harbor is too shallow for the big ships to come into so the pier was built to get the sugar cane to the ships.
Our two days there were rainy and overcast but not really cold.
The second night at dinner a man came up to our table and introduced himself. He is the owner and developer of the property, must be worth millions. He lives on Rose Bay in Sydney, is 93 years old and does not look a day over 80. He has many cabin cruisers, fishing boats, has a house down the road from the restaurant that is gated and huge. He swims everyday from his home to Hinchenbrook Island, a large island that runs parallel to the coast for about 20 km. His name was Bill Burcell and he got his start at 16 when he went to work in his father's department store in Campbelltown, just outside of Sydney during the Depression. He was very friendly and interesting.
Lucinda. Longest pier in Australia.
View from our motel room.
Swimming pool at Hinchenbrook Marine Cove Motel.
Reception
Entrance to cabins and motel
Restaurant