13 September Agnes Waters

13 September
Agnes Waters

Plans are made to be broken – so they say. It also seems that itineraries are made to be changed.

We had planned to stop overnight at Clairview (halfway between Mackay and Rockhampton.) However, when we set up camp, we changed our mind. Who could blame us – look at the view from our kitchen window?

Clairview - view from kitchen window

So we stopped an extra night and for the first time this holiday spent a day doing absolutely nothing! Every other time we had planned a quiet day we had to spend it looking for Battery World or getting things from Bunnings etc. It was a luxury to spend the day reading, playing board games and sitting on the beach watching the water. Bliss.

Darryl loves his baby Weber

Merril experimented and tried baking a cake in the bread machine – and it worked out brilliantly. That will need to be remembered for next holidays. We had previously baked some in the Weber Baby Q – but the bread machine was more successful – no burnt bottom!

A cake cooked in the breadmaker. Yum!

The plan was then to drive to Agnes Waters / 1770 and spend two nights there, and then two nights at Woodgate (near Bundaberg) to arrive home in Brisbane on Friday.

Agnes Waters beach

We now think we will probably just drive straight through to Brisbane tomorrow and arrive home a few days early. That will give us time to clean the van etc. and still have time to relax before Merril returns to work next Monday. We will save exploring south of Mackay for another holiday. Something to look forward to in the future.

We have camped at a bush camp (The Reef Caravan Park) near Agnes Water. A lovely spacious campsite with very few other campers here. It is only a few minutes drive from the beach. Highly recommend it if you ever come camping up here.

Campsite at "The Reef", Agnes waters

So this will be our last blog entry for our North Queensland holidays.

It has been a great holiday. We have seen lots of different scenery and many hundreds of photos have been taken. Looking forward to catching up with you all on our return.

As a last thought ... earlier on in the holiday we saw this Avan! They had mounted the avan onto the back of a truck!

Who says an Avan can't go off-road?

9 September Airlie Beach

9 September
Airlie Beach

Last time we came to Airlie Beach, Sharon was 6 months old. (Just a couple of years ago!) We were camping in a tent with a baby who wanted to crawl everywhere - and it was pouring rain. Putting up and down a tent with a crawling baby was no fun. That was the last time we camped for about 20 years.

As we really didn't get to appreciate this area last time, we were looking forward to seeing Shute Harbour / Airlie Beach in it's glory this visit. We had lovely fine weather - although a bit overcast - as we drove from Townsville. As soon as we arrived in Airlie Beach it poured! And it continued raining all night. The weather forecast said 70% chance of rain for the next couple of days. Sigh. It looked like it would have to be visit 3 before we could see Airlie Beach properly.

Unbelievably, as today progressed, the sun came out and the sky turned blue! It has been a perfect day. Sunny and hot. (Last night the locals were wearing sweatshirts!)

Pigeon Island off Canonvale

Darryl spent this morning reminiscing around Cannonvale where his family used to come on holidays when they lived in Mackay. It is a lovely quiet area not quite as developed / touristy as Airlie Beach. Then we drove around and enjoyed the magnificent views across the ocean to the islands etc. It really is a picturesque area.

Shute Habour

We have only one week left before we need to be back in Brisbane, so we will be heading south tomorrow, stopping overnight at a little town called Clairview, and then driving on to Rockhamptom / Emu Park the following day.

6 September Magnetic Island

6 September

Magnetic Island

Visiting Magnetic Island is one of the things that was on Darryl’s must do list.  In the four plus years that he lived in Townsville as a teenager, he never went over to Magnetic Island, so it was something that he really wanted to do this trip.

We awoke to an overcast and breezy day, consequently, the trip across to Magnetic Island was quite rough. Fortunately it is only a 20 minute ferry ride so we didn’t get too sea-sick.

Magnetic Island is a lovely quiet island of which a large proportion is national park. We hired a little car to get around the island and did a few walks (quite steep in parts). One walk was to The Forts which were ruins from WWII which were on the top of one of the highest points on the island. How they managed to carry the guns and ammunition up this steep slope is incredible. The information signs along the way indicated that a round of ammunition was 45kg which were carried up by hand and they had a large building there to store all that ammunition. We struggled walking up just carrying a small backpack and our water bottle. The views from the Fort were breath-taking. 180’ across the ocean towards Townsville.

View from The Fort walk

WWII ruins at The Fort on Magnetic Island

We were surprised how quiet the island was. Some of the bays were like ghost towns. Hardly anyone to be seen. There were some special events on the week-end (including beer can raft races) which meant that it was crowded then, so we were able to enjoy the peace and quiet today!

Geoffrey Bay walk

Rock wallabies at Geoffrey Bay

We will have a quiet day tomorrow and then head south towards Airlie Beach the following day.

5 September Townsville

5 September
Townsville

We arrived at Townsville yesterday. We have booked into a lovely caravan park which is about 10 minutes out of Townsville. The sites are really large and spacious and the park is very quiet. It is aimed at over 50s … so we feel like the kids here … with the average age of everyone else being 70+. They do have a lovely heated swimming pool so after setting up camp we went for a swim / spa. The advantage of being the youngest campers on site is that we could go for a swim around 6pm when it was dinner time for everyone else so we had the pool to ourselves.

Today we headed into town for the reminiscing tour. Darryl spent a few of his teenage years in Townsville so we went and saw the house where they lived, the school, Boys Brigade church etc. He enjoyed remembering some of the fun times.

House at Cavendish Street, Pimlico  (where Darryl spent some of his teenage years)

We continued the reminiscing by visiting the street where Merril’s mother grew up.

We then went to the Reef HQ Great Barrier Reef Aquarium. It was an excellent display of beautiful colourful reef fish and coral – including some crocodiles and turtles. We felt like we finally saw some of the Great Barrier Reef! The glass bottom boat on Green Island was good but the aquarium was a great opportunity to see the coral and fish in all there splendour! Hey Isaiah - we even saw Nemo and Dory!

Nemo hiding in the coral

This crocodile did not like having his photo taken!

We also drove around The Strand and other general tourist drives. They have really made the most of the foreshore at the Strand by preserving old buildings combined with pleasant streetscaping – including lots of green spaces which is a bit like a larger version of Brisbane Southbank.

Tomorrow we are off to Magnetic Island. We have heard reports that it could be getting windy – so hopefully the boat trip won’t be too rough.

2 September Millaa Millaa

2 September
Millaa Millaa

This is our last day at Millaa Millaa and we seemed to pack a lot into just one day. We visited 4 (or was it 5??) waterfalls. As always, each waterfall was very dramatic and very beautiful. Most of the waterfalls today were close to the car park and so only required a short walk so not such an energetic day.

Millaa Millaa Falls

Mungalli Rapids

We managed to also visit the Mungalli Dairy and enjoyed a Devonshire tea with homemade scones, homemade raspberry jam and lovely real clotted cream! Yum.

Then drove to Tarzaki Lakes and watched some platypus swimming. It was hard for Darryl to get a good photo of them but it was exciting spotting them in the lake.

And as well we managed to squeeze in a game of Lost Cities! What a full day!

Tomorrow we head off to Townsville.

2 September Millaa Millaa

2 September
Millaa Millaa

We have stopped at a lovely little caravan park at Millaa Millaa on the Atherton Tablelands. It is so quiet and our campsite is surrounded by trees and backs onto the rainforest / creek.  The cicadas are singing very loudly and it is lovely to hear the frogs croaking and the whip birds and other birds singing. There is also apparently a local tree kangaroo but we haven’t seen it. We are going to find it very difficult to adjust to staying in the busy caravan parks when we go back to the coast.

We have returned to the Atherton Tablelands because on our way north, the caravan park we had stayed in was full and we couldn’t stay as long as we wanted to. There are lots of waterfalls in this area which Darryl couldn’t miss – so today and tomorrow are waterfall days.

Today we visited four waterfalls. Given that each waterfall needs approx. 1 – 2 hours for photography – it was a full day (and lots of crocheting done by Merril).

We saw the Josephine Falls - magnificent falls. Even though it is the dry season it is incredible the amount of water at all the falls. There was a bit of a walk to the Josephine Falls but it was bitumen surface all the way. Made the walk much easier and it meant that no leeches were to be seen on the path. (Thumbs up from Merril.) These waterfalls appear to be very popular with the younger travellers as there is a large swimming hole with boulders to slide down at the base of the falls.

Josephine Falls

Next stop was the Babinda Boulders. This area consisted of enormous boulders (hence its name) in the creek with a water fall cascading over them. Quite phenomenal how there were these boulders in just one area.

The last two waterfalls required an “old fashioned” bush walk to get to. These were not as popular – indeed we were the only ones there, and the bush path was quite narrow and obviously not as well trodden. It was a lovely walk, although quite steep and slippery in parts. A very wet area and all the rocks edging the path were moss covered. Very pretty.  (No – Merril didn’t see any leeches – but had sprayed herself from head to toe with Aeroguard to make sure that the leeches and ticks stayed away!) The waterfalls were also very spectacular – although much smaller than the Josephine Falls.

Wallacha Falls

While driving we came across a couple of roadside stalls and bought a superb red papaya (we thought of you Mum when we enjoyed it for tea) for only $1!  Might have to call into that stall again on our way out.

We have extended our stay here at Millaa Millaa for an additional night so that we can see some additional falls in the area tomorrow.  We have just read about the local dairy which has a café that sounds nice – so we might just have to visit there tomorrow around morning tea time.

30 August Chillagoe Caves

30 August
Chillagoe Caves

Chillago is a couple of hours drive west of Mareeba. It is a little tiny town which is well known for the dinosaur skeleton which was discovered in 1999 and mining. But it also has some incredible caves. We joined a tour for two of these caves which we thoroughly enjoyed. The stalactite and stalagmite formations in the limestone caves is breathtaking. The last cave we went through had some very small openings which we had to crawl through. Lucky we hadn’t put on too much weight otherwise we might have got well and truly stuck!

Crawling through the caves

Inside Chillago Caves

Tomorrow we will drive to the beaches north of Cairns and have a look around there and then the next day will be heading south – probably to Milaa Milaa. (Apparently there are some waterfalls which we didn't see on our way up!)

29 August Green Island

29 August
Green Island

I am sure it is illegal! There has to be a law against waking up to an alarm before the sun rises when you are on holidays! That is what we had to do this morning to ensure that we were in Cairns in time to catch the boat to Green Island.

It was a fine day but quite breezy and as a result the boat trip was very rough. We both felt quite dizzy and queezy by the time we arrived at the island even though we had taken sea-sickness tablets but recovered fairly quickly.

Once at the island we went out on a glass bottom boat to view the coral, reef fish and some turtles. We spent the rest of the time walking around and relaxing at Green Island. We returned back to the mainland around 5.30 when we shared a pizza on the Esplanade before driving back to camp at Mareeba.

Beautiful Green Island

28 August Kuranda

28 August
Kuranda

What an exciting day! We took the Scenic Rail to Kuranda this morning. During the rail trip the commentator explained how the rail and tunnels were made by hand during the late 1800s. It is mind blowing to think that men dug all that rail with only hand picks and dynamite. The views from the train were fantastic. We were blessed with a beautiful fine day so could see way out over the ocean.

The scenic train ride to Kuranda

We spent several hours walking around Kuranda. The walk along the river front was especially enjoyable. Most people from the train went straight to the Kuranda shops, so we had the walk to ourselves. So peaceful and quiet.

Waiting to catch the Sky Rail back.

The trip back was via the Sky Rail. Again a wonderful experience to be able to travel over the tree tops of the rainforest. There were a couple of stops along the way, one at Barron Falls which provided a different view of the falls. (The camera was obviously clicking furiously!)

A very enjoyable day.
Tomorrow is a trip to Green Island. The weather forecast is for fine weather so we hope that turns out to be true.

27 August Cairns

27 August
Cairns

It is quite amazing – when we arrived in Cooktown – they welcomed us to the city with a parade. We arrive in Cairns and there is another parade! And what a parade. It lasted for over two hours with over a hundred floats and displays. It seems that the best way to advertise in Cairns is to have a float in the Cairns Festival Street Parade. Every school, every cultural group, every dance academy, every karate/judo group, every costume hire place and even Nandos had a float or group walking. All along the street, families had arrived early and set out their picnic blankets and sat on the ground claiming their space, and everyone else respected that. No-one tried to squeeze in or walked over their claimed territory. I can’t see that happening in Brisbane! As expected Darryl had a wonderful time taking photographs of all the floats and displays until his flash went flat.

Some of the floats in the Cairns Festival Parade

Earlier in the day, on the drive to Cairns, (it is approximately a one hour drive into Cairns over the range) we visited Barron National Park and Barron Falls. They are incredible falls made up of several drops. The Barron River has been dammed for agriculture on the Atherton Tablelands so the amount of water which goes over the falls is much reduced, and given that this is winter and the dry season – the falls were not as dramatic as is sometimes seen in photos – but was still great to see.

Today we booked tickets for the Kuranda Sky Rail and Scenic Railroad which we will do tomorrow and also a trip to Green Island the following day. We can’t wait!

25 August Cooktown - Mareeba

25 August
Cooktown - Mareeba

It was time to leave Cooktown. This is certainly a lovely town that we hope to come back and visit again.

While on the sunset cruise, the tour guide mentioned a patisserie which we HAD to try before we left. They were closed Tuesday and Wednesday so this morning was our last chance. My goodness ... what a great patisserie. Better than any we have found in Brisbane! How we wish we had known about it earlier so we could sample some of their other tempting items.

Almond croissant and Tia Maria slice

We have decided to stay at Mareeba for the next few days and travel from there to Cairns. We were hoping to be able to stay closer and have less of a drive each way but the accommodation in Cairns and surrounding areas sounds terrible and incredibly expensive (aroun $50 per night for a caravan site!) There is the Cairns festival AND the Mareeba festival on this weekend so finding accommodation was difficult so we have ended up in the Rodeo Grounds at Mareeba. They are busy and a bit dusty but the amenities are clean and it is very cheap at only $18 night, so we will stay here to tour around the area.

24 August Cooktown

24 August

Cooktown

After a long day in the car yesterday, we decided to have a quiet day today and visit the last couple of waterfalls which we hadn’t yet seen. One of the falls (Endeavour Falls) was actually at the back of the caravan park where we were staying. We had had such late evenings driving and river cruising we hadn’t got around to see it.

The other falls, Isabella Falls was a few kilometres up the road. Very spectacular.

Isabella Falls

We have enjoyed spectacular weather while in Cooktown, but the last few days have been extremely hot (in the very high 30s) and very very humid. We are glad we are visiting in winter. If it is this hot and muggy now – imagine what it would be like in summer!

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Cooktown and start to head towards home visiting the coastal towns starting with Cairns.

23 August Bloomfield Falls

23 August

Bloomfield Falls

We set off early this morning (well –holidays early … about 8.30am) to drive to Bloomfield Falls. Bloomfield is only about 35 kilometres north of Cape Tribulation (where we were last Wednesday) but the road between the two is 4WD only – so we had to drive down from Cooktown to be able to view these magnificent falls. Needless to say Darryl had a wonderful time photographing them even though we were there at midday which apparently is not ideal for photography.

Bloomfield Falls

On the drive to Bloomfield we visited the Wujal Wujal art gallery and stopped off at the famous Lion’s Den hotel for a drink. (Apparently you HAVE to stop at the Lion’s Den … it is almost mandatory for all tourists!) The Lion’s Den Hotel is famous for all the writing all over the walls, clothes which people have left hanging around etc. They also have a small museum of artefacts from the old mine etc. including some specimens of snakes and spiders in jars. The Houdini spider had Merril a little concerned … the bottle looked empty!

Lion's Den Hotel

22 August Cooktown

22 August

Cooktown

Today was a quiet day spent looking around Cooktown.  There is a lovely art gallery in town which we visited (Kuku Bulkaway) which features aboriginal art. We would have loved to have bought one piece which was in blues and greens featuring cassowaries. For some reason, even though Darryl loved it, he wouldn’t let Merril buy it! It may have been the $2000 price tag? It would have looked superb in our entry. <Sigh>

On Alison’s recommendation, we went on a sunset cruise. Wow – how lovely. So relaxing. It was a small intimate cruise with only 10 people. It was like going on a boat trip with a friend rather than a tour. What a lovely way to spend an evening. The tour guide explained some history of the area while cruising around. We spotted a crocodile – although no opportunity to photograph him as he dived into the water as we approached. After watching the sun setting over the beach, we enjoyed a lovely cheese platter while anchored in 2 mile creek.

Sunset at Cooktown

21 August - Laura

21 August

Laura

We took a day trip today to the Split Rock at Laura. It was quite a long drive. (There was a shorter way but it was for 4WD only. Despite the neighbour telling Darryl that our car and van could drive right up to the tip of Queensland … we weren’t convinced and decided to take the long way around which would be mostly sealed roads.)

At Split Rock there are some wonderful aboriginal art galleries which are well preserved. It is quite a steep walk up to the galleries and as it was midday when we were there, it was very hot. When we arrived at the first gallery, an indigenous tour guide was explaining the drawings and we were fortunate enough to be able to listen in. Apparently when they were building the platform (to help keep prevent damage to the art) they dug up a fireplace and stone tools which were used to date the gallery.

From Laura, Darryl got to do some 4 wheel driving out to the old Laura Homestead in the Lakefield National Park. This is an old homestead from the 1800s. A very interesting site. It makes you appreciate how difficult life was for the early pioneers.

Old Laura homestead

Isaiah – you know those big ants nests that you get in your backyard and at school sometimes? Look at the size of this ants nest! It is as big as Grumps!

An ants nest as big as Grumps!

19 – 20 August Cooktown

19 – 20 August

Cooktown

Finally we have reached the furthest point of our travels – Cooktown. We have to pinch ourselves to realise that we are actually here. After being spoilt at the lovely quiet caravan park of Bustard Downs, we decided to avoid the busy town centre caravan parks and camp outside of Cooktown at Endeavour Falls. It is approx. 34km outside of Cooktown over a bumpy dirt road (which we didn’t realise when we booked). It is once again a very quiet caravan park and we have no neighbours. Indeed there are only 3 – 4 other camps set up. (It is also the most difficult campsite to get into. With palm trees lining each campsite and both sides of the road it was almost impossible for Darryl to reverse into!) The downside is we have no reception, so will have to post these blog entries and check email when we go into town. We will stay here until Thursday morning.

Is there a padlock there somewhere?

Celebrating our arrival at Cooktown.

 Cooktown must have heard we were coming as they put on a special parade with the airforce walking down the main street with their swords drawn and also a fly-over! (Darryl thought it was wonderful to have an opportunity to photograph such an event.)

The whole town came out for the parade.

This is a lovely quiet and beautiful area. Everyone seems to be very friendly. We spoke with an indigenous artist who had a display outside the Arts Centre. She shared her life story of how she has found healing from depression through her painting. She also explained the symbolism which she used in her paintings …. circles for waterholes, dots for lands, strokes for people etc. Later in the day, when Merril was sitting waiting for Darryl to finish photographing the parade, she walked past and continued the conversation about her sales and upcoming markets. (A new best friend??)

From the lighthouse / Cook’s lookout we did a steep walk through the bush down to Cherry Tree Cove. A very picturesque secluded beach.

Cherry Tree Cove

When we came back to our van at the end of the day, there was a large palm frond on the ground. Our neighbour advises that we are incredibly lucky. As we drove out in the morning, the frond fell 30 metres from the palm tree “like a torpedo” and landed with an almighty crash right where the bonnet of the car was. He said that our car would have been "completely totaled" if it had still been there! How fortunate were we? Fingers crossed no more fronds fall while we are here.

18 August: Port Douglas

18 August

Port Douglas

Happy Birthday Sharon! (and Merril)  We spent today at Port Douglas and then Mossman Gorge.

The owners of the caravan park recommended a café at Port Douglas. What a superb choice. We were a bit hesitant at first as Merril had her heart set on seafood … but wow .. this was the best café / restaurant we have ever been to. Darryl ordered the sous vide beef fillet which he declared was the best steak he has ever had! (As a steak man … that is a huge compliment.) He had the biggest grin the whole time he was enjoying his meal. Merril chose the Creole Jambalaya with prawns, squid, smoked chicken and crocodile sausage as she wanted to try something a bit different. It was also very tasty. Although we were very full, we found room for dessert and were so glad we did. They were spectacular! If you are ever up this way – make sure you make a booking for the Salsa café. You will not be disappointed.

Our decadent desserts

From there we visited Mossman Gorge. A beautiful area however it was quite commercial. It was very restricted where you could walk which is obviously to protect the environment, but it did mean that photo opportunities were also restricted. They had a couple of incredible suspension bridges along the walk (which Merril found quite difficult to cross as they gave her vertigo.) While walking Darryl got the fright of his life as he almost stepped on a black snake which was slithering across the path!

Darryl narrowly missed stepping on this snake.

Mossman Gorge

This is our last day in Mossman / Port Douglas area. We head off tomorrow for Cooktown.

17 August: Cape Tribulation

17 August

Cape Tribulation – Daintree National Park

Happy Birthday Daniel! We celebrated your birthday by taking the ferry over to Cape Tribulation and Daintree National Park.

What a beautiful area of Australia. The lush rainforest comes right to the edge of the road, quite dense and so very green. Sometimes the rainforest was on one side and the beautiful beach was on the other. We decided it was like bushwalking … except that you are in a car! (Now that is Merril’s style of bushwalking – no leeches or ticks!)

Boardwalk at Daintree

Cape Tribulation beach

The highlight of the day had to be when we stopped to try some exotic fruit icecream and a cassowary and juvenile decided to walk around the orchard! The adult was beautifully coloured. They just took their time wandering around. We felt very privileged to have seen them.

Cassowary

Isaiah – look what we saw today! A dinosaur that moves …  is it real?

11-16 August Atherton Tablelands

It has been a while since we have been able to post an update to our blog as we have been in areas that have had no reception, so we will fill you in on the missing dates.

11 – 12 August
Walkamin – Undura
As we left Walkamin on Thursday morning we called into a lovely woodworking gallery where Merril spent her birthday money on two lovely little echidnas. (Thanks Mum and Alison.) There was lots of lovely things there and we could have spent a fortune.

Merril's echidnas

We drove from there through Innot Hot Springs (it was amazing how hot the water was in the creek! Some was close to boiling!)

Darryl testing the water at Innot Springs

Then on to Undara Volcanic National Park where we went on a tour of the lava caves.

Entry of the "Wind Tunnel" lava cave

Inside the "Wind Tunnel". Magnificient colours on the cave walls.
Shame about the lighting!

A special guest joined our tour, Lorrein Pinay. She was the previous owner of the property before it was reclaimed as National Park. This was the first time she had been back to see the caves since she left 30 years ago so she was excited to see the caves and we were so very lucky to be able to hear her stories of life on the land when she was there. When she first arrived they lived in a tin shed that had holes for windows and doors. Her father then built them a concrete block house (as the termites up here are enormous). They had no electricity, water or roads. The kids were home schooled. She told us of the occassion when one of her sons was attacked by dingos and was fortunate enough to survive thanks to the quick reaction of her daughter. Another time she almost picked up a death adder thinking that it was a chux cloth that had been dropped on the ground and many other stories.
They discovered the different caves, usually after bushfires when it was easier to see where cave roofs had collapsed. It sounds like there are hundreds of different caves in the area which will never be opened to the public. They would abseil into many of the caves.

13 – 19 August
Undara – Mt Molloy
Alison, Jenny and Paul recommended that we stay at a caravan park on a cattle farm outside Mt Mollay on our way to Cooktown. What a superb suggestion (thanks for that recommendation.) Each site has a shed which keeps the van incredibly cool during the hot days. There are only two other couples here (even though it is the week-end) and it is so very very quite. We booked in for only two nights initially but have decided to extend to Friday to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet. It has been lovely having some time to stay in one place instead of always packing up and driving.

Our campsite. No other vans in sight. Bliss.

Babbling creek on site.

The sign of the day/week.
Eek  - I get shivers just looking at it!

From Mt Molloy we have been driving across the range to Mossman and Port Douglas. The rain has set in so neither area are displaying to their potential. While Port Douglas is very beautiful, it is extremely touristy which spoils it. It reminds us of Noosa. Tourists and tourist shops everywhere. (Oops .. does that include us???)

Port Douglas

Unfortunately as it has been raining we also haven’t had a chance to go bird watching.  A little disappointing this is apparently a wonderful site to see a wide variety of birds.