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.

10 August - Day 10
Charters Towers - Atherton Tableland

We have travelled quite a few miles since the last post. We are constantly amazed at how the countryside changes. The outback was very green - due to the recent rain, but the coast is sooo green! It is almost lime green in places.

We called into Mission Beach on our way to Atherton Tableland. Very picturesque.  While we were there, everyone was looking at the sky. Just standing there looking. We looked - and couldn't see anything. People at the shops were standing outside looking at the sky. We walked down to the beach - and everyone was just standing looking at the sky. So we joined them and looked at the sky. It was like peer pressure - one person does something and everyone else joins in. We could not see anything in the sky - it was blue (beautiful! ) and clouds. So we continued walking... and they continued staring. As we returned, we finally saw what they were looking at - tandem parachutists, coming in right at the spot where we were standing. No wonder they were staring - it wasn't some weird experiment to see how many people you could get to stand and look up in the sky after all!

Hang gliders at Mission Beach.

Beautiful Mission Beach

Cassowaries apparently live in the forest around Mission Beach - and we loved the signage. They claim the sign of the week.

Sign of the week at Mission Beach.

While up at Atherton Tablelands we have stayed at a lovely park at Walkamin which was recommended by Jenny, Paul and Alison on their recent trip. (Thanks for the recommendation!)  It is an extreme contrast to the last few campsites we have stayed at! There is even a herb garden that can be used by campers!

We spent a lovely day today touring around Tinaroo Dam. Again a very beautiful area. They were releasing water from the dam which was very spectacular.

Water being released at Tinaroo Dam.

Malanda Falls
(Darryl was in photography heaven - and Merril crocheted another square for her granny blanket!)

Curtain Tree Fig - 500 years old

It had started raining at lunch so we decided to stop at Yungaburra Hotel "The Finest Place in Town Since 1910". Darryl loved the architecture - inside it was like stepping back in time. (Darryl's comment - "They did a great steak burger. It had three pieces of steak!")

Yngaburra Hotel

We loved Yungaburra. It was very quaint and beautifully presented. A town with a lovely atmosphere.

Sunday 7 August - Day 7
Bivouac Junction Outback Holiday Camp

Before we left Emerald, we searched on the web for somewhere to camp at Emerald. The camps in town received very poor reviews and were very expensive. So we found this one, Bivouac Junction Outback Holiday Camp, just 20 kms outside of Charters Towers, and it sounded excellent.

Part of the web site

Sounded pretty good.
The ad says .. "....enjoy the comfort of one of our grassy, shady powered sites..."

Hmm ... grassy sites? Now I wonder where they are? There is a blade of grass that can be seen way over there in the corner of the paddock ... but the rest is red dust. Grassy, shady sites .. I think that is a bit of creative writing.

It is certainly spacious, and quiet. (Although during the week I think it would be noisy as the quarry seems to be just next door.) We got a shock - after driving in through a bumpy dirty lane onto the allotment, when we drove onto the property and saw the office and then the toilets!
Darryl's photos will explain what we meant much better than words!

The office

The toilet block - ramshackle but does the job.

Suffice to say ... midnight walks to the loos are something Merril is trying desperately to avoid.
Although, admittedly - the showers are hot, but you have to dance around to try and get the water as it sprays everywhere but down, and try not to touch the dubious shower curtain!

Camp swimming pool - looks ok in the photo ... but in real life? Let's say we don't want to try it out!

Camp kitchen

The chicken coup is an old caravan.

For all it's quirkiness, we have actually enjoyed our stay here.

This morning we wandered around Charters Towers. It was very quiet - everyone seemed to be tourists! All with maps in their hands and walking shoes on. Darryl had a wonderful time photographing the old buildings!

Tomorrow we head north towards Cairns / Atherton. Not sure how far we will get tomorrow as we have to stop at Townsville and get some supplies.

Flood indicator on the Burdekin River.

Stock Exchange arcade

Saturday 6 August - Day 6
Emerald - Charters Towers

We spent an enjoyable two days at Lake Maraboon near Emerald. Although the campsite was on the Fairairn Dam, unfortunately there was no dam view from our campsite (or any of the campsites really.) Nevertheless it was a quiet location well away from any traffic noise.

Emerald railway station

Great sculpture at Emerald - made from machinery components.

The giant Van Goph's Sunflower painting in Emerald.

We cannot believe how many grey nomads there are! Our neighbour at Lake Maraboon was a lovely lady who became our "best friend" and told us her life story. A lovely lady ... but is this what we are going to become? Scary thought!

Fairbairn Dam

We drove out to the gemfields at Sapphire and Rubyvale. Much more civilised than when we went there in the 70's! However there were still sites that looked like what Merril remembers when they went fossicking back then - the old shanty's and creative house building. It was interesting to look around but we weren't tempted to do any digging and sieving - so no sapphires discovered.

Rubyvale shopping centre ... who would have guessed a cafe at the gemfields!

An interesting "hippie" home at Sapphire. (All the trees were wrapped in crochet and knitting.)

Today we drove north to Charters Towers through countryside which reminded Merril of her time at MiddleMount. (Not surprising seeing as it is close by.) Darryl was very impressed with the flowering wattles which put on a stunning show.

Machinery at the entry of Charters Towers

We have stayed tonight just outside of Charters Towers at Bivouac Junction. Now this campsite needs an entry all by itself! It is quite unique. Imagine a very old country campsite that probably hasn't had any money spent on it since establishment, run by two very friendly staff who are the extreme caricature of country folk! We will take some photos tomorrow and show you what we mean. Let us say - it is not Merril's ideal camping site - but Darryl is grinning from ear to ear!