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