Log 28-05 Mt Isa

Having decided not to proceed to the cape we proceeded very quickly back to Mareeba & on to the Savannah Way, down through the Atherton Tablelands stopping at Archer Creek rest area, then on to the hot springs for a relaxing hour before continuing on to the Undara Lava Tubes. Largest & longest in the world & they were immense. Unfortunately the only tour we could get on was at 3:30 PM. The tubes are  at least 10m high & 20m wide, although they did narrow down as we went along. Wooden walkways have been constructed as there is always water from seepage at the bottom of the tubes. One of the tubes we visited was still flooded to a depth of about 2m & we went for a swim. Water temp was around 28º & tasted sweet, it also had a pale aqua tint. Leaving there around 5:45 got us back to the Savannah Way just on sunset, the colours in the sky were brilliant but we had to find a place to stay before it got too dark. Pulling over at a place where we could get about 4m off the road we stopped for the night.

Once past Georgetown the road became just wide enough for 1 vehicle, to pass, both vehicles had to put one set of wheels in the dirt. Fortunately traffic was light although we came across a couple of road trains with 3 trailers, very long & very scary. The savannah plains we travelled through consisted of stumpy trees & grasses on very flat ground, but every once in a while there would be a small hill, high enough for us to look down on the plain which stretched to the horizon, breathtaking, & the colours, red soil, brown grasses, a range of greens in the trees & the dark grey of the granite sparkling in the creeks. Beautiful to look at but continually the same so we continued on for more than 500K’s to Normanville & out to Karumba on the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The road to Karumba travels through 40K of wetlands bordering both sides of the road, looking out, all you could see was grasses waving in the breeze with patches of water in between. We could see jabirus searching among the weeds for prey. Liz said it looked like Africa & she expected to see a lion at any moment. Arriving there about 5:00PM we settled in at the pub with it’s beer garden facing the sea & waited till sunset. Not as beautiful as the previous night as there was no cloud, but watching the sun sink into the ocean was worth the wait.

Karumba was another nice little town but having seen the sunset I wanted to return to a river we had passed on the way there which upset Liz muchly. When we arrived at the river it was pitch black & as we knew there were crocks in the river Liz said NO Way. So we had to return to Normanville to find somewhere to stay.

Leaving the Savannah Way we put in another big day today, finally stopping at Terry Smith Lookout, near Cloncurry. The terrain today was very boring, no trees, just grasses either side of the road, dusty & very windy. Only in the last 50k did the vegetation change, lots of wattle in flower & bushes with a white flower lining both sides of the road. Liz thought it looked like we were driving through a garden. There were about 4 vans in the rest area when we arrived & the number swelled to about 10 by the time we retired. We decided to have a lay day there for a but of a rest.

I must mention the fauna around here, instead of crows eating the carrion we have wedge tailed eagles, huge birds, & to take off they do 5 or 6 running jumps before getting airborne. As well as roos running across the road we have brahman cattle grazing along the sides &, as you approach, they look up & saunter across. The jabirus as I mentioned, are also a large, long legged bird & they feed wherever there is water. We have also seen our first camel in the wild.

Today, Thursday, after travelling to Cloncurry where we spent some time looking around, we have stopped at Fountain Springs  rest area & intend to stay tomorrow as well, then on to Mt. Isa on Saturday. The scenery has changed again with lots of rocky outcrops & rugged hills that look millions of years old.

The town of Mt Isa is not very big but has a great commercial centre with everything one could want. There are several tourist attractions, mines underground hospital, fossicking fields etc. We have stayed in a campground to top up water, charge battery’s, long hot shower etc. as there is not much between here & Tennant Creek.

Undara cafe, note train carriages

Undara lava tubes

This gives a good idea of size

Making good use of flooded tube

The Savannah Way (sealed section)

Walker creek near Karumba

Sunset at Karumba, unfortunately no clouds

On the way to Mt Isa

Underground hospital, Mt Isa

Underground hospital

Collapsed section

Even the pidgeons are special

Log 20-05 Cooktown

Driving back through Cairns (with our mail) was easy now as we knew our way around. We continued up the Captain Cook H’way & about 30K’s North the road started following the coastline, it was a very winding road, but every corner revealed beautiful scenes of beaches & headlands. It was slow going in Werarwee & when we came to Port Douglas we decided we would stop but it was all resorts & cafes & not at all pretty so, after lunch on the foreshore, we continued on to Mossman. Another very nice little town dedicated to the sugar cane industry. Another 20K’s up the road we came to Wonga Beach, with a caravan park on the beach, lots of palms & other trees, picturesque. As we booked in we were told, ‘Happy hour 5:00 PM., just behind the office’. We turned up to see, there were a few people there but by 5:30 there must have been 25-30 people, some from the park & some from the local community. It started breaking up around 6:30 & we had lots of chats about what to expect further North. A great end to the day.

Cape Tribulation was our next stop but when we had to pay $46.00 (return) just to catch the ferry across the Daintree River (about 10m wide) I strenuously objected, it was part of the road after all. So we turned round & headed to Daintree village, deep into the rainforest, fantastic. The village was full of tourist information places & cafes, the river & a small c’van park. After checking it out we headed off towards Cooktown, stopping at Mossman for m/tea. 2 hours later we were on the Peninsular Development Road, we saw a sign saying Weipa 702K’s, & it’s 90% gravel (Liz nearly had a fit), we’ll see what happens. We have stopped for the night at James Earl Lookout, 15K’s South of Lakeland (Cooktown to the right, gravel to the left), we have had showers since last night & it’s windy, but hey! What a view from the bedroom window.

On to Cooktown, on the way we decided to turn off on the ‘Bloomfield Track’ (a short cut from Cape Tribulation to Cooktown) & check out the Lion’s Den Pub at Helensville, a classic old place that’s been here since the early days then on to Bloomfield. This is a dirt road with lots of little creeks to cross, it was winding & hilly with lots of 1^st & 2^nd gear work & the scooter frame bottomed out heavily on one creek crossing. The sign does say 4WD but we know the track was washed away in the floods some 50K’s ahead so I assumed that to be the reason. Anyway we passed a delivery van & a semi (very squeazy) on the way so it can’t be too bad. After 20K’s we decided to turn round, I don’t think leaf suspension is the best for these roads so lets hope the other gravel roads are better. Anyway, on to Cooktown which is very historical, There is the Endeavour River where Cook repaired his ship, Statues & busts of Cook abound, plaques dedicated to interaction with the aboriginals, old pubs (they were great) & old buildings. While getting to know the locals with a beer after lunch, they asked us where we were heading next, when we said Cohen, heads started shaking everywhere. ‘Too rough’, ‘You’ll never make it without a 4WD’ , ‘why would you want to’, ‘There’s lots of creeks to cross’, ‘it hasn’t been repaired since the floods’, ‘forget it’, they all said.                       Well………. that’s food for thought.

We visited the museum which was a catholic monastery but was deserted during the 2^nd world war & left to go to ruin. In the ‘60s it was taken over by the local council, restored & became the museum. Considering this building was built in the 1880s, the workmanship has to be seen. No cracks in the foundations or brickwork, walls perfectly straight, timber still in great condition, windows & doors still like new.

The history of this area is so interesting that we spent 2 hours looking through. Leaving the museum we were deluged by another ‘shower’ so we returned to Wherarwee for a change of clothes. Later on in the day we returned to the pub but it was very quiet. We checked the road up to the cape on the internet & found that the road to Laura was open to 4WD up to 5 ton & closed from there on.

 As we left Cooktown we came upon a group of bikers who had just returned from the cape, after discussing conditions with them, they felt sure we could make it right to the cape. Libby said, it’s alright for them, they have dirt bikes. So we thought we would see for ourselves but after a few K’s along the road with the truck vibrating madly over all the corrugations we decided to turn back, it just wasn’t worth damaging the truck. We drove to Mt. Malloy & parked in a roadside stopover for the night.

Wonga Beach campground 1

Wonga Beach 2

At Helensvale

At the Lions Den pub

The singing ship with the Endeavour River behind

Cooktown from the museum

Cooktown pub

The museum

Backyard well in Cooktown

Bobs Lookout at the savannah plains

plains were vast, only small portion shown

Log 16-05 Cairns

We set off very early for Cairns, wanting to get there early. We had driven through the city almost to our destination when Libby realized that we had forgotten to pick up our mail at Gordonvale, so we turned around & went back (thankfully it was only 26k’s). Arriving at the P.O. we were informed that there was NO mail for us, try again Monday, so, back to Cairns, not a good start to the day!

We had selected the Cairns Holliday Park as it was the closest to the Ocean, but we found it was still a 45 minute walk each way, the city is well set out with plenty of tropical plants lending much colour to the  surrounds. The walk along the ocean front was enhanced by the park which ran all the way to the marina & city. At first it was a concrete path with exercise equipment & water fountains along the way, the it turned into a boardwalk with a large grassed picnic area with BBQ’s & alongside that was a giant pool, on the other side of the pool was a beach for the sunbathers. (Note the lack of male bathers in the photo?). Continuing past this we came to the Marlin Marina & inner harbor. Although not as big as Townsville, there are still a lot of boats moored here. From here we walked through some of the city, in places, streets are blocked off to crate plazas.

Arriving eventually at Central Station we decided to bus our way home, arriving favourably impressed.

Next day it was back into town as there are Saturday markets, on the waterfront there are stalls for touristy type things, all of very high quality. Walking 4 blocks up into town there is a huge produce market with good, fresh fruit & vegies at very low prices. Most of the stalls allow you to try samples & we had a great fruit salad while doing the rounds. Walked back to the waterfront where we, once again, caught the bus home for a well earned rest, & besides, we had all the fruit we thought we could eat before it went off.

Sunday, up early & off to Jabiru ( an outer suburb of Cairns) so that we had a double car spot for the van. Breakfasted there & then on to the cable-car to take us to  Kuranda, a great trip, high above the treetops, with a couple of stops on the way to look around. A 3 ½ hour stopover at Kuranda, plenty of time to check out all the markets there, a look at the Baron river, have lunch & be at the station in time for the train ride back to Freshwater (only a 10K trip but slowly & with stops, so as to give us time to take pic’s) & a short bus trip back to the van. Lots of pic’s & lots to see. All in all a great day. As soon as we got back we headed straight for Gordonvale, hope our mail’s there tomorrow.

What’s to say,             CAIRNS, GREAT!

Wow! Even the shells are big up here.

The boardwalk.

Swimming pool & beach

Inner harbour

Skyrail station

Riding the rails

The train on the opposite side of the gorge

Libby's new friend

The locals

Too good not to capture

The station

Barron Falls

Log 14-04 Atherton tablelands

On to the Atherton Tablelands,  after passing through El Arish we headed North West & passed through Japoonvale. The countryside was all a hodge podge of lush green fields, vast plantings of bananas & still some sugar cane. Turning West we entered the Wooroonooran National Park & came upon the Wa Wu Rainforest Canopy Walkway. It was1.1k long in all, 350m of suspended walkway & 750m of gravel paths climaxing in a  75m tower which opened up onto vast tracks of rainforest, bushland & glimpses of the North Johnstone River. It was built after the 2006 cyclone Larry, if it sustained more damage we couldn’t tell. Continuing on was Crawford’s Lookout, then more waterfalls than I care to name. The vast vistas that open up round every corner can’t be captured in photos. We visited Mungalli Creek dairy, had the most delicious yogurt drink & bought some cheese to go, even the road to the dairy was delightful, winding, hilly, very narrow (necessitating in both vehicles having to put one set of wheels in the dirt) & with great views from every crest. We continued on to Ravenshoe (electricity provided courtesy of 20 wind generators) & then to Inott hot springs where we spent the night, 3 different temp pools which we sampled when we arrived, before retiring, & before breakfast. Our 1^st day here & we say, this is one place not to miss & it even got down to 7º last night.

Returning through Ravenshoe, we visited Millstream Falls, the widest single drop falls in Oz. Checked out the generators on Windy Hill once again, then Milaa Milaa falls & on to the crater at Mount Hypipamee, finally stopping for the night at Rocky Creek War Memorial park, 10k’s North of Atherton.

This memorial has a huge amount of information about the soldiers who served in the 2^nd world war with information sheets in pergolas around the grounds, head stones for the various units & where the buildings were when this area served as a base in the war.

For our final day in the tablelands we visited the Crystal Caves Museum & shop. The shop was an adventure in itself but the museum, made to look like caves left us a bit cold, however, the people before us got a lot out of them, taking a multitude of photos. Returning to Wherarwee we did a tour of the town, then set out for Gordonvale, our destination for today. Leaving the tablelands we had to descend a 19.5K hill, speed limited to 60KPH & with most of the corners (which were continuous) posted at 40 or 30KPH. Wanting to conserve the brakes, it took us well over 30 minutes to get to the bottom.

Had a great night, we were even invited to a happy hour but were too apprehensive about where we were staying at Cairns & spent 2 hours searching the internet  so we gave it a miss.

Wa Wu canopy boardwalk

Wa Wu tower

Panorama from tower

Tower tourists

Millstream Falls

At Ravenshoe, highest pub in the Tablelands

Windy Hill, it must be the cattle

Milaa Milaa Falls

The crater, photo doesn't do it justice

Dinner Falls

!0k's North of Atherton

Headstones for each unit that trained in the Tablelands

Just some of the many headstones

Crystals rocks being disected

This single stone measured 2.3m high

Log 11-05 Townsville

Driving on to Bowen, we can see that the vegetation is finally changing, almost gone are the gums, to be replaced by hardier types of flora. The trees now are more like tall bushes & although there is plenty of water lying around still, the trees have little foliage. We have since been told this is due to the cyclone that ravaged the area. Townsville is a real eye opener, pop. 200,000! Very vibrant city, shopping centers every few k’s. Beautiful harbour, Ross River dam totally full, even downstream where weirs have been installed to keep water levels up, each of them is at full capacity. All along the river there are parks & picnic areas, even though we needed 4 parking spaces to stop.  We had a good look around town before going to Ryan’s (son of Liz’s friend) place at Oonoombah  where we are staying for a couple of nights to give us time to look around some more. Weather is around 30º by day & 18º by night. Ryan’s house is about 5 k’s out of town but it is a straight run in so easy to get around. There is a large marina adjacent to the entertainment centre & Jupiters Casino also looks out over it, all this right in the city.

Leaving Ryan we picked up fuel & food, then drove 80k’s to Big Crystal Creek campground. It’s o’cast today but it’s great to be back in the bush. Crystal Creek is an much bigger than we had imagined with a large swimming area. Liz decided to just dangle her feet but I plunged in. You can really see the devastation caused by the cyclone here with around 20% of the trees with limbs ripped off or the trees themselves snapped off about 4 mts up. I decided to go for a walk as it’s in a national park but about 1 ½ k’s out it started to rain, by the time I got back I was soaked. It rained all night & we left with it still raining.

Driving into Ingham we could see many damaged houses still waiting to be repaired & as we continued on, damage to the vegetation steadily increased. Cardwell, like one of those old southern coastal towns with the shops down one side of the road & the beach on the other, was even worse off. Arriving at Tully we could see that it had sustained the worst of the cyclone, with maybe 40% of houses damaged. But whether it was from the cyclone or lack of maintenance was hard to say. We drove on to Mission Beach which we have heard much about but to me it was a disappointment, lots of cafes & boutique shops but everything was well passed it’s prime, South Mission Beach was better. We have stopped at a little place just 3 k’s out of Mission Beach called Bingil Bay & we are right on the beach, it’s a small park with about 20 sites & only 2 toilets & 1 shower each for b’s & g’s. This afternoon, while we walked the beach, I picked up a couple of coconuts, there are thousands laying about, The 1^st one I split was too green & tasted wishy washy, the next was too old & tasted off. So we think that’s enough, we’ll stick to pineapples.

It is so nice here, just like a tropical isle with the coconut palms fringing the beach, that we have stayed another day. Our only activity is walking the beach & picking up coral that has been washed ashore. A large shark was feeding on baitfish about 20 mts off the beach for a while today, another reason not to go into the water!

Ross River dam, Townsville

In front of the dam wall

Townsville Harbour

Crystal creek swimming hole

Trees stripped of foliage, new growth at top

5 mile creek swimming hole, but you had to wear
sandshoes as a relative of the stonefish lived here

At Bingil Bay, just North of Mission Beach

De-crowned palms line the beach