Day 6 to 10

Day 06 - 06/08/11- Rockhampton to Mackay  362 km

First stop today was The Mount Etna Caves, which is only 23km north of Rockhampton. We thought we might actually see some caves, but no – to see caves, you have to go to the Capricornia Caves. We did a walk, though, through the remnant dry rainforest. It was only 600m, but it had interpretive signs along the way, which we stopped to read. It was a pleasant walk, but nothing strenuous, and nothing spectacular to look at. There was a lovely pale blue parrot of some sort that we tried to get a photo of, and there was an interesting red flowering plant that we will have to look up in a plant book to find out what it is.

 

Since it was so early, we decided we would continue on rather than having morning tea so soon after breakfast. Luckily there are quite a lot of rest areas along the road, and we ended up stopping at one 50km south of Marlborough. Point to note – the size of the dot and the writing for a town on the map does not necessarily directly correspond to the size of the town itself!

We have decided that Victorian drivers are not necessarily the worst drivers, as we have been thinking all these years. Queensland drivers give them a real run for their money. Today we saw a few close calls, the result of people passing on blind corners, or coming up to crests.

We are now well and truly into sugar cane and mining territory. There are trains all over the place – carrying coal or sugar cane. And the cane fields on the side of the road seem to go on forever.

There were a few signs along the side of the road “No bananas”. I guess that will be the case for a few more months. Any bananas that are available would be going straight to the supermarkets, not to passers-by!

Today was our first view of the ocean. The plan was to have lunch at a little place called Clairview, and I’m glad we did, even though we got there just after midday. It was right on the beach, and had a lovely rest area – so nice that it was almost overrun by the Grey Nomads, but since they all have their own seats and make their meals in their vans or campers, we didn’t have to compete with them for the picnic tables.

The tide was out, which meant it would have been a long walk (200m?) to get to the water, but it was nice to walk along the beach. We were by now warm enough that we both changed into shorts!

  

    

We left Clairview just after 1pm, heading towards our next tourist stop – Hay Point. It is where all the coal is transported to be loaded onto ships for shipping all over the world. To do this, there are a couple of wharves – one is 1.5km long, the other is 3.8km long. I suppose they need to be this long to get to where the water is deep enough for the ships. The port has been around for quite a while, but based on the plaques on the wall at the viewing area, it has been pretty much constantly been being extended ever since. It is still being extended today – they are adding to one of the wharves so they can have more ships being loaded at once.

Day 7 Mackay to Eungella   372 km

Again a not early and not late to start off this morning – left the motel at 8:15am. We had to meet at Farleigh for a Sugar Mill tour which started at 9:00 am.

 Weather was sunny and warm. We had to wear long pants and long sleeves for the Mill Tour so we were a bit warm.

Arrived at the Sugar Mill at about 8:30 am and prepared and went to the meeting place, or what was the meeting place according to our records. There were lots of Rainbow Lorikeets at the silo where we were waiting. They were busy getting stuck into the sugar that had fallen on the road.

As we had not seen anyone by 9:10 Joy rang and we found out they were using a new hall so we quickly moved to the new hall. We missed most of the DVD but we made it for the tour complete with hairnet, ear plugs, hard hats and safety vest. The mill is noisy, hot and smelly. Hit was hard to hear a lot of the talking as it was so noisy. After the tour we left at 10:30 and headed back through Mackay and Walkerston and then headed up the Pioneer Valley to Eungella (pronounced ‘Young Galah’). Arrived at 1:00 and unpacked and had lunch on the verandah looking down the valley. What a view!!

After lunch (1:45 pm) we left to do a few walks. Sky Window Circuit (300 m) & Granite Bend Circuit (2.5 km – 40 minutes). We had coffee / milkshake and corn flake cookies at the kiosk. We then went down to the river to look for a platypus. When we reached the river we saw a snake swimming across the river.

We saw a platypus a bit further up the river, which is the first one either of us has seen in the wild. We moved on to the actual viewing platform however did not seen any there. There were some air bubbles but these could also have been from turtles which there were quite a few. We moved back to the original spot as the overseas tourist at the viewing platform were talking so loud we doubted that the platypus would be coming out. There was still a platypus at the first spot just having a bit of fun.

We left at 4:45 and arrived back at the cabin at 5:00.

Day 8 Eungella to Ingham    571 km

Up at 7:00 so that we could be on the road by 8:00 and made it with 1 minute to spare. Most of the day was a driving day as we had a long way to go.

Breakfast was on the deck looking down the valley. What a view!!! Weather was sunny and cool however warmed up once we were off the mountain.

Arrived at Bowen at 11:00 and proceeded to the lookout on Flagstaff Hill. We had a great view of part of the Whitsundays with beautiful light blue water and sunny skies.

Heading further north towards Ayr, where we had lunch by the side of a little creek in the park, we had been passing through lots of sugar cane so far but today we have also passed through tomato farms (Bowen Tomatoes) and also lots of Mango farms.

Made a slight detour 20 km from Ingham to look at Jourama Falls. The sign said it was a 3 km walk and would take 1 hour. Well after a reasonably flat start we crossed the creek on a wooden bridge and then the climb started. We were certainly feeling it when we reached the top and had made it in only 15 minutes.

After a few photos headed back down via the Rockpools (nothing special) and then Les taking ‘waterfall shots’ at the river crossing. Also spotted black and orange wren on the walk back.

Arrived in Ingham at 5:45 after refuelling as the fuel light had been on for about 30 km or so.  Tea at the RSL club.

Day 9 Ingham to Innisfail    324 km

Up at 7:00 again so that we could be on the road by 8:00 but this time we were 4 minutes late….. Headed into town and then west to Wallaman Falls, climbing high into the mountains. These are the highest single drop falls in Australia with a drop of 305 metres (1000 feet). We arrived at 9:05 and had a look at the falls from the lookout, very spectacular !!!!

We then did a quick 600 metre return walk to the Gorge Lookout. There are several trees that have been blown down or snapped off following Cyclone Yasi.

As it was too early for morning tea we headed back down the mountain planning to stop for morning tea just north of Ingham however as they are doing major road work the rest area was not open. We continued on to Cardwell for morning tea on the beach front. Cardwell was badly effected by Cyclone Yasi and there are many damaged trees. A lot of the gum trees are very fuzzy looking as they have been stripped of their leaves and have come back similar to if a bush fire had gone through. Other trees were also fuzzy but some are really struggling to survive and some just have no hope after being blow  over or snapped off.

We left Cardwell at 11:45 and arrived at Murray Falls at 12:30. On the road to Murray Falls we passed an area of pine forest with many trees that had been broken just like matchsticks.

 

After we arrived Murray Falls we went for a walk to the falls (about 1 km return). Again great waterfall and we also saw several Ulysses Butterflies which are a brilliant blue colour. Unfortunately they never stop close enough and for long enough to get a photo but it was a first for us both to see them. We had lunch by the side of the river and left at about 1:15.

Arrived at the motel at 2:35 and booked in and then left to head off to Paronella Park (rated No #1 tourist place in Qld in some survey). Had afternoon tea of coffee for Joy and Banana Smoothie (with real Bananas) for Les (we had passed many Banana Plantations today and they have bananas on the trees but the trees are still fairly small). We did the ‘day tour’ from 4:00 pm until 4:45 pm. This tour tells you about the park and its history plus feeding fish and eels. We then had some time to spare so saw the turtles and fish and tried to feed the turtles but the fish often beat the turtles to the food.

At 6:15 we did the ‘Night Tour’. This tour is more about seeing the park under lights and made for (hopefully) some good photos. (Mark: They look like a professional took them!!)

After the tour we headed to the Mena Creek Hotel for tea. Joy had ‘Warm Chicken Salad’ and Les had ‘Chicken Parma and Chips’. The lady that brought the meals commented that Joy was very health and Les was not. But then Joy did steal one of Les’ chips so she was not so healthy. Joy has also taken a liking to XXXX Gold. Les had a Lemon Squash which was just a can of Solo!!.

Arrived back at the motel at 8:30 and did the Census. Not sure how to handle the handing in as we need some numbers on the forms and the motel is going to put these on but we do not want them seeing our information. We will sort it out tomorrow.

Day 10 Innisfail to Cairns   147 km

We woke to another beautiful sunny morning – not a cloud in the sky. Forecast is for 28C.

How nice it was to be able to sleep in this morning. We were due to leave at 9:30, and were actually on the road by 9:05. But first we had to hand in our census forms. Doing our bit for statistics.

There has been  a LOT of roadwork along the Bruce Highway all the way since we’ve been on it (which has been for quite a while). And this morning was no exception. But this time the queue waiting to go through had us stopped on a bridge just outside Innisfail. Not a problem, until the traffic started coming through from the other side, and the bridge started bouncing – weird, and a bit unnerving.

First stop today was Josephine Falls – we got there around 10am. It had an easy walk (1.2km return) along to 3 viewing areas. Two of them were views of the falls, but one was also where you could go swimming in the creek. It looked like a lovely waterhole, and the water wasn’t as cold as we thought it would be, but it would need to be considerably warmer for us to get the swimmers out and actually go in the water!

Josephine Falls were lovely – would recommend people to visit them. We started chatting to a couple from Gippsland as we were walking around, and of course they had a number of other waterfalls that we “had” to see. I think we have enough waterfalls on the itinerary as it is without adding any more!

 

As we were wandering around on the walk, we saw quite a few Ulysses butterflies – they are so vibrant a blue! If only they’d stop still long enough to take a photo.

We had morning tea after our walk to the Falls, and left there at 11:30, heading to our next stop – The Boulders, near Babinda, which is just 25km up the road from Josephine Falls. Another 1.2km return walk (easy, again), to a number of viewing areas – one of the falls, and the others showing off the HUGE rocks in the creek (ie the Boulders).

As we’ve driven north from Ingham, the damage from Cyclone Yasi hasn’t been as bad. There are still trees that have been stripped of leaves and are all “furry” in recovery, and trees that have snapped off, but not nearly as badly as around Tully, Cardwell etc. And we are seeing more banana trees, and signs along the side of the road advertising bananas for sale – finally!

We arrived at our accommodation for the next week in Cairns (or actually, Trinity Park, which is north of Cairns) at 2:45. At this point we had a minor panic because we couldn’t find the wallet that had the cash in it to pay for it! We had to unpack the whole car, and go through every bag – finally found it, in a black wallet in a black pocket in a black bag. Joy had obviously decided it needed to be in a safe place. Yeah, right.

After unpacking, it was off to the supermarket for groceries. The butcher picked us as tourists (how could he tell? Maybe because we bought one pork chop, 2 sausages, and some mince?), and told us that today had been a cold day – only 28C. Predicted to be 29 tomorrow, but apparently the minimum is quite chilly – 12C. Later this week, the minimum is predicted to be 17C. Considering it was 18 in Sydney today, that’s not bad, and not what I would call cold.

Once we got back to our home for the week, we could sit and relax outside with some cheese and bikkies, and a nice cool drink. Luckily no mozzies, so far, but I’m not counting on it continuing like that.