Lake Eacham, Qld

19-22 August 2016

Lake Eacham fig

Lake Barrine

Curtain Fig

Platypus

Turtle

Bat Hospital – Tube nosed bat

Bat Hospital – Fruit Bat

Dinner Falls

Millaa Millaa Falls

Zillie Falls

Elinjaa Falls

Lake Eacham, a clear blue lake surrounded by cool rainforest is in Crater Lakes National Park, we walked around the lake which is a beautiful walk and only a few kilometres.  At one spot there is a deck overlooking the edge of the lake and we saw loads of saw-shelled turtles in the water.  There were also a few huge fig trees along the walk, one we even had to walk through as it had grown across the path.  We did a cruise on neighbouring Lake Barrine another volcanic lake where we saw a carpet snake and an amethystine python sunning themselves in the reeds on the edge of the lake.  We timed the cruise well as it started raining as soon as it had finished.

Stopping in Yungaburra we went down to the platypus viewing platform, there were none to be seen but we went for a walk along the creek and found one there.  We had never seen a platypus before so it was great to see, a lot smaller than expected but apparently the Queensland ones are smaller.  There was also a tree kangaroo in a tree on the other side of the creek, we’d never seen one of those before either.  A tour of the bat hospital was interesting, getting close to lots of rescued bats.

There are lots of waterfalls in the area, the first one we visited was Dinner Falls and the Crater.  First we walked to The Crater, a deep volcanic pipe with a pool of water at the bottom. While we were standing on the lookout platform above it a guy and his kids threw some small rocks into it, the noise as they hit the water was so loud for such small rocks.  On to Dinner Falls, which cascade down in different sections with a couple of nice swimming holes.

Next up we drove a short circuit that had 3 waterfalls on it. First was the most impressive, Millaa Millaa falls, water dropping 18m into a pool at the bottom. It was entertaining as there was a tour group there with the guide taking photos of the girls as they were flipping their hair out of the water. Next was Zillie Falls that had a lookout at the top but couldn’t see much from there so we walked down the very muddy track towards the bottom, a better view but still a tree across part of it. Finishing with Ellinjaa Falls, probably the least dramatic but still pretty. We should have done the circuit in reverse as we would have finished with the best waterfall.

Elim Beach, Qld

14-16th August 2016

Elim Beach Campground

Digging

Elim Beach

This was not a very successful trip, it rained off and on for most of the time we were there. Despite camping right next to the beach we didn’t get to walk more than 100m of it, every time we went to go for a walk it was raining, the only time when it wasn’t raining it was high tide and we couldn’t get around the mangroves without going into the water.  We did go out for a drive but managed to get the car bogged part way up a sand dune (or as Shane would prefer it to be called had a temporary loss of momentum), no amount of manoeuvring was going to get us out, in fact it was just making it worse. We tried digging and putting recovery tracks under the tyres but the car was going no where. The only way out was to bury the spare wheel and winch the car out on it.  Two and a half hours later we were finally out.  Neither of us felt like going any further so we turned around and just headed back to the campground.

Cooktown, Qld

12-14th August 2016

Cooktown Lighthouse

Grassy Hill Lookout

Finch Bay

Archer Point

Archer Point Lighthouse

Home Rules Falls

Home Rules Falls

Trevathan Falls

Trevathan Falls

Black Mountain

Despite only spending 2 nights in Cooktown we got to see a lot.  Grassy Hill lookout gave a spectacular view over the town and the Endeavour River.  We had a short walk along the sheltered Finch Bay on the edge of town.  A short drive out of town is Archer Point which was picturesque even though it was blowing a gale, we drove up next to the lighthouse and almost got blown away when we got out of the car.

Driving through to Home Rule Falls we had some great views of Black Mountain, an intriguing mountain almost totally covered in black rocks.  It was a strenuous walk to the falls but we were rewarded with falls cascading down from high above.  We spent almost an hour here, Shane climbed up the side of the falls for a closer look.  There were plenty of butterflies flitting around including the luminous Ulysses.

Our final destination was Trevathan Falls which drop into a small boulder lined pool with thick green moss and ferns growing on the rock behind the curtain of water.  It was a spectacular sight enhanced by the bright rainbow appearing at the base.  We spotted a snake on the track out from here but it disappeared before Shane could get his camera out.

Cape Tribulation, Qld

8-12th August 2016

Daintree Ferry

Emmagen Beach

Emmagen Beach

Cow Bay

Jindalba Boardwalk

Jindalba Boardwalk

Alexander Range Lookout

Dubuji Boardwalk

Cassowary

Myall Beach

Myall Beach

Bloomfield Falls

Bloomfield Falls

To cross the Daintree River we had to put the car and van on a cable ferry following which was a very narrow, winding and steep road towards Cape Tribulation, there was not much room in some parts especially where the road was cut into the side of the hill.  Our campground just behind Myall Beach, had a rustic bar which is where we saw our first wild cassowary.  We were sitting enjoying a couple of ginger beers when Tina happened to glance down the long rainforest edged driveway as a cassowary was crossing, unfortunately it was gone by the time we had walked down.

We went for lots of long walks on Myall Beach, part way along we could walk through to a boardwalk that wound its way into the rainforest which had some spectacular fan palms, each leaf was up to 2m across. We had a close encounter with a cassowary and a chick, we had seen them in the rainforest but as we left they were wandering along the path so we followed them. Shane was squatting down getting photos when the young one walked straight up to him, the guy standing next to him ran away going “no, no, no, no”, luckily the parent didn’t seem to care as there are lots of warnings about how dangerous they can be.

We visited a couple of other boardwalks in the area, one was through lush green rainforest and the other where the rainforest and mangroves meet.  The second one was quiet as we were the first ones there in the morning, on a section near the creek we saw a crocodile just on the surface of the water, it quickly disappeared when it saw us.

We drove out to a few of the other beaches, Cape Tribulation beach was busy so we didn’t stay long just walked to the lookout overlooking it. Emmagen Beach was hard to find, along an unmarked path just past a massive strangler fig which made it nicer as there was no one else around.  It was an unusual beach as it was lined with black rocks between the sand and the rainforest.

One day we drove the Bloomfield Track, a good gravel road with some seriously steep hills, it would have been a much shorter drive to Cooktown along there but there’s no way we’d try to get the car to tow the van up those hills. We stopped at the beautiful Bloomfield Falls, there was a massive amount of water thundering over the rocks, neither of us had expected them to be so impressive.

Daintree Village, Qld

5-8th August 2016

Daintree River

Sacred Kingfisher

Azure Kingfisher

Baby Croc

Saltwater Crocodile

Saltwater Crocodile

Tree snake

Tree snake

Green tree frog

Daintree River

Daintree Village is a small village with just 3 shops and a tiny school, we stayed at Daintree Riverview Caravan Park which is right next to the river.  We went for a cruise on the Daintree River, the ticket allowed for unlimited trips so we actually went out 4 times from the boat ramp next to where we were staying and then also once further along the river close to the ferry.  We saw crocodiles, snakes, rainbow bee eaters, sacred kingfishers and azure kingfishers.

Port Douglas, QLD

31st July-5th August 2016

Four Mile Beach – Lookout

St Marys by the sea

Relaxing Port Douglas

Port Douglas Boathouse

Mossman Gorge – Path

Mossman Gorge – Rain

Mossman Gorge – Drenched

Mossman Gorge – River

Four Mile Beach

Four Mile Beach

Lookout over Wangetti Beach

Wangetti Beach

Captain Cook Highway between Cairns and Port Douglas is impressive, hugging the coast it twists and turns almost on the beach at times.   Part way along we stopped at a cliff top lookout with spectacular views and watched a hang glider launching themselves from the top. Port Douglas is definitely a town devoted to tourism with loads of big resorts and the main street full of eateries and souvenir shops.

Most of our time was spent wandering around the town and beach and trying to find the best place to eat with a good view.  We did go out to Mossman Gorge, we walked the 2km to the gorge from the car park even though they try to encourage you to take the shuttle bus.  At the gorge it was lovely walking through the rainforest to the fast flowing river. We took our time looking at the huge basket ferns high up in the trees and the vines winding themselves around the tree trunks.  It was raining lightly but as we moved onto the longer circuit track it just got heavier and heavier, we were absolutely drenched and the path was full of big muddy puddles. The drops were so large at times that it felt like someone was tapping us on the back.

Four Mile Beach at Port Douglas is a coconut-tree lined beach, a great place to walk but very popular, even first thing in the morning it is busy so when we went for a drive along the coast we appreciated Wangetti Beach which was just as picturesque but also deserted.

Cairns, QLD

24th-31st July 2016

Cairns lookout

Botanic Gardens – Rainforest Boardwalk

Kuranda Scenic Railway

Kuranda Scenic Railway

Train & Barron Falls

Kuranda Scenic Railway engine

Cairns Birdwings

Australian Butterfly Sanctuary

Cairns Birdwing

Great Eggfly

Skyrail

Rainforest from Skyrail

Skyrail

Skyrail – Cairns

Barron Gorge

Surprise Creek Falls

We spent 7 nights in Cairns, after a few shorter stays it was nice to be in one spot for a while although the time still flew by.  The weather was great, ranging from lows around 20 to highs of 27.

We drove to a lookout on a steep, windy road that had scenic panoramas over the whole city, as we were part way to Copperlode Dam we continued further up the road.  It was definitely worth the drive as Lake Morris is stunning.

Visiting the Cairns Botanic Gardens we were amazed by the range of tropical plants, walking through the rainforest boardwalk was a highlight.  The newly opened conservatory had a lovely collection of palms, bromeliads and orchids with butterflies flitting around.

Not far from the caravan park were the Crystal Cascades where a series of small waterfalls flow into large pools surrounded by impressive granite boulders.  We were lucky to see the bright blue Ulysses butterflies there.

Our biggest day out was a trip to Kuranda on the scenic railway which winds through tropical rainforest passing spectacular waterfalls and into Barron Gorge.  We treated ourselves to gold class so had food and drinks served to us on the way which made it even better.  The 100 year old station at Kuranda is very pretty with lots of tropical gardens surrounding it.  We had some lunch at Kuranda then visited the Butterfly Sanctuary which has the largest butterfly aviary in the Southern Hemisphere. All the butterflies are bred there and they have an interesting tour where they explain the process.  Whilst wandering through the aviary taking lots of photos we both had butterflies land on us.  To get back to Cairns we took the Skyrail cable car, travelling over the top of the lush rainforest was magnificent, seeing ferns way up near the tops of massive trees.  Stopping at a couple of stations on the way down we got to see the impressive Barron Falls from a different angle and were astounded at the towering 400 year old Kauri Pine on a rainforest boardwalk.  The views over Cairns were also stunning.