June/July 2021
It has been a while since my last post and we have spent most of our time exploring the Cairns, Cape York and Atherton region.
Once we left the Whitsundays, we snuck in a little visit to Bowen to break up the drive to Townsville and spent a day with The Coopers exploring Horseshoe Bay and walking around the Cape Edgecumbe Walking Trail with its amazing views. I even managed a little jog (for those of you who know about my back injury last year this was a rather exciting progression. Maybe I can start getting my fitness back!). I get a lot of satisfaction buying produce from the local farmers. This time we spotted a ute parked off the road with eskies and boxes full of goodness. It cost $10 for a bag of zucchinis, capsicums, cucumbers and lettuce.
Next we popped into Townsville for a few days to meet a colleague. We only stopped in to meet Daniel but found Townsville had a lot to offer – a wonderful foreshore with a great walking track and Magnetic Island with its newly sunken underwater museum. https://www.moua.com.au/.
So, Townsville has made on our ‘2nd Lap List’. Next we scooted off to Paluma National Park and camped at Big Crystal Creek for a few nights off the grid and to catch up with Shaz. We loved it so much it became one of our highlights (in addition to Fraser Island and The Whitsundays) so we stayed a few extra nights. This place was amazing! We visited several freshwater creeks where the water had eroded the boulders creating natural water slides. The Coopers also stayed up the road and all of us spent days swimming in the pools. I did an early morning zoom workout with Shaz and her loyal clients back in Wollongong, which made the muscles sore for a few days and she took me on a bike ride to a wonderful waterfall. We were politely escorted out once a vehicle approached us and indicated that we were in a water catchment area with prohibited access. We returned with our tails between our legs excited at the beauty we had experienced together (I was also rather exhausted – Shaz is a personal trainer and I am pretty certain she never stops). Shaz introduced Mali and I to Caching and I have now turned Shaz into a twitcher with her newfound bird call app. A large-tailed Nightjar had been tok-toking for days and I had been frustratingly trying to determine what it was when Shaz downloaded the Birdnet app and moments later rattled off the bird name.
After Big Crystal Creek we jumped back on the Bruce highway and reached the Hinchinbrook Way. This is a section of the highway where the dry coast of Townsville meets the lush Wet Tropics and it was such a stark change with rugged mountain ranges and breath taking scenery – even from the highway. A trek on Hinchinbrook is something I would love to do one dy. We stopped in Tully before turning off for Mission Beach and bumped into the Coopers again. I am not sure who is following who. We walked up the big Gumboot, which at 7.93m itself represents the highest recorded annual rainfall (1950). Tully is the wettest town in Australia.
Just 45mins up the road we arrived at Mission Beach where we spent almost a week with a friend of 25 years and his family. We parked the van in their tropical front garden and Mali had the most wonderful time playing with Kailarney (4) and Bhu (8). We loved our time with Penny, Mikey and the kids. We cycled along the wonderful bike paths right on the beach, drank at the local bar on a Sunday afternoon and enjoyed live music and watching all the local kids play on the street. We also received a real taste of Mikey’s ‘Feel Good Banana’ factory and tasted the organoleptic treats. They were delicious! Mali was watching the whole family pile into what she called the ‘Banana Car’ and now affectionately calls them the Banana Family.
Mali learnt about Cassowaries and is now frothing to see one. After 5 days in Mission Beach we still have not spotted one. Penny hired a boat and given I have recently received my Coxswain Licence I was Skipper for the day (even though Craig acted like he was). We explored Dunk and Mound Island for the afternoon for some fishing and snorkelling. We didn’t have much success with either, but we had a great time circumnavigating an island, picnicking and getting drenched in the boat ride back in the
wind. The Banana Family – you rock!! Thanks for an awesome time.
From here we headed straight to Cairns and were lucky enough to base ourselves at Tom's (Craig’s best mate) parents house in Trinity Beach. Pete and Cate were so wonderful. Our site in the backyard was perfect and Mali enjoyed playing on the grass, jumping over the sprinkler, painting with Cate and showing Pete and Cate all her tricks and toys. We spent many afternoons in their gorgeous backyard talking about their time living on their yacht and telling stories.
I spent many early mornings walking down the beach and finding a nice spot to meditate whilst Craig kept trying to hook that elusive Barramundi. We took Mali on the Skyrail up to Kuranda (a picturesque village in the rainforest behind Cairns), visited the Butterfly Sanctuary and the old markets, The Cairns Aquarium, the Botanical Gardens and enjoyed swimming in the lagoon on the foreshore.
It was 22 years ago when I left Cairns after completing my Degree and it has changed a lot. It is so much busier and the local bar we used to visit, which was surrounded by bush and grassy paddocks is now surrounded by buildings and the growing hospital. I was disorientated many times. However, I still visited some of the old houses I used to live in, the Tobruk Olympic Swimming Pool and the Red Arrow Bush track I used to jog all the time.
I caught up with an inspirational teacher from my university days, Jamie Seymour.
He showed me the marine aquaria and laboratory set-up they now have at James Cook University campus in Cairns and we shared similar stories about the plight of the Institutions we both work for. Jamie does a lot of work on the Youtube channel,
‘The Nature of Science’ and is one of the many scientists trying to inspire others reach out to the public about the fascinating world he researches.
Whilst using Cairns as a base we planned a round trip to Laura, Cooktown and The Daintree with the Coopers and Streets. We spent a day at The Laura Indigenous Dance Festival. This is a festival that began in the early 1980s and is the longest running and largest Aboriginal Cultural Festival in Australia. Here, people from about 20 different communities located across the Cape come together to celebrate with music, dance, singing and cultural performances. It was a great experience to see the dance competitors and experience the culture. Unfortunately, we were a bit disappointed as they had advertised cultural workshops and vegan/vegetarian food. We hardly saw any of this and the food was below par. We still enjoyed the festival and were able to watch Yothu Yindi play.
Next we headed to Cooktown for the night. The kids enjoyed the water splash park on the foreshore, and we all enjoyed the views from Grassy Hill lookout. We left the next morning and realised how much we would like to return to Cooktown to explore the history of the area (we did visit again, on our way back from Cape York – next post).
The next part of the trip was the Bloomfield track south to the Daintree. I last remember this trip back in 1998 in the back of a troop carrier with 5 other students - I remember my numb bottom after being bounced around all day on the 4WD track. It has been considerably upgraded since then and wasn’t challenging at all. We enjoy a swim in a freshwater swimming hole on the way and then camped for a few days at The Daintree Rainforest Village Caravan Park. We arrived to see the owner, Mark, trying to extract a snake from the camp kitchen toaster. The kids absolutely loved it. The Daintree is absolutely beautiful - the lush tropical forests, the birdlife and the amazing creeks and swimming holes. We explored some of the local boardwalks and Cape Tribulation beach as well as the Daintree Rainforest Discovery Centre. This was epic! Entry included an audio tour and access to all the boardwalks, the rainforest canopy tower and a fantastic interpretive centre. We all loved it, despite the 3 days of rain we endured.
At this point, the COVID19 situation in Sydney was really going downhill. We contemplated staying in QLD for some time, given that we did not know what was going to happen with trying to cross from Northern territory in Western Australia – at that point anyone crossing from NT to WA had to quarantine for 2 weeks. So, we decided to head for Cape York! A day later we had packed up the Hilux with all the camping gear and food and hit the road.
See ya soon!!!
Corrine, Craig and Mali xx
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