Day 70 Townsville

Well after plenty of debate as to whether to shell out the money and go to Magnetic Island (just off Townsville) or not we settled for a day on the strand which has a kiddy water park and further down a rock pool both of which are safe from crocs and stingers.

But first it was the lookout from a big red rocky hill smack in the middle of town. Apparently during World War II the Americans offered to level it and use the stone to build a bridge to Magnetice Island (didn't happen)

You could also see the RAAF base from the lookout but there did not appear to be much action today, apart from some joggers who ran to the top (crazy).

That night we had a BBQ on the strand and witnessed an argument that involved a huge knife between some local indigenous folk on the strand. Not all is perfect on these trips - hey! Unfortunately when we talk about Townsville it is what Bridgey remembers.....

Day 69 Mission Beach to Townsville

A quick swim in the stinger enclosure before departing and we were off with first stop being Tully information centre. The lady there just loved a chat and we finished with the plan to head to Murray River Falls (not the big Murray River) and also 6 free posters. Oh yes there was free Tea and Coffee there so Richie was right into the Tea which he is now.

So it was Murray falls for lunch but the March flies thought they were having us for lunch. Nice spot though. (Notice the margarine container - that was our swatted March Fly container that we were keeping to feed to lizards).

After lunch it was time for a quiuck dip in the river and a snorkle around where we saw some big catfish, jungle perch, shrimp and sone other stuff....

Then it was on to Townsville where we had heard about this cheap camp ground at a Seventh Day Adventist Convention Centre. Well I was fed up with Townsville after the third traffic light and then we got to the camp with this dried out field in the middle of the church / school ground. However we did find a lovely family in the spot next door who were able to make us feel at home.

Day 68 Paronella Park to Mission Beach

After an overnight stay a Parnella Park, it was time to move to our next destination which was Mission Beach with a couple of stops on the way.
Richard had been talking to other travellers again and he had learnt about a lovely waterfall nearby called Josephine Falls and the kids wanted some fresh fruit from a roadside stall.
We stopped at Stevo's Fuit Stall to grab a bargin!!!!!!

Josephine Falls was great and yes another swimming opportunity for the family. This place was like a natural water park like Wet and Wild. It had a great big waterslide.

In such a setting it was time for some family photos.

When we finally arrived at Mission Beach we caught up with Carrie and kids again (the Davis's would you belive) our latest adopted travelling family. It was a late dinner especially due to the gas bottle running out on the camp kitchen. After dinner there were some night activities on the beach with all the kids lining up for a 50m race, crab catching and all sorts of other stuff.

Day 67 Kurrimine Beach to Paronella Park

We had heard good things about Paronella Park so we trekked back inland to stay the night there and check it out. It was built back in the 30's in the middle of a rainforest as some sort of resort by a spanish guy by the name of Jose Paronella. It was set beside a creek and waterfall. Back in the 30's, 40's and 50's people would go and stay there - it had tennis courts, a ball room, swimming, bands. Seemed like it was once quite a playground for couples. It has since suffered the wrath of multiple cyclones and a fire, and at one point in time was lost and overgrown by the rainforest. It has now been found again, tidied up and set as a tourist attraction.

We went on a guided tour of the park and the more that you learnt about Jose and his dream for Paronella Park, the more amazing it became. In it's time, it would have been very grand, just like a fairytale castle. It would have been the Dreamworld of the 1930s-40s.
Felicity's blood sugar readings for the day had been all over the place,one minute they were high then low. After talking to the tour guide, we found out the bugs that the kids had been playing with were cane beetles and Flickie had been getting sugar on her hands from them. No more playing with the beetles.

Day 66 Palm Cove to Kurrimine Beach

It was a moving day and it was hard to get motavited to pack up and move from our lovely little beachfront caravan site. After a little bit of deal making with the children, we were packed and heading to the swimming area for a 10 minute cool down in the waves before moving on.

It was only a small drive to our first stop which was The Boulders Flora and Fauna Reserve at Babinda which had a very scenic mountain stream.

There were parts of the gorge that were barricaded off and marked with about six danger signs at each point. Apparently they lose a few tourists there each year, where the water sucks them down under the rocks. It would appear that Babinda might claim more lives than crocodiles do up here. If you zoom in on the picture you can see some guys standing on the rocks where they shouldn't be.

Back at the main picnic ground we had some lunch and were much amazed to see a rooster walk out of the rainforest undergrowth (yes your stock standard rooster. It wasn't long however before a much bigger bird wandered out of the bushes - a dirty big Cassowary. It doesn't seem that you get to see too many in the wild, so everyone was stoked. Their aggressive nature was shown too as at one point it chased a car.

After lunch and all the excitement we of course had the obligatory swim at the 'safe' swimming section, a lovely pool which was at the junction of two streams.

We then continued on our merry way and started passing through many banana plantations that seemed to be producing again after cyclone Yasi devastated the area earlier this year.

We pulled in at our destinatination of Kurrimine Beach late in the day and stayed in a smallish council park right on the beach. It was still a bit smashed around by the cyclone but in general was cheap and nice.

Day 65 Palm Cove ( Day trip into Cairns)

We started the day with a swim in the netted area (getting sick of those jelly fish and a chance of a croc) and no day is complete without a quick fish off the jetty.

In the afternoon, we headed into Cairns to check out the city lagoon, esplanade, marina and the night market. It seem that everything is big in Carins except for swimsuits.

(I decided to show you an example of the big lagoon not the little swimsuits- sorry boys)

We ended the day with a BBQ on the esplanade with a busker playing a flute as dinner music.

Day 64 Port Douglas to Palm Cove

On the way out of Port Douglas we decided to back track a little bit to Mossman Gorge. This was a beautiful river gorge full of boulders and a fairly strong stream. It was also a popular swimming location for backpackers.

Richie and Dad did a rainforest walking track while the girls stayed at the river. There was numerous big fig trees and some great little spots on the river and a small creek where we found some big jungle perch in a small pool.

The afternoon was getting away from us so it was time to move on and drop into Peter and Pauline's house to say goodbye (you can't say goodbye without a coffee, cold drinks,chocolate biscuits and a great view of Port Douglas).
Our last stop for the day was at Palm Cove. We stayed at a great little caravan park about 20 metres from the beach.

Day 63 Port Douglas - Great Barrier Reef

Today was the big day we had all been looking forward to -'Snorkelling out on the outer Great Barrier Reef'. We managed to get bargain prices on a stunning catermaran (thanks Pauline & Peter). I borrowed a photo of it to show below

The trip to the outer fringe of the reef took about an hour and twenty minutes on the boat. It was really nice to see the mountain range and rainforests from the boat viewpoint. We did get the whole family to take sick sickness tablets to make sure no-one spent the day with their head over the side of the boat.

Because the jellyfish are known to move in around November we all had to wear stinger suits. The kids all though they were marine ninjas.

We anchored at 3 different spots and saw many different fish including big maori wrasse, clown fish (Nemo), spotted sting ray, angle fish, giant clams, sea slugs and lots more.

Bridget took to the snorkeling and diving down like a duck to water. In fact all the kids were into it.

This little guy just swam around everywhere by himself without a care in the world.

Needless to say everyone had a ball and wont forget this part of the trip.

Richard

Day 62 Port Douglas

It was a slow start to the day, we all had a little sleep in (8.00am), which was nice and needed. We had decided to have a little drive around Port Douglas to see what it had to offer. First stop was the marina to see some very large boats ($$$$$$$$$)

and then the lookout. "What a lovely view".

The next stop was the beach, time for some mucking around between the flags in the netted off area. The nets are there for 2 reasons, number 1.to keep the jelly fish out ( it is heading into box jelly fish and Irakandji season. Irakandji are tiny and extremely venomous jellyfish and the only way that you know they are in the water is that you feel their sting. The number 2 reason is playing it safe and keeping the odd croc away.

After the swim, we headed back to the caravan park for lunch and to start to prepare for Saturday's big adventure- The Great Barrier Reef. We had to teach Bridget how to Snorkel. That exercise took about 30 seconds or maybe less. Richard was setting up the snorkel gear for the twins and Bridget decided to set up her own and start straight away.The girl was born to duck dive.

We decided to finish the evening off with a fish on the point, after little Rich asked his father every 5 minutes for an hour, "Can we go fishing". It was a lovely relaxing time with 2 barracouta and a bream.

Day 61 Cape Tribulation to Port Douglas

Today we made our way south out of the Daintree National Park. We left PK's Jungle Vilage and had our first stop at a beach not too far south. We walked along the beach to a rocky point where we watched a number of sea turtles surface, pop their head up for a look and some air and then dive down again (surprisingly too quick for a photo).

We had a stop at the Daintree Icecream Co. which had some lovely exotic fruit flavours and it was situated in the most beautiful field in front of rain forest hills.

Next stop was an insect collection. Although the collection is mostly dead, there were these huge stick insects that they breed right at the entrance

Check out these huge things with Bridget's hand as a comparison.

We did another rain forest walk and then made our way to the Daintree River Ferry.

We did a quick detour into Daintree Village once on the south side of the river, but decided to kick on to Port Douglas. That night we caught up with Peter and Pauline, and had a very nice dinner looking over the harbour at Combined Services Club.

Richard

Day 60 Cooktown to Cape Tribulation

The big question today was whether to head home via the bitumen they way we came in, or...... go via the famed Bloomfield track along the coast and through the Daintree National Park (shorter in length, but longer in time). After talking to the local copper, the park ranger and the caravan park manager who all confirmed the weather was good and the track would be fine, we decided to go for broke and hit the Bloom field.

First stop, just a short way in to our trek was the renowned Lion's Den Hotel - so a must stop for a beer, even if it was only 10am.

A few creek crossings and a bit further along we came to Wujal Wujal, a small indigenous town and a beautiful waterfall out the back.

From there it was across the Bloomfield River ford and into some serious hills.

It wasn't long before I made an error in gear selection and stalled the car (and van I must remind all) half way up a steep hill. Put the discovery in low range 1st and sprayed dust and stones every where but made it up the hill. About 20 minutes later (still in low range)I missed a gear change and had to hit the brakesonce more poised delicately half way up the hill. With the hand brake barely holding the van from dragging us backwards, I revved up the car and gentley let the clutch out. With the children cheering, Penny with white knuckles holding onto the dash and me just praying,.....we noisily but slowly chugged to the top. I think bridget still thinks it was a Luna Park ride.

Well when we hit the bitumen again at Cape Tribulation we decided that although it was still early afternoon we were pitching camp at PK's Jungle Vilage. More of a back packers lodge, but hey I wasn't complaining (all the men would know what I mean).

In the afternoon we hit the beach, the fresh water swimming hole, and the nearby lookout

That night we shouted ourselves Barramundi and Calamari and a few drinks at PK's Bar which was fantastic.

Richard

Day 59 Cooktown

Today we went to the botanical gardens where the information centre was to book for Ghurri tours (an aboriginal rock painting and bush skills tour). As the tour was in the afternoon we filled in the morning by going to Quarantine Bay which was okay but nothing spectacular, then we went to Endeavour Falls for lunch. Apparently everyone use to swim there but there's recently been a croc sighting so no more swimming.

After lunch we headed to Hopevale for our Ghurri Tour where we met Willy. Willy was great and really spoke well with the kids. Richie fed a lizard a dead March fly on a length of spear grass and Flickie gave one a drink of water on a leaf.

When we arrived at the rock paintings Willy engaged the children in life lessons using the stories told by the paintings painted so many thousands of years prior.

Including stories of a sort of 'Boogey Man' shown below

Richie, Bridge and Flick all listened very intently and hopefully got some good pointers from a wise man.