Day 71 Townsville to Guthlurunga

Today we met up again with Carrie, Teya, Mirri and Jovi again and jointly charged into Reef HQ in the Townsville CBD which is a fantastic aquarium. We started with a guided tour and then just cruised around at our leisure. The 6 kids managed to run amok playing hide and seek through many of the dark areas where they display deep reef fish.

Here's a good hiding spot - who is it?

Felicity hiding here inside a cylindrical tank full of 'Nemos'

Probably the part that everyone loved was a tour of the turtle hospital where they bring in sick or injured turtles and bring them back to health before returning them to the ocean.

Lunch was back down the strand at the water park then back to the church grounds to pick up the van. Before leaving Townsville we had a refreshing swim at the river behind the camp where a couple of aboriginal kids showed us a penny turtle they caught.

We hit the road late in the day, but found the first camp we were told about was a 'No Camping' area. So, we had to kick on to a free camp at Guthlurunga. It was a bit disappointing at first as it ended up as just a truck stop, but we bought a 4L cask of wine for $12 and settled in to fun night including a game of charades.

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.