8/8/2018
Wednesday R & R woke to a warm morning of 17*C at 7:00am and lower humidity
of 56%. Shortly after breakfast, RL’s
sister, R, rang to return RL’s message from the day before. She had plans for her birthday and they
chatted a while. So, it was about 9;15am
before R & R had packed down and were on their way to Mossman 33km
east. The road reminded RL of Walpole
where it was winding and hilly with tall trees on both sides of the road but
not so dense as to block out the sunlight completely. Where there was no forest or park, in flatter
areas, sugar cane could be seen growing and in other higher places there were
cattle and some sheep. The road ran
about 500m while some of the hills like Round Mountain 1000m and Mt Lewis 1250m
where much higher. In the middle, there was about 8kms of steep incline in the
Mowbray State Forest where R & R stopped at the Rex Lookout to take in the
view over the Coral Sea and down towards Mossman and Port Douglas. The monument states that the section of the
road was finally sealed in 1982. Then it
was a shorter distance (4kms) of steep decline alongside the Cassowary Ranges
where it opened up again to flatter sugar farming country. R & R saw some sugar cane being harvested
and noticed that the trucks dump their crates of sugar on rail flat beds. The road from Mt Molloy came to a junction at
the railway and RL turned north toward Mossman.
RL parked the Ute and RA booked the Sweet Farm Tour and then a space at
a caravan park in Port Douglas. That
meant that there was plenty of time for them to drive through Mossman and over
the Mossman River to Daintree Village 35kms further north. The day was cloudy but not cold, about 24*C,
by 10:00am as they followed the road and rail.
There were bananas but, for the most part, every flat space in between
the sea, mountains and forests was used for sugar cane growing. The road came to the sea at Dayman Point and
drive ways with letter boxes indicated that people were living secluded
somewhere up the hillsides above Wonga Beach where the sea looked grey and wavy. While the road had been flat, it rose then
fell somewhat and became winding for the last 5kms in the Dagmar Ranges at
Humbug Reach with the Daintree River just to the east of the road and Thornton
Peak at 1374m to the north east in the Daintree National Park. RL arrived at Daintree Village about
11:00am. R & R walked down to the
river and saw some large fish just below the jetty and popped in and out of all
the businesses there. It really wasn’t
for them because it was all about croc. tours and, having been on a couple of
similar tours in Darwin, they did not intend to go again just yet. About forty minutes later, they began the
return journey toward Mossman, stopping at Dayman Point boat ramp where they
had coffee. Using the mono glass, RL was
able to see a lighthouse on an island further out. The rocks on the yellow sandy beach were
black but the rocks that had been used as fill for the groin there were huge
slabs of grey granite with wide veins of white quartz running through
them. They were absolutely
remarkable. RL took a detour towards the
sugar farm to look at a WWII site of significance. The monument recalled the Japanese air raid
in July 1942 when 8 bombs were dropped around the Douglas Shire and a 2 ½ year
old girl was wounded by shrapnel. It was
the only wounding of an Australian on the eastern mainland. R & R knew that the Japanese had raided
Darwin but, despite RL’s father being involved in new Britain in WWII, they had
no previous knowledge of an attack on Queensland! As it was still before 1:00pm with the sugar
farm tour more than an hour away, RL pulled off the road near the Leonardi Di
Palma Bridge so they could have lunch.
They had crossed the bridge which was shared with the sugar tram and
noticed that it is smaller gauge than usual.
R & R enjoyed lunch and then RL emptied one 20lt can into the tank
while RA tried to work out what the problem was with the email account. They swapped their thongs for socks and shoes
just in case and drove back over the bridge to the Puglisi sugar farm in good
time to do the tour. It was an education
to learn all about the sugar growing and production cycle. Other activities on the farm included growing
a variety of specific gum trees as feed for koalas in captivity, growing cocoa
and vanilla beans. The vanilla is so
labour intensive as the pollinating has a very short time frame and must be
done by hand but, for them, it was essential to maintain the integrity of their
very own Australian grown and processed chocolate brand. R & R were treated with a taste of
freshly squeezed sugar syrup and a sample of their chocolate. RA was impressed how committed the enterprise
was, to sustainability and environmental issues while maintaining quality and
quantity. It was a lovely spot with
sugar cane growing at varying heights near the river lying at the bottom of
High Falls Mountain. They were reluctant
to leave. It was only about 10kms back
into Mossman where they parked the Ute on a side street and went into a
shopping centre for groceries and credit for the dongle. Then RL drove 18kms to Port Douglas arriving
at the caravan park shortly after 5:00pm.
R & R set up the camper in a tricky triangular bay and had coffee
before walking round the park to orientate themselves. RA kept RL company while he cooked a large
packet of sausages, the plan being to keep some in the freezer just for a
change. Generally, they prefer
mince. Dinner was a little late. After that RL read and RA had no choice but to
participate in a full recovery of her email account with Microsoft and hope
like mad that it wasn’t a scam. The
account seemed to recover and after a password change, she was able to receive
emails on her laptop but not the phone.
RA was tired … and frustrated by it all.
9/8/2018
Thursday R & R woke at 7:00am. It
was already 21*C with 76% humidity. The
day promised to be fine, with no rain, but as usual there was quite a lot of
cloud around on and off most of the day.
It seemed that is the way of the weather in the tropical part of
Queensland where it is cloudy and looks, by all accounts, that it would rain
but it doesn’t. Having breakfasted and
showered, R & R took the access track towards Four Mile Beach to walk along
the beach, washing their feet in the sea water.
There were lots of families, locals and tourists with the same
plan. R & R had planned to stop in
at the information centre, but RV friendly parking was limited to two bays so
RL sat while RA popped in quickly to ask about access to Mowbray Falls. It was
not really recommended for trailers or vans so they chose to stop in at a
couple of the lookouts and beaches on the way south along the Captain Cook
Highway to Cairns 70kms away. The road
followed the coastline closely with the sea to the east, hills and mountains to
the west. It was particularly winding
with low suggested speeds, though not steep and provided for overtaking and
slow vehicle turnouts. At times the
hills rose steeply upwards to 700-800m with deep drops to the seaward side, at
other times the road was quite wooded on both sides, and again, at other times
the road ran nearly level with the sea revealing the rocks or sand at the water’s
edge. About 10:00am RL pulled into Rex
Lookout Point where they stopped for coffee and a photo. The spot commemorates Mr Raymond Rex who was
an early advocate (1955) for the Cook Highway which was eventually completed in
1999. It was high and windy and the
perfect spot for the hang gliding. RL
stopped again at Ellis Beach which had a surf lifesaving club, toilets and a
hotel. The last 30 or so kilometres
towards Cairns became more built up as R & R passed the residential beach
side communities of Palm Grove, Kewarra Beach and Halloways Beach before the
airport and the CBD. RA had set the
Navigator to find the Stockland Plaza so that they could pop into a Yes Optus
outlet to enquire about her email phone issue so it was not difficult to find
the plaza. Finding an RV friendly car
bay was! RL followed the RV Friendly
sign which revealed a Winegabo in the only available space. Eventually, near noon, having driven round
the block again, they parked in a cul de sac in a residential street and walked
to the plaza. RA was relieved that the
assistant suggested that, having reset her password elsewhere, it would require
resetting on the phone. Voila! RA did wonder how long it might have taken
her to work that one out as she had been so stressed about it. R & R popped into a Vinnies that was
next door and picked up some fruits on the way back through the plaza. They ate lunch at the Ute before setting the Navigator
to Babinda Rotary rest area 54kms south on Bruce Highway. The road veered away from the coast and there
appeared to be mountains all round. It
was flat and every square inch of the flat land between the hills on both sides
of the road was sugar cane at varying stages of growth, from newly planted to
full height with the blossom blowing at the top. And blowing it was … the wind was quite
strong almost as if the flat path through the ranges of hills was creating a
tunnel for catching and channelling the wind.
The road was running at about 400m but mountains, like Walsh’s Pyramid
at the Gordonvale junction was 922m and Mt Massey at 1285m covered in cloud and
mist were a reminder to R & R why they are called Misty Mountains. Shortly
before arriving at Babinda, RL passed Mt Bellenden Ker. At 1561m it is Queensland 2nd highest
mountain. At 2:15pm, R & R had
selected a spot in the already quite full rest area and were having a coffee
and banana. R & R noticed that the
bananas tasted particularly delightful as their natural ripening process had
not been altered for the purposes of extending life for transport across the
country. After 3:00pm, R & R walked
down town to the information centre, into an op shop and up and down the main
street before returning to the site on the Babinda Creek near the sugar train
railway. They found the town with its
old buildings and the park quite delightful.
Babinda had been officially declared Australia’s wettest town with an
average rainfall of over 4m a year. When they returned RL read and RA wrote the
diary from the day before. Their
daughter, H, rang and RA prepared dinner while chatting. After dinner RL read some more and RA wrote
some more. Although RA felt tired she
was so relieved … that her email and phone were working properly again.
10/8/2018
Friday R & R got out of bed just before 7:00am to a delightful 14*C with
89% humidity and a promise of a sunny day with a top of 24*C. After breakfast, they looked through maps for
places to see, places to stay overnight and Mass places and times to come up
with a plan. There was no hurry so they
both had a lazy start to the day before checking a draft which took about an
hour. R & R had a cup of coffee
shortly before 11:00am when they refuelled and set out for a day’s drive. Leaving the camper, RL headed for Eubenangee
Swamp National Park about 16km away. R
& R walked the 1.5km path through the forest with the last section up a
cleared hill to a lookout. From the top
there were views all round of the low-lying swampy area that had water, lilies
and birds. It was cool and calm under
the protection of the trees but warm and windy, with a south easterly, out in
the open. As R & R returned to the
Ute, a sugar train was chugging on the rail bridge over the Alice River near
the car park where they ran into and chatted with fellow campers from
Babinda. At 12:30pm, RL drove to
Bramston Beach 11kms. In sections, the
road was quite winding and bending as well as up and down but not too much so,
which meant it was a very pleasant drive.
As the land was no longer flat, there was no sugar cane growing and
cattle could be seen. R & R were
surprised when they arrived at the beach as the water was quite brown. Turns out, it is brown because of the
sediment that come to the sea via the rivers that bring the soil down from the
mountains and the land. Out to sea, to
the north, the Frankland Islands group, which is a popular tourist attraction
for reef snorkelling, could be seen.
Besides the water looking unattractive, there were warnings about
crocodiles and stingers so RA was not looking to going swimming. At 1:00pm R & R drove just over 25kms to
Josephine Falls. At the falls they had
lunch and a coffee before walking the 700m track to the lookouts. The surfaced track wound its way through
rainforest known as complex mesophyll vine forest, characterized by trees with
large leaves and buttressed tree roots, woody vines, ferns and other non-parasitic
plants growing up and in the trees. There were three lookouts at lower, middle
and upper levels each with a different view.
Swimming was allowed at the bottom level but it was very rocky and
really not much space; there were so many people there vying for wet spaces to
swim or dry places to take photos.
Josephine Falls in part of the Wooroonooran National Park which includes
the Misty Mountains and Tully Gorge which R & R had seen more than a week
ago from the other side of the range.
The Park also includes Bellenden Ker (1593m) and Mount Bartle Frere
(1622m) Queensland’s two tallest mountains.
Josephine Creek which begins high up Mt Bartle Frere tumbles and gushes
over a series of huge granite boulders about 7.5 kms from the top. RA found it
hard to conceive that such a quantity of water continues to pound its way down
from upstream 24/7/52/forever. It was
spectacular! A couple of hours later, RL
headed back through Babinda towards Babinda Boulders about 16kms. It was as if by magic, the best was saved for
last. Though not called a falls, the
Babinda Creek meanders its way over rocks and boulders to where a section, not
too rocky, deep or swiftly flowing is deemed safe for swimming. R & R walked the 600m paved path to the
two Devils Pool Lookouts. There the
water was not actually falling over
the rocks but rather rushing around and through them. The boulders were enormous and showed signs
of wear which in the wetter part of the year would be hidden. The swirls and
holes and the colours created over time were incredible. The Aboriginals have a
legend about how the rocks formed. It
has the same plot as Running Bear and the legend of the Blue Willow Patterned
Plate. On returning to the Ute, R & R donned their bathers and swam in the
designated area. They were amazed that
though the water was not salty (like the sea) it was very buoyant. It was lovely being in the shallow water in
the dappled sunlight at 3:30pm. Fellow
swimmers pointed out a pair of saw shelled turtles sunning themselves on a log on
the opposite bank which was worth going back to the Ute for the monocular and
camera. R & R noticed that there
were a couple of monuments and couldn’t resist reading them. They honoured the memory of seven men who
lost their lives when their US bomber ran into bad weather returning to
Charters Towers base from the Coral Sea in WWII. Another war connection! On the way back into Babinda R & R
stopped to take some photos of the freshly ploughed ground and sugar cane crops
of varying heights with the rainforest mountains in the background. They stopped again down town to take a photo
of the air raid shelter (another WWII connection) that had been restored as a
public toilet block and the Babinda State Hotel, the only government built
hotel, which was constructed in 1917. It
was 5:30pm when R & R returned to the camper. For a while they studied maps and made plans
before preparing dinner. After dinner,
they rang their son, S, and then RL’s brother, S. RL read and RA wrote her diary. Only 82kms visiting four very different and
unique spots. It had been just the best
kind of day … and quite relaxing.
11/8/2018
Saturday RL slept particularly well which left him with a feeling of needing
more and it had been raining. Despite
that, R & R were out of bed, as usual, about 7:00am to a warm 16*C. Everything was damp and outside the rain
cleared to a cloudy start of the day.
After breakfast RA published the post they had been working on and
shortly after 8:00am they were packing down.
By 9:00am, R & R were heading south on Bruce highway for Innisfail
about 30kms away. First, RL was driving
through the swampy and forested section of the road which was part of the
Eubenangee Swamp they had visited the day before. There were hills all round and where the road
was not flat, with sugar cane farming or bananas, cattle were grazing. The road and rail ran alongside each
other. As they drove into Innisfail, the
welcome sign read “Green like you’ve never seen.” Innisfail is a big centre for the area with
traffic lights, both Coles and Woolworths, car yards and all the usual
merchandise brands found in such centres.
After, R & R found the information centre they filled their gas
bottle at BCF, for example. They had
noticed a rest area on their way into Innisfail and the ladies at the centre
had said that it was a free camping spot, so at 11:00am, they took the camper
to the driver reviver station at the Palmerston junction and set it up to leave
for the day. By 11:30am they were back
down town ready, with the Town Walk map in hand, to take a look around. Luckily, R & R were able to get the three
op shops in before they closed and then proceeded to begin at number 1 on the
brochure. They took photos of everything
that appealed: the wharf on the Jonstone River where a series of eight
beautifully crafted tiles depict the history of the town, the cane cutter
memorial which had inscriptions in English and Italian, all the beautifully
painted art deco buildings (built after the 1918 cyclone which destroyed nearly
every building on town), the magnificent Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church
(in which the legendary Fr Clancy is buried) and the Lit Sing Gung Chinese
Temple which is still in use today. The
buildings really have to be seen to be believed; remnants of a time long
gone. They feature curved corners,
facades with geometric shapes, lead light windows, portholes, wrought iron work
and terrazzo flooring. R & R picked
up a few items of grocery on the way back to the Ute. After all of that, R & R were ready for
lunch and rang to chat with RL’s brother G.
About 2:30pm, R & R drove south of Innisfail ten minutes to
Mourilyan and then 9kms towards the coast to Etty Bay. Some of the journey was through country that
swampy where cane was not growing and cattle could be seen but mostly it was
built up with small pretty farmlets. The
last 3kms was winding and hilly up and then again down, with the beach at the
bottom of the hills of Moresby Bay National Park. Arriving at 3:00pm, R & R had a cup of
coffee and walked along the beach, without seeing a cassowary at any of the
spots marked with recent sightings signs.
Forty five minutes later, R & R were back in the Ute and heading on
a really well surfaced road to Mourilyan Harbour and the boat ramp. R & R watched a trawler and lots of
little run-abouts around the harbor which is dominated by the sugar loading
facility. By 5:00pm R & R were back
at the camper having a coffee and chatting first with RL’s brother J, and then
with their daughter, S, before heading to 6:30pm Mass. That meant a late dinner after which RA did
not feel like doing the diary. Instead
they both read for a while before heading to bed. The book RA was reading was about a young
woman detective who took a transfer to Kurumba in the Gulf, which was quite
exciting considering R & R had just been there. It was a great day … only moving the camper
about 30kms … before setting it up again.
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