This is the life!: September 2013

Babinda, The Boulders & Qld’s Two Highest Mountains

We left Kurrimine on Monday 16^th Sept and headed 60kms up the road to Babinda, stopping on the way to look at Cowley Beach, Mourilyan Harbour (which was only a boat ramp) and Etty Bay. There are so many islands and reefs along the ocean out here, all part of The Great Barrier Reef. As we are so close to the coast there are also many little places just off the highway, but if we stopped at them all, we’d never get to Cooktown before it gets too hot! It’s already quite warm and humid, but not unbearable at all just yet. Etty Bay was such a disappointment, we’d heard it was an absolutely beautiful place, so because we had driven off the highway to look at Mourilyan Harbour, we took the turn off for Etty Bay on the way back. It’s only a 9 km drive, however when we got to the very last turn into the place, there was a big sign saying No dogs beyond this point. You’d think someone would have the foresight to place that sign at the turn off, not wait until people actually get there! Oh well, these things happen, at least it wasn’t too far a drive.

Driving towards Babinda, you can clearly see Queensland’s 2 highest mountains in the distance. Mt Bartle Frere is on the left at 1622 metres and Mt Bellenden Ker on the right at 1957 metres.

A plane crashed in Mt Bartle Frere during WW2 in 1942 when a crew of 7 were coming back from the Coral Sea. They misjudged the mountain due to heavy cloud cover. The residents in Babinda heard a loud bang and saw a small fire, however because of the tropical rainforest the fire went out quite quickly. All 7 people on board were killed.

Mt Bartle Frere (left) & Mt Bellenden Ker (right)

Babinda is a very pretty little town, 58 kms from Cairns, and is nestled in the valley of these two mountains with a beautiful scenic outlook, reminding us off Walhalla back home in Victoria, although more open but of course tropical and warmer. The Rest Area here at Babinda is the best we have seen so far on our travels; wide open grassy camping areas, shady trees, picnic tables, a dump point, drinking water, a small older toilet block, and the newer amenities block that is amazing. There are 6 huge cubicles with hot showers - $2 for 4 minutes and one is a disabled comprising of a toilet also. The town provides this for free! It is a 72 hr Rest Area, but the council don’t mind how long people stay, some stay for weeks, because money is spent in the town which in turn helps the community.

The Amenities Block

The Babinda River flows down from the mountains, along with many others, creating lots of creeks and swimming holes that are perfectly safe to swim in…no crocs! Apparently there are crocs, but they are way, way down, near where the river meets the ocean, and that’s many kms away, so we are indeed safe. The creek here is lovely and clear with a sandy bottom; the banks have grassy areas to sit under the trees, and sandy beach areas at the water. It is only shallow, but just delightful to cool off in. Millie really enjoyed splashing about, and even though it is shallow, the current is quite strong. She seemed to enjoy swimming in the one spot, her little legs going so fast, but she was going nowhere. No matter how many times I took her back to the shallower areas that she could stand up in, she kept coming back for more! I was a bit worried she would go right past me, and all the way down to where I wouldn’t be able to rescue her! She was one very tired little doggie!

The creek alongside the Rest Area

A lovely spot to cool off and relax!

Hi Mum! It's so nice in here! Not too deep for me!

Umm...I can't seem to get anywhere...

Okay...I think I've got it now...if I can just keep doggie paddling...

Oh that was such a nice refreshing swim...now I feel quite tired...

Today we went to explore the town and ask some questions at the Information Centre. These places are a wealth of info and the staff are usually very friendly and helpful. The town has a few shops; chemist, hardware, small supermarket, cafe's, op shop, a hospital, a couple of pubs (one was built in 1927 and is currently being renovated) and the bakery is apparently well known for its delicious goodies. If the Baker has goodies left over at the end of the day, he comes down here to give them out to people.
On our way back, we saw a creek from the road and turned off to have a look. It was crystal clear and a few locals were down there cooling off.

Have to keep stopping for photos! This is Mt Bellenden Ker

At a roadside cafe

This is actually someone's garden along the highway!

We have decided to stay here at Babinda for the week as it’s such a lovely spot and very restful, the river is a nice place for a swim and to sit and catch the breeze while reading or snoozing, and it’s a good base for a few day drives to visit other areas.

Walsh's Pyramid - 922 metres

We went to visit The Boulders, a swimming area 6kms from here, where the water comes down from Mt Bartle Frere. It is a lovely place for a picnic and a swim to cool off, with electric BB’Q’s, toilets, change rooms & playground. The swimming area is huge, with steps leading down to it, and the water is lovely and clear. There is a short walk to the Devils Pool, which takes you to several viewing platforms overlooking the gigantic boulders along the river. There are many signs warning of the dangers of swimming in the river itself and that many people have died; strangely only men. The current can become incredibly strong, especially after rain, and if you take the risk to get in the water, you also run the risk of becoming trapped under the unseen ledges underwater. There are plaques around the place that families have placed in memory of their loved ones. It is so sad that a day of fun can turn into tragedy due to not heeding the warnings and taking risks. The walk to the viewing platforms through the rainforest is beautiful and the walk is easy going.

The Boulders Picnic Area - the swimming area is directly ahead

This tree root was interesting and quite large

Stairs down to the huge swimming area

Signs like this are everywhere warning of the dangers

The rock to the top right looks like a face

A close up

A vine growing in a strange direction

Cooling off in the swimming area after our walk

Mt Bartle Frere on the way back from The Boulders

A close up showing the clouds hovering over the top

We went into Cairns on Wednesday, it is large and more of a commercial hub like many of the larger towns. We find the smaller towns have a lot more to offer and are interesting places to visit.

A huge fig tree in Cairns

Ferns are growing all over the branches of this tree

Mark decided to drive back into Innisfail on Friday. He was filling our water tank from a bucket using the 12 volt pump and because we hadn't used it for a few days, it had seized up. We are sick of forking out $35 for a new one when this happens, so this time he went to a boat shop and purchased a bilge pump; the very helpful staff attached a longer 12 volt cord and water proofed it. This will last us forever and won’t rust or seize up anymore!!

The weather has been lovely; warm days, a little humidity but nice cool nights for sleeping. We had a little bit of rain one night, which is normal here, as Babinda is known as the umbrella town.

We aren't sure when we will leave here. Cooktown is about 400 kms, however we think we will stay at a place called the Lion's Den Hotel which has camping areas and drive the 30 kms into Cooktown itself.

Stay tuned!

“Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them”

Bill Vaughn

Sunday 15th September

Relaxing at Bushy Parker Park

We've had a lovely 3 nights at Bushy Parker Park. The weather has been hot during the day, around 29*, but it cools off in the late afternoon. Mark has enjoyed swimming in the freshwater creek, we fed the fish some bread; they all came up to the surface to feed and we saw a small eel. Millie was funny when the fish jumped in the water, the confused look on her face said it all as she just stared at them! We left on Thursday 12th Sept and headed up to Kurrimine which is about 100 kms from Cairns. There is 350 kms between Townsville and Cairns, and Townsville is the southern gateway to the Wet Tropics World Heritage area which has some of the world's oldest, continually surviving rainforests. The historic Mount Spec Road, about 60 kms north of Townsville, was built by hand in the Great Depression of the 1930's.

Not long after leaving Bushy Parker Park at Rollingstone, it didn't take long for the scenery to pass from the Dry Tropics into the amazing green blanket of the Wet Tropics, with its stunning and breathtaking mountains that are part of the Great Dividing Range. As you drive you can't help feeling in awe of the scenery all around you in every direction. Everything is so green and lush! The humidity started to rise as we drove along, but the breeze was enough without having to use the air conditioner. We had to stop a few times for road works, one was a long stop of at least 15 minutes, coming up over the Cardwell Range and we could see where the mountains meet the sea.

Cane fields and the Great Dividing Range along The Wet Tropics

Stopped at roadworks

More roadworks on the Cardwell Ranges

Along parts of this drive there are many National Parks, and unfortunately, because we have Millie with us, we cannot go into these. We did stop at Jourama Falls, popped Millie in the van and walked 200 metres to have a look at the swimming hole and creek. This was a really pretty area, the creek meanders over rocks amidst tropical palms and ferns with tiny little birds darting around, and the occasional butterfly. The swimming hole has a deck with a ladder, and it's easy to see fish and turtles swimming in the crystal clear water. The falls themselves were a 45 min walk, far to long to leave Millie, so we jumped back in the car and continued our drive.

Swimming Hole at Jourama Falls

Turtles and fish!

Wait! Is that one of the natives?

We passed many more sugar cane fields, which were much greener than the ones we have seen for the hundreds of kms we've travelled so far. The biggest sugar mill in the Southern Hemisphere is Victoria Mill, which recycles its waste product into energy through an electricity generating plant which feeds power back into the electricity grid.

To the left off the highway just past Ingham, in National Park area, is Wallaman Falls, Australia's longest single permanent sheer drop waterfall at 268 metres. Paluma is an historic village known as The Village In The Mist, and has a cooler climate than the coast. To the right off the highway, is Lucinda Point, the gateway to Hinchinbrook and you can see Hinchinbrook Island as you drive. Lucinda Point has the world's longest offshore sugar loading facility, a jetty that stretches almost 6 km out to sea and follows the curve of the ocean. Hinchinbrook Island is a National Park also and Australia's largest; it has more than 40,000 hectares to explore and is rated in the top 7 of the world's greatest wilderness trails.

Explorer Edward Kennedy arrived on the coast near Cardwell in 1848 and was followed by thousands seeking their fortune on the goldfields. We stopped at Cardwell to stretch our legs and have a cool drink as we could feel the heat and humidity rising. Cardwell is the halfway point along The Great Green Way between Townsville and Cairns, and was established in 1864 as a cattle port for hinterland stations. It was the first point north of Bowen, and was originally named Port Hinchinbrook. It once boasted a dugong turtle oil factory, producing oil for medicinal use by Europeans and in Aboriginal settlements. In 1895 it was joined by a meatworks. Cattle herds were found to be mass tick infested and this had a disastrous effect on Cardwell's early development.

We passed the town of Tully on the left, and the turn off to South Mission Beach, Wongaling Beach and Mission Beach on our right, coming back to explore these areas while at Kurramine.

Kurrimine was established in 1918 and is a lovely spot just half an hour from the towns of Innisfail, Tully and Mission Beach and is in a rain shadow area, receiving much less rain than surrounding areas. It was originally named Murdering Point, in reference to the fate of the shipwrecked survivors who were eaten by local Aboriginal people!!! How gruesome!!

Kurrimine is a very pretty and untouched little town and and is very relaxed. It's part of the Cassowary Coast Region which is known as the nation's banana growing hub, as well as the home of both the endangered Southern Cassowary and the Giant Golden Gumboot at Tully. This region encompasses the larger towns of Innisfail, Tully, Cardwell and Mission Beach. The Cassowary, Australia's largest rainforest bird, is an endangered species. There are huge signs on the road reminding you to be careful. There are many plantations such banana, pineapples, mangoes, paw paw along the way.

As there is no low cost camping or rest areas here, we are staying in the council run Caravan Park for $22 per night with power for 4 nights. Not that we like it, but at least it's a reasonable price. It's a basic caravan park, not the cleanest amenities, but we've seen worse over the years. Basic rule; ALWAYS wear thongs in the shower and NEVER go barefoot! We are looking out over to Dunk Island and the scenery is most pleasant. There are old tractors everywhere here; they are needed to launch and retrieve boats from the tidal boat ramp. In fact, the local residents own more of these than cars! The beach is quite flat, the tide goes out a very long way and we can see the King Reef, which is part of The Great Barrier Reef; in May and June you can actually walk out to it and see manta rays, turtles coming in to nest, coral, sea cucumbers and starfish.

Camped at Kurrimine

A tractor at the boat ramp

Mark contemplating life...

#1: A funny thing happened at the beach...(Sounds like the title of a book!) After setting up we went for a walk along the beach, paddling around in the sandbars. Millie reckons these waves are more her style and wandered in and out of the water. She is having a wonderful time on our travels; so many new things to sniff, people to meet, lots of places to swim and room to run with her ball! Walking back, we noticed all the pelicans had moved out of the water and were sitting on the beach. We saw something bobbing and floating in the water, and immediately thought of a crocodile! Millie started to run towards the pelicans, we're both panicking, thinking the worst and yelling for her to come back, Mark walked closer to the water to see what it was, and I started yelling at him to not go in the water!! As we got closer, we then thought it was a huge manta ray. Well, we are both stupid idiots...There is a pipe going into the water with a bit of sandbag hanging off the end floating in the water...That's what the crocodile/manta ray was!!! Boy did we feel like total idiots!! Lucky no-one saw or heard us!! We certainly had a good laugh at ourselves!!

We went into Innisfail for some groceries; it's a very large town with everything you need. Mark was complaining about the heat, sweating like crazy...and we were only walking! Not me, I love it! Not the sweating, none of that for me, just the warmth of the sun! On the way back we stopped at a roadside stall and bought mangoes, avocados and oranges. Delicious!

On Friday we went for a drive, ending up in Tully 40 kms back. Tully was established in 1872 for sugar, and when gold seeking faltered out this way, Chinese migrants became the first to introduce banana plantations everywhere. Tully has the Giant Golden Gumboot, a monument to the record breaking rains of 1950, when 7.9 metres of rainfall made it the wettest town in Australia! No, you didn't read it wrong! 7.9 METRES!!!

The height of the gumboot represents the amount of rainfall recorded in Tully in the year 1950 - 7.9 metres. The Australian Record!

Mt Tyson - the highest mountain in Tully. We had a picnic here of fresh prawns and strawberries!

Sugar Mill at Tully with a cane train filled with sugar cane

We went to the Information Centre and asked about the Alligators Nest, a swimming hole in the Tully River that was made by the local Scouts. We drove the 7 kms out of town, and found it to be part of the National Park. It was only about 100 metres past the entrance, but again, because we have Millie with us, we couldn't swim there. We were very disappointed but took it in turns to wait with her and had a look. At the car park there is a lovely grassed area and then a huge deck with stairs going into the crystal clear water. Just absolutely gorgeous! So we went back and just outside the entrance to the National Park we found an access to the river. We couldn't believe how clear it was, and with no bathers with me I ended up wearing just my knickers and Mark's tank top! No-one else was there so it didn't matter. Problem was, I didn't want to wear wet knickers in the car...so ended up going free!! Mark thought that was awesome, lots of comments from him on the way home...ones I won't repeat!!! Then we stopped at the supermarket, and here I am running around Woolies with nothing under my dress!!! Gee, if only the locals knew there was an undie-less woman in their supermarket!! Lucky it wasn't a short dress...wouldn't want to be bending over the freezer!!

Mark reckons he was going to come in and say he was the underwear police! From now on we will leave bathers and towels in the car for these impromptu swims! We spent at least an hour there having a lovely time; we climbed and slipped over the small rocks, laughing as we nearly ended up going face first a few times, to reach a nice sandy bottomed area we could swim in. The water was so beautiful and fresh, and left us with skin feeling so soft. Millie had a ball, she jumped from rock to rock and paddled around in the shallows, amusing herself with a stick she had found!

Alligators Nest at Tully - made by local Scouts - perfectly safe to swim - NO crocs!

We drove through this - the Alligators Nest is just up on the right

Found our own place to cool off!

Hmmm, lets see....Can I get this out...seems to..be..stuck under..a rock.

It's so delightful in here! Come and join me!

We drove back through the scenic tourist drive, through Wongaling Beach, Mission Beach and Bingal Bay, admiring the stunning scenery. These towns are small but very pretty, nestled in between the beaches and the surrounding greenery of the tropical countryside. It really is just so beautiful, the mountains stretch so high and there are mountains behind mountains, making them seem like a reflection of each other. No matter which direction we drive in, we are just amazed at the beauty of what Mother Nature creates.

Yesterday we packed a nice chicken salad, some fruit and cold drinks and drove to Mission Beach for a look around, ending up at Wongaling Beach to have a swim. I bought some nice cotton sarongs and strapless dresses to wear; much cooler in this climate and they make me feel much more comfortable. As Mark is feeling the heat, I jokingly said he should get a sarong too, after all, the blokes in the warmer countries wear them, such as Tonga; he reckons he wouldn't be caught dead in one!

#2: Another funny thing happened at the beach...Mark and I were in the water swimming, and Millie was on the shore watching us, when all of a sudden a skydiver in his parachute landed on the beach. Millie absolutely freaked out; she must have thought it was some sort of giant bird with a human dangling on the end of it!! She was just terrified, barking and running amongst them as they were all coming in to land!!. Then more started landing, so here I am, trying to get out of the water quickly, running up the beach after my poor terrified dog, calling her to come to me, she's barking like crazy, running all over the place, I'm chasing her, while skydivers are landing everywhere!!
Can you just imagine, these tourists have good paid money to sky dive over the beach, it's being videoed so they can show family and friends back home, and in their videos there's going to be a terrified dog barking at them, running all over the place in amongst everyone, nearly getting skittled, along with this crazy woman running around chasing it and shouting for it to come back!!!

Next time we'll check if we're in the flight path of skydivers before we choose a spot on the beach!!!

All is calm and peaceful...until the sky divers landed!

After the beach, we stopped at El Arish on the way back for a drink at the Tavern, the original canecutters hotel built in 1927, with lots of memorabilia It is just off the highway in the hinterland and is the World War 1 soldier settlement village. The chairs and tables outside are made from tree branches and slabs of wood and are quite funky and very heavy!