After returning from our Whitsunday sailing trip we spent another night in Airlie Beach then in the morning we set off for Townsville, about a 3 hour drive. Townsville is really just another city. We arrived early afternoon and spent the rest of the day having a look around the city. Being a Sunday almost everything was shut. We walked miles along the path by the waterfront and by the time we got back it was getting dark.
In the morning we got up early and drove to the ferry terminal to catch the boat over to Magnetic Island. We bought a bus pass for the island as it was too expensive to take the van over. Magnetic is about 20km across and billed as the perfect island getaway. We spent the day exploring the island’s beaches and also did some inland walking tracks. Towards the end of the day we ran in to Dan again who was on our Fraser Island safari and had also been at the bar on South Molle Island in the Whitsundays. We seemed to be following each other up the coast!
Magnetic was nice but I’m glad we only spent the day there as oppose to the popular option of staying a couple of nights. Once you’ve looked around there’s not much to do but lie on the beach and as we’d just come from a lazy Whitsundays trip we’d probably already done our share of lying around!
We caught the ferry back late afternoon and drove about 60km north to the camping ground at Big Crystal Creek in the Paluma Range national park. The campground was in the middle of nowhere so it was nice to see that we weren’t the only ones staying there. We started to cook dinner on one of the picnic tables when the heavens opened. We put on our rain coats and braved it out to make a rather watery spag bol. By the time we’d finished eating it was dark. I decided to go the washroom to have a shower. I pulled out my pathetically dim flashlight and found my way to the gents. I narrowly missed stepping on a black snake by the entrance and once inside found another snake guarding the urinals. I think it must’ve felt cornered as it reared its head as if ready to strike if I got any closer. I decided that the shower could wait till next morning! Jenn had gone to go the ladies but the rather large spider on the toilet seat caused her to come to the same conclusion. I didn’t fancy getting bitten by something in the middle of bloody nowhere!
In the morning we went up to the creek’s swimming hole and I took a swim in the lovely fresh water whilst Jenn sat on the bank as she didn’t want to get her hair wet!
We decided that as we still had the van for a few days we’d go up to Daintree beyond Cairns. We took the inland highway through the Atherton tableland and went on a scenic drive known as the waterfall circuit. We stopped off at three impressive waterfalls. The last of the three, Millaa Millaa Falls, was the best and apparently the most photographed falls in Australia. We took a dip in the swimming hole at the base of the falls. You could swim right under the falls (it’s more a sheet of water than a torrent so doesn’t force you under) and walk across the rocks behind them which was cool. We stopped off at a campsite in the small town of Malanda. We took a walk through the rainforest and had a look around town. In the evening we had a little campfire and had dinner with some uninvited possums.
In the morning we got back on the highway. We stopped off at Mossman Gorge for a walk before continuing on to Daintree village for lunch. We took the Daintree river ferry over to the Cape Tribulation area. We drove all the way through the rainforest up to the end of the sealed road at Cape Trib. On the way back we stopped off at various beaches and boardwalks through the rainforest. We stayed at the Koala retreat at Cape Kimberly which was 5km down a gravel track and right on a secluded beach.
The next day we got up early and got back on the road over the Daintree River. We took the windy road up the hill to Kuranda to have a look around the markets then drove to the spectacular Barran falls. After that it was time to head down the hill to check in to our hostel and return our van which we weren’t looking forward to.
