Ellis Beach to Horseshoe Bay

Sun 22 May - We drove the bumpy road out of Lake Tinaroo to the Kennedy highway and on to Mareeba where we shopped. Back on the road, thru Kuranda and the descent down to Smithfield at the coast and north on the James Cook highway to Ellis Beach where we had booked for a couple of days. We walked along to the stinger net where we had our first swim in the sea (very nice) followed by a dip in the camp pool. We booked a trip out to Fitzroy Island.

 

Mon 23 May  - A nice sunny day. A nice swim in the pool before lunch and back to the surf for a dip and then a swim in the pool and a read in the sun.

 Tues 24 May – Drove out of Ellis Beach south and into Cairns where we parked, made our lunch, packed our bag and walked to the Ferry terminal for our day at Fitzroy Island. The weather was a bit overcast with the possibility of showers.  We debated where we should cancel to tomorrow but decided we would risk it. A ¾ hour ride on a cat to the island. We spoke to a local who advised us that we did not need full rash vest suits as  it was too cold for the stingers, despite the signage, and that the best snorkelling was at the south end of the beach. We took her advice and tried the south end. Our new gear, provided by Claire, worked great. The views were ok but cloudy skies are never the best. We sat on the beach and ate our lunch until a shower sent us looking for shelter. We sat in a restaurant/bar area while heavy rain fell. After about an hour it stopped so we walked to the other snorkelling area at the north end of the beach. The views were much better with great coral, fish, and even a turtle. Another heavy shower before the ferry back to Cairns. A great day but would have been so much better had it been sunny. Our camp for the night was in Cairns at a camp we were in last year.

 

Wed 25 May – South on the Bruce highway. We were held up by an accident before arriving at Babinda and turn inland to the Babinda Boulders. There was a camping area there, but it was full, so we found a park in the day area and walked down to the river. It was a clear swimming area, so we enjoyed a great swim in the cool water. Boy, can the Aussies moan about water that is about 22C, as being really cold!!!

 Back thru the nice village of Babinda to a cheap camp which was quite full. We walked back to this typical country town.

 

Thru 26 May – We are booked into Etty Bay tomorrow so have decided to stay another day here. A nice sunny morning so we shifted sites for more sun. I did a few jobs in the morning and we read outside until we were eventually driven inside by yet more rain.

 

Fri 27 May – A short drive back to Innisfail, where we headed inland 11 days ago, thus completing the big circle around the Atherton Tablelands and back along the coast. Back out to the coast to Etty Bay. We stayed here about 15 years ago. The camp is right on the beach, and we have a great site looking straight thru to the sea. We walked the length of the beach and will hopefully be able to swim here tomorrow when the surf club is on patrol. This bay is where there are lots of Cassowaries mainly as dogs are banned from the whole area. Sitting having a pear by “Andy” and one came right thru our awning wanting a bite. They are big and quite intimidating. Today has probably the best weather we have had so far, and the forecast is good for the next few days!

 

Sat 28 May – Val did some laundry this morning. After lunch we took our chairs to the beach. No surf patrol but we risked a quick dip in the sea. Very warm. After sunbathing, a read, and watching the sky divers landing on the beach we went back to the camp. Another perfect day. We were glad that we had come back here.

 

Sun 29 May – Drove out to the Bruce Highway and back to the coast at Mission Beach. We stopped at Woollies to find it was closed on a Sunday! We checked into the same camp we had stayed last year but were on a much better site. A bit costly however!  The Sunday Market was on over the road, so we went in search for veggies, as we are out of them. Nothing but craft stuff, so we found a shop for some lettuce and tomatoes. In the afternoon we went over to the beach at low tide. Tried for a dip but saw something moving in the water and beat a hasty retreat up the beach. The threat of crocodiles is a bugger, since the culling of them stopped a few years ago. Had a nice safe swim in the camp pool. The weather is beautiful with no cloud and a nice temperature around 28C.

 

Mon 30 May – Back down to the beach. Many people swimming as the tide was better. We had a great swim, but you are always aware of what’s around you. Sat in the shade and read. After lunch we rode our bikes along the beach, with Dunk Island out to sea, for about 6kms, including crossing wading/wheeling a small river. We ended up at Woollies (open) where we bought some meat to freeze. Back to the camp via a bike path for a cool off in the camp pool. Not much food in “Andy” so we went out for pizzas at “The Pirates Den”, one of the many restaurant/bars in Mission Beach. Excellent!

 

Tues 31 May – We drove out of Mission Beach back to Woollies - getting a bit sick of this place, where we did a big shop. Back on the Bruce Highway for a short trip before heading back out to the coast to the mouth of the Hull River. We are in a small, lovely, cheap Regional Council camping area. A nice walk to the river mouth and back along the beach to our camp. A great sunset looking up the river. Quite a few bities, however.

 

Wed 1 June – We drove south on the Bruce for a short distance before turning inland. This is all sugarcane country and the harvest has just started. The crushing mills are working, belching out huge plumes of brown smoke. They fire the mills using the waist cane. Not very environmentally friendly!! We drove into the hills to a National Park at the Murray Falls. Our camp is in an area of gum trees with the noise of the falls ever present. Only a short walk to the falls which were impressive. Downstream there are some swimming holes but around the edge the mossies were horrendous. After lunch we followed a track which climbed up above the falls with great views of the surrounding country. The mossie coils were lit most of the day.

 

Thurs 2 June – We moved “Andy” to get some morning sun as our batteries are very low. Val hand washed and I scrubbed the floors. They were filthy but are sparkling now. The mossies seem to be a bit less today, so we walked down to the swimming hole and had a great swim in the very cool water. Shifted again to catch the evening sun. Only a few in the camp, but they must think we are nuts!!

 

Fri 3 June – Had to turn off the fridge in the night as the batteries were so low again! We left the Murray Falls and joined the Bruce stopping at Cardwell and Ingham on the off chance of getting our batteries seen to. No luck as all the auto electricians seem to have covid. As we need to be on power at a camp, we chose Rollingstone, a new beach for us. What a great camp. Many of the sites overlook the beach while the rest back onto several large beautiful, ponds. A local told us the camp was once a Barramundi Fish farm. There was also the best swimming pool we have found this trip. Head of Communications (Val) rang several battery places in Townsville, and we will go there tomorrow on our way south.

 

Sat 4 June – 50kms into Townsville to a battery place where our batteries were tested and found wanting! They supplied 2 batteries at a reasonable price, and I fitted them, another $20 savings. We left Townsville and headed south for 100kms to Home Hill where are in a showground which we have been in before. Chose to go off power to test our new batteries. All good. A lovely sunset over the sugarcane.

 

Sun 5 June – Another 100kms to Bowen. We stayed here last year at a camp on the bay but discovered a much better beach and camp at Horseshoe Bay. We have booked here for 3 nights and went straight down to the beach for a great swim. No crocs here as we are away from any rivers and in a very sheltered bay. After lunch we returned to the beach (only a short walk) with our snorkelling gear. There are a few coral outcrops and some fish just off the beach. An afternoon of swimming and reading on the beach before a dip in the camp pool. Not a great pool but with sea swimming as good as it is here, not really needed.

 
Mon 6 June – We drove off site to a garage where we have booked “Andy” in for a much deserved service. They were a bit disorganised, so we shopped for an hour and returned to get the job done. Meant to take an hour but ended up taking 2 hours. Back to the camp for lunch and Val booked a camp at Tailem Bend and tickets for the Australian Supercars 29 – 31 July in South Australia. Back down to the beach for another couple of swims. We have decided to stay here an additional  night and will celebrate my birthday at a restaurant in the resort over the road.

Tues 7 June – It was very humid in the night, and we had some light rain. Cloudy and cool this morning. First cloud since we left the Atherton Tablelands 12 days ago. We walked a track from the beach up to a viewpoint and then to Murray Bay returning via a WW11 radar site giving a 360 degree view of Bowen and its beaches. I have booked “Andy” in for new front tyres and will get them fitted when we leave. A few spots of rain in the afternoon.

 

2022 Christchurch to the Atherton Tablelands

 

Sat 7 May – Gary very kindly took us to the airport for our 9:15am flight to Brisbane. Masks on from the time we entered the airport. We had a 3 ½ hour layover for our flight to Townsville in which we caught the bus to the domestic terminal, had lunch, and bought something for breakfast the next day. The plane taking us to Townsville turned out to be broken so all the passengers had to walk around the terminal to another gate and plane, delaying our departure by 40 minutes. Eventually we arrived at Townsville at around 6:00pm local time and caught an Uber to the storage yard to be reunited with Andy, our camper and take off our masks. We had decided to spend the night there (not strictly allowed, but who was to know on a Saturday night!) We put the bikes outside and checked for no unwanted guests. The inside was all ok but outside was filthy, a job for tomorrow. We had a whisky, cobbled together some food from our stores and went to bed. A bit hard to sleep with the temperature around 27C and a security light overhead.

 

Sun 8 May – No security guard banging on our door in the night, so we got away with the stay. When I turned on the LPG we found that the pipe between the gas bottle and the regulator was leaking so had to use our small portable stove to boil the kettle. After breakfast (bought at the airport yesterday) we started Andy, first try, and headed back towards the city, stopping at Woolworths for a huge stock up and on to a carwash place to give Andy a much needed clean. He now looks like his old self. We drove on to Rowes Bay where we had booked for 3 nights and extended our stay for another 2 nights. There is a big rainstorm predicted to hit on Wednesday and Thursday so we thought we would play it safe. The camp was quite full as the Victorians are heading north to dodge the winter. It was overcast but we spent some time outside reading and relaxing. A much cooler night and a great night’s sleep.

 

Mon 9 May – Out on the road to sort out the LPG issue, inflate the tyres and get our phone working. The LPG issue was easy as the first place we tried had the correct hose which we fitted before driving to a tyre place and checked and inflated the tyres. On to a large mall to the Telstra shop to sort out the phone. We needed a new sim card and they could not do it on the spot so we had to fill in 1 ½ hours having lunch and buying a few things. Eventually the phone was sorted. No one is wearing masks here, not even in the supermarkets! Back to the camp in the pouring rain.

 

Tues 10 May – Breakfast outside before putting up the awning as it started to rain again. In and out all morning but managed to get a walk around the camp and over to the beach. After lunch we managed a longer walk along the foreshore and back thru the streets passing lovely homes overlooking the water. Back inside with the awning away as very heavy rain set in. 200mm forecast for tonight!!

 

Wed 11 May - It rain heavily early in the night but stopped before the morning. Breakfast outside again and spent some time fixing a couple of minor issues. Very cool (22C) and rain all afternoon.

 

Thurs 12 May – Heavy rain again last night. Val did a load of washing and after lunch a big yellow thing shone in the sky, so we caught the bus into the “Strand”. Townsville has a great waterfront with beaches, pubs and restaurants along the 3kms of the “Strand”. We walked around enjoying the weather and ended up in a great pub, The Longboard, right on the beach for a beer. We bussed back to the camp and managed to have drinks outside before the rain set in again.

 

Fri 13 May – A beautiful sunny morning as we left the camp and drove 50kms to Toomulla Beach. This is one of Townsville’s north beaches. It was great to be on the road at last and Andy seemed to be in great form again. We had a free camp under gum trees near the beach. We enjoyed a lovely walk along the beach to a rocky headland with some great homes overlooking the water. Six other campers in tonight.

 

Sat 14 May – Another great morning. Hopefully this rain has now cleared. We drove 125kms to Cardwell. This is a great little town right on the beach. We stayed in a camp at the north end of the town. We unloaded the bikes and cycled along the waterfront for 7kms. Not far but it was good to get on the bikes again. Back at the camp we went to the pool for our first swims and a much needed cool off. Pizza from the camp restaurant for dinner.

 

Sun 15 May – A short drive to Innisfail this morning, where we swapped gas bottles and shopped. We will head inland tomorrow up onto the Atherton Tablelands. We camped at a CMCA park (like the NZMCA but smaller). It is now getting hotter around 30C. We rang the girls and Linley (her birthday). Camp happy hour at 4:30! where we chatted to our fellow campers.  

 

Mon 16 May – We turned inland up the Palmerston Highway with a gentle climb up onto the Atherton Tablelands. This is a huge plateau on the great divide. We are completing the trip which was interrupted by covid last year. Our first stop was at Millaa Millaa waterfalls. A great sight with lots of water going over. Several young people were swimming in the pool at the bottom and Asian girls were posing for photos at the edge. Back on the road for a stop at Mt Garnet where we got the ”cheapest fuel on the Tablelands”. West again for our overnight stop at Innot Springs, recommended by Frank and Judy. It is a camping ground with hot springs, a bit like a small version of Hanmer Springs. We avoided the really hot pools (38 – 40C) and sat in a nice pool (32 – 34C) cooling off in a fresh water swimming pool. After drinks we returned to our hot pool and watched the sunset. Its much cooler here as we are at 664m above sea level.

 

Tues 17 May – We drove further west off the Tablelands and onto the Savannah highway. We are heading 100kms to Undara National Park in an extinct volcanic area. We visited here many years ago and really enjoyed it. The road had much improved and is now full width asphalt all the way. We booked into the camp and after lunch set off walking on a series of tracks over volcanic rocks and boulders. We climbed several bluffs giving us great views of the many volcanic peaks. A great 6km walk. Back at camp we cooled of in a new pool. Drinks outside until 7pm. It was well worth coming back here!

 

Wed 18 May – A short drive down the park road to a turnoff to the Kalkani Crater. A rough 6km drive into the carpark (sorry Andy). A short well graded climb up onto the Crater rim and then a great 3km walk with crater on one side and a drop off to the plains on the other. Great views and very interesting learning about this volcanic area.

On our way into Undara we had passed the Pinnarendi cattle station offering camping, so we drove in for the night. It is a lovely camping area in the bush. The lady that booked us in extolled the virtues of her homemade pizzas which were on the menu tonight, so we booked for dinner. We went for a walk thru the bush around the homestead passing three dams (3kms). After drinks we walked over to the area where they make and serve the pizzas. The owners of the property enjoy cooking and Nadine made pizzas from scratch while Ron cooked them in a beautiful woodfired oven. Their mother served them. There were about 18 diners and we sat big tables. The slices of pizza kept on coming with a variety of flavours. A great night chatting to our fellow diners!

 

19 May – Back on the Savannah Highway retracing our route onto the Tablelands again. A stop for more cheap fuel and on to Ravenshoe where we camped in a train museum complete with a steam engine, carriages, and a railway station. Ravenshoe is the highest town in Queensland, so we walked the main street. Very short! At 4:00pm a band made up of about 8 local oldies set up on the station platform and performed for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, a heavy drizzle had set in so the audience was very small. We joined a group of campers sheltered in the outdoor kitchen where they had lit a smoky fire, listened to the music and chatted.

 

20 May – A short drive thru Herberton (the oldest town in Queensland) and on to Atherton (the biggest town on the Tableland). We have booked a couple of nights at Lake Tinaroo in the Danbulla National Park. A rough road into the camping area but we found a great campsite right on the edge of the lake. We sat outside enjoying the view until rain set in.  I was eating a sandwich for lunch when, with a shower of feathers, a huge kookaburra flew under our awning and snatched my sandwich out of my hand.  Kookaburra are quite large, about the size of a woodpigeon. I heard him and his mates have a good laugh about it!

 

21 May – Australian election day. Our camp slowly filled up. The day was cloudy with the odd shower. There are many families, and the main sport seems to be fishing. With a tiny rod and a worm small fish are easy to catch. Lots of little boys must have caught their first fish at this spot. We enjoyed watching the fun. Tomorrow we will go back to the coast. We have really enjoyed our time on the Atherton Tablelands.

 

 

Cassowary Coast - Far North Queensland - Home

 Wed 30 June – It rained all night and I packed up from Mission Beach in a downpour. Dried off and shopped for LPG and groceries including some face masks, as Townsville is in lockdown, (not us
fortunately) before a very short drive up the coast to Kurramine Beach. Torrential rain the whole way! Set up in more rain and raced down for very quick look at the beach between downpours.

Thurs 1 July – It stopped raining in the night, and we had breakfast outside. We went for a long walk along the beach and back to “Andy” for more rain around lunchtime. We went for another walk on the beach in the opposite direction before drinks outside. We are getting a bit sick of this unseasonal rain. It is still very hot and humid, and everything is feeling a bit damp.

Fri 2 July – A lovely fine day! Another short drive to Innisfail and out to the coast at Flying Fish Point. We have a great site in a garden setting. There is a small beach at the mouth of the Johnstone River. Because of the rain the rivers are in flood the sea is brown and the stingers may arrive early. We dried our towels etc, and Val did laundry. Good to be in the sun again. We had a couple of great swims in the camp pool. Hopefully, this may be the end of the rain.

Sat 3 July – We biked along the waterfront and around the corner to the Johnstone River. This river is wide and goes up to Innisfail. It would have been a busy port years ago. In the afternoon we went back to the camp pool. We seem to be the only ones using it!

Sun 4 July – Another mostly cloudy day. We rode in the opposite direction to Ella Bay. Very isolated on a gravel road. We were hoping to see a Cassowary, common in this area, but none seen.  In the afternoon we walked along the waterfront. The sea is still very muddy coloured. I removed the extra spare tyre we have had strapped to the bike rack since we crossed the Nullarbor to Western Australia but not needed on the east coast.

Mon 5 July – We left Flying Fish Point and dropped off the spare, spare tyre, drove 90kms up the Bruce Highway to a camp in Cairns.  A swim in the pool after a late lunch.

Tues 6 July – After much debating we decided to drive “Andy” closer to the centre of Cairns for a bike ride. The ride was great along 6kms of the Esplanade with the sea on one side and the shops, restaurants, and apartments on the other. Unfortunately, Cairns is very tidal, and the seaward side is mud flats 90% of the time. We now must get a pre-flight covid check before flying home. Val spent some time getting our heads around what this entails.

Wed 7 July – Raining this morning! This is meant to be the dry season! We shopped in Cairns and then a short drive on the Coral Coast Highway to Palm Cove. This is one of the tourist destinations north of Cairns. Our expensive site in the only camp is not the greatest, but beggars cannot be choosers. The rain stopped in the afternoon, so we walked along the beach front with all the shops, restaurants, and apartments. Lots of people swimming the sea. We took our chairs over the road to the beach, for a sit and a read in a little bit of sun. Rain set in at night. Val was back on the case for our return trip (old flights have been rescheduled). She was on hold at 9:00pm for over an hour! But we have now got it sorted at this stage. A private covid test no longer than 72 hours before departure that take 48 hours to process leaves a very fine window for flights. We will now be hopefully coming home on 5 August.

Thurs 8 July – Woke to rain again this morning. We had breakfast outside in a break and tried to go for a walk but scampered back in more rain. In the early afternoon we managed a walk, in drizzle, around the town. More private homes than we had expected. An ice-cream at the beach on the way back. Sick of this rain in what is meant to be the dry season!

Fri 9 July – A beautiful morning with no rain. Down to the beach with our chairs for a read in the sun. Back after lunch for swims and more sun. This is a great beach on the Coral Sea as the swimming is good regardless of the tides. We walked down to the town in the evening, with its many restaurants for dinner. A great ending to our Palm Cove visit.

Sat 10 July – We left Palm Cove and drove north on the Captain Cook Highway towards Port Douglas. This is a beautiful drive along the coast, a bit like around Kaikoura but 20 degrees warmer! We turned inland just before Mossman and climbed the steep road up Mt Malloy over the Great Divide to the Atherton Tablelands. We turned right up the Cape York Peninsula towards Cooktown 200kms north. It was a lovely drive on a road that was only sealed 20 odd years ago. The country was lush outback bush, Gum and Wattle trees, on rolling country with a few banana plantations on the flat ground. 

We stopped for the night at the Palmer River Roadhouse on a plateau overlooking the Palmer River. In the evening we walked over to the beer garden and sat with a couple from NSW swapping stories of our travels. Lots of off-road campers in, as most of the roads from Cooktown north are dirt.

Sun 11 July – A beautiful morning. We watched the red dusted off-road campers depart and we drove on for another 100kms to Cooktown where we joined about 40 other caravans at the racecourse for two days of cheap camping. We rode our bikes into the small village and along the waterfront. Cooktown is situated at the mouth of the Endeavour River. Captain Cook brought the Endeavour here when it was holed on the Great Barrier Reef. He stayed here for 48 days making repairs. Co-incidentally, we were at his only other landing place in Aussie 3 years ago to the day.

Mon 12 July - In the morning we walked around the racecourse. In the afternoon, we went back into Cooktown to visit the museum. It was in an old convent but, surprisingly, had very little regarding Captain Cook. 

We walked up a steep hill with a lighthouse at the top for a great view of the river mouth and the town.
At the botanical gardens we had an ice-cream and walked around the tropical plantings.

Tues 13 July – We left the racecourse and Cooktown and drove south back along the Mulligan Highway for 200kms to a little farm camp we spied on the way up. It was in a great setting on the Mary Creek in beautiful gum trees and palms. A very cool restful place.

Wed 14 July – It was a short drive off the Tablelands down into Mossman. As soon as we got near the coast a thick drizzle set in. We shopped and drove 7kms out to the coast and to a small beach camp at Newell Beach. Unfortunately, the camp had no dump station, so we had to go back to Mossman to dump. Back to the camp where we had a nice site under the tropical trees. The clouds lifted and we walked down to the lovely beach which we will not be able to swim in as there are crocodiles around. The camp had a nice small swimming pool which we made good use of.

Thurs 15 July – A beautiful morning. We walked the beach for 3kms until we came to a river. We are north of Port Douglas, which we can see across the bay. In the afternoon we cooled off in the pool and read. At drinks time we joined some of the campers for happy hour. Most of them are from Victoria and NSW up here for the winter months.

Fri 16 July – Another sunny day. We walked the beach in the opposite direction until we came to the Mossman River. These rivers have many crocs in them thus the no ocean swimming. We took our chairs down to a shady spot on the beach and had a read. After cutting Val’s hair, we went back to our loungers by the pool for swims and a read. We seem to be the only campers that use the loungers, just as well is there is only two! Most people just have a quick dip.

Sat 17 July – We have been becoming increasingly concerned with the spreading covid situation over here and decided to move our flights forward two weeks and come home on 22 July in case the travel bubble is halted between Queensland and NZ. We got up early and Val spent 1 ½ hours waiting to get the changes done with Air NZ. Eventually, all sorted with quite an increase in fares! We have booked our Covid test for Monday in Cairns and will drive down to Townsville, store “Andy” and fly home to Christchurch via Brisbane. Spent some time at Newell Beach in the shade and swam in the pool in the afternoon.

Sun 18 July - We left the lovely Newell Beach and drove out to Mossman for a small shop then on to Port Douglas where we were going to spend 5 nights. We will only stay 1 night, however. Unexpectedly the camp refunded us! Before checking into the camp, we parked at 4 Mile Beach, walked along the beach and into the main street. We came here for about 4 years and stayed in apartments. The beach now has hired loungers all over it. The town was chocker and we really did not enjoy our walk thru the shopping area with people crowding around. Not the Port Douglas we remembered.

 In the afternoon we walked to the Marina with its bars and restaurants flat out. Back to the camp for a swim and a cool off. It was overcast, humid and warm (29C). We had pre-dinner drinks with the couple from next door.

Mon 19 July – Our covid test in Cairns was at 12:45 so we left the camp and spent some time back at 4 Mile Beach before driving the great Captain Cook Highway to Cairns. We found a carpark outside the Pathology Lab for our test which was OK. Back out of Cairns for the 400 km drive to Townsville. We stopped for the night at a CMCA club park at Innisfail.

Tues 20 July – We drove south out of Innisfail on the Bruce Highway for 190 kms to a camp we stayed in on our way north, at Crystal Creek. In the afternoon we did most of the jobs required when we store “Andy”, mainly cleaning. We are now only 50kms from our storage place, slightly north of Townsville. This will be our last blog unless we run into travel problems! Our covid tests both came back negative. Tomorrow we will store “Andy” before catching an Uber to a cheap hotel in Townsville for the night. Our flight to Brisbane leaves at 5:55am on Thursday and we arrive in Christchurch at 5:50pm all going well. We had intended to explore the Atherton Tableland before changing our travel plans. Oh well, we will just have to do that on another trip. It has been a great trip, despite some wet weather, but we still have lots more to see in Australia.