Mareeba to Wonga Beach

Friday 29th August

Today we are leaving Mareeba and heading to Wonga Beach, which is about 25km north of Mossman. Magnificent drive. Started off through farmland with lots of sugar cane and bananas and coffee. Then turned right at Mount Molloy straight into the Alexandra ranges. It was very steep and winding coming down onto the coast. But the view we could see through the trees was incredible. But we couldn't stop at any of the lookouts as there was no room for us. Down into Mossman and north along the coast to the Pinnacle Village Caravan Park at Wonga. Absolutely beautiful. Right on the beach and very tropical. Two swimming pools, a water slide, lots of grassy sites. Just delightful to spend 9 days.

This is a view along the beach the first afternoon here. As you can see it was quite windy with white caps everywhere. The water was all churned up and looked quite murky.

This was a shack that had been built on the beach. it reminded up of the shack Tom Hanks built in that movie. There were also lots of coconuts on the beach as the whole beach is edged with coconut palms.











The next day, Saturday after doing the domestic chores we went for a drive to Port Douglas.

This is the view from the lookout along the beach. It was a bit overcast. Check out the house just below the lookout. This was the driveway and the garage entrance. It has some view.

We went to the marina to buy some fresh prawns off a trawler. $15 a kilo  for medium cooked. And they were lovely.
This is the Quiksilver Reef Cruiser.

We then drove to Wonga Beach boat ramp and took a couple of shots. This is looking up the Mosman river from the boat ramp.

This is looking at the entrance to Mossman river from the boat ramp. That hill in the middle is actually Port Douglas in the distance.













The next day we went for a long walk up the beach. It wasn't quite so windy so the outlook was much better.

Some weird crab markings on the beach

A natural driftwood sculpture on the beach.

Looking back at the coconut palms fringing the beach. They protect the caravan park from the worst of the wind.














The next day we were heading up to Cape Tribulation. First we had to cross the Daintree River on the ferry.

It is the only way across if you want to go to Cape Tribulation, no bridges.

The outlook from the ferry as we went across.

As we climbed the ranges on the other side of the river we came to a sign for a lookout. When we drove in and got out of the car this is what we saw. It was the Daintree River running into the ocean. The view was spectacular.

This is another aspect with a touch of greenery in the foreground.

And still another view looking out to Snapper Island, which is a very popular mackerel fishing spot at the moment.

Our next stop was the Daintree Discovery Centre. It was opened in 1989 and is a self funding private enterprise. It has an aerial walkway, a canopy tower, an interpretive display centre and elevated boardwalks over the rainforest floor. At first I thought it was a bit pricey but if you are a visitor and staying in the area you can come back anytime within the next 7 days. It was magnificent.
This is the view from the top of the tower over the rainforest canopy. It takes you up 23 metres over 5 different viewing platforms.

This is one of the great rainforest trees which plays host to a creeper. The creepers use the tree to climb towards the sunlight. The higher the creeper goes the lighter green its leaves become.

This is a Wompoo Pigeon or Fruit Dove. It is very well camouflaged as the yellow patches look like sunlight through the trees. It came quite close to us when we were on the aerial walkway.












After leaving the Discovery Centre we headed further north and our next stop was Myall Beach.

This is Myall Beach. At first I thought we had reached Cape Tribulation and I was a little disappointed but then I realised we still had 4km. I am the navigator and usually don't make mistakes but this was just a little one.

This is Ray standing on the beach at Cape Tribulation. The beach was full of overseas young people sunning themselves and Aussie Grey Nomads. I think other aussies need to make the trek up here as it is really beautiful

This is me standing under the mangroves at the end of Cape Trib beach.

This is actually the bottom of Cape Tribulation

This is the view looking along Cape Tribulation beach from Kulki Lookout. Very pristine and no pollution.

After leaving Cape Tribulation we went and had lunch and then went to Thornton Beach. It was covered in crab holes. Little soldier crabs I think.

Next stop was the Floravilla Ice Cream shop for a beautiful home made ice cream. Ray had a passionfruit one and I had sweet potato and ginger. They were both beautiful and definitely worth another visit when we come back again to the Discovery Centre.

Then we went to Koala Beach. This is it looking out to Snapper Island.

Koala Beach is at Cape Kimberley and is on the northern side of the Daintree river right below the lookout we went to earlier.
We then caught the ferry back to the other side then back to camp as it was past happy hour.








This  is enough Blog for the moment. I will publish this one and start another one later.

Cobbold Gorge to Mareeba

After the Cobbold Gorge experience we were really hot so we ended up going for a dip in the beautiful infinity pool. It is something you don't expect to see out in the middle of nowhere. It was cool but very refreshing.

This is the wet bar in the pool at Cobbold Gorge

This is me in the infinity pool. So refreshing















The next day we packed up to head further east. Those other people in the Bushtracker that we had met in Normanton came into Cobbold Gorge yesterday. I think we are being stalked again. We headed to Mt Surprise for the night to a caravan park called Bedrock caravan park. The ladies and gents was marked by "Fred" and "Wilma". Tough luck if you had never seen The Flintstones on telly.
Ray cooked some Spanish mackerel for tea. I think it is even nicer than barramundi.
It is now Monday 18th August and we are going to Malanda, a little town on the tablelands about 30km south of Atherton. We are going to stay here for a week and have a good look around.
As we were leaving Mt Surprise, we forgot to put the caravan supports back up. It was only when someone yelled out that we realised what had happened. The welds on the supporting brackets ended up partially fractured but no damage to the stands. As we headed to Malanda we went through Mt Garnet and Ray asked a lady in a shop if she knew anyone who did welding work. Now Mt Garnet is only a small village and this lady said "Oh my husband can do that for you". So his workshop was just down the road and he welded the supports back together and charged $20. And we were on our way again. We chatted to him for a while and he told us about this great Ford Museum in Chillagoe run by an old fellow called Tom Prior. So we decided if we got a chance we would go there.
We got to Malanda about 12.30pm after stopping at Ravenshoe for an early lunch. What a lovely drive through beautiful dairy country and beautiful hills.
The caravan park is lovely right in a rainforest beside Malanda Falls. The downside was that there was very little mobile reception and no internet. Consequently I have a lot of catching up to do with the Blog.
We walked down to the falls in the late afternoon and saw a little platypus swimming in the pond. But we didn't have the camera with us.
The next day we went for a drive out to Millaa Millaa lookout which we had seen in the way in yesterday

This is me at the Millaa Millaa Lookout. Incredible view over the mountains towards Cairns

Another view

Some kookaburras flew in each afternoon and just stared at us. We eventually got the hint and fed them some raw mince. Well then they tried their luck a couple of times a day. But once a day was enough

We ended up with 5 of them. Some were only young.

We got ourselves some fish and chips from the local fish shop for lunch. What were the choices? Mackerel or red emperor. How good is that. No old Vietnamese catfish up here.
It is a bit cool here in the evenings and early mornings but the days are glorious.
On the Wednesday we went for a drive to Atherton, then out to Tolga to look at a wood art gallery. Beautiful pieces but very expensive. Then we drove out to Herberton.
Both of us have the flu so we aren't doing too much.
On the Friday we decided to go and see some of the beautiful waterfalls in the area.

This is me at Millaa Millaa falls. They were beautiful and only a very small walk from the car park. Not too many people around as we were there pretty early

And here is Ray at the same spot. There is still a lot of water around up here so all of the little creeks have plenty of water. You can see small waterfalls in the paddocks as you drive around the area

 

The next stop was Zillee Falls about 10km from Millaa Millaa. You could only get to the top of the falls. This is the creek running towards the falls.

This is Zillee falls tumbling over the edge. Another beautiful falls

And a little further on was Ellinjaa falls. You had to walk down quite a steep path but it was definitely worth it at the end . You could feel the water spray on your face.

An old log that had been washed down the waterfall. It looks quite like a modern art sculpture, mother nature style.

A beautiful old fig tree on the path down to the falls

Another view of the beautiful tropical rain forest. All so green and you can hear and see all types of birds. We were always keeping a lookout in the tree tops for a Lucholz Tree kangaroo but we never saw one. I would have also liked to see a cassowary but no such luck.

















The next day was Saturday and overnight we had some very light showers. We headed off to the Youngaburra markets where they had over 250 stalls. I started my Christmas shopping. We bought some unusual jam, banana, mandarin marmalade.
Bought a pumpkin, orange cake, chocolate and a really good looking wagyu beef pie from a stall which was selling all wagyu beef. It looked lovely and the price was right but we haven't enough room in the freezer as we are running stuff down before we fly home for 2 weeks.
Anyway we had the pie for tea and it was lovely.

Here is the family sized wagyu beef pie . It only cost $15 and did us for two and a bit meals.















Next stop after the markets was a visit to Curtain Fig just out of Youngaburra.

The fig tree is from the strangler fig species Ficus Virena. The curtain effect results from one tree leaning against the other on a 45 degree angle.

The strangler vine then grew along the oblique angle of the leaning tree dangling 15metres to the ground to create the curtain effect

This is the sunlight filtering through the curtain






















This was a beautiful bids nest fern growing right at the top of the curtain fig.

Next we drove a bit further on until we came to the Cathedral Fig.

 

It grows the same way but the host tree stays upright and the strangler roots just fall to the ground. You can actually stand inside this one. It is estimated to be about 500 years old.

This was a lovely old log on the ground on the way into the Cathedral fig

 

Another upward view of the Cathedral fig.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we drove down to Lake Tinaroo. This is a man made lake built originally for irrigation to help the tobacco grower around Mareeba. It is still used for irrigation but now for coffee and sugar cane and mangoes etc. as Australia no longer has a tobacco industry. It is also very popular for water skiing and fishing.

 

Along the road leading to the lake a memorial has been built. It is a memorial to all of the soldiers and army dogs who have been killed in Afghanistan. It is called the Avenue of Honour and it was very lovely.

 

We ended up driving about 60km right around Lake Tinaroo coming out at Atherton into beautiful fertile farm country.

 

 

On Monday 25th August we headed on the Mareeba. We are staying at the Mareeba Riverside park. It has a lot of permanents and backpackers. The backpackers all appear to go out to work on the farms around Mareeba. It is fairly quiet.

 

On Tuesday we headed out to Chillagoe to try to find Tom Prior and his old Fords. We asked for directions at the Tourist Information place.

From when we arrived Tom treated Ray like a long lost friend. I think because of the F250. Tom has a lot of old trucks and utes as he used to haul all sorts of stuff all over North Queensland. On the way to Chillagoe we could see these huge square rocks placed in circles. we were unsure what they were but Tom told us that they were 20 and 30 ton blocks of marble and that is what he used to haul in his old trucks.

 

He started all of the trucks for Ray and they all started first go.

 

1925 T Model Ford 

1942 Blitz

1942 Dodge

1942 Ford Army Truck

1942 Ford Truck

Another view of the Ford Truck

1946 Ford V8 ute. This is the car Tom drives around for a normal car. He also has a Fairlaine which he says he uses for fancy occasions

1970 Ford Mustang

Ford Pilot

This is Tom standing in front of the garage which houses his old work trucks

This is Tom again in front of one of his trucks. They are all his pride and joy and it was a privilege to meet him and see his cars. He showed us all of them individually.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way back to Mareeba we drove through a small village and had to slow down as 2 horses were grazing on a corner.

 

 

 

 

Yesterday we had an in town day. First stop was the heritage museum for a good look around. It was very interesting with a miniature village set up and a bit of history of tobacco farming as it used to be very big in Mareeba. Started by Italian migrants, as well as the sugar cane industry. Now Mareeba is famous for coffee, mangoes, pawpaws, potatoes and sugar cane.

 

A depiction of how the old butchers shop would have been like

The old hospital train which was still used up until 1983

Another view of the hospital train

Do any of you remember the old washing machine with the wringer attached

Ray having a "beer" at the old bar

 



Today we were supposed to go on the Skyline from Kuranda down to Cairns and back but we are leaving that until we are in Cairns. Remember way back on the way to cape Crawford we got hit by a huge rock and got a big star chip on the windscreen. Well Ray went to O'Briens Glass in Mareeba yesterday and he is getting a new windscreen today. Thank God for that windscreen cover with NRMA.

 

Now tomorrow we are heading on to Wonga Beach which is up north of Mossman. We will be staying there for 9 nights before coming back down into Cairns. While at Wonga we will have a look at the Daintree, Mossman and Port Douglas so I will Blog more then.