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Day 8
Charters Towers -> Hervey Range <Map>
Distance 171kms Total 1915kms
Only a short jaunt today to my cousin and her partner's property in the Hervey Range west of Townsville. We had initially planned to keep heading north on the Gregory Development Road / Lynd Hwy and then east to their place but decided that we'd rather be closer to civilisation in the remote case that the windscreen decided that it had lost the will to live and disassembled itself into our laps.
Prime powered site at the exclusive Hervey Range Caravan Park.
One of the joys of visiting Andrea and Pieter is the abundant wildlife.
A mother Agile Wallaby and joey interrupt their browsing on the nice green lawn to observe us...
... observing them. From left: Sue, Pieter, Andrea on the veranda enjoying Andrea's Thai Lamb Noodles - Yumm!.
Day 9
Hervey Range Caravan Park, Spa, Country Club and Safari Camp
Distance 0kms Total 1915kms
Not a lot happened except chatting, drinking and eating. All very relaxing. Thanks again for your hospitality, Andrea & Pieter. :-)
Day 10
Hervey Range -> Babinda <Map>
Distance 301kms Total 2216kms
While we had been driving up the inland route it had been warm to hot but very dry. We drove down the range to Townsville to resupply before heading further north and found HUMIDITY! Welcome to the tropics.
One of our favourite stops for a cuppa is at Cardwell. There used to be a very handy parking area in the centre of town and next to the beach with toilets, shade and tables. Last year, Cyclone Yasi changed all that as it came ashore very near here and just about swept Cardwell into the sea. Here are a selection of photos. While the old picnic area is still being reconstructed and unavailable, we went about a kilometre north and found a section of foreshore that was still there, although still under restoration.
We were amazed that there were still trees standing in Cardwell. I suspect that there were lots more here that have now been turned into matchsticks given the general destruction still visible in the area.
Further north, sugar once again becomes the main crop, and the mills are in production.
Tully Sugar Mill with the backdrop of the Great Dividing Range. Despite the ominous looking clouds on the mountain tops, not much rain is happening and "The Wet" seems to be running a bit late this year. We are not complaining though, as it's a lot easier to travel when it's dry.
We over-nighted at another lovely little rest area called Babinda Rotary Park. Since our last visit, they have added a coin-operated hot shower block to the existing toilets. The down side was a group of noisy, well-lubricated locals who arrived, but by moving to the other side of the park and out of earshot, we solved that annoyance.
Day 11
Babinda -> Cairns <Map>
Distance 94kms Total 2310kms
Just a shortish drive this morning had us in Cairns by lunchtime, even given our detour to The Boulders National Park outside Babinda. We thought we might stay there on our way south, so wanted to check it out.
We chose a caravan park near to the city in Cairns and then went for the requisite stroll along the Esplanade after organising tomorrow's windscreen replacement.
Cairns Foreshore, late afternoon, with a boatload of day-trippers returning from Green Island passing the moored floatplane. Note that this photo has been cropped to delete the hundreds of metres of delightful mudflats in the foreground that somehow fail to appear in the tourist brochures. :-)
Cairns has a wide variety of places to swim. The Esplanade's mudflats is not one of them. This is due to the mudflats and the seasonal danger of jellyfish/stingers and the odd hungry estuarine crocodile. Consequently, the council has built the Esplanade Lagoon.
This is a free salt-water swimming area - it's too big to call a 'pool' - situated right on the waterfront. It seems very popular.
One of the advantages of the exposed mudflats at low tide is that they attract shorebirds and waders.
A Little Ringed Plover (foreground) and a Pacific Golden Plover look for morsels in the mud.
A slightly disreputable-looking Eastern Curlew in the late afternoon light. It pokes its long beak down crab holes to catch seafood treats.
Trivial Pursuit Bonus Factoid: The female Eastern Curlew is the world's largest wader at 60~66cms / 2ft+.
Day 12
Cairns
Distance 30kms Total 2340kms
Up early (if not bright) and away to a local windscreen replacement garage for a new set of glasses for Crooozy. It takes 3 hours (presumably for the glue to set?) so we repaired to an air-conditioned shopping centre to while away the time with cups of coffee and a non-fattening Danish for morning tea. :-))
Not much else happened today, other than a bit more food shopping and buying some minor hardware and electrical bits and pieces.
Today's temps? Min 22, Max 35-ish, humidity, LOTS!
Day 13
Cairns -> Pt Douglas -> Low Isles -> Pt Douglas -> Cairns <Map> <Map>
Distance 132 (car)+ 32 (boat) kms Total 2472kms
Every trip we decide to have a 'splurge'. This time it was to be a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. We chose WaveDancer, a 30m (100') powered sailing catamaran, that sails from Port Douglas. We chose a perfect day as there wasn't a ripple on the ocean as we drove up to Pt Douglas.
Obligatory view looking south from Rex Lookout on the Captain Cook Hwy. Also the launching platform for the local hang-gliding and paragliding communities.
We arrived at Marina Mirage (now Port Douglas Marina), a place familiar to those who followed the rise and demise of Christopher Skase in the 1980s and beyond. The marina here has quite a few "big boys' toys" as well as cruise and dive boats that operate as far as the Outer Reef.
Pick a boat... Any boat...
This was ours - Wavedancer.
About 90 minutes after leaving Port Douglas, we arrived at Low Isles. It was imaginatively named by Captain Cook who logged that he spotted 'a small low island'. I guess that after you've nearly circumnavigated the globe discovering and naming bits of the planet, thinking up new and novel names might become a bit of a chore. The two islands that comprise Low Isles are called 'Low Island' and 'Woody Island'. No prizes for guessing which one has more trees...
Paradise comes in small packages. :-) This is Low Island. Woody Island (out of shot to the left) is currently off limits to tourists due to it being breeding season for a host of birds.
The day comprised a presentation by our on-board marine biologist, morning tea, lunch, coral viewing in glass-bottomed boats, snorkelling (guided or DIY), a guided trip around the island (as you can see by the size of the island, that didn't take too long!), and afternoon tea on the way home. All very informative and more importantly, very enjoyable.
While they supply all the gear required, we had our own masks. What we didn't have, and what they also supplied, were Lycra body suits. As it was now officially 'stinger' [*] season, we decided that it was too good an offer to refuse. It does make one look either a bit of a dill, or about to audition for a James Bond underwater action scene.
[*] For the benefit of our overseas reader, in the gammit of Australian creatures that crawl, slither, creep, walk or swim and try to kill you, the Marine Stinger is up there with the best of them. Think of a jellyfish on steroids. More here.
In tights and about to audition for Swan Lake, or an action-packed James Bond-esque villain? Alas, probably neither. :-(
Miss Lycra, 2012 looked far better than me.
The other great thing about these suits is that they are the best sunscreen you can get as well as keeping you remarkably cool even when you get out of the water due to their evaporative properties.
As we'd agreed on going to the reef, I had wanted to experiment with underwater photography. Not wanting to spend $$$ on a 'real' underwater housing, and not wanting to risk my good Canon DSLR with Poseidon, Greek God of the Oceans, I elected to purchase what can only be described as a small plastic (and hopefully waterproof) "handbag-with-a-porthole" for our point-and-shoot Canon Ixus. The results were ... different.
Underwater nature photography (not) at its best. I guess my assignment for National Geographic might be on hold for a bit longer.
My excuse is that once in the water, I couldn't see the settings and suspect that the exposure settings were set too long for underwater. Above water they seemed OK, as shown by the mermaid I snapped below.
"Did you see it? It was THIS BIG!"
The tour around the island included a couple of bird sightings.
A Bridled Tern near its nest worrying about a flock of tourists.
While these terns breed on coral cays along the Great Barrier Reef, there seems to be divided opinion about where they go for the rest of the year. I guess no one has stuck a GPS tracker on one yet?
The other major species on Low Isles while we were there was the Pied Imperial Pigeon.
There are between 25000 and 35000 nesting pairs on Woody Island, as well as a number on Low Island.
Following a decline in numbers earlier last century, they have made a spectacular recovery. It is believed that the depletion in their population was due to their being shot. Whether this was due to their being very tasty, or just sheer annoyance and frustration at their monotonous, mind-numbing call is not known. As they also roost (and call) in the caravan park we're in, I'm going for the latter reason.
All too soon it was back to the boat, then back to Port Douglas, then back to Cairns.
Day 14
Cairns
Distance 0kms Total 2472kms
Nothing happened. :-))
(Well, I lied about nothing happening, but you'll have to find out more on Week 3)
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