Townsville to Cairns

Onward and upward, we left Townsville on Friday to continue our trip north.  First stop Balgal Beach where there was a sign warning people to watch out for snapping tom – the croc – and of course we wanted to see him but alas he was nowhere to be seen, it appears the signs may be quite old.  Never mind we had a nice feed of fish and chips at the little café there before continuing on to Paluma and Little Crystal Creek.  Here we found a cool series of waterfalls and swimming holes running into a creek which flowed under an old stone arch bridge

– Tony had a swim but I decided I needed to be photographer for the day hehehehehe – some photos need to remain censored (I promised).

Back on the road we went through Ingham and stopped briefly at the pier at Cardwell where I saw a big turtle, just wasn’t quick enough with the camera.

The next day we drove into Tully where you can still see signs of the cyclone that came through and I got to see a cane harvester up close. 

We also started to see signs of crops other than sugar – in the form of banana plantations. 

Carrying on the Bruce highway we turned off to Josephine Falls another beautiful swimming waterfall spot. 

After checking out all the levels and seeing people slide down the natural rock water slide we decided we really should have a turn as well – it was pretty cool although Tony had to go down more times than I did so I could get the photos,

the next waterfall was The Boulders and then it was time to find a spot for tea and to spend the night – good old Rotary.

Another early start the next morning and I had my first taste of cane which Tony had stopped and cut for me – quite sweet not much to it really.  Started to drive up into the Atherton Tablelands we saw another change to the countryside with more farming areas even a cowshed or two and what we presumed was a tea farm.  Stopped on the road and looked at Crawfords lookout and then had a look at the Wallicher and Tchupala Falls

and then followed a loop road and checked Ellinjaa Falls

 and Zillie Falls

(where Tony tempted fate by standing at the edge of the falls)

and finally Millaa Millaa falls. 

By now it was 9.30 and I was starting to feel a bit peckish so stopped at Millaa Millaa Village Lions park for breakfast.  Back on the road after feeding the rumbling tummy stopping on the roadside at Malanda to take a photo of the old fergusson tractor. 

Next stop was Lake Eacham where Tony had spent some time 30yrs ago – it had changed a bit and he definitely felt the need for a memory swim so I joined him to cool down – a small but pretty lake. 

Carried on down the road a bit to Lake Barrine which Tony had a boat cruise on also 30 yrs ago – a bigger lake which didn’t look as tempting to swim in but we did walk to the twin kauris!!  Back on the road to check the curtain fig tree which was impressive but really hard to catch on camera, checked out a couple of peanut shops and then called into Rocky Creek memorial park which had an overnight stop next to it. 

Another early start after a cool crisp night – heading for Kuranda and Barron Falls. 

The falls themselves are very impressive and would be amazing to see when it was in flood.  It was a very nice walk down a boardwalk in the treeline down to the train station and after breakfast in the carpark we went back down and waited for the train to turn up – quite a few more carriages than I was expecting obviously a popular trip. 

We then drove into Kuranda Village and had a stroll around this pretty little town before carrying on to Cairns.