Saturday 16th to Monday 18th October, 2021
Well we have had a quite restful few days. On Saturday I managed to have my hair done by a lovely girl at Snippers, Ingham. I left DB in Woolworths to finish the groceries and pack them all away. He managed well as it is always a challenge to get 4 or 5 days cold goods in the 47 litre fridge. But he did a great job. My hair was a long process (wash, foils, colour, blow dry and cut) – almost 3 hours but I came out a new woman. Yeehah! David sat happily in the car for a couple of hours. By this time it was 2pm, so after a quick bite to eat we started on our way south.

Along the way we stopped at Jourama Falls in the Paluma Range National Park. We did a short walk to the base of the falls as the upper falls track was closed. It was a pretty waterfall, albeit a bit small at the base. We clambered up and over some smooth rocks to get to the waterfall. After a short break we then headed back to the car as we still had a bit of a drive to get to Townsville. We are booked in to Yongala by the Strand, a motel for the next couple of nights as we need to do our tax. Good excuse for a queen size bed and air-conditioning.

Townsville has amazing facilities along its foreshore – pools, waterparks, tree-lined paths, picnic areas, patrolled beaches with stinger nets in season and lovely views to Magnetic Island. We have enjoyed lovely walks along the foreshore, albeit very hot (daily temp range is 25° – 35°) in the day time, and still warm at 8.30pm when we go for our gelato walk. We enjoyed a lovely Thai meal at Wild Rice Laos & Thai Cuisine. We have had a couple of swims in the Tobruk Memorial Baths – a 50m outdoor lap pool. It is hard to train in the pools up here as the water temp is at least 28° and we boil over any time we put in some kind of effort. All good though, at least we are ticking our arms over at least 2 or 3 times a week. We have had a good rest, a couple of good nights sleep and air-conditioned comfort.

It is now Monday and we have both lodged our tax returns, DB has done his BAS and we are almost ready to head over to Magnetic Island tomorrow for a few days. This afternoon we went for a drive to the top of Castle Hill, a 360° view of Townsville. We passed so many walkers, runners, cyclists heading up and down the hill, it was incredible how many there were – we saw maybe 100 or more. It made me feel a little lazy for having driven up there. At the top there were about 5 different lookout points.

“Just metres short of a mountain, Castle Hill is the giant pink granite monolith that stands proud in the centre of Townsville – a perfect place for visitors to orientate themselves. Castle Hill offers vehicle access as well as a number of popular walking tracks, which are frequented by more than 2,500 locals a day! The 360-degree views of Townsville at the top are well worth the journey. Apart from being an iconic centrepiece for the city and a lookout for spectacular scenic views, Castle Hill has a significant history. The Hill’s vantage was used by visiting American soldiers during World War II. According to local legend, the visitors famously offered to demolish the hill and use the rock to build a bridge to Magnetic Island. A World War II observation bunker sits on one corner of the Hill reminding visitors of Castle Hill’s military history.”

Friday 15th October 2021
After heavy rain during the night we woke to mostly blue sky. We headed out early  to hike up Mt Fox. Another steep climb (130m elevation) over a short distance (300m). It took 20mins to climb up and a little less to climb down. There was a pretty view at the top. It was a quick 47 mins exercise done before 10.30am. We then headed back to camp at the Mt Fox Cricket ground and had n early lunch, did some yoga and touched base with home.

After this we headed back down the mountain, an 1.5 hour drive down a scenic, winding, narrow (almost single lane only) road. The cliff was quite sheer on my side so I was grateful we only came across one or two cars going the other way, as no-one really takes the sharp bends quite slow enough for my liking. We then had a swim at Ingham Aquatic Centre, another warm outdoor 50m pool. Unfortunately, the thunderstorm cut our swim short.

We then went for a stroll around the TYTO Wetlands where we saw numerous birds, some too quick to photograph. We are staying tonight at the Palm Tree Tourist Park at Ingham. It has the front of the park on the Bruce Hwy and the back along the railway line. Wish us luck with sleep tonight.

Thursday 14th October 2021
Today we will hike down to the base of Wallaman Falls from the lookout and then a big, steep hike back up as it is only 1.6km each way. hopefully my legs have recovered from Mt Bartle Frere’s summit hike last Friday. It is a beautiful day and we enjoyed a lovely walk down. The falls is spectacular, another one of those moments where the magnitude of the falls cannot be captured on camera but as always we will try. I enjoyed a lovely swim down the bottom, the water was fresh but pleasant. After an hour or so down the bottom we started the tough climb back up. We took it nice and slow and I believe our fitness may have been enhanced from last weeks climb as it wasn’t too bad, albeit very, very sweaty.

We headed back to camp for a cold shower, some lunch and then the drive back down the very winding road. This was again enjoyable with lovely scenery and a couple of lookouts. We have decided to head west again to Mt Fox. Another long winding drive  west to a hopefully quiet camp, which so far it is. Only 2 other campers here so far. We have sat in the car for the last 2 hours as we have had a little rain, hopefully the thunderstorm doesn’t eventuate. David has gone out bird watching and platypus spotting. Time for dinner.

Wallaman Falls – At 268m it is the highest, permanent, single-drop waterfall in Australia, Wallaman Falls is part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, home to some of the oldest rainforests on earth and many endangered plants and animals. It boasts spectacular scenery and an array of plant and animal life. The creeks and rivers are home to platypus, eastern water dragons and saw-shelled turtles. If you are lucky, you might catch a glimpse of a musky rat-kangaroo or an endangered southern cassowary.

Wednesday 13th October 2021
It is Wednesday and we are heading south yet again. We leave Cardwell a drive to Taylors Beach just south of Lucinda (Hinchinbrook Island Start) which we were at in July. Taylors Beach was very pretty and we enjoyed a pleasant walk to the point where we could see Pelorus and Orpheus Islands. The tide was very low when we started but it is amazing how quickly it comes in, as by the time we left the water level was a lot higher. We enjoyed a lunch by the water. We then drove towards Ingham and we saw another crocodile on the edge of the road but unfortunately it too was dead – squashed a bit by a car. It was only about 2ft long. After a quick stop at the shops we headed on the short in distance but long in time drive to Wallaman Falls. The road was bitumen today but was as winding as yesterday. The scenery was beautiful as we drove through farmland and then the rainforest. We stopped at a lookout Sith a lovely view towards Ingham and then on to Wallaman Falls lookout. This was neat again a spectacular water fall and gorge. The falls was 286m and the pool was 20m deep. There was an enormous amount of water falling. Then we headed to our National Park camp, another lovely spot near Stony Creek. We enjoyed the short Banggurru loop walk to Stony Creek where we saw a couple of blue dragonflies and a turtle. As always we love the peacefulness of staying in the National Parks ($13.70 a night), it also balances out our costs when we stay in motels/hotels. David saw some Musky rat-kangaroo around our camp tonight.

Tuesday 12th October 2021
We had an interesting evening with wildlife last night. There were possums and bandicoots roaming around the camp whilst we sat up last night. We thought they may keep us awake all night but luckily we slept through their activities as there were hundreds of tiny footprints around the car this morning. They also included goanna prints.

This morning we started out the day slowly with breakfast, a read and then some yoga by the creek, it was a beautiful restful morning. We then headed for the drive from Blencoe Creek to Cardwell. It was a very winding, interesting drive through the Girringun National Park and  then the Kirrama National Park. It was a 70km from Blencoe Falls to Kennedy which google says takes 2 hours 8 minutes. We now understand why—it is so winding and narrow. We left at 11am, had a stop for lunch and a 20min walk and we arrived at about 3pm. So it  was a lovely scenic drive.

We are staying at Cardwell tonight and will make decisions on our next stop in the morning.

Monday 11th October 2021
Well it is time to move on again, this time to the west, then south and then east.

Firstly we stopped at Little Millstream Falls which is the smaller version of Big Millstream Falls we went to about 13 weeks ago. Little Millstream Falls was also quite beautiful. We enjoyed a short walk down to the falls and spent some time enjoying its beauty. We then drove to Mt Garnet via Innot Hot Springs again and then headed south west along a little used road to Blencoe Falls in the Girringun National Park. The road was in pretty good condition, a lot better than we were expecting. Blencoe Falls was also spectacular and the gorge was magnificent, unfortunately photos don’t capture either sufficiently. We saw many animals today – a water dragon going for a swim at Little Millstream Falls, kangaroos, eagles, cattle, an emu and its chick and tonight some bandicoots and a brush tail possum.

We are camping tonight by the river at the top of Blencoe Falls along Blencoe Creek in the Girringun National Park. It is peaceful and beautiful.

Blencoe Falls—one of the most stunning waterfalls in Australia—plunges 90m to the pool below, before cascading a further 230m to the bottom of Blencoe Gorge.

Little Millstream Falls—is more secluded than Big Millstream Falls and you can swim in the  gorgeous freshwater pool directly in front of the waterfall.

Saturday 9th  and Sunday 10th October 2021
After our big hike to Mt Bartle Frere we had a very quiet day on Saturday. We had an easy swim at Malanda Community Pool, spent some time catching up  on the blog and  then went  for a short walk  near the Malanda Visitor Centre in search of   a tree kangaroo.  I thought there was no chance  but lo-and-behold,  the  animal man spotted one within about 3 mins. It was so high in the  trees, just under the rainforest canopy, in the fork of the tree just like a koala. I still don’t know how he spotted it. We watched and watched for a while hoping it would move and like a little kid David  gave the tree  a knock with a branch to  wake  it. Unfortunately it the  woke and climbed further up the tree out of sight. We could rest easy now and  don’t need to search for a tree kangaroo anymore.  We decided to have another night at our peaceful camp in Eacham.

On Sunday we drove to Atherton for a swim in their lovely 50m outdoor pool, it was heated to at least 27° but it felt more like 29°. It was a bit warm to swim too hard but was a most enjoyable swim. We then had some lunch in the park and  did some shopping. We then  took the scenic  drive to Ravenshoe, which was beautiful once more.  The  Tablelands is so lush and green and it was lovely to see it in the sunshine this time. After checking in to our creek side camp at Ravenshoe, we went for a drive  to  Tully Gorge – the upper end this time. The falls were dry but it was a magnificent gorge. I am still feeling the effects from the walk on Friday so didn’t even walk down to  the  falls with David, but apparently I didn’t miss much. We then drove further to Koomboloomba Dam.

We are heading a little further south tomorrow to either Blencoe Falls or Murray Falls. We will make that call tomorrow.

Friday 8th October 2021
Yesterday we travelled from Cairns to Lake Eacham in preparation for today’s hike.

Today is the day, the best day in the next few days. Forecast for today was partly cloudy with sunshine in the afternoon. We have read some trail notes and a 77 year old man took 12 hours to complete the return trip.

When we awoke in the morning at 5.45am it was foggy at our camp ground in Lake Eacham Tourist Park. Hopefully it will burn off early in the day. The forecast is now partly cloudy all day. Fingers crossed we have some luck at the top. We got organised early, drove to the head of the trail through fog we didn’t factor in for times, so it was a bit slow going . We were ready to go at 7.40am – our aim was a 7am start. Pretty close for us.

So off we head on the relentless hill climb to Battle Frere Summit from the west trailhead. We start at 700m and climb to 1622m (the highest mountain in QLD. The elevation we have to climb is 1055m. The first 1km was relatively easy, some small ups and downs, quite rutted and holed by the wild boars but comfortable. We pass some cassowary scats on the first stage and keep moving along nicely. The incline starts to get steeper for the next 500m and then the hard work begins. Up, up, up and up. A continuous struggle up the rocky paths, up, over and down large boulders, jumping across gaps in the large boulders. At some stages I was stopping after 40 steps for a breather for a little break, driving David nuts. He continues along for a little bit and then he has a big rest. I keep struggling along, walking a bit, resting a lot, walking a lot, resting a bit. It was a continuous tough slog. I had one moment where I wasn’t sure whether I should continue but so determined as always to reach the top. I started to take smaller steps and slowed down a bit which made it a lot easier, but still extremely tough. We had a couple of viewpoints along the way but the adventure today is definitely the journey today. We met a young girl at the western summit camp and had a chat, she started at 5.40am and took 5.5 hours to reach the summit. Five minutes later we met a young guy who had started at 5.45am and took 5 hours to reach the top. The last climb to the top was very steep, up and over big boulders, again a tough slog. We reached the summit in 4 hours 40 mins, so David has realised that maybe he is pushing me a little hard. A very, very tough gig to get to the top, we had minimal rest along the way, drank 2 bottles of gatorade/hydralite plus 1.5 litres of water between us.

We enjoyed a break for lunch for about 40 mins with a most spectacular view, the mist rolled in and out a few times. We were so lucky the clouds didn’t prevent our view. Yay for Us!!

Now for the down. We expect this to take maybe 4 hours but we do know that this is a tough gig as well, more on you r body where as the way up is hard on your heart. I am so happy to still be so flexible as some of the rock scrambling would be very difficult to manage without it. We stopped at an amazing rock boulder crop which was quite challenging to climb on top. I needed David’s help to haul me up. This view was more spectacular than the summit. We spent a bit of time up here, enjoying the view and then took a little extra time to get down again. We continued down the relentless downhill, it was very tough on our bodies. By the time we made it to about the 4km mark David’s knees were hurting and I made it until about 2km to go before my left one packed it in. It was a long an arduous day. We were very grateful for the last 1500m which was just undulating and we paced it out on this section as our legs and knees were ready to stop. We exhausted all our the water we took today just before the end which is unusual but I suppose today was a bit tougher than we were expecting.

We finally made it back to the car after 10 hours and 7 minutes. Distance travelled was only 15.7km. Our moving time was 7 hours 29 minutes. Elevation gain 1042m and loss 1053m. 7.1km uphill and 7.59km downhill. Done and dusted – A hard slog but we made it. Yeehah!!

I think we will need a few days rest before we attempt any more hikes.

Wednesday 6th October 2021
We are having a quiet day heading from Fishery Falls to Cairns with a walk along the way.

We enjoyed a lovely walk to Behana Gorge, it was a lot harder than we were expecting, some very steep up and down hills but on an easy path. The gorge was beautiful and we enjoyed a lovely swim at the waterfall.

We then headed back to Cairns for the night for a little rest at the hotel again. Some aircon, a big bed and a good rest.

Tuesday 5th October 2021
We woke to a beautiful sunny, calm day for our trip on the Frankland Islands Reef Cruise. We headed to Deeral Jetty for check-in at 8am, so an early start for us. After checking in, the boat headed along the Mulgrave River for about 30mins and then out to Normanby island, one of the Frankland Island group. Whilst on the boat we had a snorkel demonstration and were kitted out with our snorkel gear, wetsuit and stinger suit. We arrived at about 10am and were all dressed ready to hit the water. So thats what we did, we snorkelled for about 20mins before it was our time slot for the snorkel safari. This was a guided drift snorkel along the reef on the western side of the island. We saw many, many fish including the Spiny Chromis, Six-banded Angelfish, many different parrotfish species, Threadfin Butterfly fish, Robust Fusilier, and many, many more.  We also saw some colourful giant clams. Our snorkel safari went for about 45minutes and then we were brought back to the northern part of the Island. After a short break we headed back out and David saw a stingray and we swam with a turtle. At about 12 we were called in for a lovely smorgasbord lunch of chicken, ham, salami, prawns, potato salad, pasta salad and coleslaw plus fresh fruit and a bread roll. It was a huge lunch and we were so full we didn’t know how we would manage the afternoon snorkel. After a little rest we headed out again and saw some Clown Anemone Fish hiding in vibrant blue, pink, purple and apricot coloured anemone, we swam along with another turtle which was so healthy looking and very colourful, it was happy for us to just glide along with it. We just kept heading out to sea with the turtle as it peacefully swam away. In the end we had to leave it as it was time for us to head in for our island walking tour. The tour was headed by Michelle the Reef Guide for the day who was very informative about all the sea life in the rock pools which had been created by the lowering of the tide. There were some clams, Synapta Maculata sea cucumbers and many other little life forms stranded in the rock pools. We then headed across to the western side of the island where we saw a Golden Orb spider called Larissa and her male mates. We also found some star sand which is only found in a few places in the world – Japan is one of them and on Normanby Island, sorry can’t remember the other place. We then headed back to get ready to leave the island at 2.30pm. Unfortunately this was not to be, the big boat was having trouble with one of its rudders and they spent the next 1.5 hours trying t fix it. In the end they couldn’t get in to get us so we were ferried out to them on the snorkel boats, so two trips were required to get us out. This meant we enjoyed a late afternoon trip back to the river mouth and then along the river. We arrive back at about 5pm, an hour late. They handled this situation well by giving all customers a complimentary beer, wine or soft drink when we first left the island and then tea, coffee, hot chocolate and cake half way home. Hopefully that would stop the complaints. It seemed to work.

We had a lovely day and were happy we were camping just a 10 min drive away. Once more I loved the snorkelling. On the way home we tried to decide which island’s snorkelling was the best but they were all different and had there own beauty. I loved seeing the blacktip reef shark and swimming with the turtle at green island but also enjoyed the variety of fish and turtle at Fitzroy, as well as the giant clams and nemos at Normanby. So all in all I have been very spoilt with visiting 3 islands and the outer reef. Woohoo!!