Saturday 29th July 2023
We woke early and decided we needed to reduced our luggage a little more to fit the girls in the car. So, we unpacked our backpacks into a single layer on the bed in the roof top tent. Then believe it or not we were on our way on schedule today at 8.02am.

First stop was the storage shed where we put the ladder for the tent and a few more odds and ends. We then headed to the airport to collect Alice, Ange and Jaci. They arrive at 9am and they were on their way to meet us in the carpark with their luggage collected at 9.10am. Nothing like a smaller airport to speed things up.

After a quick discussion we were on our way north to explore. The aim was to reach Nandroya Falls in the afternoon and have a hike there. Our first stop was a recommendation by an indigenous guy David met Lake Proserpine camp. The Frosty Mango, they grow their own fruit and make their own ice-cream , some of the flavours were Lime and Basil, Lavender, Dragonfruit, Mint and your usual flavours like Hazelnut, Guava, Chocolate, etc. So after about 100km and only 10am we were eating ice-cream. So far, so good. The girls are very happy with Broady Tours.

We continued on and then stopped at Hinchinbrook Island Lookout. The girls were interested to see where the ferry went through the channel. The weather was overcast and the clouds were very low. We are hoping the weather is going to improve before the walk.

Next stop was a lunch in the park at Cardwell, the girls have seen their first crocodile warnings and once again we are all a bit nervous about seeing one on the island. Then onwards we went, arriving at Nandroya Falls at 2.30pm in the rain. As it was rainforest we decided to still go for a walk. It was a lovely walk, about 7km and took 2:20hrs in the most beautiful lush rainforest. We saw a wide variety of ferns and plants made all the more beautiful by the rain, making the leaves glisten. They have obviously had a lot of rain as the waterfalls were pumping. The only birdlife we saw was 8-10 ???? swallow feeding on insects at the Falls. David also saw the olive-backed sunbird. It was a most enjoyable walk, although we were a little wet by the time we finished.

Unfortunately the rain continued to fall, getting so heavy and misty there was no point going to any of the other sights we had planned. We had made a good decision earlier today to stay at hostel in a 6 bed dormitory. We were all very happy with this decision as the day’s weather worsened.

After a dinner of fried rice which I had cooked last night, a shower, a cuppa and some chocolate the girls headed off to bed as they left the Central Coast at 3am this morning and only had a few little snoozes on the way.