Weipa to the East Coast

After a quick shop we left Weipa and did 250 odd km before stopping for lunch just north of Coen on the Coen River. After lunch we didn’t get much further and setup camp at Musgrave Roadhouse – the road had been pretty good overall but I’d had enough of it by mid arvo.

       

Next day and we headed south from Musgrave, new territory for us as on the way up we’d met the main road at Musgrave coming in from the east.  We stopped at Laura at the cultural centre which had great displays covering both aboriginal and early white settlement in the area. It was only a hop, skip and a jump down the road to the Split Rock Aboriginal Art site, one of the few that are accessible to the public. There was a great little creek and waterhole hidden across the road where we had lunch – apparently it was croc free but the kids weren’t game to try it out! 50km down the road got us to Lakeland and back on the black stuff again. We’d done just over 2200km on dirt roads (did I mention Louise is over the dust !@#$%^&*), and just ticked over 10,000km for the trip so far. Filled up with fuel at Lakeland (back to $1.41 a litre, compared to $1.95 we paid way up north) and enjoyed a cruisy hour and a bit to Mount Carbine where we camped for the night.

First stop next day was Mareeba, a place we’d stopped at before on our way to Cairns from the Gulf, but this time instead of rain sunshine greeted us. We checked out their great info centre which included a really cool interactive museum with stuff the kids were interested in. Chantal also got to tick off another of her big things, getting a shot in front of the Brahmin Bull. Next stop was Atherton with a quick break at the info centre trying to find a cloth badge and hat pin of Cairns (more on that later!). From there on the way down to the coast we stopped at Yungaburra for lunch and a walk along their creek to try and spot Platypus – no luck there but we did see a number of turtles and a couple of big water dragons. Leaving there we stopped in at the Curtain Fig Tree, a humongous fig tree just out of Yungaburra and then Lake Eacham which is an old volcanic crater which had a nice walk to two giant Kauri Pines. The road from there (on the Atherton Tablelands) down to Gordonvale on the coast was interesting to say the least, with over 40km of windy descending with some serious drop-offs. Now up to this point the kids hadn’t got badges of Cairns (apparently I’d said we’d be going back through there!) so at Gordonvale we a 50km detour up to Cairns and back to purchase said badges, during peak hour with trailer in tow – things we do for our kids! Anyway that night we stayed at Bramston Beach with a beachfront spot and saw the full moon rise over the water in a ball of red. The locals had a full moon bonfire with music on the beach which was nice to fall asleep to.    

       

In the morning we headed back up the hwy and turned off at Babinda and saw the Babinda Boulders. Down the highway we went to Josephine Falls where the kids swam and slid down the big rock face into the pool below – this gorge I reckon was better than Mossman Gorge. We wanted to stay at Etty Bay which is just south of Innisfail and on the way in there we were lucky enough to have a cassowary walk in front of us and hang around for a short period of time on the side of the road – sadly it was too dark for a good photo. Etty Bay was full so we went to Paronella Park which is in Mena Creek (inland on the old Bruce Hwy). Paronella Park is 13 odd acres of amazing gardens and buildings built by a crazy Spaniard in the 1930s, all out of concrete, reo rod and cane rail tracks. You’d have thought he was Italian when you see the amount of concrete he used, and all hand mixed. Sadly most of the structures now have concrete rot and the current owners are having a struggle to preserve them and that’s not taking into account the cyclones and floods that seem to occur every five years or so. That evening we did the night tour in the rail and dried out later at the pub for a counter meal. If you want to see some good pics of the place check out: http://www.paronellapark.com.au/

Next morning we were up early and checked out the park by ourselves in daylight, feeding a heap of fish and turtles they have. After brekky we did the day tour which gave us a better insight into the why and how the place came about. The kids highlight was seeing the hundreds of micro-bats in the “tunnel of love”. We headed south along the old Bruce Hwy and went to Bingil Bay hoping to stay there but they were full so we ended up at Mission Beach and got a nice spot close to the beach with walking distance to the cafes and shops. Not beach weather though as it was the first night we had jeans and long sleeve tops on for over 5 weeks!

Today has been spent checking out the area and doing a few rainforest walks trying to spot another cassowary. No luck on that account, though on one of the walks there was a heap of fresh droppings, but no big birds. The kids got the boogie boards out this arvo on the huge 2ft swell, the sun wasn’t out but at least it’s a little warmer than yesterday. Good beach frisbie weather though. Tomorrow is Mission Beach’s big monthly market which should be good. MB has surprised us a bit, we thought it would be a lot more developed, but that’s not the case. There are still vacant blocks metres from the beach at good prices, and that is surprising as this must be one of the most amazing beaches in all of OZ.