CRUISIN AUSTRALIA QLD ADVENTURE, 2014

With- Karen and Keith Holmes

Geraldton, WA.

Friday 23 May, 2014. Stopping for brekkie at the Stamford Roadhouse we chatted about how hard the locals are doing it. It’s a harsh country but the locals are friendly and have a sense of humour……

Continuing onto Hughenden we stopped at the FJ Holden café for a coffee and checked out the awesome display that was there. One simply cannot go past the Big dinosaur gracing the street, unfortunately
the hotel behind was no longer in use.

Back on the road and camped up in Townsville with my girlfriend for the night….

Saturday, 24th May, 2014 - parked up with Girlfriend and caught up with 5 years gossip.

Sunday 25th May, 2014 - Tourists again….checked out the local markets in Townsville. They close part of the main street off and have some interesting stalls.

Off for lunch with awesome views of Magnetic Island, great feed at C- Bar on the Strand- Barramundi fillets, bug tails and soft shell crab….nom, nom…nom.

Next a drive around town checking out the views- the base of Castle Hill

We wandered up the top which had heaps of locals doing their daily exercising up the hill- a huge challenge in my eyes. The views were worth it….wow

Monday 26th May, 2014- Said our good byes to friends and head off. Had a great day and wandered into the Jourama Falls National Park. A good hour round trip relatively easy walk but not for the unsteady footed person. Nice falls and we could see some young ones that took the path to the rock pools at the base of the falls having a great time.

Heading off we had some fun with some BIG Australian icons- first the Big Crab in Caldwell, the Big Chair was also a fun challenge.

The Big Gumboot in Tully was next which you could walk into and check out the views of the sugar mill, town and the history of the Big Gumboot.

Off again and as much as we searched the road side for a Cassowary the only one we found was the Big Cassawary at Mission Beach. What a very friendly town. We booked into the Dunk Island Caravan Park-
21-25 Webb Street, Wongaling Beach, QLD. 4852. Phone- 07 40688248. They have a great little reception with an awesome café. We booked in for the special of the night- Roast Lamb and veges- $12.00 and the mudcake was delicious. Straight across the road is the beach with Dunk Island as your views. Was enjoyable chilling with a beer and watching 6 skydivers land up the beach.

Tuesday 27th May, 2014. Woke up early- 7.30am, lol, and headed of towards Cairns and came across Paronella Park in Mena. We didn’t want to stay for tours but did a short walk on the opposite river bank which was well worth it. They say the night tour is quite creepy and I’m sure it is and has a caravan park next to it which could be handy if we get to visit again.

We have wandered past Queenslands tallest mountain but it was half covered by clouds, we had plans of doing the sky rail tour to Karumba and return by the train rail but unfortunately there was maitence being done on the skyrail so wasn’t to be. We drove to Karumba instead and had an awesome time at the Butterfly Sanctuary. One could spend a whole day in this area and so much to offer in one area-

Wandering off with no real plan we spotted a sign saying- Fishing Museum…As we had never seen one before or heard of one we stopped to check it out. Bransfords Tackle Shop has a great little area with old fishing gear and a wall of fame. Here they have had some famous peeps visit and the owner was very helpful with suggesting tours chasing Barramundi. The takeaway shop next door is well worth a visit for lunch making a delicious Barramundi burger…

Port Douglas was our next port of call. What a beautiful place. We headed up to a lookout and enjoyed the views before checking out a great little church on the foreshore.

Have parked up for the night at Daintree…look forward to tomorrow ☺

Wednesday 28th May, 2014….another full on day…and loving it. First we wandered down the road from the Riverview caravan park (a very friendly place) to get some pictures with the Big Barramundi, then off to the river- 2 minutes’ walk away for a Daintree River Wild Watch. We saw a few small crocodiles, some birds and several pythons in the trees….very relaxing start to the day-

Although we had some showers on the cruise we still enjoyed it. We checked out the local market and Daintree Timber Gallery.

Off to Mareeba where they have a Coffee Works- as their flyer says- it’s like Disneyland for coffee. They weren’t wrong, we highly recommend- for an affordable price we sampled coffee from all around the world, backed that up with some awesome chocolates and a cruise around the display of the best collection of coffee artefacts in the world.

After all that coffee we headed off but not far we found the local Tourist info centre and were so pleased we stopped as they had an awesome free display inside covering everything from the local history including tobacco farming. Some great humour shown here too…