Mulambin Beach & Great Keppel Island Qld 25-27 August 2019

Mulambin Beach & Great Keppel Island Qld 25-27 August 2019

Last time we came this way was in 2014 and we stayed at Kinka Beach, with which I was less than impressed, mostly because it's a mudflat hidden behind thick mangrove and scrub foliage. Mulabin is the next beach north, a distance of about 1/2 a kilometre. Now I'm not going to say that its a million percent better, but at least its readily accessible, and is more a flat tidal beach than a mudflat. Our stay was made all the better for staying at the 'new' NRMA Capricorn Yeppoon Holiday resort. It was obviously an old park, but had been done up really well. The most appealing thing to us is good sized sites with screening vegetation for privacy, and first-class amenities. It was just a peaceful relaxing kind of place.

Mulambin Beach from the south end. Mulambin Qld

About 8km up the road is Yeppoon itself, and the same sort of distance south takes you to the delightfully named Emu Park, one supposes from a one time abundance of the one and same birds. The only one we saw was a rusty metal one standing in the park.

Faux emu. Emu Park Qld

This red-tailed black cockatoo was real enough though, and there seem to be lots of them hanging around

Red-tailed black cockatoo. Emu Park Qld

 The places' original claim to fame was the singing-ship, a stylised sculpture depicting Cook's Endeavour and which not only 'sings' when the wind is right, but lights up at night as well. We have not witnessed either, but a local lady made a big fuss about the coloured lights and showed us pictures on her telephone. I think you need a good imagination to see a link or likeness between this and a square rigged barque from Whitby. But that's art I guess.

Singing Ship. Emu Park Qld

 What you don't need is much in the way of imagination to visualise the depiction of WW1 diggers in the sand dunes of the Middle East. This is a brand new War Memorial erected in the last few years and is in keeping with the current fashion of personalising the diggers rather than just erecting one of the standard issue soldiers-on-a-plinth.

The memorial starts with this 'window-picture' of diggers landing on the beach and charging up the embankment to take the position. Through the window is the actual shoreline of Emu Park giving it a realist look. Clever.

War Memorial. Emu Park, Qld

This is then followed by a boardwalk which leads up toward the top of the ridge, where you see these diggers in relief against the skyline.

War memorial. Emu Park Qld

 Further down the hill is a more traditional memorial, but it too is using the silhouette technique to depict the soldiers marching to the front.

War memorial. Emu Park Qld

Yesterday we took ourselves back 42 years and returned to Great Keppel Island, where we had spent our first real holiday together at the then wonderful Resort. Sadly the resort is no more, having been through several iterations in its life, it was closed in 2008 and continues to be the centre of controversy. Most of the original resort has disappeared and the new bits left have been smashed-up and the whole area is all chain-wire fenced off. To see it in ruins is very sad.

As close as I could get to an original looking bungalow like the one we stayed in. Great Keppel Island Qld

 However, when you turn round and start back to the beach, you can see what the fuss is about, this is a truly beautiful place and largely unspoiled. They say that the proposed $600 million development would save the entire central coast of Queensland from its current economic malaise, but would be the ruin of the island.

Looking out to the beach from the path to the old resort. Great Keppel Island Qld

Fishermans Beach. Great Keppel Island Qld

 I this what they want? These monsters roaring up and down the beach for years on end, systematically changing the shape, look and feel of the pristine landscape like these ones are doing?

From the once peaceful deck of the Hideaway Resort. Great Keppel Island Qld

Anyhow, we had a very pleasant day including a delicious surprise lunch meal from the Tropical Vibes Cafe, clothing and gift shop.

Mackay Qld. Eungella Qld. Broken Creek Qld. 22-24 August 2019

Mackay Qld. Eungella Qld. Broken Creek Qld. 22-24 August 2019

We had originally planned to go back to Blacks Beach in Mackay and stay for a week. But something was niggling us both about the place and the length of time we had booked. Judy rang and cut the time back from 7 to 5 days and copped an earful of abuse for her trouble. By the next day, having read and reread all the rules and regulations they have to cover every facet of human activity, and keeping in mind our run-in with one of the long-term inmates last year, she rang again and cancelled completely.

And that's why we are now in Mackay, but much closer to town, in the Big 4 across the road from the harbour. When we pulled in at lunch-time the place was deserted. By the time night fell it was bulging at the seams! I tried the pool but it was the normal fresh-to-chilling, so we went over to the marina to have a drink and watch the boats go in and out, of which there were none. Today I went over to the Harbour Beach for my walk and had to turn back at the 3km mark, maybe just over halfway.

Harbour Beach. Mackay Qld

Later we went out on a Platypus hunt: ostensibly the nearby Eungella National Park was a 'hotspot' for the little scamps. Eungella is about 80km west of Mackay, and 730 metres - straight up. Well maybe not straight up, but pretty steep for sure. The view from the lookout, callee Sky Window, is pretty awesome

Road up to Eungella, Qld

The big valley. Eungella, Qld

That view, with a tiny handrail for comfort and perspective. Eungella, Qld

A few more km past Eungella (don't blink, you'll miss it) you come to the National Park and  Broken River. We came over a slight rise and headed toward a bridge. Not sure as to where to go, I slowed just before the bridge, and then bang! A branch from the tree next to the bridge came crashing down in front of us! How lucky was that? If I hadn't slowed it would have landed on us for sure. Sometimes things just fall your way (excuse the pun). Anyhow, you turn off just over the bridge, park up and go for a walk along the boardwalk that runs by the river. A hundred metres of so and you come to a string of pools and this is the obvious platypus watching spot.

Platypus pool. Broken River. Eungella Qld

Platypus pool. Broken River. Eungella Qld

As soon as we walked onto the platform, one popped up for a second and dived again. Others who had followed us didn't believe it, I'm sure. We sat and waited and sure enough after 20 minutes or so, up it came again right in front of us. We snapped away and yelled for the others. Mum turned away and called to dad who had wandered off. The girl, annoyed at our noisy distraction, looked up from her phone and questioned our sanity. They all missed it. We did not. Best one I've got so far.

Platypus.  Broken River. Eungella Qld

On the way back to the car we saw an  artwork (I have no idea what it is but maybe something to do with the river bed?), and back under the bridge snapped a Azure Kingfisher for good measure.

A artwork. Maybe even a interpretive thing.  Broken River. Eungella Qld

Azure Kingfisher. Broken River. Eungella Qld

On our way back to town we took the turn off toward Finch Hatton Gorge. It's easy enough to get to, even though a fair bit is a dirt road and there are 4 wet crossings, but from the car park, it is a 2.8km walk to the first bit of rocks called The Cascades and 4.2km to something called the Burning Wheel. We didn't do it, save it for next time perhaps.

We had lunch at a tiny town called Pinnacle, before wending our way back to the hustle and bustle of Mackay.

Townsville / Bowen Qld 19-21 August 2019

Townsville / Bowen Qld 19-21 August 2019

Two short-run days. One from South Mission Beach to Townsville, where we stayed at the Woodlands Big 4 overnight, right out on the northern fringe of town, and the second from Townsville to Bowen.

Our first stop out of South Mission Beach was Ingham, where we thought we might get a nice coffee overlooking the wetlands. The parking is near the info centre and you walk across bridges spanning the wetland to get to the cafe, but sadly the cafe has closed. We stopped on one bridge to look at the Lotus flowers and scan for birds, of which there were none other than the usual wetland varieties. What we did notice though was that as soon as you stopped on the bridge and looked down, turtles started coming straight toward you, from all over the pond, not one or two but 30 or 40! Obviously these are being fed by someone.

Judy trying to tickle a turtle. Ingham Qld

In Townsville, the park was deserted except for 'tradies' who have picked up work and need to stay, and longterm residents. The park itself has had heaps spent of facilities such as playgrounds, putt-putt, pools, water play areas and they were just putting in more 'drop' slides for the kiddies. We made the obligatory 20km trip over to The Strand, which is the jewel of Townsville, for a stroll and an ice-cream from Juliettes. We tossed up about going back to the park or having a drink and nibbles at Cbar, overlooking the water. No points for guessing where we spent the next hour, mostly watching the local hero on a kite-board, with winged keel.

Wave warrior with winged keel. Townsville Qld

The Woodland van park is right at the on-ramp to the fabulous Townsville By-pass, just pull out and get the hammer down and just 20km or so later you are leaving Townsville, south-bound on the mighty Bruce. But wait. Not so fast. Another 40km of roadworks later and you're finally under way. Going to be great when its done though.

We finally arrived in Bowen, which at first glance always looks deserted, and went straight through to the van park out on the Queens Beach in Greys Bay. We had walked through here last year and it was packed and so never really gave much thought to coming here this year. But as we have found on this trip, a lot of places seem to have vacancies where once they would have been full. Anyhow, our spot was the second row from the beach and the park itself was quiet and pleasant. In Bowen we did the usual round of tourist sights: Horseshoe Bay Beach, Kings Beach, Flagstaff Hill (where the 'interpretive centre and cafe' is still closed following cyclone damage years ago), Catalina Flying Boat base, museum, Woolies. Pretty intense. On the second day we wanted a swim so went to Horseshoe Bay, but the wind was up and howling straight in and up the beach, very unpleasant. We considered our next move over coffee. The obvious thing to do is drive the few hundred metres back around the headland and swim in the completely protected little beach everyone drives past on their way to the 'name' beach. And very pleasant it turned out as well, mind you the water was 'fresh'.

Looking south along Queens Beach from the Big4. Bowen Qld

Horseshoe Bay Beach. Bowen Qld

Early morning walk along Kings Beach. Bowen Qld

South Mission Beach Qld 18 August 2019

South Mission Beach Qld 18 August 2019

Finally had a few very pleasant days lazing about in the sunshine here in and around Mission Beach. Friday the skies cleared and the warm weather came back. We spent some time on the beach, in the pool, and wandering about. Saturday we were up 5:45am to get down to Cardwell, which is 70km south of here. I wanted to do the Parkrun, which starts at 7am and is one of the most pleasant I've done to date. It runs from this jetty and along a perfect path right along the ocean, down almost to the entry to Hinchinbrook Harbour.

Cardwell,Qld

After the run, we had breakfast at the nearby cafe before venturing down to have a look around this troubled marina development. The harbour has silted up, the operators and developers have gone bust, several times, the place is neglected and run down

Hinchinbrook Harbour. Cardwell Qld

Hinchinbrook Harbour. Cardwell Qld 

Hinchinbrook Harbour. Cardwell Qld

Hinchinbrook Harbour. Cardwell Qld

We saw a couple of Cassowaries...

Cassowary. South Mission Beach Qld 

Faux Cassowary. South Mission Beach Qld

Watched a few people floating down from the sky and landing on the beach

Sky diver. South Mission Beach Qld

And found a really nice almost deserted pristine beach just to the north of the main Mission Beach area, you just had to go looking for it.

Gardners Beach. Qld

South Mission Beach Qld 12-19 August 2019

South Mission Beach Qld 12-19 August 2019

We moved camp down to South Mission Beach, and lucked into a reasonably decent spot in the Coconut van park. The newest attraction to Mission Beach is a brand new council swimming pool complex, pool heated to 28℃ and inside another pool for aquarobics and stuff, purportedly at 34℃. Just throw in a bar of soap and do the washing as well!

Cassowaries are alive and well in and around the district, we never fail to see at least one on the roadside, and here's one that strayed into the van park looking for a feed.

Cassowary. South Mission Beach Qld

From our park there is a 1/2km stretch to the end of the beach, where there is the beginning of the Kennedy track, starting with a boardwalk that goes for about 300m, and then a path, with steps, (60+ up each way) which continues round the headland to another beach, Lugers Bay to be precise. This is beautiful, except for the stairs down to it, pretty much untouched and except for the odd other walker at 730am is pretty much deserted.

Kennedy Track. South Mission Beach Qld

Luggers Bay Beach. South Mission Beach Qld

Bridge over Mine Creek. South Mission Beach Qld

Just in case you had forgotten that we are still in croc country. Mine Creek. South Mission Beach Qld

Mine Creek. South Mission Beach Qld

The weather closed in a bit, so we went for a bit of a drive up toward Innisfail to check out the other two beaches: Kurramine and Crowley.

This could be Kurramine Beach... Kurramine Beach Qld

Always wanted to see The Top End in the wet. Crowley Beach Qld

This would be the end of the Cane Cutters Discover Road then.... Cowley beach Qld

We did manage to snap this little fellow on the beach at South Mission, A Forest Kingfisher.

Forest Kingfisher. South Mission Beach Qld

And then there were these up on the wire.

'Guys! Stop pushing!' You make the Welcome a bit hard to Swallow.

A long range snap of the now defunct Dunk Island Resort, wiped out by Yasi in 2011, but as of yesterday, has a new proud owner who snapped it up for a lazy 30 mill.

Port Douglas Qld 11 August 2019

Port Douglas Qld 11 August 2019

Well, our week here in (or almost in) Port Douglas is coming to an end. After the first few days of coolness and drizzle, the weather has cleared up and it's pushing 30c most days. What have we done? The big items were the tour of Mossman Gorge with the native guide, which was interesting and enjoyable. Drove down to Cairns and went to the markets up at Karunda, which is a pleasant enough drive, but the 'markets' are just more of the same tourist-trash as everywhere, and basically it just provides somewhere to go. We did have a rather nice lunch at the pub though, one of the place's redeeming qualities. We also had booked on a music tour up the river on the Lady Douglas. supposed to go from 6.30pm to 7.30pm, but wait, what a surprise, they called and cancelled it citing us as being the only guests. But of course wouldn't we love to go on the 4.30pm sunset tour. What a giant pain, and a mistake to be sure. The boat was packed and noisy and the bogans and their snotty kids were running amok. As for a 'tour', it travelled past mangrove tree after mangrove tree for an hour and half, the ennui interspersed only with the sighting of the resident crocodile and the obligatory sunken yacht. We ended up back past the marina and out a little bit into the bay for the sunset climax - or not. I couldn't get off fast enough. To make up for our disappointment we went to the Courthouse Hotel in the heart of the town and ate a bucket of king prawns and quaffed down a very nice bottle of Prosecco - that'll show 'em!

On Saturday we got up at 5.45am (yes, very early indeed) and drove the 70km down to Cairns so I could do a Parkrun at 7am, which was pleasant enough. After we went and found somewhere salubrious to have a big breakfast of eggs and salmon and tomatoes and mushrooms, and several cups of coffee. I think this is the only place and time we have done this, but highly appreciated after the early start. We tramped yet-another-market across the road near the pool, as we have done several times in the past but to say it was not much to look at would be heaping praise upon it. We followed this up with a visit to the big shopping centre and bought a pair of shoes each - my Parkrun ones have had it!

When we were through with the thrill of the big city we wended our way back to Palm Cove, about 20km and 200 roundabouts north of Cairns central, where we plonked ourselves on the beach and relaxed for a few hours. Finally I was driven by hunger pangs to go and find some take-away food from the forest of silver-service restaurants that line the Esplanade. I opted for fish and chips for me and calamari for Judy, and both were excellent. Another hour or so doing nought and we thought that a last coffee on the way back to the car would be a fitting end to a nice day out.

Today our last day and apart from the obligatory visit to the Port Douglas Markets, huge, but why do all the stalls look familiar? Honestly, you go because there is not much else to do that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and who knows, you might find a bargain. Judith bought some odd looking aubergines for 85c and a new hat for $15, and that was our contribution to the local economy. Anyhow, that's been our Port Douglas stay for another year.

Mossman Gorge, Mossman Qld 7 August 2019

Mossman Gorge, Mossman Qld 7 August 2019

Mossman Gorge is the second biggest attraction up here, but at least you can drive to this one! We have been there a few times and weren't too fussed about going again, but then we thought, 'Why not pay the cash and do the Aboriginal Direamtime Tour?' Why not indeed?

The tour leaves the Centre on a small bus, along with an Aboriginal Guide, and follows up the normal track to the start of the gorge walk, but then proceeds past this and further up into the rainforest to a smaller camp. Here we were given the introductory chat and were duly 'smoked' and introduced to the Spirits of generations passed, who live in the forest, which is why it  is a sacred place for the locals. Our guide was a young lady who chatted the entire time, pointing out various plants and describing their uses and / or dangers.

First stop was a large cedar tree, where we were shown some weapons and shields, and then surprised all of us by demonstrating how to use a cedar tree to call for help. All you have to do is pick up a large rock and give the trunk a good smack with it. The trunk makes a very loud, almost hollow noise that reverberates all around and can be heard for miles. This also happens to be the mating sound of the female cassowary as she bangs her helmet onto the tree to attract the male. We were very aware of anything hiding amongst the foliage looking for an attractive female!

Sharleena the guide, Cedar, the tree. Mossman Gorge, Qld

Our little tour party. Mossman Gorge, Qld

Moving on up the track, we were shown the rock shelter which she maintained was used by all the tribe from boy's initiation, sheltering from floods, girl's sacred birthplace and who knows what else.

Rock shelter. Mossman Gorge, Qld

 Did I mention that it started to rain, and quite heavily? Being under the canopy of the rainforest we were sort of protected, but after an hour or so it started to soak in for those of us who had left our spray jackets safely in the car.

Rainforest. Mossman Gorge, Qld

Rainforest. Mossman Gorge, Qld 

Rainforest. Mossman Gorge, Qld

Rainforest. Mossman Gorge, Qld

The tree below is a Daintree nut tree. It drops a pile of nuts in its season (depending on weather conditions, maybe none at all) which the women would scurry to gather up before the white-tailed rats got to them. Anyhow the women would sit around those rocks and crack the nuts and extract the edible part from inside. The bigger rock on the lift is a proper grinding stone, in that it has a groove worn in it on one side from the other rock used to do the crushing and grinding. They say that these are like bars of gold to the women who own them, handed down from generation to generation, and they are hidden at the end of the day by the simple act of turning them upside down so you can't see the groove, and leaving them handy next to the tree root. The smaller rocks on the right also grinding stones and were stated as having been stolen from the mob up north, but that was OK.

We stopped next to a stream where Sharleena showed us how they use ochre to paint their markings on themselves, and then washed it off using a soapy foam made by crushing some leaves from a sassafras tree.

Lastly we were shown a bark shelter, before being taken back to the camp for a very nice cup of tea and some damper, cooked right there in a camp oven

Native bark hut.  Mossman Gorge, Qld 

Our lovely guide, Sharleena. Mossman Gorge, Qld

Overall, despite the rain, and my rising levels of doubt regarding the credibility of the almost pat story,  the tour was really enjoyable. One other thing which we all thought odd was that we are here in the internationally protected Daintree rainforest, and their sacred ground and all the stuff about the environment and protection thereof, they had feral pigs in the bushcamp that were starting to become a problem and were would probably have to be controlled and removed very soon.

They dropped us of at the start to the normal Mossman Gorge walking trail and we took a brisk walk up to the bridge and back. The Mossman River is running quite fast, certainly more so than previous times we have been here, and we stopped for some quick snaps before heading back to the shelter of a waiting shuttle bus.

Mossman Gorge, Qld

Mossman Gorge, Qld

Mossman Gorge, Qld