Jourama falls to Innisfail

Day 65
Up in the morning and ready to explore the falls we head off for a stroll and anticipation ive got my swimmers on. Carmen is less impressed with the thought of a swim in a cold rock pool and doesn't even put hers on.
A short walk up a beautiful boulder lined gorge and we reach the falls and the swimming holes. After a quick check in the water for crocs im straight in.

'Fresh' is the word i would use to describe it and so after a quick swim around im back out and warming up on a rock. Walk back and pack up Polly for the onward journey and splash through the two streams again on our way out.
Weve asked Tom to take us to Mission beach and after about an hour we arrive drive through South mission and head to a recommended camp site in North mission beach, on the way we are warned that Cassowaries are about and according to the lonely planet there are only about a thousand left so we tread carefully.

Mission beach was a lush, tropical rain forest but was devastaded by cyclone Yasi only 6 months or so ago and the evidence is everywhere with houses with no roofs and lots of trees blown over and along the beach particularly it looks a bit sparse and the trees that are left look a bit naked.
Set up and off to find the pub, we walked up and down and down a few sidestreets but we couldn't find anything and so had to settle for the bottle shop (There doesn't seem to be much to do in Mission beach).

Day 66
Woke up and its looking cloudy and before long its raining, only a tropical shower luckily and whilst it comes down pretty heavy it doesn't last long and half an hour later the suns out. Just as were getting ready to head out not one but two Cassowaries (father and child) strut through the campsite and everyones out with their cameras snapping away (they are quite an attraction). We are all giving them a wide berth though as they are as big as an ostrich and sometimes go for you (especially with my track record) and have a razor sharp middle claw which apparently does you quite a bit of damage. They stroll right through the campsite and disappear back into the rainforest.

After the excitement has died down we head off to walk to Clump point jetty along a rainforest path where we can see a lot more evidence of the cyclone damage.

The jetty is nice enough and there are a couple of blokes fishing off of it (not that they had any luck). Walk back through the forest again and as we get back to the campsite im excited as at 4pm there is a world champion sheep shearer doing a demonstration.
In 1978 (and the record still stands) he shawn (?) over 600 sheep in a day.

He did his thing with a couple of sheep and before long the magic was over and we got our gear and headed off Fishing down to the boat ramp. It was a bit breezy so we fished on the quiet side and before long I was in with a Bream, a small one at first but before long I'm in again with a decdent sized Bream and this one was probably big enough to keep but we threw him back.

Caught one more, which was a manky looking thing and pretty small and so decided to call it a day and head home for dinner.

Day 67
As there doesnt seem to be much else to do in Mission beach we jump on the bikes and ride, past where we had walked yesterday and on to Bingil bay round the point.
We stopped on the way at Clump mountain National park and climbed up the hill to a lookout over the bay

Continued on and cycled down to the beach which was nice but the water looked far too cold to have a dip so we cycled back to home for lunch.

A relaxing afternoon where i get some practice at Knot tying and Carmen reads her book and later head out fishing again with the hope of catching dinner (as we don't really have much else in the cupboard), Carmen is straight in with a Bream and when we get it out of the water we are both sure its the same manky one as yesterday!!
The next one feels like a huge fish and this has definately got to be big enough to eat so Carmen reels it in and I clamber down to the waters edge to try and land the beast, when we get it to the surface its a great big crab and we've hooked him through the claw. We are just trying to work out how we are going to unhook the thing and luckily he comes off of his own accord so fingers all intact we return to Polly and head off into (the small) town where luckily the supermarket is still open and so its a BBQ feast for tea.

Day 68
Time to pack up and head off for Innisfail to spend a few days with Dean and Tammy, Peters brother and his wife and on Peters recommendation we stop at Etty bay on the way for a look,

 lovely beach but the weather isn't that hot so we return to the van and just as we get in a giant Cassowarie strolls right past the front of us bringing our total to three!

Then we drive off up the road and just around the first corner what do we see but another Cassowarie on the roadside (that makes four).
Arrive in Innisfail and its lunchtime so we visit a little hut on the riverside where we have the best fish and chips of our trip so far and eat them overlooking the river. We put the call in to Dean and Tammy and they drive into town to meet us and guide us back to their house.
When we ariive its more like a Luxury resort with fantastic outdoor areas complete with a swimming pool and views across canefields and banana plantations to the mountains in the distance.

Tammy announces (much to our delight) that its 'wine o'clock' and so we setlle down for a few drinks and tell them all about our trip so far.
The BBQ goes on and we are treated to a wonderful Greek lamb and salad dinner and we both think that they are going to have trouble getting rid of us at this rate!
A few more wines around the chimeneia and before we all know it its late and time for us to retire to our queen sized bed and a good nights sleep.

Day 69
Woke up and went to the loo, had a look at the clock in the kitchen and see that it is only 20 to 6 so thinking it is much too early return to bed for some more sleep. When we finally do get up look at the clock again and see that it is still 20 to 6!! (the clock had stopped)
We could all tell we had a few wines the night before but a hearty breakfast of poached eggs and ham we all feel a lot better and ready to face the day. We jump in the car and are taken on a sightseeing tour of Innisfail and the surrounding area stopping first at Flying fish point and Dean and Tammy show us the location of the shack they lived in when they were first married. Lovely spot down there but we are warned that there are crocs about and so stay in the car. Just as we are leaving we look down the road and would you believe it another Cassowarie is strolling along in a creek bed (No. 5 and we are beginning to wonder if these things are endangered at all!)

On to another local hot spot Paronella park and literally as soon as the engine is turned off we are shark hunted by the staff, they are right up to the car trying to entice us in but having been there before Dean tells us not to go in and we walk just round the corner to a pedestrian suspension bridge where you can see the whole thing for free.

Jose Paronella built the whole thing for his wife (not quite impressive as the Taj Mahal but still pretty good).
We return to the car and the sharks are out again but we ignore them and drive just across the road to the first of the local watering holes the Mena creek hotel where we stop for a 'hair of the dog'and a burger for lunch.
All feeling 100% better we continue through lots of canefields and we know we are in cane country now with little railways taking the cane to the factory and lots of banana plantations which are now looking a lot more healthy (they were destroyed in the cyclone). In the middle of what must be thousands of acres of cane we stop at our second watering hole, the Currajah hotel for a beer.
Our tour complete we head back our luxury spa resort and Dean has promised us his Master chef dish Crayfish pasta made with crays he caught on a recent fishing trip.
When he gets the cray out of the fridge it is like nothing you have ever seen before, huge with massive legs and the thing weighs a ton!

It certainly is a masterchef dish as well, beautiful and we wash it down with more wine and chat on into the night where we discuss tomorrows itinerary and are promised a swim at Josephine falls. All cocksure I tell them I will be straight in but begin to regret it almost straight away when we warned that the mountain water will be freezing.

Day 70
Up and after a fresh tropical fruit platter for breakfast (they will never get rid of us now) we are out in the car again to Worannooran National park and the now infamous Josephine falls.
Walk up tp the falls and thank god there are already quite a few people in and swimming about.
True to my word I am (after sunning myself on a rock first) straight in and luckily its not as cold as I thought, in fact its lovely and there is a natural waterslide down a rock and into the pool.

After a few slides we continue on to another swimming spot Golden hole but there is nobody there and signs warning about crocs in the water. Dean and Tammy can hardly believe it as they used to spend days in the water down there but not wanting to loose a limb I obey the signs and dont bother going in.
Another short drive and we arrive at the Boulders, a gorge with huge boulders (hence the name) where we stop for a lovely picnic lunch and after a short walk arrive at a place called Devils pool.
An aboriginal legend talks of the spirit of a woman who entices young out of town men into the pool where she claims them for herself and they are sucked into a network of underground caves and are never seen again.

There are plenty of signs telling you that people have died here and being a young out of town man I'm not going to chance it and so stay safely on shore.
Thirsty work sighseeing so we call in at another pub in the middle of the canefields the Garradunga (Garra) where we enjoy a cold beer and on our way back through town complete our tour of the local pubs by stopping at the Imperial hotel (Impey) for a drink.
Another treat for dinner this evening in the form of a steak (Far better than any $10) with Tammy's
special pepper sauce which all goes down very nicely indeed and a few more wines in front of the chimenea to wash it all down round off another beautiful day.

Airlie beach to Jourama falls

Day 58
A milestone day today, my first haircut since leaving Sydney as the afro was getting a bit big.

 Before

After

Packed up Polly and headed for Bowen (Famous for Mangoes and the location for a lot of the filming for the film Australia) and on the way stopped at our next 'big thing, the big Mango just outside Bowen next to a helpful tourist information office. The mango itself was pretty big but unlike the big banana you couldn't go inside it, it was just there on the side of the road and a little plaque told us that it had cost $90,000 to build!! (I thought i could have done it for half of that and thought about emailing the council to tell them).

Did a circuit of Bowen only to find all of our prefered campsites campsites (ones near the nice beaches) were booked out but finally found a spot on Queens beach which actually turned out to be OK.
Set up and had a stroll along the beach and then popped just across the road to the local pub.

Seemed a bit rough at first with lots of loud youths and people with missing teeth, but luckily it was darts night and so soon filled up with the two competing teams.
Turns out both teams were both from the same pub but they had different jerseys. We stayed for a few rounds (of beer and darts) and headed home.

Day 59
Up in the morning and as we hadnt been able to stay at the nice beach we packed our lunch, jumped on the bikes and headed for horseshoe bay right up around the end of Queens beach.
Arrived at the lovely beach, a little bay surrounded by big rocks (Ill be exploring those later I thought)
Settled in for the day and although the sand wasnt as nice as Whitehaven beach the water was just as lovely, so lovely in fact that it prompted Carmens 2nd swim of the trip (theres no stopping her now!).

There was coral just off the beach as well so I donned my snorkel and went for a paddle around which was really good but it was pretty cold so after a swim spent the next hour warming up in the sun.

Then it was off to explore those rocks, brilliant and i could have spent hours hopping about ("you did" says Carmen).

As the sun went down on another perfect day we cycled back to the campsite for a BBQ dinner and bed.

Day 60
Packed up again in the morning and on to Townsville (150km's up the road) and we are excited because we are going to catch up with Davey, our old flatmate from Sydney who was in town for a family wedding.
Checked into a campsite close to where he was staying and parked next to a familiar van.

It was the two lads who we had first seen in Noosa and then again in Hervey bay (where i gave them a jump start, not that they were grateful!) and then again in Airlie beach! Not the most talkative young men so we asked tham where they were going next just to make sure we could avoid that place!
walked along the Strand (promenade) to meet Davey in the Sea view hotel, a lovely art deco pub right on the water. When he arrived we both thought it was some dosser approaching us and turned away but it was Davey, just with a beard. He explained that he had to have it for an acting job he is doing but we suspect he was in disguise as he is currently appearing in an Imperial leather advert and didnt want to be recognised.

Caught up over a few beers and got all the latest gossip on our Sydney friends.
Picked up some great fish and chips on the way home (much nicer than the campsite in 1770, not that it would have been difficult) and went straight on you tube and check out Davey's soap ad.

Day 61
Up and its on the bikes over to Daveys hotel as he's cooking breakfast this morning, bacon and egss are on the menu and a chance to meet his dad and sister who are also staying in the same hotel for the wedding. Dined on the balcony looking out over the bay and the Strand.

After a great breakfast were off to do some fishing and to catch our dinner but it was low tide and the fish werent biting yet so we return to the hotel for a dip in the pool and a relax in the spa.

After a while sunning ourselves and convinced that there must be fish off the rocks we return to the same spot and almost immediately we all catch something. Only small ones but we persevere and Davey lands a cod that is almost worth eating but not quite big enough. A few more of the same sort of size and I am beginning to wonder if there are any fish in the sea that are big enough to be eaten. We must have caught half a dozen fish but again none of them big enough to take home with us.

To console ourselves we head off into town to track down a $10 dollar T-bone steak ($9.90 actually) that we had seem advertised in the paper earlier. Pretty good it was as well, still not up to the high standard that had been set in the Trinity but good all the same (I think we have been spoilt in Sydney all this time and didn't know it).
Rode home in the dark with no lights (stupid we now) and nearly ended up in the mangroves with the crocs a few times but made it safely and vowed to take our lights next time.


Day 62 (23.07.11 and our Two months on the road anniversary)
A day trip to Magnetic island, cycled to the ferry and took our bikes across on the 20 minute journey, just across the water. You can see the island from Townsville and we had both heard good things about it so were looking forward to it.
Arrived and whilst everyone else jumped on the bus we donned our helmets and took off, first along Nelly bay which was nice and then continued over the first hill to Picnic bay which was quite a ride, strolled along the promenade there but decided not to have our picnic just yet and so returned via Nelly bay again and over another hill (Mountain Carmen says) to Gordon bay and Alma bay.

Alma bay was lovely but we had seen coral just offshore at Gordon bay so returned there for lunch and a snorkel.

All excited with my waterproof camera i rushed in, swam out quite a way and started snapping away. As soon as i had taked one picture though i got the 'memory card full' message on my camera and so swam back to shore annoyed. The coral hadn't been as good as Horseshoe bay off Bowen though so it didnt really matter. More rocks to clamber over and explore kept me busy whilst Carmen read the paper and before long it was time to head back.
So it was up and over the "mountain" again and back to the port to catch the ferry.

By the time we got there it felt like we had done a stage of the tour de france and if Cadell evans is reading this (im sure he is) you should go to magnetic island for your training for next year!
Cycled home in the dusk (Didint have lights again!!).

Day 63
Time to move out of our camp site and unsure of our next stop we head over to Daveys hotel to park up. This was the morning after the wedding and so we weren't surprised that he didnt answer his phone and so thought we would take a stroll around the Sunday markets which weren't that good (unless you wanted a stuffed cane toad) so after an hour we call again but he's still not answering...
So a stroll along the strand and another call (and text) and this time he answered, well i think it was him but he didnt sound good. We thought we would give him some more time so went shopping and then turned up at his door after another hour or so and he let us in.
Looked like he had a big night and once we made him a cup of tea he regained some colour and told us all about it...
Whilst he was in a nice hotel we took our chance to use the facilities and so did some washing and cooking and hung around on the balcony drinking tea whilst Davey regained consiousness and showed us the photos he had taken in one of his roles as wedding photographer (the other was master of ceremonies). Once he had come to properly he suggested that instead of heading off out of town that we stay with him in his hotel apartment for the night and not wanting to dissapoint him we agreed (it didnt take much arm twisting).
Headed out in the afternoon for some more fishing, determined to catch something to eat and it wasnt long until we had all caught fish. Would you believe it they were too small to keep!

Its just as well that fishing is quite enjoyable in itself and that we werent relying on it to eat because we would have gone very hungry by now.
Thirsty work fishing so we headed to the pub  to talk about the one that got away and then treated ourselves to a Thai take away (Our first in two months!) which we ate in front of the tele (Oh how quickly we slip back into our old ways) and Davey kindly let us have his room with two single beds (he took the couch).

Day 64
You would think sleeping in a proper bed inside that we would have had a lie in this morning.
Oh no and in fact were up even earlier than usual (6.45 for some reason), crept out to make a cupa and try not to wake Davey and returned to the room to drink it. Half an hour later and the making of the second cup did wake Davey so made him a tea and we were all up.
Davey cooked us another hearty breakfast (good service at this hotel) which we enjoyed on the balcony. Started to pack the van and the family had donated all of their left over food so we were stocked up and ready to go. Dropped davey off in town as his flight was in the afternoon and said our goodbyes and with a tear in our eye we drove off.

Destination unknown we drove up the highway and decided to turn off and drive up the Paluma ranges. Great winding drive (20kms took an hour) up the mountain in search of a rainforest campsite we arrive at Paluma. Now if Anna Bligh (premier of Queensland) is reading this (and im sure she is) we would like to give some constructive feedback about the tourist information and signage. Its crap!
We did a couple of circuits of the very small village in search of the signposted tourist information to obtain our camping permit but couldn't find anything, all relavant phone numbers were unanswered and so after a frustrating half an hour we drove back down the mountain (another hour), stopping briefly at little crystal creek.

 and continued along the highway to Jourama falls and enjoyed a cheap nights camping in a National park. Another first for Polly was not one but two creek crossings to get to the campsite and she seemed to enjoy getting her toes wet.