We left Cairns over a week ago, but have been in the jungle (Cape Tribulation) with out internet so this is a little late. I will post the jungle story soon.
Cairns is surrounded by sugar cane farms. They have just started harvesting.
Category Archives: Queensland
Paronella Park, Mena Creek, North Qld
We heard about the ruins of a Spanish Castle in North Queensland from some other travellers and were immediately intrigued.
But how do I describe this place and the magic of its history?
The short story is….. (this may be the longest short story you ever read)
Jose Paronella was born in Spain in 1887. From childhood he had a dream to own his own Spanish Castle. As he got older his dream was to incorporate pleasure grounds, ballroom, restaurant, theatre, tennis courts, boating on a lake, and lots more. He wanted to entice people to come from all over the world to visit his beautiful castle and gardens.
In 1913 he came to Australia, worked hard for eleven years making his fortune starting out as a cane cutter, then a cook, then buying run down sugar cane farms, doing them up and selling them at a profit.
He found the perfect land for his castle and pleasure grounds in North Queensland. Thirteen acres of rainforest beside Mena Creek falls.
He returned to Spain for a bride and honeymooned all over Europe gathering ideas for the castle and pleasure grounds.
Mission Beach, North Qld.
On the way from Abergowrie State Forest to Mission Beach the highway has ‘possum crossings’ set up, and signs to ‘cyclone shelters’ at each town (not necessarily for the possums). We stopped in Cardwell for one of their ‘famous Crab Sandwiches’ and they were seriously good, filled with fresh crab. From Cardwell the view across to beautiful Hinchinbrook Island was amazing. Lots of signs along the beach saying this area is crocodile habitat, so no swimming here.
Broadwater Camp, Abergowrie State Forest, North Qld
This area is known as ‘The Wet Tropics’
Continue reading Broadwater Camp, Abergowrie State Forest, North Qld
Townsville, Qld
Townsville was such a surprisingly beautiful city. With Magnetic Island so close its a place we would definitely come back to visit and stay awhile. Having stayed on Magnetic Island a few years ago, we didn’t visit this trip, instead we stayed at Rowes Bay Caravan Park right on the beach with a magnificent view of Magnetic Island across the water. They dont take bookings except for their units, and they encourage people to keep extending for as long as they like. This worked well for us as we kept busy exploring Townsville and visiting a physio for Tim’s shoulder injury.
Airlie Beach, Whitsundays, Qld
The Whitsundays are a group of 74 tropical islands. From any vantage point, they look majestic.
Smalley’s Beach, Cape Hillsborough National Park, Qld
I can not begin to describe how many BILLIONS of butterflies were at Smalley’s Beach camp site. 99.9% were Blue Tiger Butterflies (Tirumala Hamata) with a few others sprinkled in. The trees shimmered and the bush never stopped moving.
Continue reading Smalley’s Beach, Cape Hillsborough National Park, Qld
Rockhampton and Keppel Island, Qld
Apparently, when it comes to crocodiles on the east coast of Australia, any that appear south of Gladstone are relocated north, due to density of human population. Those north of Gladstone fall into 3 categories, 1/ requiring relocation due to aggressive behaviour or straying into areas where humans live, 2/ requiring monitoring, but leave them alone unless they pose a problem 3/ requiring humans to relocate as the croc was there first.
Tannum Sands, Qld
It can be difficult finding a camping spot during school holidays, but Tannum Sands caravan park was spacious, green and very clean. No internet or phone signal but each site had an antenna point for free to air TV.
The beach was beautiful and the foreshore has either been recently redeveloped or is just immaculately maintained. There is a great bike/walking path and lots of BBQ facilities, picnic tables, amenities freshly painted in light blue and aqua, new play equipment and numerous beach access paths with outdoor showers scattered along the foreshore as well as a Surf Life Saving club with a patrolled beach area. They have bottles of vinegar in posts along the beach for stinger attacks. It was lovely riding our bikes and exploring the area starting at the Wild Cattle Creek. Cyclone Marcia damaged some of the access points to the creek and beach but it was still a beautiful place. Their speed bumps are rows of turtles, really cute, but unsettling. The twilight foreshore market was fabulous, lots of home made art and crafts, clothing, food, as well as buskers.
Baffle Creek, Qld.
Baffle Creek is near the coast between Bundaberg and Gladstone, being the only place we could find with a vacancy over Easter we took it.
Having been warned about the mozzies and billions of other bugs that bit, we felt a little down hearted about coming. And yes, everything we were told was true, but only at sunset. During the day there were no bitting insects around, and even at dark not many. This may be because so many campers had outdoor fires at night (fire drums can be hired and fire wood bought from the office), and we lit the Sandalwood Mosquito Sticks we were given. Thank you Agneszka, I love the smell and will be stocking up next time we are near Bunnings, and they dont make me hyperactive like the other mozzie coils.
The camp ground is flat, grassy with some trees on each site. There is a private boat ramp and little jetty on the property, about 1km away. We could easily ride our bikes down. The creek is more the size of river than a creek, its salt water, tidle, has mangroves along the sides and sandbars at low tide.
