Cairns (Qld) to Sydney (Home) Oct 2018-Dec 2018 Post-10

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We collected the relatives from the airport on Saturday Oct 6th and to make life even easier we decided to pick up a hire car  from Port Douglass on our way up to the Daintree where we stayed for the first two nights. 

On the Sunday we did the Mount Sorrow walk. It is shown on the map with warnings “Very Steep – Experienced BushWalkers only” It’s about 7kms return through the rainforest so the good thing is it is fairly sheltered from the sun, but it is really really steep and difficult in parts because of all the tree roots. Any way we made it  but spent the next few days with very sore legs.  I was quite pleased that even our super fit Norwegian visitors felt sore for a couple of days.
The Daintree campsite was next to the beach but no swimming ‘cos of the crocs. We actually walked up the beach and into the mangroves and saw a couple of crocs in the water and on the bank so they really do exist just up the beach!

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After 2 nights we moved down to Port Douglas stopping for a walk at Mosman Gorge.  The next day we did a really good reef snorkelling trip. The boat had a couple of Marine Biologist in the crew so we had a several, pre dive talks which made it all the more interesting.

There is great concern about the reef and the effects of “coral bleaching” and these guys didn’t hold back about the current governments’ total lack of action on Climate Change and their $400M gift to some unknown conservation group . It was really rousing stuff, the only thing missing was a chorus of the The Internationale!  I really enjoyed it.

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After the reef dive we decided to go inland to the Atherton Tablelands staying a couple of nights at Lake Tinaroo. The next day William went mountain bike riding and the visitors and myself had a look around Atherton town which is a rather disappointing place. We went to the local “show” which was exceptionally disappointing especially as we had to pay to get in.

After Williams return from mountain bike riding (in one piece), we visited the really nice village of Yungaburra, had a good mooch around including the a walk along Peterson’s Creek which is a haven for wildlife including platypus, tree-kangaroos and wallabies

From Atherton we went back to Cairns and did the Aquarium and also the Sky Rail to Karunda. Going up in the cable car you get great view of the rainforest with two stops on the way to have a look around.

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The route back is on the train which  was built in 1891 and climbs 328m up the Mcalistair  range.  Karunda itself is the perfect tourist trap  but I must say we had a good lunch – one of the best curries I have had on the trip. The meal was  made even better with the arrival of two large water dragons snuffling around the tables looking for food and scaring some of the customers. William and Jan Ove had the tasting plate – Kangaroo, Emu and Crocodile. Sometimes being a vegetarian has it’s advantages.

We eventually saw the rellies off early on Thursday from Cairns airport. It had been a great few days.

After their departure, we decided to stay a few more nights in Cairns doing absolutely nothing until it was time to push on South. From Cairns we moved  South to Mission Beach. I saw another Cassowary and William went mountain bike riding. I think we could live at mission beach, it’s really laid back, just like ourselves.

We called in Paronella Park which is a park and residence in the rainforest built by a Spanish Gold Rush immigrant. It was well worth a visit, very quirky and quite amazing that it has lasted this long. Even had it’s own hydro-electric generating plant.

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From Mission beach we moved on to Townsville where we stayed for four nights. I found Townsville surprisingly nice. The camp site was north of the city on the Strand which runs along the water front to the city so cycling into the centre was really nice.

Unlike Cairns which is built around tourism and all that entails, Townsville is a city which happens to have a great beaches so there’s much more substance to it. I got seriously attacked by magpies. Fortunately I was on my bike and had my helmet on so no damage was done but it came as quite a shock when it happened especially as they don’t give up and make repeated attack – in my case three – I hate magpies.

From Townsville we continued south and stoped at Airlie Beach which we both expected to be some sleepy seaside village. It’s backpacker heaven. We stayed for three nights and did a day sailing on the “Whitsundays”. We chose a boat with a maximum of 8 people and spent the day just cruising about, plus did some snorkelling (not very good). Most of the day was spent under sail so it was really relaxing. The highlight was probably a pod of dolphins which decided to accompany us for a  couple of minutes – that was quite spectacular.

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Just before we arrived there had been two shark attacks nearby at Shute Harbour and after we left another fatality was reported.  So much for stinger suits to keep you safe!

From Airlie beach we found a National Park campsite at Cape Hillborough which is just North of Mackay – again right on the beach the only problem being sand flies. From there we moved to Cape Palmerston and then on to Yepoon.

From Yeppon we slowly wandered down the coast via Agnes Waters and Seventeen Seventy. 1770 is another place we thought we could live. We spent Melbourne Cup Day (6th November)  in Bundaberg,  I mention that because I haven’t been blogging regularly so that date (not that I know anything about horse racing) is stuck in mind.  Bundaberg was rather nice, we stayed on the beach at Bargara which is another place we think we could live.  

From Bundaberg we moved on to Hervey Bay and spend a couple of nights there. The only significant event there was getting William’s hammock repaired by the man next door who happened to have a sewing machine. We also managed to have the worst Chinese take away ever….

From Hervey Bay we moved to the Sunshine Coast so we knew we were really on our way home. We spent a night at the Sea Scout’s ground in Noosa which was a really good spot and easy cycling into town and then stayed with some friends for two nights on Bribie Island before heading onto Brisbane on Sat 17th November.

We parked the van outside the city and stayed at a hotel in the city for 4 nights. We caught up with Michael from Sydney on Friday (we had both forgotten how exhausting friends can be) but had a great Japanese meal in the city. It was lovely to catch up with him again.

As our tenants were due to vacate on Nov 29th we planned to arrive back on the 30th and move straight back into the apartment.
We decided that we would spend three nights at Freemans beach which is just south of Newcastle, this would give us an easy run into Sydney on the Friday and also give us a chance to unwind before hitting the big smoke.

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We spent four nights in Brisbane which was fine except that GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art) was between exhibitions and were setting up for the Asia Pacific Triennial exhibition which from what we could see looked like being very interesting .
In Brisbane we had stayed at a hotel in the city leaving Marge in storage in a Caravan Park near Eight Mile Plains. When we went back to pick her up we decided to stay two more nights (not in the storage area) as the place was quite nice, rather quiet and an easy bus ride into Brisbane.

Eventually on Friday 23rd November we tore ourselves away from Brisbane, moved south and stayed one night at Brunswick Heads before arriving in Coffs Harbour on Saturday 24th.

Whilst in Coffs we caught up with a friend (Mandy) who I knew from my day’s in London back in the 70’s/80’s. We went out for a really nice Indian meal. Had a good mooch around Coffs and went to see Bohemian Rhapsody on the Sunday evening. Can really recommend BH especially of you happen to a Freddie fan.

By this time we were really into “nearly home” mode – this is borne out by a lack of any photographs or interesting side trips….. From Coffs we went to Freemans Beach where we had the campsite almost to ourselves due to the rather inclement weather, rain and somewhat cold. It’s a great beach but the sea was much too rough for swimming. This probably wasn’t such a bad end to the trip, spending the last few day on some great beach with sparkling blue water, no people and surrounded by birdlife would have made travelling back to Sydney just that little bit less attractive.

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So here we are back in Sydney. It’s hard to believe that we were away for 12 months but looking at the map we covered quite a distance.

Marge has been spring cleaned and is up for sale – it will be sad to see her go: Lisa is back home and still as grumpy as ever but it was good to get her back: and we are very slowly getting back into a stationary life style.

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