Cassowary Falls

Wednesday we took a drive up to the town of Daintree and went for a walk to Cassowary Falls. It was a bit of a rip-off; we had to pay $10 each to walk through private property but the falls were pretty nice and refreshing at the end. 

Indi was happy because there was a horse lazing around the front gate. She named him ‘Fortune’. 

The walk took us through an open paddock along a creek, then through some denser forest where there was a little pool and lots of big rocks

We followed this creek along until we got to Cassowary Falls. It was beautiful and green and cool, and we had it all to ourselves. We all jumped in for a swim. The boys swam all the way across to the waterfall on the other side, but I wasn’t that game! 

Indi taking in the view

Little freshwater Perch came up to greet us

The Great Barrier Reef

Snorkelling on the Reef has got to be one of the best things I’ve ever done. You really can’t appreciate the beauty of it until you see it for yourself. There are so many different types of fish and coral all combined in this magical underwater rainbow wonderland.

We jumped on a boat in Cairns and headed out to Moore Reef, which took about 90 minutes. Unfortunately we picked a windy day with a fairly decent sized swell, resulting in LOTS of sea sickness onboard! We were ok but Indi had a bit of a chuck in the last 10 minutes of the trip. I think Keanu might have felt a bit nauseous but he fell asleep about 30 minutes in so he was fine when we got out there. There wasn’t too many people on the boat--about 60 I think--and I reckon about 50 of them spent the majority of the ride with their heads in paper bags!

The company we choose to go with have a big floating pontoon on the reef. It’s great with little kids; they have a little swimming area for kids and an underwater observatory area and a semi-submersible boat that takes you around the reef. Lots of things to amuse the non-swimmers! Craig and I took turns looking after Keanu on board or in the swimming area while the other snorkelled with Indi.

Indi was AMAZING. She’d used a snorkel in the pool last summer but she kept saying she forgot how to do it. Well, she was wrong. She could hardly wait to get in the water and once she was in there was no stopping her! 

It was so funny snorkelling alongside her; at first she couldn’t keep her head down for more than a few seconds because every time she saw something exciting she’d stick her head up and tell everyone! Then she realised she could talk underwater, so she was babbling her head off while we were swimming around. 

This is ‘Wally’ the Maori Wrasse. He is pretty friendly; he comes right up to the surface and  he lets people pat him on the back. 

It was pretty rough out there for most of the day; big swell kept washing over us and filling our snorkells with water and the current was fairly strong but Indi spent a good couple of hours in the water throughout the day. Needless to say, she slept like a log last night! The first thing she said when she got up this morning was 'Mum can we go snorkelling again?'

Despite the rough water and overcast weather, it was an awesome day. There really is nothing like it. We've even been considering doing a dive course when we get home so next time we can scuba and see even more (and yes, there will be a next time!)

Yeppoon to Townsville

We spent Tuesday night in a van park in Yeppoon right on the beach. They had no powered sites left which was a bit of a bummer. but at least we got to have a hot shower and get some washing done. 

We’ve been having a bit of trouble with the battery in the van. Well, not so much the battery as the wiring between the van and the car. The wire is too thin to charge the battery properly while the freezer is running. We have two batteries now and we bought the trickle charger with us so it’s not too big a deal but we’ll have to change the wiring when we get back home.

Anyway (there I go again, trailing off!) where was I? Oh yeah, Yeppoon. We went down to the beach before we left on Wednesday morning. The tide was low and I mean LOW; it’s a loooong walk to get to the water! It’s still a bit funny to look out at the ocean and see no waves.

We drove around the point to Emu Park on the way out. There is this cool sculpture out there on the headland called The Singing Ship. It’s a tribute to Captain Cook.

The upright parts are actually pipes so when the offshore wind blows its ‘sings’; a really eerie, haunting sound that is supposed to be what the wind sounds like in the sails. 

From there we drove up to another little park just north of Mackay. We didn’t stop in Mackay but it looked like a really nice town. The van park that we stayed at had this gorgeous rainforest walking trail out the back but we didn’t get any photos. By the time we set up and went for a little wander, it was dark. We picked a bad night to stay there too; the paddock full of sugar cane right next to the park was ready to be harvested so we were quite abruptly woken at the first light by the massive harvester starting up and working his way through the cane! Oh well, at least we got a good early start Thursday morning! 

We stopped at Bowen on the way through and had lunch at a cafe on top of a hill. It had an awesome view of the ocean and of Bowen (and not a bad feed either). We even saw some whales playing in the bay! 

From there we headed straight up to Townsville to see the boys. We were very happy to set the van up and be able to relax for a few days without having to get in the car! 

Beaches and Rainforests

Day 4 and about 1400 kilometres. We’ve seen some beautiful rainforest and beaches already and the weather is so bloody WARM! We’ve been sniggering smarmily because apparently the weather back home is horribly windy and hailing. 

We spent the first night in a caravan park at Woolgoolga. We’d planned on going further but it was getting dark so we pulled into a powered site. The next morning on our way out we took a quick drive up to the headland because Steve hadn’t seen it before. It’s a magnificent view, over 180 degrees; the photos don’t really do it justice.

From Woolgoolga, we headed up to Coolangatta for a quick catch up with my dad. As usual, the Turkish pizza restaurant was delicious and we left there with very full bellies! 

That night we pulled into a free camp area near Landsborough called Jowarra Park. It was really nice and shady with lots of bush turkeys wandering around. We had a little fire there and Steve pulled out his didgeredu for a little play. The next morning we followed a short walking trail through a patch of rainforest  There were some MASSIVE old figs and rose gums. The kids really enjoyed it. I can’t wait until we get up to the Daintree rainforest; they’re going to love it!

This strangler fig looked amazing;

Once the kids had had a bit of a run around, we jumped back in the car and headed towards Noosa, but we ended up at Coolum beach. Not much swell, but the boys went in for a quick surf anyway. The kids also decided that a swim was in order. 

We then drove the coastal road up to Noosa Heads; what a beautiful drive it is too. We’ve been blessed with gorgeous warm sunny weather and the ocean was sparkling azure blue. We had to head into Noosaville to buy a few things for the van; some light globes and a new battery. We had a borrowed one from a mate and it died the night before. Well, we thought it died. Turns out it was just a fuse but we needed to buy our own one anyway. 

We found another free campsite in a small town called Tiaro. It was gorgeous too; right on the banks of a the Mary River and we woke up to the sounds of the bush birds. Steve got up really early this morning to get some sunrise photos and saw a platypus! He didn’t get a picture though because by the time he’d set the lens up properly the little fella had gone. 

The kids had a good morning playing down near the river. 

Now we are back on the road heading toward Yepoon. We’ve decided to get a site in a van park tonight; I need to do some washing and we’re all in desperate need of a shower!