Days 1 – 7: Home to Port Douglas

7th – 13th June, 2015

Our next adventure, exploring Cape York, began with a long, fast ‘transfer’. A ‘transfer’ is driving just to get somewhere else.  It took us 4 days to cover the 1833K from home to Port Douglas where we met our friends Gill and Ric. From home we went up the Burnett Hwy to meet the Bruce Highway just north of Maryborough. Stopping at Biggenden we were surprised to meet Keiran and Alan in their Jabiru – small world. Lunch turned out to be coffee and cake – public holiday and only the pub was open. That night we spent at Alan and Cheree’s home in Gladstone. A very pleasant evening.

Next day on to and past Mackay to camp beside the Leap Hotel. The Leap was named after the story of a young aboriginal mother who was being pursued by the police (conflict between aboriginals and white settlers in the early days of white settlement was frequent). Rather than be captured, the mother, carrying her infant, climbed Mt Mandurana (now commonly known as ‘The Leap’) and jumped to her death. Her baby girl survived the fall.

This very well patronised, free campsite is well grassed and pleasant and the Hotel amenities are available to campers. We had an average dinner there before settling down for the night. Not a good night’s sleep though. Getting used to a different bed is always unsettling, but the traffic was just a bit much – after all we were right beside the Bruce Highway!

Early morning at The Leap - bit chilly!

Early morning at The Leap – bit chilly!

Off to Townsville next day, but first a stop at Whitsunday Gold just outside Proserpine – a coffee plantation and cafe we discovered on our last trip here. The coffee was just as delicious as ever, and the savoury muffins were to die for. Don’t miss this little gem when you’re up this way.

Enjoying morning tea at Whitsunday Gold.

Enjoying morning tea at Whitsunday Gold.

Arriving in the afternoon at Townsville we booked into the Rowes Bay Caravan Park. It’s fair enough – very clean amenities and a grassy place to set up camp. Because it wasn’t such a long day today we went for a walk along the coastal walk from there to The Strand and back, stopping for a meal on the way. The council has done a lot of work on this part of Townsville. The walk follows the coast all the way, with a very impressive boardwalk to take you around Kissing Point. Also the area that had been army land on Kissing Point has now been redeveloped and is excellent – lots of sculptures, information about the indigenous and white history, a layout of the Battle of the Coral Sea and first hand reports of being in Townsville during WWII when it was being bombed. Excellent work Council.

Interesting sculptures along the coastal walk in Townsville.

Interesting sculptures along the coastal walk in Townsville.

Next morning off to Port Douglas, via Cairns where we stopped for lunch at the Paleo Cafe. Arrived in Port Douglas about 3.30pm relieved we’d be having a rest for a few days. Here Ric and Gill had very conveniently arrived a few days earlier and booked into a two-bedroom apartment. We’ve spent the last 3 days here relaxing, soaking up the tropical, tourist atmosphere, doing an anti-rain dance (it’s rained heavily every night – not good for our 4WD tracks) and eating way too much. This is a beautiful place. It’s great to be in the tropics this winter, and Port Douglas just shouts of tropical paradise.
This afternoon Gill and I re-provisioned and now we’re prepared for every eventuality, we hope!

To see more photos from this part of the trip CLICK HERE.

Beautiful Port Douglas, from the lookout.

Beautiful Port Douglas, from the lookout.

Days 25 & 26: Gladstone and Eurimbula National Park

 

Cheree, Alan, Steve and Denise

Cheree, Alan, Steve and Denise

Gladstone Harbour with Curtis Island in the distance.

Gladstone Harbour with Curtis Island in the distance.

Very pleasant day catching up with my oldest friends, Cheree and Alan who took us for a drive around town and to the lookouts. Gladstone Harbour is a muti-commodity harbour exporting primarily mining-related resources. 70% of Australia’s coal exports go through this harbour, and we can certainly attest to incredibly long coal trains running parallel to the road as we travelled in.

On Curtis Island they are building export facilities for the gas from the inland coal-seam gas projects. And of course bauxite smelters and alumina exports are synonymous with Gladstone. We had a very restful time with Cheree and Alan – nice to not have to wonder where the loo is in the middle of the night! They have a lovely home high on a hill with views to the ocean – and the smelter, which actually looks very pretty all lit up at night.
Because of their lush tropical garden they have lots of birds and have encouraged them by feeding them each morning.

for the best crab sandwiches in the whole world!

for the best crab sandwiches in the whole world!

Monday morning we headed off to Eurimbula, a national park just north of Town of 1770. We stopped at Miriamvale to partake of what it is famous for – crabs! We both had a crab sandwich for lunch – yummo! It was a 15K drive in to the Eurimbula campsite on a 4WD-only track (ie narrow, rough, corrugated, loose gravel and the last 7K on sand). Needless to say after such a tough drive in we expected to have the place to ourselves – not so!! It was about half full with fisher-people. We set up camp right beside the beach, but the kayaking and beach-walking weren’t calling us due to a strong onshore breeze, and swimming in salt water is no fun if you don’t have a fresh water shower to go finish off with, which the campsite didn’t (and our open-air shower is a bit ‘revealing’ when there are other people around). Bit of a ho-hum stop for us, though we did enjoy a lovely walk along the beach at sunset.

Click here to view our photos of Gladstone and Eurimbula Beach.

Sunset.

Sunset.

Day 24: Byfield to Gladstone

A church group started arriving at the campsite late yesterday. While they were all quiet by a reasonable hour last night, they were all awake and making heaps of noise way too early this morning. Let’s just say the thoughts I was having weren’t suitable for church!
It rained last night and Arty stayed nice and dry – he came through his first test with rain well, though it was only light. Still yet to be severely tested.
Got away mid-morning, waiting for Arty to dry out before closing him up – we’re staying with Cheree and Alan in Gladstone tonight and tomorrow night, so didn’t want him to stay wet for a couple of days.
Came south through Yeppoon and Emu Park. Had revolting coffee and carrot cake from a bakery at Yeppoon. On to Rockhampton where we had lunch at Mt Archer. It’s a very steep climb up the 600 or so metre high mountain. The picnic area at the top was well worth it: well kept, grassy, tables, BBQs, etc and a short walk to lookouts over Rockhampton and Yeppoon. Pleasant break.
On to Gladstone where we’ve had a lovely meal and beginning the catch-up with Cheree and Alan.