Cooktown QLD

Cooktown is a small town beside the Endeavour River, named by Captain Cook. His ship, The Endeavour, was damaged when they hit the Great Barrier Reef  and they had to beach and repair the ship at Cooktown in  June 1770. The Endeavour's anchor, & one of its 6 cannon's, is in the Captain Cook Museum, an old convent. Cooktown is surrounded by rainforest covered hills and at the foot of Mt Cook. It grew in size due to a gold rush and still has some of the old pubs. We enjoyed locally caught wild barramundi and prawns. There is a great coffee shop right across from the Captain Cook memorial with views of the river bank where you can sit  and enjoy the warm weather, without glass!

There is a great 360 degree view from Grassy Hill of the river and ocean. The Botanical Gardens are lovely and shady on a hot day.

We stayed for 3 days which was very relaxing. We enjoyed the warm weather which reached 27 degrees every day. We enjoyed a swim in the pool every day. It was warm in the evenings too. The Big 4, Cooktown Holiday Park was set amongst beautiful trees and ferns, but our site was a bit close to the road to the Industrial area, which had work starting early in the morning. 

We swam in the caravan park pool which was lovely. Hard to believe it is winter up here. It was our most northerly town to visit, and tropical with palm trees and frangipanis.



Cooktown wharf

Cooktown wharf  and croc warning



anchor from The Endeavour

Captain Cook landed at Cooktown after hitting the Barrier Reef

View of Endeavour River from Grassy Hill



Looking down at Cooktown

Cooktown by the Endeavour River

Enjoying the warm weather

Statue of Captain Cook in main Street

View from Grassy Hill out to sea

 

Red Ginger plant in Cooktown Botanic Gardens

Croc spotting by the Endeavour River

Musical instrument  ship by Endeavour river

 

 

Atherton Tableland



It was a 3 hour drive to from Mission Beach to Atherton even though it was only 180 kms. This was due to travelling over the highest peaks in Qld, on roads like the Clyde mountain for about 2 hrs. We also came across lots of road works. Saw lots of interesting crops growing:  Bananas, avocadoes, tea and more sugar cane. Unfortunately there was no where to stop and photograph them. Lots of signs of things crossing the road: tree kangaroos, cassowaries, sugar trains, and cattle.

We enjoyed the quiet Woodland, van park, also on edge of the rainforest, but it went down to about 8 degrees, which felt cold in our van.

 "life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning how to dance in the rain." With this view we completed the waterfall circuit drive and walks, near Atherton, the next day. We have to expect rain in this part of Qld.

 

The Crater, volcanic crater, in Mt Hypipamee, National  Park.

Dinner Falls

 

Millstream Falls _ widest Falls in Australia.

 

Millstream Falls

 

Lots of these signs around Mission Beach & Atherton area

 

Spectacular Milla  Milla Falls 

 

Milla Milla Falls

 

Zilla Falls - in the rain

 

Ellinjah Falls -also in the rain!

 

On the waterfall circuit - the scenic route

 

 

Walking in the rainforest

Mission Beach

Mission Beach

 

We stayed at Hideaway Caravan Park, just across the road from Mission Beach. Mission Beach is a  beautiful sandy beach, lined with coconut palms and is where the rainforest meets the sea. " Hideaway " is a lovely, quiet, park on the edge of heritage listed rainforest, so we heard birds singing. It also has a sheltered  pool  and was warm enough for a swim. We loved the coffee & view from the café right on the beach front.  We saw council workers cutting coconuts for hazard reduction on the beach  so we collected a fresh coconut! It had lots of soft fruit & juice, & was delicious. We are looking forward to coming back here for 6 days later on.

 

Flowering sugar cane, near Mission Beach

View of Dunk Island from Mission Beach

View from great café in Mission Beach

Walk along Mission Beach

Freshly picked coconut from Mission Beach

Only cassowary we saw at Mission Beach

Mackay QLD

We had coffee overlooking Mackay marina which has a long breakwater you can drive along. We had a yummy seafood lunch at the Lighthouse Café at the Marina.

Big Mango at Bowen

 

Last kerosene Light house in Australia at Mackay Marina

we had the best beachfront caravan site with great ocean views at Blacks Beach Mackay

Enjoying the warm weather and views at Blacks Beach in Mackay

Mackay Marina


 

Townsville QLD



 

We enjoyed bike riding along the sea front at the Strand  for 2.2 kms, in Townsville. The views to Magnetic Island are beautiful. We will go there on our next trip here in a few weeks. We had our first swim at the salt water pool at one end of the Strand. It was a sunny 28 degrees and the water was a lovely 21 degrees. We bought tasty  fish & chips near the pier at Harold's.

 

We strolled along the shady river bank walk  and saw waterlilies, ducks and a number of turtles. we are keen to swim in the lovely pools here next time.

 

 

Bike ride along the Strand

 

Castle Hill from the Strand

Saltwater pool at the Strand



Swimming pool at Riverside , next to Ross River

View of Ross River with water lillies



Coloured snake at Ross River

Rockhampton QLD

We departed Canberra on a cold wet, winter's day and drove 4 days inland to reach some warmer weather in Queensland. We stayed at Wellington Caves, in a quiet caravan park but had a frosty morning, colder than Canberra. Our next night was at Narrabri showgrounds which was quiet but muddy in places. We drove longer days to reach Qld faster & stayed at Miles, a busy mining town, with lots of trucks driving through all night! They mine coal and LNG gas in the area. Possum Park, just  20kms, out of town, we heard was much quieter.

We were pleased to find Rockhampton warmer during the day, but started off cold at night. We are staying at Gracemere, 5 kms from Rocky. Rockhampton, is the Beef cattle capital, with lots of herds of Brahman cattle in the area. We enjoyed walking along the Fitzroy river which covers more than twice the area of Tasmania. Rockhampton is derived from "Rocks in the river"& "town on a river flat".

We visited the free zoo, whose keepers gave interesting talks, & saw endangered cassowaries close up. We didn't see any when we visited the Daintree Rainforest, where they still live, a few years ago.

We also saw chimps, who taught themselves to eat yogurt with a spoon. Two had come from Mogo Zoo. They are also endangered because of deforestation & people hunting them for meat. They encouraged people to recycle mobile phones & computer screens to reduce use of chemicals, cheaply mined in the Congo, which damages their habitat. The botanical gardens were huge & we saw some local birds at the café & lagoon.

We drove about, 30 minutes to Mt Archer National Park, which was over 600 metres elevation so great views of the Beserker ranges & Rockhampton. It has lots of tree ferns & grass trees ( black boys) & we saw some black cockatoos there. Very peaceful & quiet after the business of Rockhampton city.

Fitzroy River at Rockhampton

Bougainvillia on Fitzroy riverbank walk



Fitzroy River,which floods frequently, has crocs too.

Endangered cassowaries in Rockhampton zoo



Visiting parrot   in  Botanical Gardens cafe

Entering the warm weather zone!

View of hills from  Mt Archer National Park. 



View of Rockhampton & Fitzroy River from Mt Archer National Park