Driving Round the World: Into Queensland and the Tropics

View over Gloucester

Having decided to ship from Brisbane in early July, before the Carnet expires, we are eager to get to the north of Queensland around Cairns. So after passing through Gloucester and reaching the Pacific Coast Highway we had three days of driving, to reach Brisbane, but managed to find some beautiful campsites en route.

Sunset over river at Macleans Campground

At the Macleans Campground site a few kms off the highway we managed to park beside a tidal river with beautiful views of the sunset reflected in the estuary. Just after we parked two dolphins swam right past the van, then in the last afterglow of the sunset tens of thousands of fruit bats - or flying foxes - flew over the site. an extraordinary sight which went on for a good 10 minutes. Finally as we were having dinner persistent lightning provided a fantastic lightshow in two separate clouds over the coast. No thunder, and no rain.

Lightning illuminating a cloud

Just south of Brisbane we stopped at Byron Beach where a headland marks the eastern most point of the Australian Mainland. From the viewpoint we were privileged to see a dozen or so dolphin playing in the waves, a small shark patrolling the shoreline, and out to sea several humpback whales breaching and playing.
Passing through Brisbane we headed north stopping for a night in the glasshouse mountains - an area of numerous sharp hills in a flat landscape which are the remains of ancient volcanic plugs.

Narrow gauge rails for cane trucks

Another couple of long days driving through mile upon mile of sugar cane fields with their snaking narrow gauge railways to take the cane to either a processing plant or a main rail terminal and we reached Townsville, and much warmer weather.

Wallaman Falls

Here the Great Dividing Range again approaches the coast and the scenery becomes more interesting, with more extraordinary places to visit. Wallaman Falls just north of Townsville is the longest single drop waterfall in Australia with a single fall of 265m. A morning walk down the track to the bottom of the gorge rewarded me with the sun progressively illuminating the falls, and growing the rainbow formed in its spray, a mesmerising sight.

Fan Palms

Queensland is home to the Cassowary - a prehistoric bird similar to an ostrich but with a blue head and red wattle, so we were keen to try and catch a glimpse of one. They are present in two areas - some forest near Mission Beach, and the Daintree Rainforest north of Cairns. Wanting to maximise our chances of seeing one we headed towards Mission Beach stopping in the Fan Palm Forest, no Cassowaries but remarkable fan palms. We then drove to the main campsite, getting the last available place when the caretaker said he had just seen a Cassowary crossing the main road in the centre of town!

We arrived in Cairns looking for the Tourist Information centre to find this weekend Cairns hosts one round of the international Ironman competition. So having found out about snorkelling on the Great barrier Reef we headed north to the Daintree as the road will be closed for 50kms tomorrow for the cycle element of the race.

Where the Rainforest meet the Ocean

The rainforest here tumbles down the mountains straight to the sandy beaches of the Coral Sea - beautiful. We spent a couple of days pottering along the coast past Cape Tribulation, and north towards Cooktown with the best campsite so far at Archers Point just south of Cooktown.

The birdlife continues to amaze us with a wide range of beautiful birds - something new almost every day.