The Tropical North of Queensland..Above the clouds and below the water!

We stayed at Airlie Beach for a full week because it was an attractive park with huge tropical trees, amazing bird life, and quite reasonably priced. We did some admin things like doctor checkups (Skin and Mole!), Haircuts and Mail drops. The drive further up the coast saw the vegetation getting more and more tropical..the sugar cane fields, banana plantations etc reminded us that we were really up the north of the country. The constant humidity is draining, and the bush looks not only thick and lush but quite threatening and prickly in a way. Rivers now routinely have “beware of the crocodiles” signs, and the sea is dangerous because of the lethal Jellyfish. We passed the huge and interesting Hinchinbrook Island which is close to the coastal delta and has high mountains, thick forests and lots of crocs! Mission Beach was postcard perfect and we had a park right on the beach for only $15.00 per night. It is crescent shaped, lined with coconut palms and looking over the turquoise water with islands dotted in the bays. Only thing was..you can’t swim there in summer cos of the box jellyfish....bummer! The wind started blowing steadily and stayed that way the whole time we were in Q...so much so that we did not think that a trip to the Great Barrier Reef was an option since it is a 2 hour fast cat trip and in the 25 and more knot winds not only would that be unpleasant but we would not see much. So each place we went to with the intention of going to a coral cay never happened so we moved on.
From Mission Beach we stopped at a place called Paronella Park..an amazing and hard to describe place. A Spanish man had come to Oz early last century and decided to build a castle to remind him of home. Over the years he built this amazing castle with gardens and features all set around this wonderful waterfall...the castle became the hub of the areas recreation with dance hall, movies, tennis courts, playgrounds, swimming holes and much more..acres of this fantastic fantasy which he had personally moulded hundreds of pots, railing supports and fountains.. Unfortunately the area is in a cyclone belt, and after two devastating cyclones he died and the family let it go to ruin. They have now turned it back into a wonderful attraction with night tours lighting up the lush botanical gardens and ruined castles, and interesting birds, butterflies and botanical species. The sheer scope of this man’s work is unbelievable..we really enjoyed it.
From there we travelled to the Atherton Tablelands where we stayed with a friend who had a coffee/banana/pawpaw farm overlooking the scenic mountains of the Great Dividing Range. It was great not having to cart the caravan up and down the passes to see all the sights..and there were many sights to see in that area. In Kuranda there is the historical railway that goes up the mountains, hewn by hand with tunnels raising from sea level to 750 meters to the top and going over the gorge and right next to a waterfall which literally flows past the train line. Then to descend back to the valley there is a 7.5 km cable way which soars over the gorge and rainforest, 60 meters in the air and with views of the whole coast...all with stops and guides. We managed a trip to Green Island which is a coral cay only an hour out of Cairns even tho it was windy and choppy. It was beautiful and lush but the snorkelling was not that great. We also visited the World Heritage Listed Daintree Rainforest area which is the last remaining untouched rainforest in the world with the area dating back to pre Gondwala land...very beautiful. Just what one pictures in a rainforest..vines, buttress trees, ferns. From there to the tip of the forest..Cape Tribulation, and also Cooktown..way up on the York Peninsula. One of the highlights of the stay was a complimentary Balloon trip! We got up at 4 am in the morning and were treated to seeing these giant balloons being filled with gas and light, and then being one of six balloons to soar into the air over the Mareeba Tablelands seeing the most spectacular sunrise over the mountains. It is really something to glide over the farmlands and see kangaroos hopping away below...then onto a champagne breakfast!
We truly loved this part of Queensland for its scenery and loads of wonderful things to see and do. However I would not want to be doing it in the “wet” season as the humidity was high even in the ‘dry”.
Now we start the long trek across the Gulf and Savannah way as we start going across the “Top End”....REAL OUTBACK!!!
More wildlife spotting!
We have seen a Cassowary in the wild..large flightless bird with blue neck..quite aggressive.
An Amathystine Python ..14 feet, yellow and black markings
Feral Pig
Gorgeous butterflies including the radiant blue Ulyssis Butterfly
Rare Mareeba Rock Wallaby
Photos:
Paul in the Balloon with sunset over Mareeba
Mission Beach sundowners
Paranella Park ..part of the castle grounds
Paul on Beach of Green Island..Great Barrier Reef off Cairns
View taken in Skyrail Cable car showing gorge and railway in distanceGiant Curtain Fig in Daintree Rainforest