The Fisherman's wife.....: Northern Queensland and the Cape York Peninsular

After another long day driving we spent a couple of nights at Innot hot springs which is a nice caravan park on Nettle creek where the water comes out at 70+ degrees. This place is well know by the Europeans for it’s health benefits and the water used to be bottled and sold for these benefits. The park has 6 pools filled with this water all at different temperatures. After it didn’t help heal Russ’ sore jaw we are sceptics!!

Our next stop was Cairns were we stayed for a week. We stopped off at Millstream falls (the widest falls in Australia) and Milla Milla falls, which was beautiful and tropical, surrounded by rainforest. We took the Rainforest to reef drive passing through some lovely country towns on the way to Cairns. We went to the Yungaburra Saturday market which was one of the best markets we have been to. The road passed through some of the most beautiful rainforest and mountains I have seen. Cairns is beautiful with mountains running down to the beach and surrounded by rainforest. There is a 4000 sq meter swimming pool on the Esplanade with its own beach and lifeguards.

Millstream falls

Milla Milla falls

We stayed in a cabin at the Sunlander caravan park which was a good move as we lucked out with the weather and it rained almost everyday. This prevented us from going out to the reef and doing stuff on the water, but it was good to spend time in the rainforest. We drove out to Wooroonran National Park which is an area of the densest rainforest in Australia. Josephine falls was nice, with a lovely walk through the rainforest to get to the rapidly flowing falls. We went on the Tree top walk through the rainforest which was beautiful. We stopped in at Innisfail which is a nice coastal town which was badly hit by Cyclone Yasi. We went to Ella Bay which is a lovely bay surrounded by rainforest (Russ wants to move here!!).

The Kuranda skyrail was great. It takes you by cable car over the rainforest, through the mountains and clouds to the small town of Kuranda. We took the Kuranda railway back, which is a 120 year old railway cut through the mountains. It was good, but I would take the skyrail up and back if I did it again.

Russ freaking out on the skyrail

ugly head Bush turkey

Kuranda railway through the mountains

Barron falls

Leaving Cairns we took the coastal road through to Port Douglass, and through the Daintree National Park. The Daintree is beautiful and the roads north of the National park are pretty narly with steep mountain climbs and descends. We stopped at Cape Tribulation, where the ocean meets the rainforest. This would be a cool spot, however the wind and brown water aren’t making it very attractive at the moment. We camped at Archer point which is a great camping spot on the beach surrounded by Coconut trees. We had a never ending supply of coconuts, and it was a good spot to fish. We stayed here two nights, and had a curious dingo hanging around camp trying to get his paws on our food!! We were also told that there was a 5 meter Croc that had been having a go at peoples dinghies. I had to retreat to the car in the middle of the night when the tide came in as the water was only a few meters from the campsite and I got freaked out thinking about the Croc!!

River crossing north of Daintree NP- 4WD washed in when crossing overnight

Cracking a coconut at Archer point

We stopped in at Cooktown which is a nice beachy town situated on a bay and the Endeavour river. We checked out the spot where Captain James Cook beached ‘the Endeavour’ after grounding it on some reef nearby.

Next we started our journey up the Cape York Peninsular. We camped a night at Lilly Lagoon, in a nice campspot along the river. We got a good feed of Cherabin over night. We continued into Captain Billy landing which is located on the East coast of the peninsular and was way too windy to camp at. We drove though Canal creek, which was a nice spot to camp, but too busy. There are small pools here where you can swim (Croc free). We continued onto Vrilya Point where there are campsites along the beach. As it’s located on the west coast of the Peninsular it’s protected from the wind and is a beautiful spot with calm blue water. We stayed here a couple of nights and were blessed with nice warm sunny days.

Pulling the nets, Archer river

A couple of the Cherabin caught

View from our camp, Vrilya point

Campsite at Vrilya point

Russ using the cast net to catch bait, Vrilya point

The bait

So many thongs washed up on the beach here

Old log bridge, crossing the river to get to Vrilya point

We continued up the cape to Loyalty Beach where we camped on the bay for a couple of nights. This is a lovely spot over looking the Torres Strait islands and the water is so calm here. We continued up to cape york, the northern most point of mainland Australia (been there, done that, bought the sticker!!).