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Published: October 21st 2008
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Journey to Mission
Our second week in the camper began with another visit to a waterfall in the Atherton Tablelands. This time it was the Mungalli Falls towards Innisfail. We had a fairly steep descent to reach the plunge pool, but it was worth it because we could appreciate the magnitude of the drop much better at the bottom.
We then continued our journey in the direction of Innisfail and had a brief stop at Crawford's lookout over the Johnstone River. We drove straight through Innisfail, stopping only for food and then reached Mission Beach about 30 minutes later.
Mission Beach
We checked into a caravan park, a 15 minute walk from Wongaling Beach which lies in-between North and South Mission beaches - the whole stretch is 14km in length. After settling in, we spent the afternoon on the flat golden sand of Wongaling Beach. Whilst sunning ourselves, we were entertained by 'Xtreme Skydivers' landing close by. We had a brief paddle, but were put off from going in too far by all the 'stinger warnings' dotted around the beach although we saw many children in the water. Mum and Dad will be pleased to know
though that once we got back to the campsite we checked with the owner whether or not we could safely swim in the sea and she told us that it was not stinger season till October/November when the sea warms up so we were ok.
We were very impressed with the location and facilities at the campsite - good BBQ and pool, plus it was next door to a supermarket, internet cafe and a bottle shop which is always handy. As a result, we extended our stay from 1 to 3 days. On our second day, we caught the local bus to South Mission Beach which was similar to Wongaling, but the sand was not so soft so we went back to Wongaling on our third day.
Lucinda and the Wallaman Falls
After 3 days of rest and relaxation on the beach, we set off bright and early for Townsville, the second largest city in Queensland. It was a long drive, but we broke the journey up with plenty of rest stops. Our first stop was at Lucinda, a port town north east of Ingham. We felt that it was worth seeing the 6km long jetty
Wongaling Beach
Looking out onto Dunk Island. used for shipping sugar.
Our second stop was at the Wallaman Falls which have the longest single drop of any in Australia at 278m. The 50km detour via Ingham to reach them was certainly nerve-wracking. We had to climb a 35km steep, windy road with many hairpin bends. I was driving and felt like a bowl of jelly once we got to the top, therefore Mike safely brought us back down.
Townsville
We finally arrived in Townsville at about 5.30pm. Once again the campsite was hard to find - the postage stamp sized map in our guidebook being of no use! The site was nothing special. The camp kitchen and BBQ were filthy so we thought again about using them. The ladies resembled a public toilet complete with needle disposal bin and padlocks on the toilet paper - we started to wonder where we had ended up!
However the park redeemed itself the next day by having a bus stop into the city centre right outside the entrance so we went in by bus. We had a brief look around the shopping malls before going to Reef HQ, a large aquarium home to animals from
Lucinda
The 6km long jetty used for transporting sugar. the Great Barrier Reef. Although aimed at children, it was a good sized aquarium and had talks throughout the day including an interesting one on the predators of the reef and deadly marine creatures featuring the box jelly fish, sea snakes and stone fish amongst other nasties. Our favourite part was the predator tank where we saw courting leopard sharks, a sleepy tawny nurse shark, black tip reef sharks, a turtle, sore fish and shovel nose ray.
In the afternoon we took a stroll along the 3km strand, passing parks, beaches, the marina and a saltwater lagoon. It was a hot day so an ice cream was compulsory.
Airlie Beach
On Saturday, we set off for Airlie Beach, the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. It took us around 3 hours to get there and once there we spent the afternoon shopping in town and enjoying the good weather. Sunday was also spent in town. We bought a didgeridoo and even had a lesson in how to play it.
Cruising the Whitsundays
On Monday we finally got to go on a boat, having been advised to wait till then when the weather was most
The Wallaman Falls
The longest single drop of any falls in Australia at 278m. calm. We went on a small powered boat with just 36 passengers. We set sail around 9am and had 2 hours on the water before we arrived at Whitsunday Island, the largest at 109km2 of more than 90 islands which make up the Whitsundays.
When we anchored, one New Zealand man decided to jump off the boat for a swim. The skipper quickly responded and ordered him back on board immediately. Apparently a few weeks ago, passengers and crew had been admiring a large turtle when out of nowhere 2 tiger sharks appeared and ripped it apart! No one swims in this bay any longer for good reason. We took a dingy into shore.
We walked to the famous Hill Inlet Lookout over Tongue Point and gorgeous Whitehaven Bay. After capturing the iconic view on film, we headed down to Whitehaven Bay where we had about 2 hours of free time. This beach epitomized paradise with powdery white soft sand, crystal clear water and very few people.
Snorkelling and Diving
Back on board the boat we enjoyed a cold buffet lunch and then travelled north for 45 minutes to Hook Island, the second largest at
Lagoon at Townsville
But the stingers could get in here too!! 53km2. On our way we passed some bottle nosed dolphins and a humpback whale in the distance.
We arrived at Mantaray Bay and had about half an hour to snorkel which was excellent. We then did a dive from the rocky beach which was not so good due to the shallow coral and poor visibility. Despite the conditions, I felt much more confidant and we dived to 8m for 30 minutes.
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