Coastal queensland

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Chilli Beach (Iron Range NP)

Day 219
Saturday, 29 September 2007

A relaxing day spent in a tropical paradise of sorts, albeit a little windy. We probably hit it on a good day though as it can get really blowy and we didn’t find it too bad. Enough breeze to keep you cool. A couple of quick swims in the shallows to cool off and have a muck around with the kids, a ride along the beach at low tide and kids making a few sandcastles, interspersed with kids schooling. A nice easy day.

I was also feeling adventurous again in the cooking stakes so made a coconut raspberry slice for arvo tea. I think the kids might have thought that was the best part of the day.

Chilli Beach (Iron Range NP) - Archer River - Coen

Day 220
Sunday, 30 September 2007

With a false start to the day due to a defective battery (main starting battery) we didn’t get away until late in the day. Luckily though, as I was trying everything to get enough charge to get the car going (bearing in mind we had been on battery power for the last few days so were not fully powered up), we bumped into our fellow fishing friends from Punsand Bay - Kerry and Naomi. He was kind enough to bring his vehicle around and we got some charge back into the battery to finally kick it over.

After holding off for lunch until about 3.00pm we finally arrived at Archer River Roadhouse where, they purportedly have the biggest burgers on the Cape. That was a challenge which we couldn’t pass up and one in which Brayden had been looking forward to for a fair while after reading about the biggest burger on the Cape in a magazine article. With the timing of our lunch visit being almost closer to dinner our appetites were fairly up there - the kids even held off doing their normal eating frenzy in the car waiting for the infamous burgers! We easily demolished the burgers - but no certificate!

Continued on to Coen (or just north thereof) and again stayed on the banks of the Coen River. Surprisingly this time there was no one there at all. We crossed the river and headed up the steep slope to the camp we had seen when we had stayed here on the way up. Luckily no one had nabbed it and we settled in to make it our own. With river water plentiful the vehicle even got a bit of a wash too!

Coen -Musgrave - Hann River - Laura - Lakeland - Palmer River - Mount Molloy - Mount Carbine - Mareeba

Day 221
Monday, 01 October 2007

Drive, drive, drive. This section of the Peninsular Development Road holds no real attractions - although just north of Laura there are some rock art sites about 30km off the road tht we had originally intended to visit. Like with many things though that will have to be left until next time….

After getting onto the blacktop I was still feeling good so drive we did and just kept going until we hit Mareeba late in the arvo. We met up with some people (from Perth) we had bumped into several times up the Cape - it seems funny that you often do bump into a few select people when you consider the permutations of route you could take. They had the “choice” spot overlooking the Burdekin River - they just pipped us by an hour or so apparently!

Mareeba is a nice town somewhat different to its coastal cousin of Cairns. Seems to be a very busy base for the multitude of agricultural production in the area and, like with many Queesnland towns, is very much alive. I don’t know whether they use it as acclaim to fame or not but they have a “Drive Thru Bakery”!!! I don’t reckon that there would be too many of those around the country.

Mareeba - Cairns - Mareeba

Day 222
Tuesday, 02 October 2007


Logistics day. Went into Cairns for some shopping to keep the females of our family suitably satisfied - and the blokes suitably bored. Also ended up at the very informative and extremely helpful TTNQ info centre and ended up booking our Great Barrier Reef trip for this coming Thursday and also the Undara lava tubes on the Saturday. Picked up all the material from school for the kids for their next terms work and, more importantly as far as Rhiannon is concerned, a whole swag of books from the resource centre.

Mareeba - Cairns

Day 223
Wednesday, 03 October 2007

Done the road before down from Kuranda, still windy and twisty and you need to keep your wits about you. Funnily enough though, everyone seems to want to stick right on your rear end. Got into Cairns set up and then into the schoolwork for the kids.

Cairns - Great Barrier Reef - Cairns

Day 224
Thursday, 04 October 2007

Finally the day has arrived where we get to go to the infamous Great Barrier Reef. Kids were pretty excited - as were the adults. After all the Great Barrier Reef is something that you hear about from day one so to actually be here and get out to it and snorkel on it is just amazing really.

Disappointed we were not. Apart from some of the real touristy talks etc and rehashing of jokes said a million times no doubt the boat crew were pretty good. We had one bloke, from Torres Strait, whose name was Elvis, who was an absolute character. Certainly kept most people entertained and was just an absolute jovial character.

Spent a few hours at the first reef spot which had some great coral and many fish of various species. Luckily we hired wetsuits (Rhiannon, Brayden and Russell), which was of twofold benefit - sun screening and they also kept us reasonably warm. Rhiannon still got cold however and had to get out early. We decided that she would be safe enough on the boat with a book in hand and left her safely ensconced in the lounge. It was magnificent to just be able to snorkel around the Great Barrier Reef.

After a pretty good lunch we had another snorkel with multitudes of fish around the back of the boat - attracted by some fish food thrown form the boat. The multitude of fish was astounding - the water was thick with them. Even had a few large long toms (similar to what Brayden caught up the Cape) swimming through the other fish.

We pulled up stumps after several head counts (remember the fiasco several years ago when a honeymooning couple was left on the reef and died) and motored to another reef about 20mins away. Same story, different location. Good coral and many fish. At this point they had their glass bottom boat that they took around their circuit. Whilst a reasonable alternative - and admittedly drier, snorkelling is far better for the real McCoy. We ended up spending a fair bit of time snorkelling along behind a huge Wrasse - who goes by the name of Willie, a great big Maori faced fish about 1.2 m in length and about 40cm or so in height (? - not sure if you use that term for fish), we also saw a small turtle amongst many other parrot fish and several others.

At the end of the day you could see the people who had been sunsmart and those who were in for a bit of a tortuous night or three. One particular family of Americans (Mum and daughter) were a lovely shade of pink and would soon be looking like a snake shedding its skin no doubt.

A good day and great value with the kids going under a special school holidays deal which made it very good value. This seems to be a bit of a rarity on this stretch of tourist driven coast.

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