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We said our goodbyes to Norma and Herman at Forrest Beach and headed towards Cairns. We stopped briefly at the Cardwell Visitor Centre and then climbed the Golden Gumboot in Tully. The Gumboot is 7.9 m high, which is the height of the highest annual rainfall recorded in Tully in 1950. The average yearly rainfall is 4490 mm. We stopped in Innisfail for a cuppa and catch-up with Ross, an ex-Darwin colleague of Mark who has retired here. We also had our packed lunch here (thanks Norma!), while Thomas left with two 'sea-beads' given to him by Ross. Thomas had come across 'sea-beads' at the touch-table at the Australian Museum in Canberra where the Discovery Volunteer there explained how they come down the rivers in north Queensland and flow out to sea where they wash ashore. Rubbing them against a surface such as carpet causes them to heat up and children apparently play games trying to give each other burns! Thomas was delighted to now have his own sea-beads, although he felt that he had cheated a little by not finding them himself. Thus Thomas, in need of a new mission since accomplishing his previous one of visiting Wallaman Falls, is
The Golden Gumboot
7.9m high, the highest annual rainfall recorded in Tully (in 1950)now trying to find some more sea-beads on our travels north.
We left Ross' place and drove to Coquette Point which gave great views of the Johnstone River, Innisfail and Bartle Frere. Innisfail was originally called Geraldton, but underwent a name change in 1910 when the crew of a ship loaded with timber confused it with Geraldton in Western Australia and took their cargo to the wrong place! We continued up the Bruce Highway but decided to make the 8 km trip off the highway to Josephine Falls in Wooroonooran National Park. This is also where you start the trail to the summit of Bartle Frere, Queensland's highest peak (1622 m). There wasn't a cloud in the sky, which I guess is pretty unusual for here, and it would have been great to have hiked to the summit. Unfortunately it is about a 15 km steep return walk with an elevation gain of about 1500m, and requires at least a full day to complete. There is also a shorter 10 km walk to Broken Nose (962 m), but as we wanted to get to Cairns we decided just to visit Josephine Falls, only 600 m from the car park.
When we got to the falls we were tempted to go back and grab our bathers as the crystal clear water looked inviting as well as the natural water slide down a large, gently sloping boulder that looked like great fun. However, time was running short and Alex thought it would be prudent to wait until Annelies and Thomas were a bit older, so we have promised them that we'll come back one day.
On the way into Cairns we passed by Walsh's Pyramid (
Durrugan) near Gordonvale. This volcanic core is 922 m high and an almost perfectly shaped pyramid. Every year Gordonvale celebrates this impressive landmark with a foot race to the top and back. The record for the almost 20 km round trip stands at around an hour an a quarter. Gordonvale is also known as the site where cane toads (Bufo marinus) were first released into Australia in a very unsuccessful attempt to combat cane beetles. In Cairns, we stayed at the Cairnsvilla & Leisure Park, which was quite central and the cheapest caravan park we could find.
On Saturday the girls spent the whole morning shopping while Mark and Thomas stayed at the caravan
Moore Reef
Glass bottom boat park, with Thomas playing with a group of children belonging to long term residents. In the afternoon we decided to treat ourselves to a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. We initially booked it for Monday. However, after Mark checked the forecast, it was clear that the fine and sunny conditions with light winds that we had been experiencing for the past few days were going to change for the worse on Monday with a strengthening southerly wind pushing through. So we changed our booking for Sunday and had a great day out on the reef.
We went with Sunlover Reef Cruises as we had a voucher that offered “kids are on us”. So we left the Cairns Reef terminal at 10 am and headed out to Moore Reef, about a 1.5 hour trip. We pulled up alongside their pontoon and fitted ourselves out with masks, snorkels and fins that were supplied. It took some time to get us all equipped properly and even then the masks often leaked once you placed the snorkel under the strap. We must remember to take our own gear next time. Anyway, Annelies and Thomas got the hang of it, displayed commendable
View from Point Coquette
Innisfail & the Johnstone River kicking style and outshone many of the older tourists floundering in the water. We all saw lots of brightly coloured corals (spaghetti, mushroom, staghorn, boulder, and table) and tropical fish, including 'Wally', the resident groper. After the supplied buffet lunch we jumped on the glass bottom and semi-submersible boats and also saw a turtle. We snorkelled some more with tide much lower and some of the coral now exposed. It was a shame to see a couple of tourists standing on the coral despite all the signs (in several languages) asking people not to. The Sunlover lifeguards were getting very annoyed. Annelies and Thomas also enjoyed the touch pool and fish feeding. Thomas was much braver than Alex in touching the bêche-de-mer (trepang)! We arrived back in Cairns at 5:30 pm and were glad that we had splurged on the reef trip.
On Monday we drove up to Kuranda for morning tea at Josh and Fiona's place, more ex-Darwin colleagues of Mark. They have just had another child, Hamish, only a few days old, with big sister Sarah about one and a half. Dave, another ex-Darwin colleague, and his wife Claudia also visited while Fiona's mum and dad were
staying to help out with the newborn. We had a lovely chat and catch-up with everybody. Afterwards we drove out to nearby Barron Gorge and walked to the Falls. We then had a picnic lunch back in Kuranda. On the way back into town we stopped at the BoM Office at the airport for a quick catch-up with Leo and Bill who both happened to be on duty. Then we drove to the Esplanade where Annelies and Thomas had a great play at Muddy's while we had another cuppa. By now, the cloud was building and the winds had strengthened as forecast, so we were glad that we had changed our reef trip to the day before. Later that afternoon it began raining and hardly stopped all night, so when it came time to pack up on Tuesday morning, everything was well and truly soaked.
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