7. – 10. December

After leaving Mission Beach we stopped at the Tully Gorge to look if the Tully River is a good spot for White Water Rafting. The river has more water than Barron River and we could see several rapids but it looked a bit harmless. Probably the most interesting thing is how do they get the rafts from the street to the river (50m below)? Easy, they hang them onto ropes and wire them down.

Our next stop was Murray Falls. Unfortunately you can only watch the fall from lookouts. But you could access the water 100m below and you could camp. You could even enjoy cold showers under the sky. We decided to keep on driving.

We arrived in Cardwell and did the forest drive to have a look at the different lookouts featuring the town and Hinchinbrook Island. Then we walked through the Edmund Kennedy National Park where you can see mangroves and rainforest. If you’re lucky (or early) you might spot some  rare birds. You could also see a rare palm species (Arenga palm) but we didn’t know how it looks. Unfortunately you can’t swim in the ocean (too many crocs) but luckily there are some freshwater swimming holes. We spent an afternoon at the 5 Mile Swimming Hole and tested our flotation tools.

The next day we took the cruise to Hinchinbrook Island. We were just 10 people on board so they took the small one – it looked much nicer than it actually was. They had white leather seats but they were so uncomfortable you wouldn’t believe it and there was not much room left with 10 people on board. We drove to the island and then through some mangrove channels to Ramsey Beach from which the 4-day walking trek also starts. As we just did a daytrip we just spend one hour on the beach and we saw a little ray swimming within 1m offshore. Then we headed to another place and started the little walk (5km) to the Resort. The walk started directly at the beach, went through some rainforest before another beach-path (2km) and then via forest track to the resort. We had a look at the turtle bay as well. Unfortunately we didn’t see any turtles and got wet feet. Finally we spent some time at the pool before returning to Cardwell. The resort itself is closed at the moment as it’s wet and cyclone season.

After spending the night at a rest-area close to the highway (and we had a good night sleep) we drove to the Wallaman Falls – the highest sheer drop in the Southern Hemisphere. The falls drops 270m and creates a 20m deep pool. You can view the waterfall from different lookouts but we just looked from the top ones – didn’t walk to the base lookout as there were too many biting flies.

 

Then we drove to Jarouma Falls (yes again a waterfall) but this time we walked to the lookout and the walk was unusual as you had to cross the creek several times. Luckily they created a path with stone piles so you could relay on them and it was easier to cross the water. I mean there was not much water flowing but you could see that this could change quickly. If the water-level rises you might get caught in the area as you already had to cross the creek to access the area.

Crystal Creek was the last stop for the day and we had our refreshing swim after putting up the tent. When you’re at the camp site you can’t imagine that there is such a beautiful and actually big waterhole just meters away. You had to walk 200m from the camp site over some rocks and then you could slide into the water. The water was crystal clear and deep – we still could see the ground but no way of touching it. It might have been 3m deep. The water temperature was nice and didn’t change if you swam in the afternoon or early in the morning at 6.00am.

CU, Anja and Tom