Tuesday 4th September - to Townsville with a side trip to Paluma
Wild Carol does Australia
John and Fiona Fraser
Tue 4 Sep 2018 16:00
146 10.795E
We didn’t linger at Mission beach and got on the road again early, todays destination - Townsville.
We’d been told by Peter and Glenys Cross at Ellis Beach that Cardwell was a good place to stop and so it proved. A long town with lots of parking spots for trucks, caravans and campers right on the beachfront with magnificent views out to the mountainous Hinchinbrook island. Lots of cafes to feed hungry truckers and itinerant campers. We had a coffee and a bacon roll and took in the view then carried on.
We turned off the Bruce Highway towards Paluma and soon found ourselves on a narrow, twisting road that went up and up through the rainforest covered mountains. We stopped at Little Crystal Creek where there is a bridge just like the one at Linn of Dee and some rock pools to swim in. We could see freshwater crayfish with big claws in the main pool. Some German backpackers arrived and duly took the plunge. We’ve mentioned this before but we see Germans everywhere, and quite a lot of French too - where are the Brits? It was a pretty spot but we had to move on.
We arrived at Paluma and drove through the ‘town’. It was surprisingly big, with a school, and lots of houses - but seemingly no people. We drove slowly through and out the other side for a few kms and stopped for a cup of tea at the Star Valley lookout. This was a few across miles and miles of Wilderness.
We returned through Paluma and still no people. It was almost like that scene in the Wicker Man when Edward Woodward arrives on the island and everyone is watching him. As if to add to the impression we spotted a wicker cassowary in a garden.
We stopped at the car park and did the short walk to the lookout before heading back down the hill and back to the Bruce highway. We passed fields and fields of sugar cane with trucks and the little cane trains busily harvesting.
We arrived at the Rowe Bay caravan park in the late afternoon and checked in for a three day stay.
View of Hinchinbrook island from Cardwell promenade.
Lots of space for our wee van
Another Ozzie town - another butcher’s shop!
Local art
Another view of Hinchinbrook from the road beyond Cardwell
Linn of Dee? No! Little Crystal Creek
Different place - same selfie!
Germans having fun
Tea break at Star Valley lookout
