Well things didn’t quite go to plan today but more on that later. What did go to plan was the weather but of course the blues skies appeared as we are leaving the Cairns area.

We have a week to get to Darwin and we wont get there if we keep hanging around here.

First order of the day was to get Rachael to the airport so that she could return to the colder climes of Blackwood. She was not too happy about it either. After a bit of poking and prodding she was eventually ready to go. In fact we had the van all packed and ready to go but not connected to the car as I didn’t want to drag it through the airport again.

Leaving the caravan park at 9am, we dropped off Rachael by 930am then back to the caravan park and connected, out the gate just after 10am. All going well so far.

Our journey to Darwin will follow the Savannah Way which runs across the top from Cairns to Broome but we will only be going the first half to the Stuart Highway in Northern Territory.

The first obstacle is the climb up the Great Dividing Range to Kuranda. It looks a long way up from down the bottom but it is deceiving as it is a gentle climb and was able to maintain 60kph with no problems.

There was a lot of changing landscapes as we moved west. Starting with the rain forest of initial mountains, we came out onto the Atherton Tablelands which reminded us of the North Island of New Zealand, then some gentle rolling hills that are similar to around Meadows in South Australia before opening out in Savannah which is very similar to the Northern Territory.

At one point there was a section with Boab trees which took me back to my travels in Africa.

We stopped for lunch at Mount Hypipamee which had a volcanic crater as well as the Dinner Falls. A chance to put the new improved foot to the test (there was some walking involved) following the steroids and it stood up well.

The original plan was to get to the Undara Lava Tubes for the 1pm tour but that wasn’t going to happen with 180km to go. A quick check of the website revealed a 330pm tour which is more than doable.

Along the way was the Innot Hot Springs where hot water around 78C bubbles up in the creek at the back of the pub. They say it is natural and has amazing properties but is this just snake oil selling. It mixes with the cold water of the creek and you can soak in the water mix. This is similar to the Douglas Hot Springs in the Northern Territory. Unfortunately there was not much flow today so most of the pools were stagnant so no dipping to be had by us.

We arrived at the Undara Lava Tubes just after 3pm so plenty of time to make the 330pm tour or so we thought. The staff decided that they didn’t want to run one today and the next one will be at 1030am tomorrow. Well that is not the right way to please 10 paying customers that all arrived around 3pm.

They must be rolling in cash as they turned away at least $600 and probably more because most of the caravans would have stayed the night. I am sure it would have been cost effective to put on a guide for the couple of hours a tour takes. Soon there was a convoy of vans heading out the gate. Maybe we will see the tubes in 5 years or so.

We were going to stop the night at Mount Surprise following the lava tube tour but since we now had some more time, we pushed the extra hour to Georgetown.

The leg between Mount Surprise and Georgetown harked back to driving the Stuart Highway back in 1987 when it was just a single lane of bitumen and when a car came the other way each vehicle drove with one wheel on and one wheel off as you passed. The Gulf Development Road is just like that now in 2017. Of course if a road train is coming your way then the idea is to get right off and let it pass.

I guess one old mate thought pulling a caravan made him a road train so there was an interesting game of chicken between two cars pulling caravans for a little while with me wildly flashing him. He eventually straddled as we came together. You can view the dash came here on YouTube.

The hope was tomorrow to ride the Gulflander train but checking the schedule that is now not going to work out but we may get to see it along the way. Our destination will be Normanton and we are now an hour closer than planned.

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Finally some blue skies that might last the day. That will be essential later in the day as we will be going White Water Rafting.

Today gave us a chance to have a sleep-in, for the activity for the day was not until after lunch and pick-up point was at the front door of the caravan park – how convenient (may have been planned that way).

Once everyone was up and ready, it was time for some retail therapy for Jenny and Rachael but only a small amount for we headed into Cairns to check out the beaches.

Coming from South Australia with our pristine white beaches, the tidal flat beaches of Cairns didn’t impress. I guess the climate has the appeal more than the beaches here.

Right on time the bus arrived from Raging Thunder to takes us up to the outlet of the Barron Gorge Hydroelectric Power Station. Driving up the gorge there seemed to be more rocks than water. It seems that the power station lets out water at a certain time of day which coincides with the white water rafting. I am sure there is some sort of contractual thing with the various rafting companies.

Our group had 3 rafts. Ours with the three of us and a family group of 3 from Dallas Texas, a second one with 6 Chinese and a multi cultural raft to make up the three. We were accompanied by three kayaks as rescuers but as the rapids were class 2 or 3 (probably closer to 2), they would have a quiet day.

Even though the rapids were not the more exciting 4’s and 5’s we have done in New Zealand it was still a fun afternoon. Of course have way down you have the get out and swim for a bit. Its was certainly welcome as the sun had stayed out all afternoon so we were getting warm. Just as we got back into the raft there was a large python floating in the water (luckily it was dead).

We finished the rapids section and made it into the Lake Placid, when our guide Paul mentioned that we should check out the banks and rocks to see if the resident crocodiles are about. Initially I thought this was a to scare the tourists but it soon came apparent that there were crocs present when around the corner was a crocodile trap. This lake used to be used for all types of recreational activities but has not for the last 12 months or so due to crocs being present.

It is just brave white water rafters that use the lake to get from the rapids of Barron River. We all made it through and don’t have any bite marks.

Tomorrow it is time to move on and for Rachael to return to the cold of Blackwood.

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It looked like we were not going to get clear skies today as we ventured up into the Great Dividing Range west of Cairns.

Our ride up to the tourist (sorry historic) town of Kuranda was the Skyrail. The Skyrail is a 7.5 kilometre gondola cableway that takes you up, over and into the rain forest that surround Cairns. There is a couple of stops along the way.

The first stop is in the rain forest where we took a ranger guided tour along the boardwalk, learning a little more on the origins and life of a rain forest and of course it was raining.

The next stop is Barron Falls and we nearly made it to the falls without rain but no down it came. We did get to check out the falls and return to the Skyrail without getting too wet. The Falls were spectactular but there was a not a lot of water flowing over today. Most of the water is now diverted to produce hydro-electric power with enough water going over to maintain the falls.

The end of the line was the village of Kuranda. The town has history in mining but it is now purely for the tourist and the Skyrail is responsible for bringing in thousands each day. There are plenty of different tourist offerings from markets, museums, shops, gift stores, restaurants and cafes of any cuisine that you are looking for.

We decided on visiting the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary. And it was an experience with some 1500+ butterflies in the aviary including the colourful blue Ulysses and the majestic green & yellow Cairns Birdwing. I need a bit of practice to get a decent photo of these two. There is also an opportunity to see the nursery where eggs are hatched and caterpillars are transformed into butterflies. New butterflies are introduced into the aviary every day.

As soon as we left the butterflies, it started to bucket down. Luckily I was prepared with a poncho in my bag. Jenny and Rachael retreated to the shop to grab one each for themselves.

It was lunch time and there was all sorts of cuisine at tourist prices. All I wanted was a pie. Jenny and Rachael settled for Vietnamese while I got my pie. One more stop before boarding the train back to Cairns.

It was the Golden Drop Winery whose specialty is mango based wines. I was wondering if we were going to make our train as Jenny and Rachael made sure to taste every variety of wine before deciding on their purchase.

The Kuranda Scenic Railway took an hour and a half to do, not so much because of the distance but due to the drop of 328 metres from the top to the bottom. There was also a stop at the Barron Falls where we got a better view from the southern side of the Barron Gorge. The history and construction of the railway was interesting and there is an App available to listen to the commentary given on the journey down.

A bus trip from Freshwater Railway Station back to the car and we finished our day of Planes (well sort of – we were in the air), Trains and Automobiles (cars and buses).

I could no longer stand the pain of the gout in my foot. It has been over a week now and it has never lasted this long. I found a local doctor who has given me a course of steroids that he assures will cure me over three days. If not, I should have the strength of 10 men. It had better be on the mend by tomorrow as we head out onto the Barron River for some white water rafting.

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After yesterdays water based activities, it was time for some more terrestrial activities today. Although we did need to go on a ferry across the Daintree River but at least it was calm.

Just north of Port Douglas is the World Heritage listed Daintree Rain Forest and we spent the day exploring it. In order to access the forest you must get across the Daintree River, the Douglas Council runs a ferry service and unlike South Australia (where ferries are free) you have to pay the ferryman to get across. It is a large ferry that takes 27 cars so the wait is not that long.

As soon as you drive off the ferry you are encompassed by the rain forest but it is all an illusion as it is only road side remnant vegetation as there is farmland 100 metres in. The real rain forest is around 5 kilometres from the ferry and it is thick and lush and on cue, there was fog and misty rain. All that you expect from a rainforest.

Our first stop was the Daintree Discovery Centre which provides a huge amount of information on the rainforest, its species of plant and animals, the history of dinosaurs and even bush tucker. It is almost knowledge overload and takes a couple of hours with its aerial walkways through the mid forest height and the tower lookout at canopy height.

Time for some thing to eat and since we didn’t see any cassowaries, the next best thing is icecream from the Daintree Ice Cream Co. They do things a little differently with a tasting cup of 4 different flavours which are constantly changing on demand. Our flavours were Soursop, Jackfruit, Rasberry and Wattleseed. The icecream is made from fruits that are grown on the property. It was very tasty and worth making the stop.

Continuing north through the forest, we came upon Mason’s Cafe which offered a unique cuisine of road kill and local wildlife. Rachael went for the Roo Burger while Jenny and I went for the croc hot dogs. This was complemented with breadfruit wedges. Out the back of the cafe, there is a waterhole that you can swim in. Apparently it is crocodile free as they say all the crocs are in the burgers. We declined a swim but it was a picturesque spot.

Not much further on was Cape Tribulation, which was named by Captain Cook back in 1770 when he ran aground nearby. It was some nice beaches with the obligatory crocodile signs but none were spotted. There were enough tourists on the beach so you only needed to be able to outrun a couple of them. Not sure how I would go as the gout is still playing up but at least Jenny and Rachael would be safe.

That was the end of the bitumen but we continued up another 5 kilometres on the dirt as there was a geocache at a remote location I wanted to get. It involved a 500 metre walk through the rain forest then a 300 metre walk along the beach and then some rock scrambling. This should be great for the gout. 

Jenny and Rachael accompanied me but were ready to turn back when the crocodile signs appeared. I convinced them to continue and they picked up some sticks for protection. They just needed to outrun me which is not too hard at the moment. After finding the cache and not finding any crocodiles, it was back to the car and the hour journey to the ferry. 

Once again there wasn’t much of a queue for the ferry and we were soon back at the caravan park for the night. We even had some heavy rain before heading to bed but the temperatures were still warm.

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When Dan the Man, the bus driver from Meadows, tells you after just picking us up from the caravan park, that it is going to be a rough ride out to the reef and taking of medication is highly recommended, you go oh yea, just something to stir up the tourists.

It had been windy overnight and was overcast but it was 23C at 8am. On arriving at the Port Douglas Marina it was still out the channel to the ocean. Then every staff member on the boat Calypso 10 says it is going to be rough including the boat captain, maybe it is time to take notice. We took some quells so see if we need them and whether they work.

The boat wasn’t all that full with 32 passengers and 8 crew. Most of the passengers were College students from University of Florida on their summer break but doing studies in Australia for a month.

It wasn’t long and we were underway. As soon as we left the channel the boat hit a 3 metre swell and waves were breaking over the top of the 3 storey catermaran. The theme song of “Gilligan’s Island” came to mind. And we had an hour of this to get to the Great Barrier Reef.

A few got sick on the journey and we wont mention that Rachael filled a bag. A 25 knot south easterly was responsible for these very lumpy seas. Soon we were on the north side of the Opal Reef (part of the Great Barrier Reef) which was somewhat protected from the seas.

We stopped at three sites on Opal Reef with an hour at each site. It was hard work with a strong current from the South-Easterly. But did get to see plenty of fish of different types and colours, as well as different colour corals. Even managed to see a giant clam. It was a good day despite the weather but looks like we need to return when the weather is better.

The return journey was as exciting as the journey out with a 3 metre swell still and waves breaking over the top of the boat. It was certainly a relief to see the marina after an hour.

The rest of the night was recovery, after all, 3 hours in the water swimming against the current takes it out of you.

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Todays travels take us from Townsville to Port Douglas with a stop on the way at Cairns Airport to pick up Rachael who is spending the week with us in Far North Queensland. 

We allowed plenty of time to make the journey leaving an hour earlier than we normally do but there was no accounting for roadwork delays and there were plenty.

There was also a couple of stops for big things today. First stop was at Frosty Mango with mango icecream to die for but very expensive and the second stop was the Golden Gumboot in Tully. The height of the gumboot represents the amount of rainfall that Tully receives each year. Across the road was a sugar refinery which has started strong with cane trains lining up to go in and drop their loads.

After encountering heavy rain around Innisfail, we drove into Cairns Airport about an hour later than expected. Of course, the airport is not large vehicle friendly but did manage to find Rachael and upset some taxi drivers at the same time. Lets say they know how to use their horns and mine works well too.

It is only 60 kilometres north to Port Douglas but the road is windy and hilly so takes a little longer than expected with the ThommoTaj in tow. 

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