After a frustrating couple of days of trying to get around Cairns using public transport, taxis and our mountain bikes, we knew that we would need to buy a car for our stay. After inspecting several cars in various suburbs of Cairns, we conveniently came across this little gold Astra right in Yorkeys Knob. She was perfect! Although she didn’t look like much, with a contrasting silver front guard and severe sunburn, she was mechanically sound and good to go. We handed over a wad of cash and she was ours. We had such a sense of freedom in having our own vehicle and it opened up all manner of possibilities for us.
One of the things we loved to do was chuck our hiking tent, tarp, stove, a bag of clothes and some food in the boot and head off on a road trip to explore the surrounding areas. We managed four road trips over our months in Cairns and saw some absolutely incredibly beautiful scenery and places. From the millions of photos we took, I’ve selected a few to share with you below (ok, maybe just a tad more than a few!).
Road Trip One – 7th to 10th January 2021
Filled with excitement, our first road trip took us south along the coast. We headed to the tiny town of Crowley Beach to meet up with Phil, a friend of mine from work in Melbourne who was up visiting his Mum, Mary. Mary cooked us a delicious lunch of steak sandwich and homemade apple pie and then Phil and his sister, Sharyn took us for a drive to see the sights of the area. They were incredibly hospitable and we had a lovely afternoon hanging out with them, even if we didn’t get to see the local cassowary! Thanks so much guys!
As it was pouring with rain we decided to get a cabin for the night and pulled off into the Cardwell Van Park. As I was paying for the cabin and chatting to the owner, we discovered that we were both from Melbourne, but not only that, that he and his brother had owned and run the small company that had custom made both Matt and my surfboards. Talk about small world! What a coincidence! He accompanied me back out to the car and said to Matt, ‘So, hear you have an Oke Surfboard?’ Matt was gobsmacked and they had a good chat.
Continuing on south the following day, we drove to Townsville and then turned west, heading inland to Porcupine Gorge, near Hughenden. On arriving at the road out to the gorge we found a road block, however the website we’d been checking for road closures showed the road as being open. Never ones for sticking to unnecessary rules, we drove around the block and found the road completely fine on the other side. It was nearing dark as we arrived and beginning to rain, so we hastily set up our tent.
The following morning we awoke to the magnificent gorge, all the more incredible since we’d arrived in the dark. We hiked down to the bottom and soaked up the awe inspiring feeling of this ancient place.
After coffee and lunch in the small town of Hughenden we drove up the nearby Mt Walker to check out the six separate lookouts giving spectacular 360-degree views over the flat outback landscape. We also spotted a couple of big, gorgeous birds of prey in the trees on the drive back down. Such majestic creatures, we were spellbound for a while watching them.
It was a long, flat drive back through the open landscape but the colour of the sky contrasting with the fluffy, white clouds was mesmerising. We pitched our tent at Big Crystal Creek campground and went for a refreshing swim at Paradise waterhole. That day was our anniversary and we celebrated with a super fancy dinner of pumpkin soup and tinned hot dogs. How classy are we!
The next day we stopped at the very picturesque Little Crystal Creek bridge which was quite crowded with people. We drove up to the teeny town of Paluma, but it was in a white-out so unfortunately we had no views.
On our journey home we saw a sign for Wallaman Falls and turned off. It turned out to quite a long detour, but we committed to it. Wallaman Falls is the highest, permanent, single-drop waterfall in Australia, but when we arrived the top of the waterfall was in a complete white-out. After our long detour out to see it, we were devastated. However, we spoke to some people who had just returned from the hike to the bottom and they assured us the view was great from down there.
Pulling on our hiking boots, we set off on the very steep two kilometre track right down to the very bottom of the waterfall. What a sight! It was incredibly powerful and absolutely pumping, spray billowing out off the bottom. Arriving back at the top, we were both totally saturated with sweat from the long hike in the humid air, and happily exhausted as we agreed that our road trip was finally over and it was time to head back to the boat.
Road Trip Two – 16th to 17th January 2021
Our second road trip was up into the Atherton Tablelands to explore the waterfall circuit. Unfortunately it was cut short when we were called back to the marina to prepare the boat for a cyclone, but we still managed almost two full days of incredible sight-seeing, including nine different waterfalls!
We started out with coffee in Mareeba, then impulsively turned off to follow a sign out to Granite Gorge Nature Park. With no idea what to expect, we were amazed by the huge mass of boulders which we, often fairly precariously, clambered over, under and through. The dinosaur footprints embedded in the rock were something I’ve never seen before.
Next was a quick stop at the spectacular curtain fig tree before we hit the waterfall circuit. Malanda Falls, Millaa Milaa Falls, Zillie Falls and Ellinjaa Falls rounded out our afternoon. All are really beautiful waterfalls. We pitched our tent as dark was falling in Henrietta Campground. From here, we hiked approximately six kilometres the next morning to the lovely Nandroya Falls, passing by Silver Falls on the way. It was a great walk, through a very pretty forest track, but it was full of leeches. I pulled more than twenty leeches off my legs and feet, including many that were hidden right up inside my reef sandals growing nice and fat. Luckily leeches have never bothered me!
We managed to fit in a couple more waterfalls plus lunch at Mungali Dairy before being called back home. Despite the abrupt ending, it had still been an awesome weekend of exploring in the Tablelands.
Road Trip Three – 27th to 28th February 2021
By this time I was working full time, so our trip to Cooktown was just for the weekend, staying overnight in a motel. We left early Saturday morning, travelling on the inland road as the more scenic coastal route past Cape Tribulation wasn’t open yet, and certainly not in our humble little vehicle. With stops at the historic Lions Den Hotel for lunch and the mystical lava covered Black Mountain, we finally arrived in Cooktown.
Our first stop was the Grassy Hill Lookout from where we could see the Endeavour River snaking its way out to sea. Then the very interesting and highly informative James Cook Museum. I didn’t really have much of an understanding of the history of Cooktown but it is a fascinating story. Captain Cook and his crew spent 48 days here, repairing the Endeavour after it had been damaged on the Great Barrier Reef, and he eventually named the river after his ship.
We wandered along the waterfront and the main street of the town. Cooktown is actually quite a quaint, pretty, little town.
Up early on Sunday morning, we set off to hike up Mount Cook. The track was pretty overgrown and it was hot and humid. We soon discovered that the mountain was covered in hundreds of giant golden orb spiders, sitting silently in their webs strung alongside and sometimes directly across the track. We adopted the technique of waving a long stick in front of us as we walked, in the hope that the stick would hit an unseen spider web instead of a part of our body. After a while, Matt was seriously freaked out; I think it’s the only time I’ve heard him squeal.
The views from the second lookout were just incredible and we sat there for a while soaking it all in. Considering how skittish Matt had become, we vetoed climbing up to the very top and continued back down the mountain.
Road Trip Four – 12th to 14th April 2021
We did our last trip with friends from my school in Cairns, Fraser and Rachel. With us in our little Astra and Fraser and Rach in their van, we drove up to the Daintree and spent three days exploring Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Coast. Armed with the map my friend Vicki had given me, we set about ticking off every sight.
Cape Tribulation and the Daintree National Park is just such an amazing place. We were all absolutely blown away by the beautiful rainforest and the untouched beaches with the coral reef just right there. It is indeed the place where the rainforest meets the reef.
We visited lots of little beaches, lookouts and boardwalks, and had a refreshing dip at the swimming hole in Thompson Creek. We camped one night at Cape Trib Camping Area and the next at Noah Beach Camping Ground. Despite warnings of recent croc sightings and our best efforts to see said crocs, we didn’t manage to spot any. The stars were pretty awesome and we loved just lying on the beach looking up at the night sky.
(Drone picture courtesy of Fraser Greenwood and Rachel Baldi)
(Drone picture courtesy of Fraser Greenwood and Rachel Baldi)
(Drone picture courtesy of Fraser Greenwood and Rachel Baldi)
This little guy visited us at our campsite at Noah Beach.
We wandered along the boardwalks winding through the rainforest, marvelling at the ancient and majestic trees, and watching the crabs crawl in the mud below and the flying foxes hanging in the trees. Rach said ‘I’m sure there’s something about bats penises, they’re supposed to be huge.’ Lo and behold, later when Matt looked back closely at his photos, we fell about laughing as saw that he had managed to capture some pics of the bats’ members. Indeed, they were pretty big!
Thanks to Fraser and Rach for a wonderful trip; we’re so glad we got to experience and share such a special place with you both.
Wherever you go, go with all your heart.
Confucius
Cool Change 
WOW. Such brilliant photos. Loved reading your trip. That one clean photo of the blue sky with the fluffy clouds is my favourite 🙂
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