Our trip back down from Cooktown was filled with a lot more green rather than blue. In other words we took the inland route rather than the coastline. So we saw more waterfalls, forest, rivers and highway stretches.
We stumbled across this view along the back highway which we immediately stopped at to get a photo. The silence here was mesmerizing, to the point where my wife had to ask if I was alright. I felt there wasn't enough time in the world to satisfy me of the peace here. But we had to keep trekking...
Just outside of Cairns we decided to keep going through the back highway which led us to some awesome places like the Curtain Fig Tree, multiple waterfalls and countless meadows.
Curtain Fig Tree
The fig tree is from the strangler fig species "Fichus virens". The curtain effect results from one tree leaning against another tree on a 45-degree angle. The strangler vine then grew along the oblique angle of the leaning tree, dangling 15 metres to the ground to create the curtain affect.
(Source: http://www.cairnsattractions.com.au/explore/getting-back-to-nature/curtain-fig-tree.414.html)
Next we came across Malanda Falls and swimming area that we almost missed but stopped to receive a phone call. This was also one of the worst flooded places in Australia in 1967 with some areas reaching 6.85m flood heights. The council has markers up, showing where the water level reached here which is 3 flights of stairs from the seating area around the swimming hole.
15min drive through more meadows brought us to Millaa Millaa Falls and swimming hole. There are around 4 - 5 waterfalls and swimming areas around this area. I guess you could say this area is swimming with waterfalls.
Next stop on the list was Tully Gorge. This was a 30min drive in off of the highway but promised us great photos of the river and scenery. We weren't able to get many photos due to the amount of horse flies around. As it was, Candice was driving the car slowly with the door open and i was running along side the car trying to get photos and avoid being bitten by the flies. If you haven't been bitten by a horse fly before, its like being pinched on the back of your arm but all over your body... bastards... makes me shudder just thinking about it...
Hema maps (Best App Ever!) showed us a side road on our return trip from Tully Gorge which we missed on the way up. So as we approached the road we had to slow to a halt just so we didn't miss it. In between 6ft high grass is 2 dirt tyre tracks, so it was no wonder how we missed it. We drove through the grass and came out the other side to see a track that seemed endless but yet, we were excited.
As we drove the road, we passed over plenty of creek bridges that were over some glass like creeks.
We eventually made it back to the highway to maintain our haste, even if we were stopping quite often to see mother nature. Like this view, I can't quite remember where this was though but it's way to beautiful to share.
We arrive into Townsville and head straight for Castle Hill. This is a VERY steep hill in the centre of town which heaps of people like to walk/jog to the top of. Now of course we drove, I mean, we had our pup Charlie so we have an excuse...
The views from up here are second to now and provide amazing photos and memories.
Next stop, Bowen! We decided to do a track here that takes you to a World War II Radar site. This is where the Aussies set up Radars to keep track of enemies if they entered Aussie waters.
View From The Radar Site
After doing the markets in Bowen, we headed off to Shute Harbour just on the other side of Airlie Beach where the water is as blue as I have ever seen. None of the photos I have posted have been edited, including the ones below.
We moved from Shute Harbour to Carmilla Beach for the night.
Nothing massively special on the next few trips. Just a lot of driving because we were running out of time.
We stayed at Mission Beach, where we were able to watch some skydivers land (little did we know a week later someone would die in a skydiving accident right where we were... Very sad and unbelievable)
And our final stop before home was Hervey Bay to see Candi's dad again. I managed to sneak some more fishing in here but nothing special. Charlie seemed to be more excited than us... He even wanted to kiss the fish.
Arriving home to unpack everything...
This is it for our trip up the Queensland Coast. I hope you guys enjoyed reading about is as much as we enjoyed living it. I believe it to be one of the best trips I have ever done and I've been lucky enough to do 2 round the world trips. Australia is my favourite country and always will be. We have so many unseen and unknown treasures that so many people have never seen and some never will see...