19 - 22 June Rolling on in, in Rollingstone

It felt like time to get back to nature and all that I had read said that Paluma National Park was the place to do it. To get there we had our shortest journey yet– all of an hour.   

When I say northern Queensland I suspect images of white sandy palm fringed beaches and coral reefs spring into your mind.  But I love the coast of Queensland for the quantity of amazing rainforests – from Springbrook and Lamington National Parks on the border to the Daintree past Cairns.  The green, the dark, the damp, the smell, the streams, the waterfalls, the views, the walks.  OK you also get the leeches, the mosquitos, the lawyer vines and stinging nettle plants – but they are so worth it! 

Paluma Range National Park is the southern gateway for the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, it has two sections and a number of walks so we decided to stay nearby for a couple of days.  We stayed at the Rollingstone Beach Caravan Resort which was on the beach and down a road fringed with pineapple fields.  Having just been in Townsville where there were people swimming in the sea under the eagle eyed vision of lifeguards, we asked if it was safe to swim here only to be told of course not, crocs had been spotted off the beach.  Sure enough all along the beach front were warning signs to this effect.  I was left wondering why crocs near the beach in Townsville weren’t dangerous and yet here they were and we were only 60 km away.  However, the park had a great pool so we contented ourselves by swimming there instead.

The caravan park afforded some lovely views over nearby islands and as we were on a small peninsula we had both sunrise and sunset opportunities.  It is a large caravan park meaning you have a long beach frontage as well – great for those sunrise and sunset walks.

Paluma Range National Park - Jourama Falls

A short drive down the Bruce Highway saw us at the Jourama Falls section of the park.  We started with a picnic lunch at the day use area which had a lovely water hole and creek.  Whilst we didn’t swim, the boys did feed the many fish and turtles from a swimming platform and we were treated to a range of rainforest birds (most of which didn’t stop long enough to have their photo taken, one did however).

A short scenic drive up the road took us to the Jourama Falls walk only 3km but many people on Trip Advisor and even the national park website warned us that it was a good 600m uphill, and they were right, but the view of the falls from the lookout was worth it (however, as I drank in the sight of the falls, and oxygen after the steep hike, I couldn’t help wondering what this would look like in a good wet).

The walk to and from the falls lookout is lovely.  Waterview Creek runs over rocks making lovely little rock pools and scenic views the whole track long.  We took a turn and walked up the creek bed to explore.  The boys really enjoyed the rock climbing and exploring.

We finished off the day with a stop on the way home at the Frosty Mango – Mr L asserted that this was one of the best mango ice creams he had ever eaten and from the smile on his face this did seem to be the case.

More Time in Townsville

Reef HQ Great Barrier Reef Aquarium

Hm should we or shouldn’t we.  After all we had been to Seaworld and Underwater world – so should we see this aquarium as well.  Mr L and Mr C were super keen – it will help they told us, it will help us when we go out to the real reef.  The weather wasn’t sensational so off we went.  Reef HQ has the largest living coral reef aquarium in a very large tank with a walk through tunnel.  

If you ever get to Reef HQ make sure you check the website before you go so that you can take in at least some of the feeding presentations and the trip (next door) to the Turtle Hospital – what you see there will of course be dictated by what injured turtles had been brought in.  They had about four when we were there but it was cool just seeing their set up and even things like xrays of turtles.  They had recently bought a really large tank for any leatherbacks that might come in, but they haven’t had to use it yet. 

We spent half a day in Reef HQ and really enjoyed it.  Some of the exhibits were a bit tired, but overall it was a great place to visit and the enthusiasm and knowledge of the staff made it more special.  As a parent it was also gratifying to see our boys often the first to have their hands up in response to a question raised.  It seems that information they are exposed to during this trip is getting into our boys brains and they are really learning about a wide range of topics.  Mr C found it very hard to leave a ‘research table’ which held information and videos on reef topics which are displayed on the table and on the wall.  We all enjoyed the more hands on talks and especially the trip to the Turtle Hospital.  And at the end of our experience, maybe Mr L and C were right and it did help build up our knowledge for a trip to the reef.  It has definitely made the boys more excited about the prospect – but very circumspect about cone shells.

Message from Reef HQ:  If you see a cone – leave it alone!

Swimming in Townsville

Yay we scored a sunny, clear, lovely warm day so we went swimming!  We loved the availability of swimming pools in Townsville.  In the last post we explored the Strand and the Rockpool, well there is another set of free swimming pools on the river further inland.  We arrived not too early in the morning and had a pick of pools to ourselves.  Eventually a few more people turned up but in chatting with a life guard we had met at the Strand, we discovered many locals find it too cool to swim at this time of year.  Their loss.  We swam for hours at the Riverview pools, ate lunch there and then took the boys to the waterpark on the Strand. 

Castle Hill

We finished the day with a trip up Castle Hill which we had been seeing almost wherever we went around town.  We drove up the hill (as we had pretty much done our dash with exercise and daylight by then), but there were so many people walking, even cycling up this hill for exercise, it was impressive to watch (especially as this is a good steep hill which really would give you a good work out).  There are a number of short tracks on the top with amazing views.  We were even treated to a small controlled fire down one path.