Mareeba to Tolga - August 2014

After a very bad night with Chloe she woke up feeling almost normal again and it was time for us to leave Mareeba and head to the next destination a massive 22km away!! We stayed at the Rocky Creek War Memorial Park a few kms out of Tolga. Lucy did a couple of hours of school work then we went for a drive to Lake Tinaroo where the kids found a pretty awesome park. 

We wandered around Atherton for awhile, Chloe spotted a Dominoes and decided she wanted pizza, which was the first time she had asked for food in 2 days, but it wasn't open until later that afternoon, so we headed to the Herberton Historic Village. Chloe lost interest pretty quickly but I think that she was just too tired. Lucy was horrified when we told her what the canes in the classrooms where used for! 

A wanted poster made from a 120 year old printing press

It was a great way to spend a couple of hours, Brad & I probably could have stayed longer but the kids had had enough. We went back to the bus, stopping at Atherton along the way to pick up pizza for dinner. Chloe then ate 2 days worth of food in one meal!

There are so many waterfalls in this area and that is what we had planned for the next day. Chloe was much better but she woke up grumpy and was not happy about spending the day looking at waterfalls. Before we hit the waterfalls we stopped in at the curtain fig tree. I had seen photos of this tree but it is much more impressive in real life!

We stopped at 5 or 6 different waterfalls and each one was so different and beautiful in its own way. The first one was Malanda Falls which would be an awesome swimming spot in summer.

The next 3 were off the main road on a loop called waterfall circuit. It was quite strange you would be driving along passing farms and then out of nowhere would be this little pocket of rainforest with a waterfall in the middle of it. At each one of these stops we had to fight with Chloe to get her out of the car and start the walk (they were all really short ones) but once she got going she forgot she didn't want to be doing it and enjoyed herself. 

Millaa Millaa Falls - This one was my favourite so far

Zillie Falls

Elinjaa Falls

None of these falls had a long enough walk for Lucy, so we drove a bit further to Henrietta Creek, which is the start of a 2.2 km walk to Nandroya Falls. Finally Chloe left her grumpy pants in the car and started off at her usual pace - a run.

A quick drink to cool down

And then we got to Nandroya Falls - WOW! Thats about all I can say about it, the photos definitely do not capture the beauty of this spot and I can't describe it except to say it was stunning.

The walk back was at a pretty slow pace, but we eventually made it back to the car, there were a few more waterfalls around the area, but we decided to call it a day and headed back to the bus.

Cairns to Mareeba - July 2014

We left Cairns and headed over the mountain to Mareeba. Brad drove the bus over and I drove the car as we just weren’t sure how steep the mountain was and its much easier on the bus if the car isn’t behind it. Turns out it was a really good road and Bruce handled it nicely. We stopped at the top of the mountain at Kuranda and the kids had the best morning wondering around looking at all the stalls. I had told them they could look at all the shops and then decide on 1 thing to buy. It was a huge decision but in the end they both decided to get hair braids. 

Being silly at Kuranda

We did a rainforest walk to Barron Falls which was pretty impressive, but I would love to see it in the wet. The Kuranda scenic railway came while we where at the falls, Chloe was pretty happy about that! Lucy really wanted to go on the sky rail, but it was so much money and Chloe wasn’t too sure about it, I didn’t want to get halfway through and have her start screaming, so we gave it a miss, maybe next time!

Barron Falls

Funny little moment - We are in a carpark having lunch before heading off, Chloe is sitting in the gutter eating 2 minute noodles, watching the sky rail and out of the blue says ‘aaah this is the life’  

So glad she is enjoying herself!

Off we went to Mareeba before it got to late in the afternoon. We stopped at the information centre on the way past which has a fantastic and free museum, the kids surprised me by how interested they were in it. We stayed at the Mareeba Rodeo grounds, which they have set up for camping, $17 per night for power and water, and so many vans. This is such a great set up I can see why there were so many people there. So many base themselves here, because its so cheap and so close to so many places. Mareeba has a huge rodeo at the start of July and I would love to come back one year when its on.

Just some of the vans at Mareeba

We went for a short drive to Granite Gorge. You have to pay to go into Granite Gorge, which I was a bit unsure about, as we had been to lots of walks, gorge’s and waterfalls for free, it felt wrong having to pay for it. (yes I am pretty tight) But it was only $20 and the kids got a bag of feed for the rock wallabies so in we went. I’m so glad we did, it was beautiful. Chloe was so excited when a wallaby came straight up to her looking for food before we even got down the steps. 

We managed to pry the kids away from the rock wallabies to do one of the walks. 1 of the walks was closed so we really only had one option. The lady at the front desk told us that this one would not be suitable for the kids but we did it anyway, and they loved it, especially Lucy. I think I found it the most difficult because to make a long story short, Chloe forgot her socks, so I gave her mine and ended up doing the walk in my thongs which were way too slippery on the rocks, so most of the time I did it in bare feet. The photos really don't do this place justice.

Chloe woke up during the night with a high temp and stayed that way all the next day and night. So we had a very lazy day while Chloe slept nearly all day. Brad and Lucy did go for a drive to the Mareeba wetlands and Lucy did spend a lot of time making little get well soon cards for Chloe.

Green Island - July 2014 - A post by Lucy

in cairns we went to green island on a big boat it is called the big cat.i went in with mum i put my face in the water  but i didn't go snorkelling.i got a little koala toy and chloe got a bracelet . we had fun.we went in a glass bottom boat and a semi submarine it was fun.

Mission Beach to Cairns - July 2014

We left a wet Mission Beach and arrived at Cairns without any plans on where we were going to stay. So we unhooked the car and drove around a few of the caravan parks until we found somewhere to stay. Most of them where either full or too expensive. ($80 per night!) It was a bit muggy so we decided to have a swim in the biggest caravan park pool we have come across. It was huge and freezing! I jumped in and nearly drowned from the cold shock! 

Brad was very keen to take the kids out to one of the islands, so we decided to splurge and do a day trip to Green Island, which included a glass bottom tour and a semi-submarine tour. I was a bit worried about the kids as the weather forecast was not ideal for an hour long trip across the ocean. I think Chloe lasted about 15 minutes before she felt sick and maybe another 15 before she vomited. So Chloe and I headed out to the back deck with all the other vomiting people. This is a very small area and it was filled with people so the last 30 minutes felt like about 2 hours. Especially as I am prone to seasickness as well, but I somehow managed to keep it at bay. Luckily Brad and Lucy both have iron stomachs and were fine for the whole trip. As soon as the boat stopped Chloe recovered remarkably quickly and was back to her talkative self as we waited for Brad and Lucy to get off. 

Not looking to good as we head to Green Island

Green Island!

The main thing the kids wanted to see was a turtle and as we were walking along the jetty to get to the island Lucy spotted one! 

The weather on the island was slightly better than when we left Cairns but still a bit overcast and windy.  Brad went straight out for a snorkel. Lucy really wanted too but just couldn’t make herself, using the excuse that it was too cold, even with a wetsuit on. I wanted to use that excuse myself, but I made myself go out and I did slightly better than the day on King Reef. I did actually manage to snorkel and did see some cute and colourful fish, but somehow kept getting water in my mask so after awhile headed back to the beach and tried to get dry, which was a bit impossible with the weather, especially when it started to drizzle! By the time we had some lunch the sun was starting to come out and it turned into a beautiful afternoon. We then did our glass bottom boat tour which was fantastic, especially for the kids, they got to see so many fish, they both loved it. After that we went straight to the semi-sub, which is pretty cool. You sit down underneath the boat in an area that is all glass. So you see much the same things as the glass bottom boat but you’re under the water instead of on top. This tour was great and I think we spotted about 4 turtles and a couple of string rays. 

Glass Bottom Boat tour

Squeezed in the semi-sub

We still had nearly 2 hours before our day was up, so we walked around the island and the kids talked us into letting them buy something each.

The sun did make an appearance!

Then it was time to get back on the big cat - something I was not looking forward too. One of the crew told Brad that the way back is usually better than the way too the island, so I was hoping that he would be right. 

Lucy insisted on sitting up on the top deck out in the open on the way open, but after a few minutes Chloe wanted to go down. So she and I stood (well I stood, she got carried) on the rear deck for the whole trip, where she dozed in my arms the whole way. This was much better than her vomiting but she is VERY heavy!! Once we were nearly at Cairns Brad took Chloe and I went up the top with Lucy, where it was freezing, but not only does Lucy not get seasick apparently she doesn’t feel the cold either. She had a fantastic time! 

Loving the Big Cat - nearly back at Cairns

So despite all the bad things about the day, we really did have a good time on Green Island and I’m really glad we decided to do it.

One more rainy night in Cairns and we left early the next morning and headed inland to get away from the rain.