Hinchinbrook Island Walk

17 June –  On the road again. We headed to Cardwell to get a ferry to Hinchinbrook Island to do a 4 day walk. On the way we stopped in at Townsville for lunch. We picked up all our supplies for the hike and had lunch in the park on the Strand. This is a place  along the water edge that had a great big water park for us to play in. There was no pool but we got pretty wet and managed to cool down.

 

18 June  - We camped at Cardwell opposite the beach. We couldn’t swim at the beach anymore because of the risk of being chomped on for dinner by a crocodile. The previous Saturday a big crocodile had been spotted eyeing off a family on the beach so the dad threw coconuts at its head.  Cardwell look pretty new because Cyclone Yasi ripped through the area 2 years ago and so lots of buildings were destroyed and had to be built again.

We got packed for our 4 day hike on Hinchinbrook Island.

 

19 June- We got up in the dark because we did not want to be late and miss the ferry.

The ferry was not very big.  IT was an orangey-red rubber dinghy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So we set off on our first day of our 4 day walk. It was a very sunny day and it was very hot because we were carrying our heavy backpacks (but not as heavy as Daddy’s and Mummy’s which we couldn’t even lift off the ground). The walk to Little Ramsey Bay was fairly flat but pretty uneven underfoot and was 6 ½ km long which prepared us for longer days to come.

 

Boulder Bay

 Mt Bowen behind the lagoon at Little Ramsey Bay

 





Dinner on the beach

 

When we eventually found our campsite it was worth the walking.  The view was amazing. We were overlooking the beach and a lagoon that formed into a little creek that we enjoyed swimming in. Mum was too scared to let us swim at the beach in case there were crocs. (even though we didn’t think there were any!)

Our tent



 Sunrise from our camp

20 June-  The next day was the longest and hardest part of the walk -  10 ½ km. It was mainly through beautiful rainforest. When there was a small shower the rainforest canopy stopped us from getting wet. We saw the forest floor, the understorey, the canopy and the emergent layer (just like Bella learnt at school).  We trudged through mud, knee deep water and we had to cross crocodile-infested creeks! Luckily we survived!

Track to Zoe Falls

Paperbarks

MUD!

 

 Watch out for crocodiles!

Are you watching?

Scrambling

Cane Toad

 

We arrived at Zoe Bay, we took our shoes off and went to Zoe Falls for a swim. It was an amazing waterfall with a huge plunge pool at the bottom. The water was icy cold and greeny blue.  It was very refreshing. There were lots of mosquito and sand-flies at Zoe Bay.  Lucky we had Mum with us because she was a mozzie magnet.  She ended up with nearly 200 bites but we got none (well Will and Hamish got a few). 

 

Frogs on a rock at Zoe Falls

Will is in the waterfall

 

21 June – The third day of our walk we had to climb a massive hill beside Zoe Falls. We then walked up the rest of the hill to a saddle between two mountains for a rest with a view. We then walked down to  Mulligan Falls We got to set up camp where we could hear the falls.  These falls were also spectacular and great for swimming under. There were lots of nosey fish who came over to check us out.  We fed them little bits of bread and they loved it and splashed and fought to get their share.

Steep Scrambling

 

Later, we went further downstream to collect water when Will heard a snake hissing at him as he was about to jump onto the rock that it was sunning itself on. It looked like a piece of string or a vine.  It looked as though it had had a hard life because its tail was all kinked and shrivelled.

 

Will finds a snake

 Rock hopping

 

Mulligan's Falls

We spent the afternoon jumping from rock to rock and swimming in the beautiful water of the pool.

 

22 June – We had to have another early start on the last day because we had to walk 7 ½ km to George’s Point before 11am to catch the boat back to the mainland.  We did not want to miss it or we would have been stranded for another day with hardly any food.  Hamish was the first one ready and when he went down to the waterfall to tell Dad, he slipped on some rocks and landed with his head in a tree and his legs bent up behind him on some rocks.  He hurt his ear, neck and knee.  Thankfully he is tough and we set off on time anyway.

There were 5 creek crossings through the first 2 ½ km through the bush and then it was 5km walking along the beach from there.  We had to cross another creek on the beach.  We waited for ½ hour for the tide to go out a bit and then Dad ferried us all across.  The water was very murky and coming from a mangrovey creek so it was a good place for crocodiles.  Dad is very, very brave.

 Will crossing a creek

The last 5km

 Dad braving the murky creek

 



 

A beautiful tree just near the finish

 

 

We caught the ferry back to Lucinda where Ninny and Grumps (Dad’s parents) were there to greet us!! Hooray.  Ninny had brought some fresh bread rolls and smoked salmon and avocado for lunch.  Delicious!

We absolutely loved our walk to bits.  It was very beautiful.

Ninny and Grumps took Dad to get our car (where we caught the first ferry) and we spent 2 hours playing in the park.  Then we headed off to Mission Beach for a swim and a shower and to wash all our stinky stuff so we would be ready to drive off up the actual Cape York Peninsula at last.

 

Agnes Water to Airlie Beach to Bowen

From Agnes Waters to Marlborough - 11 June

We were going to go to Yeppoon for a few days but Mum found some cheap deal for a fancy unit in Airlie Beach on Wotif while we were in the car. So we decided to drive to Yeppoon just for the night, before heading to Airlie Beach the next day. While having lunch at a great park in at Rockhampton (not as good as Spears Point Park) the plans changed again and we were back in the car to try to make the next days drive a bit shorter. We sat in the car forever. There were even signs on the side of the road asking if we were there yet.

 

There weren’t many towns just lots of bush, cows and sugarcane. Eventually Dad had had enough and we stopped at Marlborough and camped behind the pub! There was only one other car and we had a grassy campground al to ourselves. We had dinner in the pub and we noticed that there was lots of writing on the walls.  It turns out that all the visitors get to write something if they wanted to so we wrote on the walls in permanent marker too!

 

 Our campsite behind the pub at Marlborough

 

From Marlborough to Airlie Beach – 12 June

After packing up camp we drove for 2.5hrs until we got to Mackay. It started raining as we arrived. After a trip to the shopping centre mum went for a run and we got to play in a 3 tier lagoon with a 17m water slide and a water play equipment. But the top lagoon was closed and so was the slide.  We had the whole place to ourselves because nobody else thought swimming in the rain was a god idea.  You get wet anyway so you might as well swim. The lagoon was amazing, even though some of it was closed.

After another 2 hours driving we arrived at the Boathouse at Airlie Beach.  

At  Airlie Beach 12-14 June

We stayed in a fancy apartment that has 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, 3 balconies, a kitchen, a lounge room, a dining room and a laundry! This was very different to the tent we have been sleeping in for the last 2 weeks. We stayed for 3 nights.

The view from our apartment

Checking emails in comfort!!

 

On the first full day we wandered into town. They have dug up the main street and there are holes in the road and excavators an trucks every where. Luckily if you walk along the coast you avoid all this and find another lagoon. We had a swim there and then walked around the boardwalk up to the marina and back. Airlie Beach is beautiful.

On the second day we went on a 3 island cruise around some of the Whitsunday Islands. The first island was Hook island where we went snorkelling (Bella, Hamish and Mum got stung by something and Will got cold) and on a glass bottom boat. The coral and fish are OK but not as good as Lord Howe Island.

 

A beautiful morning in the Whitsundays



 

 Then we went to Whitehaven Beach. This is a beautiful spot with a 7km long bright white sand that is squeaky. We went on a bush walk the top a hill and got a great view of the Whitsunday Islands and saw a Lace Monitor lizard.  We then played and swam at the white white beach.

 

At Whitehaven Beach. That is our boat behind.

 

What a glorious place and a perfect day!

 

Last stop was Daydream Island where we saw a heap of sting rays (shovel nose, brown and the normal black one). The rays were fed garfish and were all fighting over them. There mouths are on the bottom and their noses on the top. One of them sucked a fish up its nose. Dad can do that with asparagus! There were also reef sharks and a large lemon shark called Bruce. We also swam in the pool and collected cowrie shells.

The best part of the day was being on the boat, watching the beautiful Islands as we went past and having access the cookie jar that kept being refilled. It was like magic.

On the last day at Airlie Beach we enjoyed the apartment as long as we could. We had a game of tennis and checked out right on 10am. We then went over to the Markets to have a look around. There was heaps of great things but Mum and Dad think the car is already full.

Bowen – 15-16 June

We left Airlie Beach about 12pm for the 1 hour trip to Bowen (where the movie Australia was filmed). We had a quick look around Bowen but there was not much to see and so we headed slightly north to Horseshoe Bay which is beautiful. We had lunch at the nudist Beach (we discovered later – it was the first beach we saw from the road and no one had their clothes off).  While mum and Dad set up the tent we went climbing on the rocks in the nearby bush and Will cut the bottom of his foot. He is now having to hop everywhere. Hopefully it will be better in time for our 4 day walk on Hinchinbrook Island!

A sunny spot to read on a rock behind our campsite at Bowen.

 Horseshoe Beach (not the nudist beach).

At dinner time we met a nice family with 4 girls who have been travelling around Australia since December and played bulrush with them.

On Sunday we went exploring with the girls and then spent the morning at the beach with them before they had to leave to continue their trip. We spent the rest of the day at the beach and doing a  walk around the coast on the rocky tracks.

Mum cooked us a sample of what she was planning to eat on Hinchinbrook Island – yuck. That packet pasta was not good. Mums going to think of something else.

Big day of driving tomorrow.

1770/Agnes Water

We camped at a sandy campsite with cold beach showers next to the surf beach at Agnes Water. It was the long weekend so there were lots of people there and we saw a few "Wicked Campers" with a bunny, a moose and Snoopy spray painted on the sides.

1770 is a town (next to Agnes Water) where Lieutenant Cook (I wonder when he became Captain Cook) first landed in Queensland.  We went to the monument above where he actually came ashore.

We swam at the beach, walked to the lookout and the Marina. In the park there was a sign that told us what the aborigines thought when the white guys landed.  They thought that one of them (Cook) was clever because he collected food, like the Burdekin Plum, that you could eat but the other one was stupid (Joseph Banks the botanist...plant guy) because he only collected plants that you couldn't eat or use for medicine and he got bitten by ants. OUCH!

In the park we saw a little boy who fell off the slippery dip stop breathing!....but he started again luckily. Then another little boy tried to kill Will.  He was dribbling from his mouth and started whacking Will with a stick.  Dad had to rouse on him and his mother.  They impressed us even less when they left their chip packet and coke can on the seat after they left.

The Ginger Factory

We woke up in a soggy campsite (lucky it only cost $10) so we packed up and headed off to the Buderim Ginger Factory. Yum!         

Unfortunately, the boiler blew up in the factory so we could not go on a proper tour. Instead, we went into the tasting room and watched a DVD about how ginger is grown and how it is made into different products.

To grow ginger, you just chop off a bit of ginger about the size of a golf ball and stick it in the ground. The soil around Buderim is moist, volcanic and warm which is just right for growing ginger.

To harvest it, they either do it by hand or use a machine that pulls up the plant and shakes the dirt off.

Next it gets delivered to the factory and soaked in brine. This stops the ginger getting too much of a tough skin.

Then they chop it up and send it through a big machine which has a laser that sorts the pieces by shape, size and how much fibre it contains. Compressed air shoots it into the right bin.

It then gets made into a lot of different ginger products. We got to taste some ginger refresher (which is the syrup that is left over from when it is soaked in sugar and water),ginger BBQ sauce on a meatball, ginger infused pineapple and ginger and cream cheese on crackers.  (Mum thinks you will all think that she never feeds us.)

We bought a few yummy things at the ginger shop. (Few isn't really the right word ....more like LOTS!)

We ate some in the car on the way (in the rain) to Agnes Waters.

Fun at Australia Zoo

We've been to Australia Zoo! We got to see a lot of extremely interesting animals. We saw: rhinos, red pandas, tigers, elephants, zebra, giraffe, snakes, Tasmanian devils, dingos, crocs, cool birds and kangaroos.

 Everyone agrees that the elephants were the best because we got to feed them but the tigers were nearly as awesome  because they climbed trees and jumped over logs to get a piece of meat. We also saw Bob  (Robert Irwin) riding a motor bike through the zoo.

Australia Zoo was altogether amazing, cool, awesome, fascinating, interesting, fantastic and wonderful!    whah  supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (sorry Will and Hamish told me to write that)



       

The First Week. By Bella, Will And Hamish

It only took us 5 hours to pack the car. Hamish felt sick before we left the house. Four hours and two vomits later (one only 20 minutes after we left home) we arrived at Yamstick Farm.

Yamstick Farm is an amazing organic farm just south of Bellingen. They grow finger limes, cocoa beans, pecans and they have chickens that lay 2800 eggs a week!

Our friend Dave's father, Joe, and brother Dan, run the farm. They have to collect and clean all the eggs by hand.

                                 Will and Joe letting the chickens out for their fun in the sun.

Bella and Hamish helping Dave collect the eggs.

 

 

We went for a drive along a brand new, wet, sludgy, muddy fire trail where Bella had 3 leeches try to latch on. On the way back the rain started pouring down on us and we got soaked. We were riding in the back of the ute and it started to slide sideways down the slippery hill. It was awesome and exciting and just a little bit scary.

 

Later, Will vomited all over the floor and Bella felt like doing the same but didn't.

 

The next morning, after we collected some finger limes and pecans, we headed off for Bellingen the scenic way.  Hamish nearly vomited again.

 

We had a quick catch up with some friends at the Purple Carrot Café.  Then we drove onto Grafton to stay with our cousins Max and Zoe. Hamish discovered that he had tick on his shoulder.

 

We headed off after a fun but short stay the next afternoon. We drove the looooong way to a campsite in the Border Ranges National Park because our GPS must have decided that we needed to see the entire National Park in one go. It was strikingly beautiful fortunately. Of course, Hamish vomited only 500m from our muddy campsite.  It was pretty cold but luckily we got to light a fire!

 

By 9.30am the next day we were having a yummy morning tea at the bakery in Kyogle.

 

Our next stop was Lamington National Park.  The road up the hill was super duper windy. But Hamish did not vomit for a change. Yippee!

 

Another set of cousins, Jasmine, Bianca, Dane and Elke met us there and we ate lamingtons for dessert in Lamington NP. We chased bush turkeys and paddy melons around the campsite. At lunchtime, beautiful rosellas landed on Will and Bella's arms because they were trying to steal our lunch.

 

 

We all walked to Moron Falls. Or so Bella first thought.  Actually it was called Moran Falls.

 

Looking at Moran Falls, Lamington NP





 

Then we went to our cousins' house on the Gold Coast. They took us fishing at Currumbin Creek. 

 

Bella and Elke caught the first fish of the day at the same time and got their lines caught up. Will managed to catch a fish too but Hamish was out of luck.  He expects to catch the big one next time.

 

Fishing at Currumbin Creek

Will's catch of the day











 Bella wonders if she will get a prince?

 

We left our Gold Coast cousins behind and headed for Australia Zoo. Stay tuned for the next instalment.







The (supposed) Trip Plan

The Rayward family (Duncan, Anna, Bella, Will and Hamish) are off for a 2 month trip up to the tip of Cape York and back.  The kids are revelling in the lack of homework although they will probably learn more than they realise along the way.

Generally, we are going to see what we can see as we go with a few definite destinations locked in. There will be plenty of exploring National Parks, snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, walking for 4 days on Hinchinbrook Island and then we will be joined by both sets of grandparents (were there ever any luckier grandchildren) for the actual Cape York Peninsula.

Then there will be more exploring all the way home, travelling wherever the whim takes us and hopefully we will pick up some good tips from fellow travellers.

Surely the weather will be sunny wherever we go, the car will run smoothly and the roads will be open, the people friendly and the adventures only of the fun (not scary) variety.

This blog will be mostly under the control of Bella, Will and Hamish so it should be an interesting perspective.......