Lucinda Jetty - Lucinda, Queensland

The little town of Lucinda boasts the longest jetty in the southern hempshere. It is used to tranfer sugarcane from the trucks to shipping ships.

Murray and Wallaman Falls - Queensland

After the winery we stopped at Murray Falls.

A little further south in Ingham to view the Wallaman Falls, which boasts Australia’s falls with the largest shear drop at 268 metres. The morning was unfortunately quite foggy so we could not see the falls from the look out. So we decided to venture the 1.5 hour trek each way down the mountain to the falls.

Mission Beach - Queensland

The rain however continued into the next day when we visited Mission Beach. We saw our first wild Cassowary, which is a very endangered bird that looks similar to an Emu. We also saw a heck of a lot of rain.

Check out the storm approaching the beach.

Just south of Mission Beach we stopped at a tropical fruit winery called Murdering Point. As the legend goes ships where getting shipwrecked in the bay because Aboriginals were covering themselves in white body paint, to make they look like ship wreaked sailors. The would be rescuers would then be killed by the Aboriginals and as the legend goes be eaten by them.

Paronella Park - Mena Creek, Queensland

As we slowly headed south we came across a gem in a place called Paronella Park. The park was once a Spanish style castle, built by Jose Paronella in 1929 complete with ballroom, movie theatre, tennis courts, swimming area, and rainforest walkways all with a view of the Mena Creek Falls. Jose's dream was to create a castle similar to the ones he remembered growing up in Spain for all to enjoy.

The park was sold by Jose’s children in 1977 and wasn’t rediscovered until 1993. Unfortunately, due to natural disaster such as floods, cyclones and fires only the walls still stand leaving a reminder of what had been.

The highlight was the night tour in which the owner of the park took us through a lit up version of the park and gave us an in depth history.

Mena Creek Falls.

The lower refreshment hall

Microbats (stock photo)

Lower refreshment room at night (stock photo)

Mena Falls at night

The night before leaving Paronella Park it poured down rain, however it shouldn’t be too surprising as it is in the wettest area of all of Australia.

Tjapukai Aboriginal Culture Centre - Smithsfield, Queensland

Just north of Cairns in a city called Smithfield we decided to check out Tjapukai, an aboriginal culture centre. We experienced traditional aboriginal dance and music, learned how to throw a boomerang and spear and play a didgeridoo. The true highlight however was learning about the aboriginal history and beliefs, through performance, artefacts, paintings and informative archival film.

Traditional dance and music

Playing the didgeridoo.

Greg learning to throw the boomerang.

Natalie getting instructions on how to throw the boomerang.

Greg learning to throw a spear.

The Great Barrier Reef - Port Douglas, Queensland

Next up was our cruise to one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Our cruise actually stopped at three different locations: Agincourt Reef, Opal Reef and Tongue Reef. Although the day itself was sort of dreary and overcast the water was warm (roughly 24 C) and the sights were unbelievable. Natalie scuba dived the second site, with Greg not being able to take the pressure and settling for snorkeling. A once in a lifetime experience and a true joy.

To boot we lucked out as a humpback whale was playing around just in front of the cruise boat on the way back to the harbour. The captain actually stopped the boat so we all could do some whale watching. Fantastic. The funny thing is that we were so enthralled in the experience and didn’t want to miss out that we didn’t climb down to the lower deck to get our camera. It was a wonderful bonus however to an already unique day.

Port Douglas is absolutely beautiful. I'm not sure why they named the city after you dad but what ever you did good job!

A view of the reef from the boat.






Natalie scuba diving. A once in a lifetime experience!

Good times swimming above the coral reef

Daintree Rainforest - Cape Tribulation, Queensland

We booked our cruise to the Great Barrier Reef and had a couple days to tour the area. So we decided to head north to Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation. Taking a ferry across the river we headed up the mountainous terrain towards a campground that was just off the beach.

The beach was absolutely beautiful. You could get up in the morning find a coconut and then crack it open for a nice breakfast, or walk down the beach to a small little backpackers outdoor bar.

The rainforest is actually the oldest rainforest in the world, even older than the Congo and the Amazon and is one of the few spots in Australia that a rainforest meets the ocean.

We got caught one night in the high tide coming back from a didgeridoo performance at the bar, which was part fun and part scary.

This is what the drive looked like after the ferry. Once again up a beautiful mountain to our camping groups.

Strolling on the beach. How u doin'?

Beautiful frontage... and the beach was nich too!

Our little paradise next to the beach.

Where the rainforest reaches the ocean.

In the oldest rainforest in the world.

After walking through the forest you come to the end of the forest and a patch of beach.

We also got up early the second day to a gorgeous sunrise.

On the way out we stopped at Daintree Ice Cream Company, which produces fresh ice cream with local tropical fruit. We tried mango, coconut, waterseed and pakfruit. Fantastic!

Cape Trib from the look out.

Drive on to the ferry and off to the reef.

This image we found on the net. It gives a good idea of where we camped.
We both loved Cape Trib and would go back tomorrow if we could.