Trip up Queensland Coast to Cairns and the Daintree in 2005 - Diary Notes and Photos

We left Brisbane on 17th July and had a few days in Hervey Bay with Noel, Shirley and the kids before heading off on our road trip.

After Hervey Bay we travelled to 1770 on 20th July. We should have thought about booking ahead as this is a busy time with the southerners (Victoria and New South Wales) all coming north to Queensland chasing our mild winter weather.

We managed to get a caravan site after going off power for the first night, but we were only able to stay another two nights because of previous bookings. This is a popular spot so if you want the caravan parks in the best position you should book.

Our first full day there (21st July) we travelled to Deepwater National Park including Flat Rock and Middle Rock and then went on to Wreck Point. Conventional vehicles can take this drive and on days when it is not windy the fishing is quite good.

We continued to drive on south after that to Rules Beach and then took Coast Road, Hills Road and Tablelands Road back to Agnes Waters. The round Trip was 160km.

July 22nd - Our next drive was to Eurimbula National Park. You can see across the inlet and river to this area but you need to drive around to it through Agnes Waters which is adjoining the town of 1770. You drive only 10km from Agnes Waters and then a further 4km into Eurimbula National park. We went to Noonga Lookout and then on to Bustead Head beach - good for swimming and fishing. Eurimbula Creek is popular for small craft. Care must be taken as the creek has a flat sandy bottom with a broadly meandering channel not navigatable at low tide. Boat ramps for small craft are located on creek or back across Round Hill Ck at the town of 1770. Camping is allowed at Bustead Beach. You can book through Qld. Parks and Wildlife Service.

July 23rd - Stayed at Kinka Beach, which is north of Emu Park near Rockhampton. The Caravan Park "Cool Waters Holiday Village" will take dogs. It is a very nice park and most vans had at least one dog.

July 24th - Byfield National Park. It is bitumen all the way. The best places to see are Cooburie Park, Fauna and Flora Sanctuary, Noble Creek Pottery, Ferns Hideaway. Camping Grounds include Stoney Creek, Red Rock and Waterpark Creek.

July 25th - We arrived at Illawong Beach, Mackay, and stayed at the Big 4 Caravan Park. It is a good park.

July 27th - We arrived at Airlie Beach where we stayed for three days. We took a trip around the Whitsundays on the "Camira" which is an 85ft Catamaran. I would really recommend this one. They suppled Beer, Wine, Soft Drink and bottled water for the entire day. We had morning tea of scones, jam and cream, cakes etc while sailing to Whitehaven Beach where we had a swim and lunch. This consisted of sausages, chicken , steak and various salads. There was GREAT snorkelling off Hook Island. They supplied Wet Suits etc. We sailed around all the islands arriving back at around 6.30pm after a wonderful day. Thye cost for Pensioners was $107. The normal charge was about $125. There are many trips you can take here but the weather was not the greatest so we moved on.

July 30th - We arrived at Townsville and stayed at the Big 4 Caravan Park, which is 14km north on the Bruce Highway.

1st Aug - We drove to Cairns and stayed there three days. While there we went out to Green Island and went in the Submersible, viewing fish and coral. We walked around the island. Quite a few people went swimming but it was an overcast day and not really nice for the beach.

4th Aug - We drove to Daintree. We crossed in the ferry and had lunch at Cow Bay, then on to the Discovery Centre. This is well worth a visit. For $5 you can purchase a 'recorder', which you wear around your neck and it gives a commentary as you walk around. You need to allow a couple of hours for this.

We then went on the River Ferry Train down the Daintree. We saw a few Crocodiles, snakes and birdlife. It took 1.5hours and cost $26.

After leaving here we drove to the Mosman Gorge. We really enjoyed this. We visited Port Douglas and took a couple of photos from the Lookout and also St. Mary's by the Sea before driving back to the caravan.

5th Aug - We left Cairns and drove through Gordonvale and Malanda to Millaa Millaa. We stayed one night at the Caravan Park here which we didn't think was very good. We had a look at all the falls in the area including Millaa Millaa, Zillie, Ellinja and Millstream. These were great as there had been a lot of rain in this area.

6th Aug - We drove on the Palmerston Highway past Paronella Park. This is also worth a visit. I had hurt my knee the previous day and couldn't walk or we would have gone in. This is a restored castle.

We drove through to Townsville and stayed at the same Big 4 Caravan Park as we did on the way up. We stayed for two days to try and give my knee a res . We visited the Reef Aquarium in Townsville and took quite a few photos. It was really good and once again you need to allow a couple of hours to see it all. We drove up to Castle Hill for another photo stop and also drove around The Strand.

9th Aug - Next day we drove to Bowen. We stayed at the Harbour Lights Caravan Pk. We would not stay there again though. Coral Beach, Horseshoe Bay or Rose Bay would have been better stopovers. We went up Flagstaff Hill for more photos.

10th Aug - We drove past Mackay and on to Sarina where we stayed at the Palms Caravan Park. This was quite good. We went out to Hay Point, Coal Loading facility and took more photos!

11th Aug - We went to Tannum Sands Beach Caravan Park. We were very impressed with the whole place. We had never been there before. The Caravan Park is very popular so it is wise to book ahead.

13th Aug - We drove to Hervey Bay and stayed at Noels for a few days fishing . We went out on his boat and caught a lot of winter whiting!

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