Tag Archives: waterfalls

Cape York Days 10 – 14

Leave a reply

From here on our trip back was pretty uneventful.

Day 10. The Falls to Weipa

Weipa is a mining town and really not much else. It’s meant to be fantastic for fishing, however, the prices are also fantastic. So we set up at the Weipa Caravan Park on a non powered site at the waters edge for a couple of days of R&R. Too bad you can’t swim for fear of crocs!

Weipa sunset was brilliant. The colours on this haven't been altered by any enhancing software, this is the actual sky.

Weipa sunset was brilliant. The colours on this haven’t been altered by any enhancing software, this is the actual sky.

Day 11. Rest day at Weipa Rest day at Weipa, lazed around and went to the pub.

Day 12. Weipa to Chili Beach and Archer River Roadhouse

We left Weipa and to the Peninsula Developmental Road and turned off at the iron ranges. We were meant to stay at Chili beach however the campsite wasn’t good for our swag and there was nothing else available. This is a very popular spot, although I can’t see why.

We drove down to Portland Roads Out of The Blue Cafe, had some lovely locally caught seafood and then drove to Archer River Roadhouse.

Dinner was the famous Archer River burger, It is a bit of a legend with the tourists. The burger was $12 and HUGE! YUM!

Day 13. Archer River to Laura

We’re asked to give some of the local aboriginals a jump start in Archer River and saw more broken down on the road before Coen.

At the quarantine station (where we noticed we had a flat tyre) we were asked if we could tow some of the local Aboriginals into Coen as they had run out of fuel. Apparently a local family group was trying to get back up the Cape and drove their cars until they had no more fuel (?!?). We were unable to help as our car is starting to show signs that something may be wrong and we don’t want to risk more damage.

We saw the place where we rolled our car. The road has dried out so much that you would never know that 2 weeks ago that it was more a treacherous slush pool then a road. Along the sides of the road are reminders if you care to look. Deep tyre treads mark the churned edges where the graders haven’t yet been through.

We stayed the night in the back of the pub in Laura.

Day 14. Laura to Cooktown

We drove back to Cooktown and back to our trailer, our Cape York trip came to an end.

Cape York Day 9 – Eliot Falls, Fruit Bat Falls, Saucepan Falls and Twin Falls

Leave a reply

And time to leave the Tip of Australia.

Back through all of the little towns to the Jardine River ferry, back across and we drove down to the falls. We skipped these on the way up because we were bent on getting to the Tip.

First stop was Fruit Bat Falls, the other 3 waterfalls are within walking distance of each other.

Even though we are in winter, it’s really hot and dusty, so a dip in a waterfall was exactly what we needed.

I also had been advised that all of these waterfalls are croc free.

The Tip Fruit Bat Falls_A Girl A 4WD And A Trailer.JPG-2

 

We drove down to Eliot Falls, Twin Falls and Saucepan Falls. This is where the campgrounds are and where were to stay the night. The waterfalls are very popular for people camping and day tripping so the falls were really busy. We had a walk around and a bit of a dip, but decided to come back early in the morning, before all of the people got in, to take pics.

We did however, bump into the 4WD Action crew, Hubby’s idols. We were very luck and were able to get some pics!

The next morning we got up early for some sunrise photos of the falls and were treated to an amazing view of empty waterfalls covered in mist.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Through the Ruins of Paronella Park

1 Reply
The Tea Rooms, Paronella Park

The Tea Rooms, Paronella Park

José Paronella arrived in Australia from Catalonia in Spain, in 1913. In 1929, after spending a number of years in Australia, José purchased 13 acres in 1929 and started to build his pleasure gardens and reception centre for the enjoyment of the public.

there was a waterfall, hydro electricity, tea rooms, a castle, a ballroom, swimming pool and over 7000 tropical plants in the extensive garden, all built by José.

A view from the Falls at the front of the Park. On the left is the castle and at the bottom left is the hydro plant

A view from the Falls at the front of the Park. On the left is the castle and at the bottom left is the hydro plant

Unfortunately there was a flood and then soon after José died of stomach cancer, his wife died some years later and his son as well. His son’s wife was left to run the park and in 1977 she sold it.

Sadly, in 1979, a fire swept through the Castle. There were a number of cyclones and floods in the following years and the park fell into ruin.

A pic from the night tour, this is the castle

A pic from the night tour, this is the castle

In 1993 the current owners found the park, bought it and work on maintaining and preserving, rather than rebuilding.

The park has won a number of awards and it’s easy to see why.

We purchased our tickets through RACQ for a 10% discount so it was about $39 each. This includes entry into the park, a day tour, a night tour and 1 nights accommodation in their campground and your ticket is valid for entry up to 24 months. Really it was great value.

The park itself is just stunning! I was able to get some lovely daytime and night time shots.

The Tea Rooms

The Tea Rooms

We loved our time here! The guides were fantastic and the staff in the cafe/reception were amazing. The park is beautiful and a truly unique attraction in FNQ.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

 

Mount Field, The National Park of Waterfalls

Leave a reply

On the way from Strahan to Strathgordon we decided to stay overnight in the campground section of the Mount Field National Park. Mount Field National Park is considered to be the most loved national parks in Tasmania.  Some of the activities undertaken here include walking, camping & skiing! No skiing for us this time though 🙂

We hadn’t planned on stopping here specifically; however, our drive to Strathgordon was taking longer than anticipated due to a 4WDing track diversion. This meant that we weren’t going to make Strathgordon without really pushing it so we decided to stop for the night.

Thankfully Mount Field National Park contains a number of waterfalls that I’d planned on visiting so we took the morning to go for a hike.

Mount Field National Park Russell Falls/ Horseshoe Falls/ Tall Trees Walk/ Lady Barren Falls Circuit

Mount Field National Park Russell Falls/ Horseshoe Falls/ Tall Trees Walk/ Lady Barren Falls Circuit

Waterfall 1: Russell Falls – an easy 10 minute or so stroll from the visitors centre.

Russell Falls, Mount Field National Park

Russell Falls, Mount Field National Park

Waterfall 2: Horseshoe Falls – another 10 mins or so from Russell Falls. These falls when flowing freely resemble an upside down horseshoe. Unfortunately only one side of the horseshoe was flowing for us today!

Horseshoe Falls, Mount Field National Park

Horseshoe Falls, Mount Field National Park

Giants Walk – a lovely stroll through forest that features some of the the world’s tallest and oldest trees.

Waterfall 3: Lady Barren Falls – Like Russell and Horseshoe Falls, Lady Barren Falls is composed of marine Permian siltstone, faced by retreating sandstone layers. All three falls provide a glimpse of the underlying geology in a heavily forested area where the geology is otherwise hidden beneath vegetation and soils (Tas parks and wildlife website).

Lady Barren Falls, Mount Field National Park

Lady Barren Falls, Mount Field National Park

All up about 2 hours, give or take and is a stunning, and surprisingly easy, walk. There was a set of stairs right at the end that really took it out of us.

The park and the campground was lovely, clean and well set up for day use visitors and overnight travellers, we really enjoyed it!

Hogarth Falls, Strahan

Leave a reply
Hogarth Falls, Strahan

Hogarth Falls, Strahan

On the way out of Strahan today we stopped in to do the Hogarth Falls walk. A short 40mins-ish return walk was a lovely way to start the day. The walk itself is very easy as you wander through lovely alpine rainforest with lots of ferns and a little creek that flows next to the walk way. This walk is also part of Tasmania’s 60 Great Short Walks.

Hogarth Falls, Strahan

Hogarth Falls, Strahan

Lamington National Park

Leave a reply

On a Saturday we started out early to get to Lamington National Park. Once we reached Canungra, we headed up into the Mountains by way of a 36km, windy road that took about three quarters of an hour to drive through. The scenery was beautiful but the road was scary with the whole trip being blind hairpin turns all the way up.

Finally we reached the Green Mountain campground, situated next to O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat. Our campsite was situated right at the back of the campground in a hidden camping area for the Great Walk Hikers. We set up in a little alcove hidden behind some trees, very cute!

Lamington National Park has a number of walks. The first walking track we did was the Python Rock lookout, a short 3km walk passing through rainforest and eucalyptus with a platform at the end looking over the valley and Moran falls.

We then went the other direction and walked to Moran falls where the water has eroded the volcanic rock away and overtime became a waterfall. Both of these are beautiful and quite easy walks to do.

We then headed back to camp for some lunch, wine and R&R. Lunch and wine were lovely; however, for the next 2 hours the sky was filled with helicopters. They were bright yellow so we figured they were probably private transport to O’Reilly’s or tourists rides. Whatever they were they went on for hours and seriously killed my zen, to the point where I would probably not recommend camping here on the weekend if you’re there to relax.

We then had dinner, more wine and as you do when camping, headed to bed early. It got very cold quickly. It was quite windy during the night and the bush turkeys kept jumping on our table, which was irritating.

In the morning we had breaky and then packed up. We were going to do another short walk but due to my female navigational skills we drove out in the direction opposite to where we needed to go to do the walk so we decided to head home slowly.

We stopped off at a lama farm/shop/cafe. There were some cute Lama’s in the paddock. The gift show was nice but really expensive, but if you walk out the back of the shop to the cafe sit down area there is an amazing view of the mountains, definitely worth the stop just for that!

Further down we came across a winery, Sarabah Estate. The signs seemed to indicate you needed to book to see the vineyard, so we kept going. I later found information at the visitor’s centre, which indicated otherwise. We drove a little further and came to O’Reilly’s Vineyard; we stopped here while I did a tasting, $3 for 5 tastings and tried a lovely sparkling chambourcin. One thing I have found in QLD is that a lot of cellar doors charge for tastings. Usually it is refunded if you buy something but still quite irritating.

We then drove into Canungra for lunch. We checked out the historic Canungra Hotel and then had pie at the Outpost Cafe before heading home.