Townsville to Cairns

To continue the trend of giving a current position update before I continue my attempt to catch up on everything that’s happened since my last instalment that I am yet to write about, I am in Darwin sitting outside Matt, Lachie and Lou’s (Queen’s friends) house still sweating and listening to Matt’s interesting music. So yes I made the long drive across the baron, endless Overlander’s Way from Townsville to the centre of the Northern Territory and the up the Stuart Highway to Darwin.

Jumping back now to one month ago and I spent Anzac Day eve driving up a very windy and ridiculously foggy mountain range to reach the campsite at Wallaman Falls – the biggest drop waterfall in Australia. Reaching camp we (the Dutchies and I) soon discovered that we had the whole camp to ourselves and made ourselves at home in the very primitive and basic camp kitchen. Unsure of whether it was the fact that we were in the rainforest, that maybe it was residual rain dropping of the branches above, or maybe that we were just in cloud, we seemed to be constantly wet. With everything from clothes, sleeping stuff, to the Duties tent saturated and already starting to smell we went to the lookout to the falls the following morning and were not surprised to see nothing past the cloud/fog two metres in front. We decided to venture down the very steep and slippery walking track to the base of the falls where although we were now completed soaked to the bone (I had a raincoat but somehow sweated through my clothes underneath) it was worth it however to look up at the 268m of projectile waterfall.

Heading north once again with George full of wet soggy smelly clothes and camp stuff we arrived in sunshine at Paronella Park. Paronella Park was started by Spanish man José Paronella to fulfill his dream of building a castle. On 5 Hectares beside Mena Creek Falls he built his castle, picnic area by the falls, tennis courts, bridges, a tunnel, and wrapped it up in an amazing range of 7,500 tropical plants and trees (now a lush rainforest!). It opened to the public in 1935. After a brief period of neglection the Park now boasts remarkable architecture, an incredible story, 5ha of tropical gardens, fantastic photo opportunities, a fully restored and operational 1930's hydro electric generator, wildlife and fish feeding, a boutique caravan and camping grounds, and a café with fresh local produce.

The very friendly staff at this tourist attraction quickly convinced us to come inside and purchase a ticket which included a day tour about the history of the Park, a night tour with a sound and lights show and a campsite at their adjacent campground. Embarking on our tour we soon learnt to explore the park on our own to avoid listening to the enthusiastic and sarcastic voice of our computer geek turned tour guide. Again on the night tour I decided upon some alone time this time to avoid kids shining torches in my eyes, the frightened cries of younger kids and the many couples being all soppy as they admired the lit up castle. All in all it was a magical and intriguing experience and I’d definitely recommend it.

Waking up to sunshine again and finally the thought of everything drying off we arrived in Cairns to meet a carload of backpackers that the Dutchies were then going to join on the next part of their journey to Darwin. Parking George at the buzzing lagoon and esplanade precinct the Dutchies transferred their stuff from George, accidentally leaving behind their tent! It was a sad farewell as I promised to visit them whenever I go to Amsterdam, but saying goodbye was somewhat a relief to once again have my own space in George. In my relief at being alone and finally arriving in Cairns where I would be based for the next few weeks and luckily not have to do too many kms for a while, I relaxed by the lagoon and treated myself to a delicious focaccia for lunch.

Finally it was time for my very much anticipated chance to pick Harriet up from the airport and see a familiar face for the first time it what seemed like forever.