sonny photos

Townsville > Brisbane

Townsville airport take off Belle enjoying it as much as I do Townsville with Castle Hill and Mount Stuart behind it Airport, which is as big as it is due to it being pretty much a US Airforce base during WWII Croc territory, Ross River Bowling Green Bay National Park foothills























Brisbane so no photos from fligth to Sydney as it was night time flight and nothing to see except for these two munchkins getting an upgrade to business class, look at that smile :-) aaaah, the luxury :-)

Last Day in the Far North, driving back to Townsville

View from our plunge pool at Pool Port Douglas early in the morning, up early as we have a 6 hour drive ahead of us looking west going south, somewhere in between Port Douglas and Cairns a few hours later, after stopping at Innisfail to grab some supplies, we stop at Cardwell again for some lunch. but this time at dead low tide, so beach does not look as inviting, hmmm, mud crabs ? Hinchinbrook Island National Park

who doesn't like a palm tree Yasi damage, Ingham Queenslanders looks like you would want to hang out here on a lazy sunday afternoon interesting, this used to be a hospital Magnetic Island National Park  just of Townsville, ok, off to the airport. Jacqui is catching up on her posts as well, and plenty of photos to go with her observations. In a nutshell, I do images, and she does words good, so check it out

Port Douglas late afternoon light

In between the marinas

let's go fishing

evening trawling trip quite time no ? loving the view of the ranges as well

Mt Sorrow, Daintree

Pool Port Douglas

that's what this place is called where we are staying, and it is called that because . . . . there are pools everywhere :-) and exotic tropical flowers with the Mossman Gorge and Daintre hills in the background



spot my baby :-) so nearly each place opens up tp the pool, got to love that I would recommned this place, if you don;t need a hotel , with the regualr turn down service, and can handle self contained this place is perfect, and more economical than the nearby resort/hotels, and for us a great base to go exploring from. And, friendly people that run it also makes a difference.

Sugar Cane Fields bordering Mossman Gorge Rainforest

The drive out the rainforest, straight away in sugar cane country Sugar cane transportation


tree roots along the Mossman river

Lunch at Silky Oaks, Mossman Gorge

Yum with a view of the Mossman River flowing past

Mossman Gorge, Daintree, Far North Queensland

next day and we are out exploring again, this time the rainforest at the world famous Mossman Gorge thing about the Mossman Gorge that I did not know, is that, unlike other parks, you can't just drive in , park your car and go for a walk. You have to park well outside the park at, let's call it the base campo, where you pay a fee to get a ride on one of their buses into the park, and then walk around. It is not pricey, however if you can't afford it, you can walk all the way from base camp as well part of the walk is on a raised platform massive birds nest plants in the trees, strong trees, as in the wet season, those plants holding all that moisture can weigh up to a tonne it's really dry at the moment, and has been for a while ( unlike the outback from our april roadtrip ) but stilla lot of moss around Mossman river

friendlies along the pathway



Half way up the track we get a good view of the peak called Manjal Dimbi, named so by the Kuku Yalanji people, Roughly translated it means, Mountain holding back, as the large humanoid rock represents Kubirri, who came to the aid of the Kuku Yalanji people when they were persecuted by an evil spirit Wurrumbu ( why were they being persecuted by the evil Wurrumbu is what I want to know ) Kubirri holds back the evil spirit who is now confined to The Bluff above Mossman River. Manjal Dimbi has now been anglicised to Mt Demi and Kubirri us known as the "good" shepherd











loving the shapes at the base of buttress trees







blown away by how clear and clean the river is the distinctive bluff above the river that can be seen from miles around, we even see it from our apartment at port douglas



all this walking is making me hungry

Port Douglas Seafood restaurants

Plenty to choose from in Port Douglas, once you get to the main streets, there are plenty of dining choices. We chose the one that had live mud crabs Evan..oyster head India looking forward to me getting my main course :-) and here it is Yum, have not had a good mud crab since Fiji at Tommy Lu's
oh yes, this will be messy, but yummy Jacqui's more modest looking main course :-) :[-) Look at that mess I'm creating even the table next to us is checking it out what I'm eating Belle must be wondering why I am making such a mess of the table with it's crispy white table cloth India gets her tiny share You beauty the aftermath

Good Bye Sailboat Hello Port douglas

I booked a 3 bedroom apartment at Port Douglas, and in hindsight, glad I did after that little disaster of the boat trip, back to creature comforts, like a real toilet and proper shower :-) and spacious warm , cosy beds ( with more than just a bedspread as cover :-) and Jacqui and I have our own bath in our room



will be a comfy sleep tonight has its own water feature and plunge pool ( should have seen the smile on the kids faces when they saw where we were staying, and not that I thought it was possible but it di, their smile became even bigger when they saw we had our own plunge pool )

and we have a view of the Daintree national park, now time to find a good seafood meal for dinner, all this time up here and we have not eatern seafood yet :-)

Heading back to the mainland

Our time on the Great Barrier Reef Fitzroy Island is over and we sail back to Cairns sadly did not get to use one of these nice breeze, but feels like the Captain is milking the time and not putting up the main sail, so instead feels like a long journey back, giving us time to reflect on the past 30 hours, and coming to the conclussion that we feel a little like we have been ripped off, partly to blame by the weather, which is beyond anyone's control ofcourse bye bye Fitzroy Island about to sail past False Cape which has been smouldering since we sailed past yesterday



I head down below to prepare our bags, wish he would have put up the main sail we are going back so slow, and have a little surprise for the kids when we get back