Granite Gorge Nature Park is a bit of a hidden gem. Its only 16 minutes outside of Mareeba or 70 minutes from Cairns in Northern Queensland. The landscape and vegetation around here is much drier than the lush wet tropics of Cairns. The caravan park is lovely but the highlights of this park are the gorge walk, the tiny, cute Mareeba Rock Wallabies and the huge number of animals at the park.

Visitors at this park are allowed to feed the wallabies with pellets purchased from reception. We didn’t feed them but as they are so used to being fed, they are quite tame and will approach closely to any humans with expectant looks on their little faces. We therefore managed to get many good photos.

There are huge number of animals around the park. It would be great for kids but also fascinating for us adults! There are noisy geese and fluffy, fancy chickens wandering about loose, a pig, ponies, lizards, water dragons, guinea pigs, snakes and lots of colourful birds. The lady at reception offered us several times the opportunity to hold these animals if we wanted. We also chanced upon the feeding of the snakes with mice and chicks. These were dead before feeding the snake but warmed to tempt the snakes to eat!

The walking tracks that go from behind the reception building are a little tricky in places but worth doing for the spectacular and unusual boulder filled scenery. The shorter, yellow marked walk is easier and takes you to a pretty water body for swimming. The much harder, red marked walk involves a fair amount of clambering over rocks but you can see dinosaur footprints and a pretty gorge lookout!

If you are in the vicinity of Mareeba, Skybury Coffee is worth a visit. It has a cafe on a high balcony overlooking the pretty vista and free tastings of coffee, papayas and papaya jam at the shop. The most fascinating part of this operation is how they double crop papaya trees and coffee trees. There is a small movie theater and signage with information about this method of farming.

The papaya trees are planted and these produce fruit for sale between 8 months and 2.5 years. When the tree gets to a certain height, young coffee trees are planted under the papaya trees. The papaya trees protect and shade the young coffee trees while they mature to a productive age. Coffee trees planted under papaya trees mature to productivity much faster than those planted alone. Once the coffee trees are ready for harvest, the papaya trees will have passed their useful age and have been removed. This method increases the yield from the same bit of land with only a marginal increase in water and fertilizers. Fascinating stuff!!

This part of the North Queensland is dominated by sugar cane fields. The soil is rich and dark and the sugar cane often grows higher than 2m. This fertile soil also grows mango trees and bananas. The mango trees in the plantations are pruned to keep them short and more manageable for picking. Colourful plastic bags cover the developing combs of bananas to protect them from pests and improve the yield. There are cane train tracks to carry the cane to the sugar mills.

Wallaman falls, about 50 minutes inland from the town of Ingham is really spectacular. Potentially, it was particularly stunning and swollen when we were there as there were a few days of rain prior. The water falls a great distance of 268m making it the highest, permanent, single drop waterfall in Australia. The power of the waterfall creates huge plumes of spray. There is a hike from the lookout at the top to the bottom of the falls. It’s not the easiest hike but worth the effort to feel the power of the falling water at the bottom lookout and the spray of it on your face.

Driving north from Ingham to Cardwell, you will pass the Hinchinbrook Lookout. This stunning lookout must have cost the local government a fortune to build as it consists of a highway offramp and a vehicle bridge that goes over the major Bruce Highway. Throughout our journeys, we have been astounded at the quality therefore cost of public infrastructure in Australia. Is this the best way to spend money? Could the same outcome be achieved with less money and the remaining money used for something else or left in the taxpayer’s pocket? The view from the lookout is pretty spectacular.

We overnighted in Cardwell. One of Cardwell’s claim to fame is it’s resident, massive crocodile named Bismarck. In Australia, crocodiles are a protected species (as are all native animals), so ‘taking care of it’ would be a crime. However, it’s common practice in the Northern Territory where a crocodile has encroached into populated areas, to ‘re-locate’ it to a remote stretch of river. The interesting thing then is what happens to the re-located croc? Since saltwater crocodiles are intensely territorial, the new kid on the block is likely to be on another croc’s turf and a a fight to the death then ensues. Nevertheless, despite being a waterfront-centric, tourist town, locals do not want this big crocodile relocated. The lady at the tourist centre said that “The Bismarck” loves publicity and would wave at you if it could! Google Cardwell croc to get some videos of what this croc has been up to! It seems to be a matter of time before an ignorant tourist gets chomped and then the local authorities will be forced to decide that something needs to be done!

On the way north from Cardwell is a cool and refreshing (and safe) swimming hole called Alligator’s Nest. It is a really great place to stop for a picnic and a swim. Just look out for the Bullrout fish (like a stonefish) which has dangerous spines that will get you if you step on one. Of course these fish are cunningly camouflaged in the river sand, so maybe “watch out” is the wrong thing to do, since you won’t spot one until it’s too late. Just another way that Australia’s natural wonders get their own back from time to time.

The lady at the tourist information centre at Cardwell was delightfully biased towards Cardwell. She told us that the (famous) Mission Beach was “boring”. We got to Mission Beach and was pleasantly greeted by a stunning, broad, world class, white sand beaches fringed by coconut trees. Idyllic! The main street has a very touristy feel.

Just inland of Mission Beach is Djiru National Park. The Licuala Rainforest Circuit is worth finding for the beautiful Fan Palm Rainforest Walk. These massive palm leaves are really beautiful.

About 20 minutes south of Innisfail, Paronella Park is touted as the Number 1 tourist attraction in Queensland. That’s a big call! Together with the $50 per adult entry fee, my expectations were extremely high! It’s pretty enough as the photos attest but you can actually access the highlight of the park for free. The Mena Creek Falls can accessed for free from the suspension bridge just down the street from the park entrance. From the bridge, you can see some of the old castle structures. It could be then suggested that perhaps it isn’t worth paying the $50 steep entry fee. The real star of Paronella Park was the 1m long eel which hangs around a fast flowing creek hoping the tourists will feed it!

Note: If you have the Entertainment discount, there is a 2 for 1 discount at Paronella Park.

This is a beautiful part of the world, especially in July when the temperature is perfect and a welcome escape from the Australian winter down south. The ground is fertile and the landscape is lush and green.

Townsville is a big city of 180,000 people in a fertile part of North Queensland. Sugar cane, mango and banana growing country, with rich dark, fertile soils. It’s a good place to stop when travelling in the region if you have “life admin” type errands to get done. Most of Townsville is not particularly pretty but the waterfront area along the Strand is the jewel of the city. It’s very pretty but the highlights are the giant fig trees that have been preserved (even in the median strip of the road!) Castle Hill looms over the city and the view from the top of it is breathtaking.

The Whitsundays is famous because it is stunning but the only way to access it is by boat. We went on an enjoyable 2 night sailing tour by Isails Whitsundays. We got to see some of the famous sites like Whitehaven Beach and also stopped at Langford Island for some snorkeling. Beware, some of the less reputable tour operators as they load up their boat to full capacity with people and it makes for a crowded boat ride and experience. This touristy part of Australia is pretty crowded these days with domestic tourists. The duration of their stay as well as their interests are often different from foreign tourists. It presents some challenges but also plenty of opportunities for the local tourism operators to evolve their product to entice the domestic dollar.

The launching point for the Whitsundays is Airlie Beach. It’s a tourist town with a chilled out, vacation vibe. There are some fun things to do and see in and around town if you are not out on a boat in the Whitsundays. The free public swimming lagoon at Airlie Beach is always available for a dip. These free public swimming facilities are “de rigueur” for all the coastal, tropical towns and cities in North Queensland. It gives the population an ability to cool off in the hot temperatures while keeping them safe from stingers (jelly fish), sharks and crocodiles. Of particular concern in the jellyfish family is the Irukandji jellyfish. These are so tiny they are impossible to spot, cause extreme physical pain and other physical issues but also cause psychologically a feeling of impending doom! Stinger suits are provided by all tourism operators that take clients out to swim in the region.

Yeppoon is a pleasant town which is mostly used as the departure point for Great Keppel Island. The ferry to Great Keppel Island takes one hour and can be choppy depending on the weather. Unfortunately, we found an island with a worn out feel and in desperate need of an injection of capital to bring it’s facilities up to the standard to match the impressive natural beauty of the island. The island’s walking trails have been washed out with heavy rains and are full of pot holes, the accommodation facilities and associated amenities are rustic and the ferry service is a bit provincial. The ferry pulls up on the beach and unloads it’s passengers directly onto the white sands. No jetty required! There is a rustic, local charm in this and based on the fully loaded ferry, there is a demand for holidays on this island. It is a local affair with family groups casually bringing cartons of beer and eskies, cooler bags of food and other small bags and boxes to be loaded onto the ferry.

It seems that every city in North Queensland must have free public swimming facilities as the central feature of their town. This is not a rectangular lap pool but usually, a beautiful resort style pool complex or a natural rockpool or ocean baths type feature. Yeppoon is no exception. It has a stunning infinity pool overlooking the beach! This part of Australia gets very hot and humid but there are stingers (jellyfish), sharks and occasionally crocodiles in the open ocean thereby discouraging swimming. These free pools are therefore a great attraction to cool off!

The city of Rockhampton is 40mins from Yeppoon. It was raining when we made a quick visit. There is a very pretty human created waterfall at Kershaw Gardens. Kershaw Gardens is a lovely spot with extensive and exciting playground installations as well as good amenities. It was the school holidays when we visited and there were at least 4 groups of children’s parties in progress. They were persevering valiantly despite the persistent drizzle!

The countryside around here is covered with sugar cane fields with a sugar mill and distillery at Sarina, just south of Mackay.

Ask many Australians, and their advice about visiting Gladstone is to “drive on!”. As a city, it is not considered pretty or worth taking the time to visit. It’s lovely however, to see a city that openly showcases it’s industries as these form the lifeblood of the country’s prosperity. Twice a week, there is a narrated harbour boat tour that takes people past the massive coal loading facilities and the three Curtis Island Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plants. There is a dedicated lookout overlooking the Queensland Aluminium operations that can be reached by car and you can also drive past the NRG Power Station for a good view. If you drive past the Boyne Smelter, you can see lots of aluminum ingots stacked up ready for transport!

Gladstone has also got pretty marina and the waterfront areas near Spinnaker Park are quite nice. At the time, Spinnaker Park was struggling with an infestation of flying foxes i.e. bats. These animals could be seen hanging from the trees and the health of the trees were visibly impacted.

You can’t go to Bundaberg without visiting the Bundaberg Rum Distillery! To be honest, this rum is only famous in Australia and Queenslanders are responsible for drinking a large portion of the rum produced. The tour was interesting as it took us through the molasses storage area and the building with the distillation columns. The tour guides really play up the Ocker Aussie accent and humour, (potentially too much) but they are pitching to the demographic that buy and drink Bundy. The tour entirely failed to mention that Bundaberg Rum is owned by British conglomerate, Diageo as it would have detracted from the Aussie ingenuity story. Complimentary drinks conclude the otherwise well-run tour.

Just 90 minutes north of Bundaberg are the charming, beachy, holiday towns of Agnes Waters and Seventeen Seventy. The town is called Seventeen Seventy after the year Captain Cook landed there. The sunset from the 1770 headlands is beautiful and the Paperbark Trail walk near Agnes Waters is really special!

Fraser Island is a sandy island just a 40 minute barge ride from Hervey Bay. Despite being entirely composed of sand, it boasts a diversity of flora and fauna, as well as a lot of fresh water! It’s an opportunity to see wide, pristine beaches, lush rainforests as well as dingoes in the wild. It is baffling how an island of sand isn’t a sand dune but has dense rainforests!?

You can take your 4WD onto the island but the inland tracks can be deeply rutted and the beach drive will cover your expensive 4WD in salt (and therefore make it much more prone to corrosion). We made a day trip to Fraser Island on a group tour in a 4WD bus so we could enjoy the day without worrying about damage to an owned or rental vehicle.