Larger coastal country towns like Ingham and Innisfail have grown significantly in the past 20 years. Perhaps not in absolute population, but in services. Innisfail, for example, has suffered recent cyclones and floods to be reborn (yet again!) as a classic Art Déco town. A previous cyclone, sometime in the 1930s, totally wiped out the town and it was rebuilt in the style of the day. Funds flowing into the town on the heels of the most recent disasters have allowed major renovation work to be completed on these classic buildings.
Further north, Cairns is yet another tourist miracle. When we visited her first in the early 1970s, it was a quaint country town. Now, with a population around 150,000, it is one of Australia’s main tourist destinations. And it’s the Barrier Reef and the Tropical Rainforests that brings them, so we joined the Kiwis, European Backpackers, a few Yanks and assorted Asians for the mandatory reef trip and the Kuranda SkyRail and Railway ‘Experience’. Both were fine, although expensive.
The further into the tropics we go, the slower life becomes. Even in ‘winter’, people stroll with what we call the Asian shuffle. In Sydney, Melbourne or even Brisbane they would be trampled to death in the streets.
Tourism here is managed just as slickly as anywhere else we have seen, except perhaps for Vietnam, where they have to deal with enormous chaos and traffic as well, but still make it all happen! Some places, Port Douglas for example, take tourism to new heights. Resorts and golf courses attract Presidents and Pop Stars. Yet another country town made good, it is now Noosa on steroids. A quick drive through was all we could cope with, or afford.
Tonight in Mossman, we are back among the cane fields. Mossman retains its country atmosphere, despite the new housing estates on the town’s fringes, populated by commuters from Port Douglas, some 12 kms away. Speaking of cane fields, even we native Queenslanders forget just how extensive this industry is. From virtually the northern suburbs of Brisbane, the rich green fields stretch for 1500 kms to just about here at Mossman. With sugar prices the highest they have been for more than 30 years and the mining boom, it’s all happening in the north! From here north, it’s some cattle, but mostly tropical jungle for the almost 1000 kms to the Cape. We had planned to head north to Cooktown from here, but it is booked out for The Cooktown Discovery Festival for the whole long weekend, so we’ll head to Cape Tribulation tomorrow for a day trip and then to the Tablelands where things will be quieter. Afraid Cooktown will have to wait for us.
10 June - Cape Tribulation
Crossing the Daintree River on the old cable car ferry was once an adventurous pursuit. These days, good roads run up the coast through the Daintree National Park to Cape Tribulation and this, once-isolated, ‘wilderness’ is easily accessible in the smallest of family cars. Dense tropical jungle fringing coconut palm-lined beaches gives the whole area a South Pacific feel, but the hordes of tourists flooding from mini buses at every turn detract a little from the tropical wilderness ‘vibe’. These aren’t grey nomads either! Young backpackers from all points of the compass seem to have driven the nomads further west. So tomorrow we’ll join them, making the climb up the range to the Atherton Tablelands.
12 June - Ravenshoe to Gilbert River
Ravenshoe’s old railway yards are, today, the base for the Ravenshoe Heritage Railway. Members of this all- volunteer group of steam rail enthusiasts have restored an old 1924 Ipswich-built locomotive that spent more than 40 years in a local park. Every Sunday and public holiday the old “Capella” chugs off with a couple of carriages of punters for the 16 km round trip to xxxxxxx. To supplement their treasury, the good folks of the RHR open their grounds to campers. The site was packed to overflowing the afternoon we arrived. But after a bit of crafty van reversing, we managed to find a spot for the night.
What a contrast today. Leaving the tropical lushness of the Atherton Tablelands, we headed off along the Savannah Way towards the ‘Gulf’ - Gulf of Carpentaria. Moving west, the country progressively flattened out to open grassy plains, criss-crossed by the numerous creeks and rivers that carry the wet season floods out to the Gulf. This early in the Dry, and after such a big Wet, the country is knee deep in grass. A good season!
Roads this far north were once all dirt or single lane with dirt verges to allow for passing. These strips are becoming increasingly rare as even the more remote roads are up-graded to two lane. Despite these improvements, great care is required. Murphy’s Law dictates that a three trailer Road Train will always appear on a single lane stretch! These enormous vehicles, greater that 50 mtrs in length, thunder along at 100kph, demanding the full use of the small centre strip of sealed road. As soon as we spot one, in front or behind, we just pull off and stop. Once the dust has settled, it is safe to plod on.
Tonight we are in a bush camp on the Gilbert River about halfway between Georgetown and Normanton. Sounds isolated? Well not quite. As the evening rolls on more and more vans and campers roll in.
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