Travel about 190klm south from Mission Beach, and pass by a lot of very cool National Parks, towns and coastline, you will find the Paluma National Park and its campground at Big Crystal Creek, our destination for today. Leaving Mission the first town is Tully, well known for the regions main industry, sugar. We’re on the road unusually early for us (9;30am) so Tully misses out on the delight of our company, but we are impressed with the township during our drive-thru!
South of Tully the roads are good with plenty of long and flat straights. Here the road parallels the coastline, but several kilometres inland, the only real scenery is limited to views of the mountain range to the west. The mountains are rugged, the flats are predominately sugar cane covered and the road passes through a handful of small rural communities. Our first stop comes at Cardwell, about 50klm south of Tully.
Cardwell has an interesting history right back to the indigenous peoples of pre-settlement, World War II activity and modern development. From Cardwell you access the Hinchinbrook Island NP, something we will do on a future trip to take in some of the wonderful walks there. In more recent history Cardwell fell prey to developers and then cyclones, and the scars of both are still visible. That said we spent several wonderful hours along the sculptured foreshore visiting a War Memorial, an excellent Info Centre and having a coffee and pie for an early lunch at the local bakery. A worthy stop, absolutely!
From Cardwell to Ingham the road traverses the Mt Leach Range with some twists and turns allowing glimpses of the spectacular coastline and so many off-shore islands. Unfortunately most of the coastal villages and campgrounds require a diversion of several kilometres off the highway so we bypass places like Lucinda, Forrest Beach and many more. Ingham also suffers our drive-thru tactics as we are keen to sample the delights of the Big Crystal Creek highly recommended swimming holes.
We expected something quite special about Big Crystal Creek after all the buildup, especially from our son, Tom and wife Aisling….it lived up to the hype. covering an acre or so of nicely wooded fields along a creek, the campground provided plenty of space and privacy in the marked campsites, each with a fire-pit (not going to be used in this heat). Speaking of heat, after a quick set-up we tramped a few hundred metres to the large main swimming hole that currently had only about six people there. The path led along a wide rock peninsula, about 5 metres high with several sloped entries to the crystal water, in places several metres deep. The day was hot, heavy with humidity, but 22º water was the only invite necessary, sheer bliss.
Refreshed by mountain stream and a Nespresso we undertake a short drive to Rollingstone, a beachside caravan park and campground nearby that comes highly recommended by our son, Tom. They stayed there several weeks earlier, telling us of the wonderful park where everyone has a waterfront site, whether ocean or lake front. After a brief stop at Reception they allowed us through the boom gates and a drive around the expansive park. Tom, you were correct the place is beautifully set out and would make for a really relaxing stop!
Day 2 we have planned an outing up the Paluma Mountain Range to firstly visit another beautiful swimming hole and bridge at Little Crystal Creek, then up to the village of Paluma, perhaps for lunch. The road up is really narrow but it is a sealed road, thankfully, as it is perhaps the most winding road with numerous U and S bends, in fact there seems to be no straight sections longer than 50 metres. At Little Crystal Creek there is, fortunately, a turn to a carpark off the road, then a walk of a hundred metres down towards the arched bridge that is very picturesque. From there you may chose to walk downstream to a swimming hole under the arch, or across the bridge and upstream to another swimming hole and a short walk. The water? Bloody cold but Roscoe was determined to have a swim and after a few minutes emerged as the blue man :-}
It is only 22klm up to Paluma from the valley, however, the journey takes us close to an hour, the road really is that winding and narrow. Twice we needed to brake and swerve suddenly as we were suddenly faced with oncoming vehicles on hairpin corners. For all that it is a truly beautiful drive with many spectacular views eastward across the cane-field coastal plain and the numerous tropical islands suspended on Barrier Reefs multihued waters .
Finally arriving at Paluma we first stop at a lookout on the eastern approach for a short walk and a relaxed view of the terrain we have driven through. It is by now almost lunchtime so off we go in search of a venue…..no, not in Paluma, there was a tavern (closed) and a sort of restaurant/cafe (closed), but we did have a museli bar! Sitting at the town park we checked the map and decided to tour on to “Hidden Valley Resort”, a further 18klm mainly gravel road, here we will find food and wine, it’s a resort after all! Nope, upon arrival at the resort it is clear they only cater for house guests, and as we met the owners they confirmed that point! The drive out and back though was very pleasant, as is the drive back down the mountain, hastened by growling stomachs as we rush toward a late lunch at the camp and an afternoon swim to cool off!
Australia. Dust, Fire, Flood & Pandemic 