Townsville to Sydney (via Carnarvon Gorge)

As soon as we popped onto the western side of the great dividing range, the landscape became very dry again. Below is the Burdekin River with no water at all.

Emerald's claim to fame (besides the mining) is a giant Van Gogh painting. Can you see Kirsten sitting on a rock underneath it? That's how big it is!

For almost 10 years we have been planning to go to Carnarvon Gorge and now we finally did!! It is just as magic as I imagined!! Sheer sandstone cliffs with lots of deep and narrow gorges and very unique flora and fauna.

We walked all the way to the end of the track at Big Bend, including all the side trips. It was a 24 km day!

Carnarvon Creek at Big Bend below.

There are many side gorges, some very narrow, many of them hard to access. Mickey Creek Canyon and Boowinda Gorge below.

The Cathedral cave is a massive wind-eroded overhang decorated in thousands of years old Aboriginal rock art.

The entrance to the Amphitheatre is only accessible since they built a stairway. It's a hidden 60m deep chamber gouged from the rock by running water. Absolutely amazing!

In the Moss Garden water drips constantly off the wall, supporting a lush carpet of mosses, ferns and liverworts.

The Boolimba bluff is 200m above the Carnarvon Gorge entrance. It usually has a fantastic view, except for when there are bushfires in the vicinity! 

The wildlife at Carnarvon Gorge is just fantastic! The area supports 6 out of 7 Australian glider species!
Besides many birds, roos, frogs and lizards, we saw echidnas, bandicoots, greater gliders, yellow-bellied gliders and even a Freshwater snake or Keelback snake (Tropidonophus mairii).

Carnarvon National Park stretches over 100km and can be accessed from different sides, the Carnarvon Gorge being the most popular section. We decided to check out the Mount Moffatt section as well, because it was sort of on the way (with a detour of only 300km!). It contains many unusual sandstone formations due to the basalt capping on top of the precipice sandstone.

Marlong Arch, ..

the Chimneys, and ...

Cathedral Rock.

The Consuelo Tableland (where Carnarvon Creek starts) with its deep basalt soils and cool, moist conditions supports tall open forest dominated by the majestic silvertop stringybark (Eucalyptus laevopinea). Lucky this place was too inaccessible for logging!!

The track to get up onto the tableland was another 4WD challenge! Excellent fun!

One year post bush fire and a bit of rain and everything is blooming!!

Our camp in Lonesome National Park on the way home.

Roma is said to have the biggest boab tree in QLD! Not easy to hug!

Cairns to Townsville

Mangrove forest in Cairns.

In the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, between Cairns and (just north of) Townsville, we visited just about every National Park, photographed every waterfall and walked every track. Unfortunately, large patches of rainforest were damaged by recent cyclones (Yasi in 2011 and Larry in 2006) and the bare patches are now invaded by weeds and colonising native species. Nevertheless, it is still a stunning environment with high species diversity, dense rainforest, abundance of permanent water and gorgeous walks and camping areas - high humidity and march flies included for free.
Note that QLD National Parks has just changed all its park names to aboriginal names (which seem too hard to pronounce or remember).

Rainforest and...

 

  ...creeks everywhere!

The Gympie stinging tree (Dendrocnide moroides) loves to grow in disturbed areas and along walking tracks! It is amazing that people don't get stung more often.

 This palm (Calamus moti) has thorns everywhere and tentacles with hooks to claw its way to sunlight. It's also called Lawyer cane because once it has its hooks into you, it won't let go. Haha!

The Boulders Scenic Reserve, Wooroonooran National Park.

Eubenangee Swamp National Park.

 Nandroya Falls, Wooroonooran National Park

View from Mamu Rainforest Canopy Walkway.

Mission Beach - the camping area is right on the beach!

View from Bicton Hill, Djiru National Park: looking south with Mission Beach and Dunk Island in the back-ground.

Fan Palm Forest, Djiru National Park. All other tree species fell during Cyclone Yasi, but somehow the palms survived.

The town of Tully is apparently the wettest place in Australia. This gumboot is 7.9m high, which is the highest recorded annual rainfall for Tully, average is around 4m/year!!

Sugar cane harvesting and ..

.. the (Chinese owned) mill in Tully.

Kirsten during the sugar mill tour. There was steam, dripping hot water, sticky floors and dust everywhere. Maybe the Chinese don't have to follow Australian work-safety rules?

Murray Falls in Girramay National Park.

Broadwater camp ground in Abergowrie State Forest.

Wallaman Falls in Girringun National Park - the largest, permanent, single-drop waterfall in Australia (268m drop). 

The walk to the bottom was very hot and steamy - and then the track stops about 100m before reaching the swimming hole!

The port of Lucinda has the longest jetty in the world, extending for 5.6 km and dipping 1.2 m over its length as it follows the curvature of the earth!! It contains a conveyor belt to load raw sugar onto ships.

Here, some more impressions from the wet tropics:

Strangler .....

... and Buttress Fig.

Green tree ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) have been our companions since Cape York. Every morning our tent was included in their "foraging highway" and every time you brush against a plant you end up wearing a few of them. Cute aren't they?

And what's this?? Yes! It's poo. From a Cassowary. It's a great way to show how important these rare giants are for the survival of the rainforest. Some of these seeds are the size of golf balls and depend on Cassowaries for their dispersal and fertilisation. So don't speed in the rainforest!

Somebody with a sense of humour changed a "bump" sign into a dead Cassowary.

These gorgeous creatures were hanging out in the toilet on a camp ground. They are probably just too hard to spot in the wild!