Kuranda & Mossman region

After a cooked brekky of poached eggs (in the disposable poachies pockets that I searched every camping store in Caboolture/Morayfield and found eventually found them in the kitchen aisle at Woolies) we set off for Barron Falls which is on the cusp of Kuranda.

We stopped off at Wright's Lookout which cuts a view out to Cairns 27 kilometres away with the Barron Gorge and River in the foreground. 

A short drive to Barron Falls and we headed down the canopy walkway to the rail station just as the train was arriving for its short stopover before heading to Kuranda for the day.  We hope to do that trip on Saturday or Sunday when we go to Cairns.  The Barron Falls had some water coming from them,but we can imagine that the it would look just spectacular once the summer rains have fallen.  The waterfall area is just huge and the photo just doesn't do it justice.

On the way down the Kuranda Range towards Cairns - it is a very windy road (13 kms), there are some look-out areas where you can take photos looking out to Cairns and the ocean.

We then drove to Mossman and along the way....surprise....surprise....more roadworks.  This was the longest wait that we had as they were excavating the slope along the road and loaded a truck & dog with the excavated soil.

 We continues to Mossman and turned off to go out to Mossman Gorge as we entered the town. About a kilometre down the road we saw a "no caravans" sign on the road so we turned around and headed out to Wonga Beach - 17kms north and dropped the camper off at the caravan park that was recommended to us.  We had some lunch and then headed back to the Mossman Gorge - it is only 4kms out of town.  There is a Tourist Centre there and you have to park your car there and they take you to the Gorge via shuttle bus.  As it turned out, we probably could have saved some time initially as there was parking available for RV's and buses....never mind.

The Gorge is basically the Mossman River and is a great swimming hole - very popular.  I doubt that it would ever be dry and again when the summer rains come it would be amazing.  Dennis was here over 20 years ago and it has certainly changed - the walkways are much more eco-friendly and easy for everyone to walk through the rainforest.

 

 

On the way back to the caravan park, we picked up some supplies and fuel at Mossman, then visited a WWII Bomb Site memorial that told the story of the Japanese dropping 7 bombs in the area.  One of them landed about 50 metres from the memorial and the shrapnel grazed the skull of a two and a half year old girl - apparently she was the only casualty of the Japanese attack on Australia.

 



 There are quite a few peacocks at the caravan park - one male was courting a couple of hens close by and we were given a beautiful display of his courting ritual.

We packed up a bottle of wine and a couple of beers and headed to the beach which is about 100 metres from us.  We were greeted by this sign as we got on to the sand.....

After having a good look around, we set up our chairs and looked out the the ocean and Great Barrier Reef with a drink in hand and some brie and biscuits.

The beach is still littered with a lot of driftwood and coconuts, presumably from Cyclone Yasi.  It was quite nice to just relax and unwind after a few days of driving - still a bit overcast but generally the weather was quite good today.

When we returned to the camp site we found the male peacock checking out his reflection in the bull-bar of the ute - he was quite confused!!

 

 We have just finished a roast pork dinner that I cooked up in the Chef's Toolbox pan -  I cook everything in this pan -it's great!!  So time to do the dishes and get organised for bed. 

We have a big day planned for tomorrow - we are heading form the Daintree and Cooktown - so should have some great photos tomorrow night.

TFL, Ann & Dennis.