29 July 2011 - Babinda Rest Area, Queensland

I heard little of the rain that fell in the night, and slept the sleep of the just. On opening the blinds, the day revealed was overcast and the clouds threatening ongoing rain, not good weather for charging the solar panels nor encouraging outdoor pursuits.

We lingered long after breakfast, and then after chatting with the neighbours, well seasoned winter nomads from South Australia and receiving much advice from such seniors, we elected to pack a picnic and set off to explore the area, despite the weather.

Josephine Falls

After calling in to the local newsagent to buy the daily newspaper, we traveled nine kilometres back south on the Bruce Highway, just past Miriwinni, then turned off to follow the Russell River up a wide valley, through yet more banana and sugar cane plantations and the tiny settlement of Bartle Frere named after the mountains lying to the north, and up to the Josephine Falls where the creek by that same name plunges over granite boulders, forming turbulent tiered falls. The sealed well formed path follows the creek for 750 metres through lush rainforest, mostly unscathed by the cyclone. It is well publicized in the tourist literature, this a popular place for travelers. It drizzled most of the time we were there, but our views were not diminished. The falls are situated in the Wooroonooran National Park, a huge area covering the Bellenden Ker and Francis Ranges.

 It was not quite lunch time so I suggested that we head for the Eubenagee Swamp National Park, an area of wetlands I had spotted on the map, just east of Miriwinni on the road to Bramston Beach. A few obscure lines in the tourist blurb said it was well signposted and walking tracks took one through wetlands along the river bank to a grassy hill offering views of Bartle Frere and the swamplands.

We decided that the wombles in the National Park Service must be like those in the New Zealand Conservation Department, in that they really don’t want the general public trespassing on land now earmarked for flora and fauna. The sign was small, the car park almost invisible and any other services non-existent. We set up our picnic chairs between a cane rail line and the edge of the forest, and waved at the traffic that sped up the road, including a police car when I had the pocket knife in my hand cutting up fruit. (Not a good look!) As we were finishing with our cups of coffee, two unrelated walkers came out and told us about the crocodile up the path. There was an "Achtung – Beware of Crocodiles" sign, and the Alice River is murky and inviting for these prehistoric creatures, so we were of course planning to be wary.

Eubenagee Swamp: spot the croc

The path along the river was like that to the Josephine Falls, well formed of gravel. After about a kilometre, we reached a grassy knoll, which we duly ascended. At the top, a great expanse of lagoons filled with water lilies and surrounding swamp was laid out before us. And across on the other side of a lagoon, just about 100 metres below, lay the famed 17 foot crocodile with his head partially obscured by the scrub. We descended the hill through the flattened grass where others had obviously done the same, then Chris yelled across to it, “Boo!” in an attempt to wake it up. The croc obviously was too clever to be fooled, knowing it to be a ruse for portrait takers, so we came away with shots of a headless croc.

A closer shot of the scaley monster

Views of the mountains were obscured by clouds; interpretative panels had already explained to us that Bartle Frere was only visible four days out of five. Apparently it rains 250 days of the year here in the shadow of these mountains and so we were experiencing a taste of the real Wet Tropics.

We then headed back up the Bruce Highway to Babinda, turning off at the town itself, driving west up the more intimate valley of the Babinda Creek. The plantations soon gave way to forest and we arrived at The Boulders, again in the Wooroonooran National Park, but this time south of Bellenden Ker.

The Boulders

The Boulders are so called because of the huge granite rocks the creek flows over, smoothed by the force of the water which was not very evident today, but is no doubt so much more in the floods of the wet season. The picnic area was lovely; wrong place, wrong time, however we did enjoy the walk down the river beside the series of falls through the rocks.

As we came back down to Babinda, we parked and walked up and down the street. This town is an RV Friendly town which gives it the big tick as far as we are concerned. Of course this is illustrated by the fact that we have this excellent park where we are right now, with toilets, cold showers, potable water, a dump station, and where we are welcome to stay 72 hours. Apart from this excellent spot, there is a smaller camp, with room for just ten parties up at The Boulders where one is welcome to stay free for 48 hours.

Babinda is a very small town, with just short of 1,200 people counted in the 2006 census. The sugar mill seems to be closed but the town has not died. Apparently when Cyclone Larry hit in 2006, 80% of the buildings were destroyed. This has obviously proved to be a blessing in disguise and the repair work was cleverly done, because while none of the buildings appear to be new, they are well maintained and attractive.

The rain has come and gone all day but did not spoil our day. The camp is again full this evening; this morning between 8.45 and 9.30 am, campers were arriving to take up the places vacated by those who had chosen to move on.

We have just heard on the local news that a 1.5 meter crocodile who emerged from a drain in the main street in Cairns yesterday, has been captured and is being relocated to a crocodile farm. A shot in the head would have been more appropriate! We are heading for Cairns in the morning.