Author: Mrs A
Location: Mutarnee and Paluma Range National Park, Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, Queensland
Monday morning we set off from Townsville and drove less than an hour north up to a little settlement called Mutarnee. There is very little here other than a handful of houses, a fuel station, the caravan park behind the fuel station and a fast food outlet a little further up the highway.
We chose this location for its proximity to Paluma Range National Park. Like many, we had never heard of this area, and probably would have passed right on through if it were not for a tip from Greg, a fellow Zoner, shared at our first meet up in Moonee Beach. I added a star and a short note to my Google maps, and here we are!
Mount Spec is the peak of this section of park, towering 1,000 metres over the flat coastal plain, and its slopes the home to countless creeks which wind their way down to the Coral Sea.
Little Crystal Creek was our first destination, up a hair raisingly steep and windy road. It was worth the drive, with nothing little about the falls there, a spectacular series of cascades. We could imagine it would be a great place for a dip on a hot steamy day.
There is something so peaceful about being amongst all this greenery and water, the rainforest trees and foliage almost reflecting the movement of the water in its flowing vines, trunks and roots.
From here we drove back down the mountain and diverted to another swimming hole at Rockslides. It was equally beautiful and we stopped there to cool our feet (it was quite cold – we weren’t game for a swim!). We likened this area to Mossman Gorge (a popular location in far North Queensland) without the coach parties!
Tuesday morning began with fresh bread. I’d made the dough last night and after it had risen, kept it in the fridge ready to bake this morning. It came out nice and crusty and went well with the BBQ’d breakfast Mr A served up.
We had the whole campground to ourselves, which pleased Miss Tassie in particular who has been able to roam freely without fear of cars or dogs while we have been here.
After our breakfast we headed back up to the National Park, this time our destination was the village of Paluma, high up on the peak, where we were to do a 5km hike. We wound our way up the 18km mountain pass, a collection of narrow hairpin corners lined with waterfalls and deep gullies.
Our first destination was McClelland’s Lookout. From there, we hiked a few more kilometres around to the crystal clear Cloudy Creek, where there was more feet cooling in the plunging waters.
Our final destination on our hike was Witt’s Lookout, the best by far, with a magnificent outlook over Halifax Bay and the Palm Islands.
Again, the rainforest environment was a big part of the drawcard, the fresh air (about 5 degrees colder up at the top than down on the plains), the lovely smells, the sounds of the birds calling in the canopy.
This area is home to one of the rarest of all birds, the endangered Cassowary, but sadly we didn’t see one. Hopefully we will have more luck at our next destination, Mission Beach.
After all this walking, we headed back down to Mutarnee, and called in at The Frosty Mango, an ordinary looking roadside ice creamery. Mark had been looking forward to trying some of their famous fruit ice cream, but being dairy intolerant, I was less excited. Once in, however, I discovered that their speciality is dairy-free and walked away with a scoop of dark chocolate sorbet, and a scoop of lime and mint sorbet. Wow, my life is complete!
Tassie came back out for a long walk around the camp area, before I went back to the Zone make up some jungle curry paste and prepare dinner.
New neighbours arrived this evening, and we were excited to see that they too are travelling with a cat. It’s such a shame that Tassie and Mau-Mau can’t have a chat in cat language and exchange stories about being felines on the road!
While organising the bikes at the shop the assistant pointed out a koala wandering along a neighbouring tree, a great start to the day!
We headed off from Nelly Bay to find breakfast. We had been recommended a place in Arcadia called the Bikini Tree, and settled ourselves in. A salmon stack for madam and a baked egg dish for me, both cooked just right.
Fortified we tackled some more big hills, which on an e-bike means just changing down gears and letting the 250 watt motor help you up. It’s great to see this form of transport really catching on globally, and for a hilly place like this they are ideal.
Interestingly, when we posted our trip visit on Facebook a friend commented that her great, great, grandmother was the first white woman to set foot on the island. There is evidence of aboriginal occupation since the last Ice Age, when this would have been just another group of hills joined to the mainland before sea levels rose.
A refreshing dip concluded the afternoon and all too soon it was time to head back to the mainland, tucking away some great memories of this little corner of Australia.
We were camped on the showground in town, surprisingly busy considering it is a dry dusty field, with some freshly painted, but fairly tired amenities provided. Apparently it is sugar harvest time, so many travelling farm workers have arrived to help with that.
The end of next week will see a huge harvest celebration, culminating with the burning of the sugar stubble.
We crossed a bridge and rode back on the other side, making a great 13km circuit.
Friends we had made in Moonee Beach back in March, fellow Zoners Cathy and Gawain Bowman are also camping here, so we snuck over to their Zone with a glass of red wine each (it’s meant to be a dry campground) to catch up on their news. They’re in Townsville to care for their son who is recovering from some major back surgery, and it was great to see them.
We found our way into town, collected a final parcel from the post office, and investigated The Strand, the road alongside the waterfront, facing out towards Magnetic Island, just 8km out to sea.
We didn’t see another cyclist on the bike path, and after lunch in town rode back, completing a good 32km ride. Many birds were spotted along our ride, including Blue Winged Kookaburras (they have a different laugh to the usual ones!), many Rainbow Bee-eaters, Egrets, Dusky Moorhens…the list is endless. Apparently the river is home to freshwater crocodiles too, but we didn’t see any.
A delicious curry from a local (very seedy looking) Indian takeaway concluded our day – we’re pleased the food was better than the ambience in the empty restaurant! Tomorrow we head offshore, out to Magnetic Island.
Wandering down the nearest little road we came out on this view. Almost every direction from Bowen there is an island view across crystal clear waters.
We jumped off the tarmac and enjoyed a short ride though the bush, until Catherine felt her tyre go flat! She’d picked up a bunch of thorns, so it was off to the local bike shop, which doubled as a purveyor of power tools! The dedicated bike shop that was here has now closed down, sadly an all too familiar story around Australia.
We had some stuff to collect from the local Post Office, and as usual it had arrived safe and sound. Using this system of sending our various care packages to a Post Office on route has been brilliant. They will hold it for up to a month free of charge, as long as Australia Post is the courier and not a third party.
Then I read the local tourist guide to Bowen that we had picked up at the information centre. Let me quote verbatim from the page describing Bowen’s Top 10 food experiences.
These brochures do nothing but seed expectations that are never delivered on when confronted with the reality of eating out and trying to buy fresh produce in rural Australia, with the odd exception that we always find so refreshing, because it is so unusual.
Bowen’s riches predominantly lie in its spectacular scenery and views, which we enjoyed on a 5km hike along the Cape Edgecumbe Walking Track.
As the morning warmed up and the sun reached through the trees, flowers began to open, with the native hibiscus looking fabulous. The forest was rich with flowers, fruit and seeds, as well as evidence from Tropical Cyclone Debbie which hit the area last year, causing devastation to much of Airlie Beach and its surrounds. Some businesses have still not recovered.
At the peak of Mount Rooper we were rewarded with a fabulous views across the Whitsunday Passage, looking out across all the islands, with Hayman Island, Hamilton Island, Daydream, North and South Molle Islands all clearly seen.
We continued the walk around to Swamp Bay, a tree lined beach covered in coral and shells, looking out to the islands.
We spotted many skinks, a little frog and our first snake of this trip – a young brown snake – probably only 40cm long and not much thicker than a pencil, but still carrying enough venom to cause some serious issues. Thankfully it was not on the offensive and slithered off through the leaves on its way.
Its our last day in Airlie Beach, so after an afternoon of shopping, cleaning and a customary exploration for Miss Tassie, adventure cat extraordinaire, we showered and jumped on our bikes. We rode back to Sorrento’s Bar beside Abell Point Marina for sundowners, enjoying a fabulous sunset over a glass of wine (beer & and a JD for Mr A) before cycling back to make dinner. A fine ending to our visit here.
As you reach town, there is a beautiful lagoon with a combination of deep swimming lanes and shallow areas for children, all free for anyone to use. We continued our cycle along the coastline as far as Boat Haven, imagining the lives of people who owned the spectacular boats moored there.
We enjoyed a Vietnamese salad for lunch, and a beer on the way back was called for, well it is Friday.
We had a bit of a false start with dinner – missing having Uber operating in the area and instead spending 45 minutes trying to get a cab. Then we arrived at the restaurant rated number 3 on TripAdvisor and walked in to be shown a scruffy, sticky table and handed a drinks menu with a choice of two red wines on it – both dreadful. So we provided some feedback and left! A bit of walk and we ended up in a lovely family run Italian. Nothing was too much trouble in catering for Catherine’s dairy allergy, even though the word “Creamy” was used 9 times on the menu. No wonder this country is suffering an obesity crisis! 
A lady considering buying some turmeric watched us buy some so picked our brains about how to use it. She recommended this very odd looking fruit she had brought and said we must try it – in fact she brought us the last one for the princely sum of $3. What a sweetie. Its called a monstera deliciosa and in fact comes from a cheese plant that is often seen as a house plant in the UK. 
Bizarre…tastes very sweet – a combination of banana and pineapple…I think I will be having the lion’s share of this one.
In the afternoon we headed out to Conway National Park for a short walk to Coral Beach overlooking the Molle Islands. Every direction you look is another amazing view, which changes so quickly in this changeable autumnal weather. We even caught ourselves a rainbow. 
What a beautiful pathway. The light was incredible late in the day, the sun now setting around 5.35pm, so casting fabulous shadows and a golden aura over everything.
We struggled to find anything we recognised from 16 years ago, it seems there has been quite a bit of investment in hotels and infrastructure here, and it all looks quite unfamiliar, but in a good way.
So eating done we decided the rain had cleared enough to go out for a hike along the beach and then up to the headland to a stunning lookout over Ball Bay, Halliday Bay and around to the next suburb of Seaforth.
Mr A and I jumped on our bikes for an explore, our favoured method of getting to know where we’re staying. We rode around the handful of quiet streets that make up Halliday Bay and continued around to the next settlement of Ball Bay, equally quiet and sleepy. The two areas are surrounded by Cape Hillsborough National Park, meaning there is plenty of wildlife, particularly of the feathered and furry kind.
It certainly delivered on the views, first of all looking over the nearby Wedge Island, and then looking down across the undeveloped coastline north of Mackay.
A key feature of the hike were the butterflies – apparently over 150 different species make this little national park their home, and they were out in their hundreds – incredibly hard to photograph, but I snapped a few (with a little patience!).
We had worked up a good appetite on this walk, so called into The Old Station Tea House on our way back. We were surprised to see how many cars were parked in the field outside.
We ordered a couple of home made pizzas baked in their outside oven – simply delicious. We decided to take away a slice of cake each (dairy-free cake for me!) to eat back at camp so we could check on Tassie.
We spent the latter part of the afternoon doing a little planning for our upcoming few weeks, with plenty of interesting locations coming up for us. We were invited for pre dinner drinks with our next door neighbours who hail from Newcastle (NSW, not UK), and have previously enjoyed travelling up to Cape York. They shared a few tips and favourite locations with us, helping with our planning process.
The whip bird was right down on the forest floor as we came round a corner of the path, most unusual to see them that close – though he didn’t hang around for a photo, unlike the Grey Fantail, which put on a lovely show for us, and the fruit bats which do little else than hang around (ha ha)…
The crisp air made the whole walk so refreshing. We ambled though this rich diversity of plants and animals and felt so relaxed and alive. It’s the simplest things that give us pleasure. As long as Mrs A has her camera and I have my binocs and there’s a bit of wildlife around, all is good with the world. When we first got married and came here 16 years ago, we dreamed of doing longer trips and seeing more of Australia. Well here we are – converting those dreams to memories.
Thanks to the people of the Pioneer Valley for making us so welcome and providing such a well kept campground at the Finch Hatton showground. Would thoroughly recommend other travellers come and see for themselves.