Queensland Travel Adventures: 2010

Yongala

We travel overnight, waking at 6.30am at the Yongala wreck site. Time for our first dive! Wow - what a way to start the day, giant trevally, batfish, Maori wrasse and Spanish mackerel all swimming through thousands of small fish.

I can feel the sound - not just hear it - maybe it is narcosis, or just my imagination. Beside me, my dive buddy Jenny, stops and listens too. The sound isn’t our imagination - it is real - the song of a humpback whale somewhere out in the blue water.

Wheeler Reef is our first dive site off Townsville. Getting used to 30m visibility and 25degC temperature is achieved instantly. That’s what tropical diving is all about, plus corals, colourful fishes and giant clams.

A 90 minute drive from Cairns we reach the turnoff to Paronella Park. It’s off the beaten track but driving through lush tropical bush and sugar cane fields along the back roads makes a change. We turn into the car park where an attendant, resplendent in Aussie slouch hat, directs us to a shady spot.

Undara is off the beaten track but makes an interesting detour inland between Cairns and Townsville. The landscape can only be described as “out of this world.”

We sit on a granite outcrop above the Undara Lave Lodge as the light dims. Flocks of screeching rainbow lorikeets flit through the gum trees. Their larger relatives, white sulphur-crested cockatoos and grey and pink galahs call from higher up.

Daybreak is announced by wake-up calls from kookaburras in the gum trees. Their serenade continues as we follow the aroma of food to a camp breakfast a few hundred metres from the lodge.

The Undara volcano created huge amounts of lava that formed rivers of molten rock. As the outer layer cooled the molten inner layer continued to flow. It ended its fiery period about 190,000 years ago. Others in this area were active as recent as 10,000 years ago.

Dampness replaces the dry Queensland air and the darkness of the cave engulfs us. Only a few shafts of light from the topside world extend this far.

Fish of every shape, colour and pattern swarm around us as we snorkel off the reef platform. Large snapper and reef cod show no fear, maybe the protection afforded by the green zone influences them.

Our accommodation, amongst the reef, is on a large moored platform. During the day we enjoy the diving and snorkelling. By night just a few lucky visitors are left behind to stay the night with the fish and the sea birds.

Flying in a seaplane over the reefs of the Whitsunday Island, in an ancient Beaver aircraft is the perfect platform for aerial views of the Great Barrier Reef.

We travelled to Kuranda via the Scenic Rail that winds around the hillsides and through tunnels cut into the rock. The echoing rumble of steel against steel reverberates as we cross viaducts high above rivers and waterfalls of the Barron River Gorge.

The light outside begins to fade, the sun casting long shadows and beams of light through the gum trees. Rainbow lorikeets swoop through the branches calling and the occasional squawk of a cockatoo clashes with their screeches. The bugs and frogs begin their nightly songs and dark shapes flit silently through the trees.

After visiting Kuranda we return to Cairns on the sky rail and have a gondola to ourselves. Up and over the treetops, we slowly move above the rain forest. The 25-km trip is a great way to travel, as long as you don’t have a fear of heights. Colourful parrots dart between the trees, their squawks easily heard above the almost-indiscernible hum of the cables above the gondola.

Colourful butterflies move above us and whet our appetite to see more. The Kuranda Butterfly House is world-renowned for its colourful inhabitants and like most things around Kuranda is within easy walking distance.

A lizard scurries down the tree trunk and disappears into a hole. We wait for it to reappear, as we enjoy coffee under the rain forest canopy. Above us parrots squawk, then the lizard reappears, camouflaged against the bark and is joined by another.

Near Kuranda, Lake Barrine, is an ancient water-filled volcanic crater, with much local wildlife. Before walking around the lake we check that there are no crocodiles resident in the lake.

There are hundreds of islands that include the Southern Reef Islands, Capricorn group, Bunker group and the Keppel Islands.

The underwater life around Heron Island’s reefs feature in many documentaries and it is easy to see why as we enter the water. Masses of staghorn corals cover the reef and small colourful fish are everywhere.

Just north of Fraser Island, the Great Barrier Reef meanders out to 100 km from the Queensland coast. At the southern end lies Lady Elliot Island with its resort, surrounded by protected reefs where the fish are more plentiful and larger.

Wolf Rock, is a protected habitat for endangered grey nurse sharks. We dive with Cheryl and Kevin of Wolf Rock Dive, the only dive operator licensed to dive the rock.

A little orange face peers through the waving tentacles of a green sea anemone. It darts back, then reappears further along the anemone. A second orange face pops out and the pair of clownfish began a threat display.

The ex-RAN destroyer Brisbane was sunk in 2005 as an artificial reef off Mooloolaba.

A large grey nurse shark swims towards me. Its teeth protrude like an array of daggers from a horror movie.

Below the surface the mast, the highest point of the former Royal Australian Navy ship Brisbane is surrounded by sun rays. We slip into the water and drop through the fish schools over her to the deck. The Brisbane’s new life is far removed from her former one, guarding Australia’s coast. She has become a man-made reef a few kilometres off Mooloolaba on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

“Thursday Island, it's easy to find - it's between Wednesday and Friday Islands.” The skipper isn't joking as Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Islands are part of the group at the top of Australia near Cape York.

Sunken treasure features in Thursday Island's history as pearls from black and gold-lipped oysters were discovered by Japanese pirate, Yamada Nagamasa in the early 1600s. Two hundred years later Japanese divers became the key to finding the pearl shells, dressed in ancient helmet diver's gear working underwater for long hours.

“Don't worry about the crocodiles . . . we don't often see them.” We aren't really sure we even want to know about the crocs as we stand knee deep in brown water at the end of the boat ramp. Nearby is a sign “Warning, estuarine crocodiles inhabit this area.”

Best time to travel to Cape York is during the dry season from June to October. During the wet season the road is impassable and takes some time to dry out and become navigable. Four-wheel drive vehicle is recommended and a good knowledge of the area is required as there are few road signs. Most hire cars are not permitted further north than Cooktown.

The road ends at a long sandy beach just a few kilometres from Australia's northernmost point, looking out over Torres Strait. “Pop!” the champagne opens as we celebrate reaching Cape York.

At Twin Falls near the junction of the Cannal and Eliot Rivers, we wash off the day's dust. The river cascades down a series of waterfalls, flowing through tree-lined, red ironstone rocks under a brilliant blue sky.

The small Cape York town of Weipa was built around one of the largest bauxite mines in the world. We join a bus tour to watch the extraction of the orange ore. Hard hats and safety glasses are mandatory as we watch massive scrapers loading 150-tonne trucks with the bauxite that becomes aluminium after processing.
Comalco's setup is environmentally-friendly with mined areas being replanted – they're just three metres lower than before being mined. Wildlife channels are left for birds and animals to move between the bush areas.

Four wheel drive

On the riverbank, five metres above the muddy waters of Palm Creek our drivers discussed the best way across. A steep track leads down into a shallow muddy river, and steeply up the other side. We watch from the bank rather than standing knee-deep in mud helping to attach a towline.

From Cooktown, on the York Peninsula, the corrugated red dirt road winds its way through bush towards Laura, an abandoned cattle station built in the 1880s at the entrance to Lakefield National Park.

As we near Cooktown the rocks of the Black Mountain National Park tower above the road.
“The rocks are covered in black algae and rock wallabies live in the gaps underneath them,” our driver informs us.

“Don't worry, it's only a freshie.” The whispered words didn't lessen our adrenaline levels as we crouched down watching from the river's edge. Sunning itself on the riverbank was an animal from the age of the dinosaurs, a freshwater crocodile, the smaller relative of the dreaded “saltie,” the saltwater or estuarine crocodile.

Getty Images

Pages

About Us

Blog Archive