Tropical
north Queensland is one of the best destinations in
Australia.
The road between
Townsville and Cairns is a great coastal drive.
In its
southern half it goes through eucalypt woodlands, but these change to
lush tropical rainforests in the northern half. It goes past some great
waterfalls, beaches, wetlands and national parks. The coast was heavily
damaged by tropical cyclones Larry
(2006) and Yasi (2011), but most things are back to normal now.
Townsville. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to
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Tropical North Queensland: Townsville Travel Information
Furthest south is Townsville–
the town called Brownsville by the people of Cairns,
who like to point out that their city is green and lush while
Townsville is dry and brown, in a rivarly similar to the one between
Sydney
and Melbourne.
And it is true – Townsville sits
in a pocket of
dry tropics, protected from rains by the mountain range behind it. But
this is why Townsville’s skies are always sunny while in Cairns the
rains can last for months.
Townsville is the second largest city in
Queensland, more than twice as large as Cairns
(I’ve heard no Cairns
people being aware of that fact!), and there is a fair bit to do for
travellers. In the city centre are some excellent museums and
Queensland’s most famous aquarium in the Reef Headquarters. There is
some good dining and night life, and a great waterfront – The Strand.
Only 20min off the shore is the beautiful Magnetic
Island. Just south of the town is Billabong
Sanctuary. Some places
to stay in Townsville are hotels, resorts and holiday apartments such
as Flag Plaza Hotel,
Holiday Inn,
Hotel M, Ibis Hotel, Jupiters Hotel,
Mercure Inn,
Palm Waters Holiday
Villas, Quality Southbank Hotel,
Quest Hotel,
Rydges Southbank Hotel,
and Strand Park Hotel.
Motels include Banjo Paterson Motor
Inn, Casino
City Motor Inn, Castle
Lodge Motel, Central City Motel,
City Oasis Inn,
Comfort Inn,
Coolabah Motel,
Summit Motel
and Waters Edge the Strand
Hotel.
Townsville. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to
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Tropical North Queensland:
Townsville Northern
Beaches
North of Townsville are Townsville
Northern Beaches Bushland Beach, Saunders
Beach,
Bluewater, Toolakea, and further north Toomulla, Balgal Beach and
Rollingstone. Like Cairns Northern Beaches, they are residential
communities with a nice beach, and (unlike Cairns
Northern Beaches) most have designated, FREE camping grounds!
They
are also great for fishing, and for nice, long beach walks.
Magnetic Island. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail
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Paluma Range National Park
North of Rollingstone is Australia's southernmost tropical
rainforest in Paluma
Range National
Park. There
are two sections in the park - the southern Mt Spec,
and the northern Jourama Falls. The southern section has the popular
swimming holes Big and Little Crystal Creek, Paluma Village, and
Birthday Creek Falls and Lake Paluma. All but the Big Crystal
Creek are
reached by a narrow and twisting
mountain road with good views and cool temperatures. Turnoff to the
northern, Jourama Falls section of
Paluma Range National Park, is further north, 91km north of Townsville.
There are national parks camping grounds at Big Crystal Creek and
Jourama Falls.
Tropical North Queensland:
Ingham Queensland
North of Paluma Range is Ingham
in the middle of some extensive sugar cane country. In the main street
is Lees
Hotel - a great place to stay and the original pub in the
popular
song 'A Pub With No Beer'
by Slim Dusty.
Just south of the town there are Tyto Wetlands that
attract a lot of waterbirds, including the impressive brolgas
and jabirus.
And seven kilometres out
of Ingham is Victoria Mill - the largest sugar mill in the Southern
Hemisphere. Many Italian immigrants live in the
area and in May every year Ingham celebrates
the Australian Italian Festival, with entertainment in the
main street and plenty of good foods to sample.
Ingham Sugar Mill. Poster by AllPosters. Click on
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Tropical North Queensland:
Mount Fox
North-west of Ingham is one of the largest national parks in north
Queensland - Lumholtz
National Park,
also known as Girringun
National
Park. It is a large national park with a lot of driving
and
bushwalking tracks, that extend all the way up past Cardwell and even
west of Tully. But the southernmost section of the park is inland from
Ingham, and the sections that are best reached from here are Mount Fox
and Wallaman Falls. Mount Fox is a dormant volcano and you can walk up
to the crater. Wallaman Falls are the highest single drop waterfalls in
Australia, however be aware they can be dry during the dry season.
Wallaman Falls. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail
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Tropical North Queensland:
Orpheus Island
Queensland
Off the coast near Ingham is the Palm Island Group that includes Great
Palm Island (Aboriginal
community), Orpheus, Pelorus, Fantome, Curacoa, Esk, Brisk and Havannah
Islands. Orpheus Island
is the
second largest after the Great Palm Island. It is a continental
island as opposed to a coral cay,
but around it is some great coral
reef to discover. There are some lovely beaches in Mangrove
Bay and
Yank’s
Bay, and good snorkelling and diving. The island is mostly covered by
national park, and there is lots of bird life to watch. Sea turtles
also nest on the beaches. The place to stay is Orpheus
Island Resort.
Orpheus Island. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail
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Tropical North Queensland:
Hinchinbrook Island
On the coast east of Ingham are Forrest Beach, Halifax and Lucinda -
the southern access point to Hinchinbrook
Island. As you drive across the
Cardwell Ranges on the Bruce Highway between Ingham and Cardwell, there
is a lookout point with some great views of Hinchinbrook
Channel - a good spot to stop for a few
photos. Further north, you can also access Hinchinbrook Island from
Port Hinchinbrook just south of Cardwell.
Hinchinbrook Island. Poster by AllPosters. Click on
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Tropical North Queensland:
Thorsborne Trail
Hinchinbrook
Island is world's largest island national park, and a beautiful place
to visit. There is the Hinchinbrook
Island Resort
in the northern end of the island, but bushwalkers like to hike the
32-km Thorsborne Trail
- a
beautiful three-day walk along sandy beaches and through thick
forests. There are some good views from the hilltops, and you
can camp at Blacksand Beach, Banksia Beach, Zoe Falls, Sweetwater
Creek, Mulligan Creek and George Point.
Hinchinbrook Island. Poster by
AllPosters. Click
on thumbnail to buy.
Tropical North Queensland:
Cardwell Cardwell
is a
small
coastal town west of Hinchinbrook Island, half way between Cairns and
Townsville. It was lucky to escape the Cyclone
Larry in 2006, but not as lucky in 2011 when Cyclone
Yasi hit. It is a nice place to
stop - there are good views
of Hinchinbrook Island from the beach. West of the town is the Cardwell
Forest Drive - a 26-km scenic drive
with good swimming holes and lookouts over the town, the island and the
ocean. Places to stay in Cardwell include Port
Hinchinbrook Resort, Inspiration
Port Hinchinbrook and Kookaburra
Holiday Park.
Tropical North Queensland:
Around Cardwell
South of the town is the Five Mile Creek swimming hole, and a bit
further south is the start of the Dalrymple Gap walking track in
Girringun National Park. Further west is also the Broadwater camping
and day use area in Abergowrie State Forest.
North
of Cardwell is Edmund
Kennedy National Park
and the small place called Kennedy, where a track goes west to Blencoe Falls.
Further north are Murray
Falls with
some rainforest swimming holes, a walking track and a camping ground.
Tropical North Queensland:
Tully River
Further north is Tully
– the wettest town in Australia, where it rains over 4000mm a year.
It's a beautiful town (when it’s not raining) with green
rainforested mountains in the background; and as a symbol for all the
rain, there is one of Australia’s Big Things – the Big Gumboot. There
is also a sugar mill and a swimming hole called Alligator’s
Nest, but Tully is most famous for white
water rafting
- definitely best in north Queensland. Many rafting companies will take
you to Tully from as far as Cairns
and Townsville.
There are many fruit farms in the area and many
backpackers stay in
Tully (and other towns like Innisfail and Bowen)
while earning some
extra money from fruit-picking.
Places
to stay in Tully include Tully
Motel, Green Way Caravan Park and Tully Heads Caravan Park
on Tully Heads Road.
Tropical North Queensland:
Tully Gorge
Behind Tully is Misty
Mountains
– a huge bushwalking area which is
actually better reached from Ravenshoe, Millaa Millaa and
Palmerston Highway on the Atherton
Tablelands.
From Tully, a road takes you along the Tully River up to the mountains
to
the Cochable Creek campsite, which is the starting point of the 14.5km
Cannabullen Creek Track that follows the creek with several crossings
and a beautiful waterfall. The longer, 35.5km Koolmoon Creek Track
follows the local Aboriginal
People’s traditional pathway with creek
crossings, waterholes and views of Tully Gorge.
Tropical North Queensland:
Mission Beach North
Queensland
North of Tully is Mission
Beach - a popular holiday destination with backpackers as
well as
other travellers. It actually consists of many beaches.
Mission Beach itself is the central
one. South of it are Wongaling Beach and South Mission Beach, and north
are Narragon Beach, Bingil Bay, Brookes Beach and Garners Beach. There
are some nice shops and restaurants, some rainforest walking tracks,
opportunities to see cassowaries,
and tour operators
that take you to the Great
Barrier Reef as well as Dunk Island.
Places
to stay in Mission Beach include Absolute
Backpackers, Apollo
Jewel Apartments, Cassawong
Cottages, Castaways
Apartments, Eco
Village Resort, Elandra
Mission Beach, Mackays
Motel, Mission
Beach Hideaway Holiday Resort, Mission
Beach Resort, Mission
Beach Retreat, Mission
Reef Resort, Mission
Beach Shores, Montage
Beach Apartments, Rainforest
Apartments, The
Residence Club on Mission Beach, Tropical
Escape B&B and Wongalinga
Apartments.
Mission Beach. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to
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Tropical North Queensland:
Dunk Island
Queensland Dunk
Island belongs to the Family Islands group (others are
Thorpe,
Richards, Wheeler, Coombe, Smith, Bowden and Hudson Island). There is
the
Dunk Island Resort
area in the
eastern end of the island,
but the rest of it is national park. There are some great bushwalks
through the
rainforest, to some beautiful beaches, and to a lookout point with
views over the jetty and the blue waters that surround the island.
Dunk Island. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to
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Tropical North Queensland:
Josephine Falls
North of Mission Beach is Innisfail
- a centre of sugar cane and banana farms that is popular with fruit
pickers; and is most famous as the town that coped the worst of the
tropical Cyclone
Larry in 2006. You can stay in Innisfail at Moondarra
Motel or Barrier
Reef Motel, and there are also a few caravan parks. A lot of Cyclone
Larry devastation was also done along the road to
South Johnstone, Japoonvale and Silkwood, as well as Kurrimine Beach.
Along that road is Paronella
Park - an old Spanish Castle - a very un-Australian but
interesting place to visit.
Tropical North Queensland:
Josephine Falls
North-east of the town is Wooroonooran
National Park
- a large national park between Bruce Highway in the east and Atherton
Tablelands in the west. It protects tropical rainforests that cover the
Great Dividing Range at its highest point in Queensland, with the
state’s
highest peak Mount Bartle
Frere (1622m). There is a walk to the top that starts at Josephine Falls,
which are reached
from the coastal Bruce Highway between Innisfail and Mirriwinni. There
is also a southern, Palmerston Section of Wooroonooran National
Park with a camping ground at Henrietta
Creek and bushwalking tracks to
different waterfalls, reached from Palmerston Highway.
Josephine Falls. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail
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Tropical North Queensland:
Babinda Boulders
There is a third, northern section in the Wooroonooran National Park
with another long bush walking track - the Goldfield Trail, which
starts from the beautiful Babinda
Boulders west of the small town Babinda,
which was another town to be badly destroyed in the tropical Cyclone
Larry
in March 2006.
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The rainforests in many parts of Wooroonooran National
Park were
totally destroyed, with all greenery gone and only bare tree trunks
standing - you can still see the broken canopy in places, but the
greenery has
of course returned by now.
Babinda Creek. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to
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Tropical North Queensland:
Deeral, Aloomba and
Gordonvale
East of Wooroonooran National Park,
across the Bruce Highway, are some small interesting national parks
such as Ella Bay and Eubenangee
Swamp National Park. The only time I have visited
Eubenangee
Swamp, I saw a large saltwater
crocodile. I don't know if I had a good luck or what the
chances
are, but you know they are not zero. North of Babinda
the road continues past banana fields, sugar cane farms and
small townships like Deeral and Gordonvale
until you come to Cairns,
and can continue your trip north along the
coast of Far
North Queensland.
Eubenangee Swamp. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail
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Here's a tropical north Queensland Map,
where I have
tagged
the places that I mentioned on this web page. You can click on the tags
to see what places they are, and double-click anywhere on the map to
zoom it in and see the places closer. Drag the map to move around, and
if you want to see the satellite image with Google Earth, click on
"Sat" in the top right hand corner.
Note:
This site uses
British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will
find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all
correct in the language used in Australia.
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