It’s time for road trip #2 in Australia! Our second mystery car was waiting for us in Cairns and then we made our way down the coast. We stayed a few days in Townsville to do a day trip hiking on Magnetic Island where we found Koalas in the wild! A Wellie, Mango, Crocodile and Snake were just the start of exploring all of the “big things” of Australia. We finished this week visiting a few gardens near Rockhampton.
Many Steps to Koalas
The rental car was conveniently just a few blocks from our hotel so we Eastern coast of Australia. Mr. Wander found a route a bit farther inland where we could see three different waterfalls near the town of Millaa Millaa. Of course it started raining when it was time to get out!
It was a short drive between each and we braved the light rain and got out all three times to see the falls! The trails were a bit damp and quite full of stairs but it was a good time to stretch our legs anyway. Of course after visiting them all the rain stopped and the sun came back out! This area of Australia is a bit of a rainforest so light rains and humid weather was quite common, especially farther inland.
Heading back toward the coast we were getting a bit hungry after our damp hikes and nearly 3 hours of driving so we stopped in a little town called Tully for – you guessed it – hand pies! Easily one our favorite meals of Australia plus enjoying visiting and supporting these cute family owned bakeries was an easy yes whenever we found one with a good rating online. While we maybe never quite hit that ideal first pies just south of Sydney, these were pretty good.
In the town there was also a big gumboot. Mr. Wander climbed up the inside while I visited the restrooms at the nearby park but I was able to catch a view of the backside that had a frog climbing on it. He explained later that the height of the boot represented the highest recorded annual rainfall, 7.93 meters. That’s 10 times the annual rainfall (and melted snowfall) in Minnesota!
After another hour or so of driving we arrived in Townsville and checked into our accommodation, which was almost like an apartment rather than a hotel. We walked to get some groceries for dinner, breakfast, and our snacks the next day. In the morning it was quite rainy so we decided to wait until about 11am before we left.
Today the plan is to hike around magnetic island and try and see some koalas, as Mr. Wander found it is one of the best places to find them in the wild. We had about a mile to walk to the ferry terminal where we bought a round trip ticket and only had to wait a few minutes to board. Thankfully we got the last spots in the back of the bus to take us to the other side of the island.
We actually missed the stop where we had intended to start the hike but it may have worked out for the better. Instead we went entirely to the other end of the line and started from sea level right on a beach. In fact, there was a river flowing into the ocean that we had to cross! Thankfully it was low tide although we realized a bit into the trail there was a back way to avoid the flooded parts of the trail. At the trailhead there wasn’t any indicator how to go around so it was a good thing it was low tide!
There were a few spots where they had rocks or logs to create a path during low tide once we got into the trail as well. Plus a few lizards came to say hello and encourage us up the start of what became many stairs.
We worked our way back down to Radical Bay to hopefully get a little breeze as it was humid and hot today but it was not the right side of the island. The path out of this area was on an old roads that warned about not being suitable for cars but figured it was still marked on the map so hiking should be fine. There were a few big washout areas but thankfully we found safe paths around them both! It was easy going until, we found the next set of stairs!!
We were hoping that by going up we’d get a breeze but there was just a whisper once in awhile. It was in the hottest part of the day and we were both dripping with sweat! Eventually we made it to the top where we found ruins of an old fort from WWII. We took a few pictures but decided not to climb up to the very top section just to save a bit of energy, plus we could hear a tour up there and someone using a microphone so we were happy to stay in the somewhat quieter area below.
We continued down the path and Mr. Wander happened to see a koala off in the trees! It was awake, and tracked our movements the bottom left picture in the gallery above shows just how well that first one was hiding. Farther down the trail though we saw a mom and her baby sleeping in a tree right next to the trail. Such a cool experience. I think in all there were about 4 koalas we saw in that little area. It was only another mile of relatively flat or downhill hiking back to the road and bus stop. We did have to wait 30 minutes and it was quite a full bus but we made it to the ferry! The nearby grocery store was a godsend to get some refreshingly cold drinks to help us recover from our 4 mile hike (with 1500ft of total ascent!). f
The very full ferry arrived, plenty of people bringing their suitcases to stay on the island, which we could have done but would have had to find another place for our car. It was relatively empty for us returning to shore in the afternoon and could sit inside away from the sun. We opted to stop on the walk back to our room for an early dinner at a local place and enjoyed amazing burgers and refreshing beer!
Only two blocks separated us from a much needed shower and well deserved relaxing evening!
The Big Things of Australia
The next day as we were leaving Townsville, there was a giant snake statue along the road that I am sure my mother would have just loved (wink wink). On the way Mr. Wander had planned for us to stop at an attraction called the “Big Mango”. It wasn’t until visiting the nearby gift shop did I realize that these Big Things were such a Big Deal. They even had a custom Monopoly game with many of the Big Things around Australia!
He also found a cool drive that took us up to a summit of the surrounding flat land area. It was mostly a one lane road so I was thankful we didn’t see many people.
As we made our way towards Cannonvale, the gateway to the Whitsundays. It was a bit early to check in so we stopped at a Marina and got ourselves some lunch. We split a Halumi Salad, fish and chips, and each got a few beers while people watching around the Marina. If you’ve never had Halumi, I highly recommend it. It’s pretty popular in Australia and New Zealand but we first had it around Greece and Turkey. It’s a type of cheese that can squeak like good cheese curds (IYKYK) but is often served cut into planks and grilled! It feels less greasy than other cheeses and goes well on a salad or even as the “patty” of a burger.
With several long days of driving ahead we opted to keep things low key and just did a short walk along the shore the following day. We started along the ocean in a park and saw a few half sunken sailboats near the swimming beach, which was interesting as this red one had a post like it was holding it in the half-sunk position.
Then we walked the other way towards what they called the turtle walk, which turned into a boardwalk. They must have slept in since we didn’t see any except for one little statue on a rock. We worked up a hunger so we walked into the town to a cafe Mr. Wander thought I’d like, it was Harry Potter themed! One Flat White, A Chai Tea, and a breakfast burrito later, we were ready for the walk back to the hotel. We found their food so good that the following morning we decided to get breakfast to go in the form of muffins including a savory option, and of course more caffeine.
Rockhampton, The Tropic of Capricorn, and Beyond
The next few days included quite a bit of driving that was, to be frank, quite boring. We had just a single night in Rockhampton to break up the 10 hour drive so it wasn’t too much at once. While I have done 10 or so in a day before usually that’s part of a quick push in one or two days. But since this trip was 17 days I asked Mr. Wander to plan the distances between hotels to be a bit shorter with a few non-driving days in between so I wasn’t completely wiped out to enjoy the journey.
On the first day I ended up needing a bathroom break and a sign told us it was down this road. However, we didn’t realize it would be 6km out of the way! I didn’t know when they’d have another rest stop so we decided this wasn’t too far. We made it to some ballfields that had a restroom and we started back out of this little town. Mr. Wander noticed something when looking down the road and had me turn that way only to find a giant crocodile statue! It seemed like this town was far past its hayday and this statue might not be one of the official big things, or at least not anymore.
Queensland had an interesting way to combat driving fatigue on such a boring drive: Trivia! This question and answer was a few kilometers apart, but they didn’t have any other questions in this stretch. We saw more of them the following day and it was the same question!
It was a rainy but uneventful trip into Rockhampton but just a few blocks away from our hotel was a little information area and statue for the Tropic of Capricorn! This is the second time we’ve crossed this by land in the last four months, last time it was driving northbound in Namibia.
We continued south admiring unique mailboxes along the road – these were made from recycled microwaves! Mr. Wander planned a stop to stretch our legs at the Bundaberg botanical gardens, and I always like to see cool flowers and he likes getting photos of unique birds. There was even a Japanese section and so many lizards that when startled, will run on their hind legs! So funny to watch.
To refuel after the walk Mr. Wander found a nearby “Oddies Cafe”, where we split a salad, a sandwich, and a particularly delicious carrot cake. The decor at Oddies cafe was quite eclectic and I’ve never seen so many souvenir spoons in my life!
We made it the rest of the drive into Hervey bay where we enjoyed a little walk along the bay and a whole day without driving! We got some groceries and enjoyed watching some of the winter olympics and walking around the town.
Next Time
We saw some colorful sea creatures in an outdoor museum as we left Hervey bay and headed towards Noosaville where we toured the outside of several million dollar houses by a BYOB Sunset Cruise. We found our own squeaky beach and several more gardens as we avoided the most busy parts of Brisbane and the Sunshine and Gold coast touristy areas! Until next time, Cheers!
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