Cape Cleveland has beckoned me ever since we got to Townsville earlier this year. It’s a shadow on the horizon, deceptively island-like from sea level as the connecting mainland is so flat it seems to disappear. Its mountainous outline has be siren-calling me for weeks now, and I’m so glad to finally understand how that 2D shape transposed into a 3D wilderness up close.
But before then, retracing our steps for a moment, I last wrote from Mission Beach. After the paddle, we behaved like sloths for the remaining daylight hours, and then caught up with friends in the evening. We were given an invitation to join their sailing trip in early November from Mission down the east coast, which we were thrilled to accept. The next day, we potted around Tully (including a lunch stop at the Alligator Nest swimming hole) and stayed over at the stunning Murray Falls.
These falls rate as one of Dan’s favourite North Queensland spots. Above the main falls is a deep, circular pool fed by another waterfall. It’s pretty magical, and is in a beautiful spot surrounded by mountains.
The next day we spent the day in the sweaty heat helping out on the sailing boat – Dan on sanding and me on fibreglassing. It wasn’t particularly glamorous, but the resin art I’ll one day make work the skills I acquired will be. I can’t wait for the boat to become home for a few weeks!
Sweaty and exhausted, we pulled into the Five Mile Swimming Hole for a bath (seriously, Brisbane needs to get in and amongst this freshwater swimming hole trend) and stayed overnight at Jourama Falls. We hiked up to the lookout in the morning and basked in the glory of the hundreds of metres of staggered cliff down which she runs.
This brings us to a post-Jourama Wednesday arrival in Townsville (which you could tell me was five days ago and I would have believed you). We’ve had some treasured quality time with family, some bike rides, and delicious meals. On Friday, I had the highlight of my life so far as an aunt – Drew’s Book Fair Day at school! Drew dressed up as Harry Potter (complete with wand and Nimbus 2000 foraged fresh from the garden that morning) and I unashamedly dropped him to school wearing Jen’s robes as the world’s first Professor McGonagall in hiking sandals.
Yesterday, Dizee (my sister-in-law), Dan and I ventured out to Cape Cleveland after several people in our life offered to support us on the mish’. Clint took us on a roaring boat trip to the lighthouse, where we met the caretaker and his mate and read up on the history of the region and lighthouse keeper families in the museum. We then embarked on a very sketchy “13”-maybe-more-like-16 kilometre journey to the main road.
We knew that the route (we wanted to do the eastern side) didn’t have an official track, but I don’t think we realise just how touch-and-go all the bush bashing and navigation was going to be. Dan, fortunately, kept us to a sensible line (I shudder to think how much tougher the walk would have been if I was left making the decision on what direction to take).
The walk was epic. The scenery shifted around us every few kilometres – waist-high grasses to rocky and shelly beaches overlooking Magnetic and the glowing ocean, burnt-out sections with the crunchy black tufts underfoot and trees supporting fancy new green wigs to boulder-strewn grasslands with unexpected and precarious drops, stunning high views of the sea with its bands of blue and bluer colours, stretches of beaches to crowded treed gullies with a narrow path down the dry creek bed. It was like a week’s worth of travel scenes compressed into seven-and-a-bit hours. One of my personal favourite parts was the colour scheme of the burnt out sections – the shade of orange was strikingly and surprisingly reminiscent of pumpkin spice latte season in America.
Our wildlife sightings included a young green sea turtle (Dan helped it back into the water), a large marine animal jumping out of the water, and a family of black pigs including little piglets.
But it wasn’t all sunshine and daisies (actually it was all sunshine – absolutely ruthlessly so). The day was exhaustingly hot, and despite thinking we’d over-prepared with water, we rationed ourselves to the last few drops on the home stretch. We were spiked and scratched by various flora (fortunately not by any fauna), Dan got covered in green ants, and we occasionally felt an anxious sense of being lost, especially when we had to back-track to find a workable line.
Still, I am so enormously grateful that we got the do the walk – thanks to Clint and also to Jen for the pick up on the other end. My original plan was to do it solo both ways, carrying camping gear, and I’m so relieved that that didn’t transpire as I’d have likely turned back embarrassingly early.
Couple more days in Townsville, and then we’re likely to start heading south to get the car back to Brisbane before the sailing trip. More adventures await.
VREPS
[Townsville]
The Two Swords 