May 21st-25th, 2012- Cardwell Beachcomber Caravan Park-Cardwell

After another wet and very windy night we decided to change our plans and move on. Not much sleep as the caravan was rocking with the wind gusts. Forecast is for more rain and stronger winds. We packed up in a light rain and headed south. We had originally planned on going to Forrest Beach which is on the coast near Ingham but we were concerned that we would still be battered by the Easterly winds. We decided to stop in Cardwell as we hoped it would be a bit sheltered as it sits behind Hinchinbrook Island. We had also heard good things about the caravan park in Cardwell.

We pulled into the Beachcomber Caravan Park late in the morning after a good but short trip down the highway from Tully. The park was lovely and we got set up before having some lunch. We did another nice walk down the beach here to the Visitor Centre. Another nice Visitor Centre that doubles as a tourist attraction featuring the Rainforest and Hinchinbrook Island. We booked a tour to Hinchinbrook Island for Tuesday morning. We enjoyed another lovely fish dinner courtesy of our generous friends in Karumba.

We enjoyed a good sleep as the park was very quiet and the caravan was much more sheltered from the wind. We were up early and off to Port Hinchinbrook to join our cruise to the island. Hinchinbrook Island is all a National Park and is the largest island park in Australia. Only hikers have access to the Island to complete a four day trek beginning at Cardwell and ending at Lucinda near Ingham. Our cruise was basically the shuttle boat for the hikers to begin or end their walk. We had two young ladies starting the walk on our cruise.

The trip over was a bit rough as we crossed the channel but smoothed out once we rounded the southern tip of the island. We were lucky that the sun was out and there was quite a bit of blue sky. The clouds were clinging to Mount Barren which is the 3rd tallest peak in Australia. Much of the boat trip was in the estuaries of the island. Beautiful Mangrove lined channels with mountains rising in the background. Once we docked we enjoyed a 600m walk through the mangroves on a boardwalk to the beach on the eastern side. We had a nice walk down the beach before returning to the boat for the return trip. Quite cloudy by the time we returned to Cardwell.

We did a bit of a driving tour of the Marina area at Port Hinchinbrook. A lot of new houses and moorings here as was another hard hit area in Cyclone Yasi. This is where all the pictures of the damaged yachts piled up in ruin were taken. Beautiful houses and fairly reasonably priced from what we could see. I imagine the insurance premiums must be sky high and our boat captain told us many places are not insured anymore.

After lunch we took a drive out to Murray Falls. Was a very nice drive through lush green forest but again lots of signs of damage from the cyclone. Large areas of trees were snapped off at different heights making them look like broken match sticks. Once we got to the Falls we did a short walk on a boardwalk to the base of the falls. Not the largest falls we have seen but lots of water flowing over them.

We decided to do another walk that took us up through the rainforest to a viewpoint looking down at the top of the falls. This was a nice walk through very dense rainforest. Quite a steep climb and was very humid. I was drenched by the time we reached the top. Got some photos before returning the 1km back to the base. We had a walk around the swimming holes at the bottom cooling our feet off. There is a beautiful campground with lots of room for caravans located here. Sandra and I would have returned for a couple of days if the weather had been better.

Wednesday the weather continued to worsen with no sign of improvement before Saturday. The Ransleys checked in before lunch and we all spent the day with cleaning tasks. We hosted the Ransleys for Game 1 of Origin. Good game although the result could have been better.

Thursday saw the four of load in the car for some touring. Not much luck as we weren't really successful in seeing anything. First attempt was the Cardwall Forest Drive which was advertised in our town map. After travelling a number of dirt roads with no signs and not discovering any of the 4 highlighted attractions we gave up and headed back to town. We decided to go back out to Murray Falls to show the Ransleys but discovered the highway north was closed because of a serious car accident.

We made a quick decision to head south to Ingham to view the Wallaman Falls which are the highest in Australia. We travelled the 50km South to Ingham before taking a very winding 45km trip out to Wallaman Falls. We parked the car upon arrival and walked over to the viewpoint only to discover you could not see a thing. Heavy cloud and rain obscured the view completely. I have a lovely picture of our view of the falls below. I must say they sounded impressive!

We weren't exactly a happy bunch as we wound our way slowly back to Ingham in the rain. Highlight of the day was finding a Chinese Restaurant that did Gluten Free for lunch in Ingham. Delicious! We did a bit of shopping at Woolies in Ingham before heading back to Cardwell. Had an easy tea and an early night as the rain continued. We had planned on moving on but may sit it out another day or two as the rain is expected to continue unabated until Saturday. As this is the first serious rain we have experienced in over a year I guess we shouldn't complain to much.

Friday was another wet, wet day. We did some cleaning and catch up with computer etc. Will be glad for clear weather and a change of scenery. Cardwell is beautiful but not so much when you are trapped inside the caravan by the rain.