Day 79-80 – Back in Brissie (Brisbane)

Hinterland of the Sunshine Coast

We departed from Rainbow Beach late morning and arrived at Lake Alford in Gympie for a break to feed our little one. Lake Alford is a park-like recreation area with a fountain, swans, ducks and wide lawn areas.

Lake Alford, Gympie
Lake Alford, Gympie

We decided to head south on the Mary Valley Road (#51) to Kenilworth and then branch off onto Maleny Kenilworth Road (#22) to explore the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast.

Along the road we could still notice the remains of cyclone Debbie, particularly alongside the numerous creeks. But the roads had been cleared – so no problem. When we stopped at one of the BBQ areas at the brink of the Blackall Range, where we met a very trusting Kookaburra. The bird allowed us to get as close as 1 meter and stayed around our pick-nick blanket.

When we reached Conondale, we took a right turn onto Ahems Road and Postmans Track to rejoin the Maleny Stanley River road. The Postmans Track is a very steep, narrow climb, not suited for caravans. When you have a worried co-driver, be prepared for some argument, too, despite the fact that it’s all on tarmac.

Following the roads #6, #85 and #58 further south, we arrived in Brisbane early evening. The views from various look outs were fantastic and we enjoyed the drive on the windy roads.

Our last day in Brisbane

On our last day in Brisbane we took the ferry from Kangaroo Point to Eagle Street and walked south through the beautiful botanic garden. We crossed the Brisbane river via Goodwill Bridge and then turned up-river towards the northwest to South Bank Parklands with its lagoon-like swimming pools and beautiful walks.

At the end of the day, we returned to the South Bank ferry pier and returned to Thornton Street on Kangaroo Point.

Sadly, it was time now to pack our bags. The next day we headed to the airport and returned to Germany.

Epilogue

This 80 day trip through Australia has been a lifetime experience. We will always remember the great time we had and the warm-hearted Australians we met. It is a very unique continent. And I have the strong feeling, this will not be our last visit Down Under.

I would like to thank the people, who made this trip possible and helped us during preparation and along the way: Our employers and specifically our managers and executives, who whole-heartedly supported us taking 3-months off, as well of course our friends and families.

Day 74-78 – Cyclone Debbie at Rainbow Beach

Cyclone Debbie at Rainbow Beach

When we arrived at Rainbow Beach, we knew this was a great place to stay and hang lose even with a major cyclone approaching the area. We found a great place to stay. A bit upmarket priced, but it was low season, so we got a very good deal. Even our car got shelter in solid-built garage underneath the complex.

Inskip Point

The next thing we did was to check the area for beautiful spots. And as the sun set, we found one. It’s the beach at Inskip Point, slightly south of where the ferries leave for Fraser Island. It was a remarkable sunset and we enjoyed ourselves a lot and took great pictures.

There was just one drawback. Sandflies. Armies of them. We didn’t actually notice their bites until we got back to our room later that night. But the itching was horrible. It was so horrible that we went to a pharmacy to get some more soothing gel. And the itching lasted forever. Even back at home a few day later, we still applied the gel just to have a bit more comfort. It was really bad. – So if you go to Inskip Point for sunset — apply tons of repellent!

Cyclone Debbie

The next day, we did just a short trip in the morning to one of the nearby freshwater creeks, then stayed in our room in the afternoon as Debbie approached the area.

Weather emergency broadcast for cyclone Debbie
Weather emergency broadcast for cyclone Debbie

It hit Rainbow Beach in the afternoon and made palms leaves go sideways. I don’t think I need to tell you that we were concerned about our safety, but there was not a single minute, where we were afraid. Rain came in horizontally and the storm howled on for all afternoon and into the night.

As we got up the next day – the weather played innocent. As if there had nothing happened the evening before, the sky was clear blue and the sun was bright again.

Rainbow Beach after cyclone Debbie
Rainbow Beach after cyclone Debbie

So we decided to take a walk to the nearby Carlo Sand Blow. If you are in the area, it is definitely worth the approx. 15 minutes walk from the access point at the south end of Rainbow Beach.

The views could not have been more spectacular. Although the track to the Carlo Sand Blow clearly showed signs of Debbie with some fallen trees, we seemed to have been lucky to pick the right spot for weathering the storm. In other part along the coast line, like Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays, the storm had a disastrous effect.

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A day later we were bound to Brissie for our last two nights in Australia.

Day 73 – Lake MacDonald, Noosa Heads

Lake MacDonald

Due to the conditions at Lake Lenthall, we arrived late at our overnight stay near Lake MacDonald. We left early in the morning again for Noosa Heads, which I had visited once some twenty plus years ago with my parents.

Lake MacDonald is a laid back area. Therefore we would have loved to stay there for the next days, but our room was booked already, so we couldn’t extend our stay there.

Noosa Heads

When we arrived at Noosa Heads, our first – and only – way was to Noosa National Park. Some twenty years ago, we saw Koalas there, which were grunting in the morning, we saw a monitor lizard scavenging for prey in the woods and had a good time.

Today, I was shocked. Totally shocked. The National Parks parking lot was completely full. Traffic was horrible throughout the center of the town and there was that stressful buzz everywhere. After short discussion, we decided to head out of the city northbound towards Rainbow Beach.

We stopped at Boreen Point and had lunch at one of the park banks located at the shore of Lake Cootharaba. This was so much better than tripping other each other in Noosa.

Boreen Point, Lake Cootharaba, north of Noosa Heads
Boreen Point, Lake Cootharaba, north of Noosa Heads

Why did we decide to turn north again from Noosa to Rainbow Beach? Because meteorology reports showed that it was expected to be the area least impacted by Debbie. The cyclone was now scheduled to land fall north of Airlie Beach. And then do almost a U-shaped turn circumventing Fraser Island and leave Australia mainland again in the area south of Brisbane.

 

Day 70-72 – Fraser Island, Hervey Bay, Lake Lenthall

Bundaberg

On our way from Rockhampton to Hervey Bay, we took a stop in Bundaberg at the famous Rum factory. We were one of the last clients visiting the factory and the very last ones leaving the parking lot late afternoon. We couldn’t take advantage of the rum tasting though. I was still required to drive and my wife was still breastfeeding, so we left the top spot for rum in all of Australia with two t-shirts rather than a taste or bottle of rum.

Bundaberg Rum Factory
Bundaberg Rum Factory

Hervey Bay

When we arrived in Hervey Bay and checked into our motel, we were lucky. The motel owners also acted as agents for various Fraser Island Tour Operators. Since touring the island with a one year old was not recommended or even declined by some tour operators – we called a handful on our way to here -, we decided  to rent another 4×4 vehicle and do it self-driving style.

Why you wonder, did we have to rent another one although we had our Mitsubishi Pajero from Europcar? Well, most of the regular rental cars – even 4x4s – are not allowed to go beyond certain limits. In our case, our rental contract excluded everything north of Cape Tribulation and a few of the Islands, including Fraser.

Fraser Island

The next day, we took over our rental 4×4, a very run-down Toyota Landcruiser, and headed off to River Heads to catch the first ferry to Fraser Island.

We decided to tour Fraser Island in ‘reverse mode’. So we would cross the island to Eurong and drive north on the beach till we reached our north-most destination “The Pinnacles – Coloured Sands”. We had sandwiches for lunch and marveled at the different shades of yellow, orange, taupe and light reds of the sands.

Then we turned back south and stopped by the famous S.S. Maheno wreck.

Afterwards we headed for Eli Creek, where we enjoyed the cool fresh water and then went on to Lake McKenzie, where we just dipped our toes because it was time to return for the last ferry.

Recommendations for Fraser Island

The Fraser Island tour was a bit of a rush. Not as relaxed as we would have liked it to be. If you allow me to make a recommendation to you: Plan at least three days/two nights on Fraser Island. Stay in Eurong. It’s expensive, but the hassle and lost time going back and forth to the mainland prohibits reaching some of the more remote sights of the Island.

Plan enough time to swim and hang lose at some of the sweet water lakes or Eli Creek. It’s a very unique experience. If you are interested in four wheel driving and on the adventurous side – rent your own vehicle. Yes, it’s a bit more expensive than a bus tour, but it brings you so much closer to the real Fraser experience. If we were able to do it with our one year old on the back-seat, you can do it without problem, too.

Our challenge at that time – was Debbie: The cyclone was expected to land fall in two days, so there was no way we are going to stay on Fraser for much longer. Hence, the next day we packed up in Hervey Bay and decided to visit Lake Lenthall on our way to the Noosa Heads area, where we hoped to stay safe during the landfall of Debbie.

Lake Lenthall

Lake Lenthall is another dam used for fresh water conservation. To get there is a small challenge, if you don’t have local know how and have to use Google Maps or any other GPS tool. Don’t use GPS in this case. You’ll end up dead-ended in private property or take a major unnecessary detour to the south via Maryborough West, when you are approaching the lake from Hervey Bay.

Here is the fastest way to get there from Hervey Bay:

  • Leave Hervey Bay west-bound till you reach Bruce Highway (A1).
  • Turn south on Bruce Highway for about 8km. On the right hand side, you will see a very small green sign (like the ones used in the national parks) to Wongi State Forrest.
  • Turn right at this sign. This turn off is a few hundred meters north of Duckinwilla and it is not easy to spot.
  • Follow the track which leaves Bruce Highway on a 90 degrees angle. There are also tracks running parallel to Bruce. Do not take these.
  • Drive on for a few hundred meters and turn on your satnav or Google Maps  again.
  • Now you have a good chance, it will calculate the fastest route to the lake.

When we did the tour, it was pouring rain again for most of the time. The gravel roads became muddy and challenging at times, but we managed to get to Lake Lenthall without problem.

The lake provides a ranger station, very well maintained campground, boat ramp, toilets and of course BBQ facilities.

Lake Lenthall
Lake Lenthall

It had rained for days and when we saw the fire danger information at Lake Lenthall, a smile crossed our faces:

Fire Danger Information at Lake Lenthall
Fire Danger Information at Lake Lenthall

After resting for a while, we left for Lake MacDonald, west of Noosa Heads for our next overnight stay.

 

 

 

 

Day 69 – Rockhampton via Middlemount and May Downs

Rockhampton via Middlemount and May Downs

Mackay to Rockhampton is an easy about 4 hours drive in normal conditions. However, due to the approaching storm and increasing rainfall, Bruce Highway had been affected. “Worry not”, the meanwhile seasoned hinterland-road-yoda on the team said. “I got it covered.” We’ll drive to Sarina and hit the Marlborough Sarina Road there. It runs in the back country parallel to Bruce Highway and rejoins Bruce at Marlborough. Said – done.

On the highway between Mackay and Sarina, we met an interesting transport. It was a huge excavator shovel, probably being shipped to a mine. The size of this shovel becomes more obvious, when you compare the size of the Toyota SUV to its right.

After driving a few dozen kilometers on the picturesque, slightly winding road through the Sarina Range, we passed the junction of Oxford Downs Sarina Road.  On we drove for a few kilometers, when we reached a flooded bridge, which you see in the picture above. No way we can make it across there.

So we had to drive back to the Oxford Downs junction and turn even further west and away from Bruce Highway. We took Fitzroy Development Road (#67) south to Middlemount. Honestly, I was a bit worried whether the ‘development road’ would be in good condition. No problem. It was perfect tarmac all the way to Middlemount.

Middlemount

Middlemount is a miner’s town known for its coal mine producing  low volatile pulverised coal injection (PCI) coal and hard coking coal, which is exported via Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal and Abbot Point Port.

We had a late lunch at the local Subways, filled up at the only petrol station in town and then headed further south on the Dingo Mount Flora Road (#67). When we reached the junction to May Downs, we had the choice of continuing south to Dingo or take a short cut via May Downs to Marlborough and back to Bruce Highway.

May Downs

The road to May Downs looked well tarmaced – at its beginning -, so we decided to take the shortcut. Since distances in Australia are never short, the road turned into gravel then sand/gravel about 15 kilometers later. — Turn back now? No way!

After driving for a while through fairly dry grass land with a few rare animal sightings like some cranes chilling alongside a small bushy wood patch, a car approached on the opposite side of the road.

We both stopped, turned down the side windows and chatted about road conditions and which roads were still open or had been flooded. It turned out that our road friend was coming from Rockhampton and going to Sarina. So he shared important information for the rest of our trip and we did vice versa. After having a good laugh about the unusual weather conditions, we waived goodbye and drove on.

Rockhampton & Emu Park

About 10 kilometers before we hit Bruce Highway at Marlborough, our road turned into tarmac again. We had booked our overnight stay in Emu Park, which is on the shore east of Rockhampton. Because we had to take a major detour today, we were running very late and basically driving straight on to Emu Park. We arrived there around 8pm. The rain was pouring again. Time for late dinner and then take a rest.

On the next day, before we we departed for Hervey Bay, our base camp for Fraser Island, we visited Kele Park and its ‘singing ship’ statue. The singing ship is a stylized sail with different sized steel pipes attached to it. When the wind blows, this thing basically turns into a huge panpipe. Impressive.

Kele Park, Emu Park
Kele Park, Emu Park

When we left Emu Park, the road back to Bruce Highway showed what the rain has caused to the area last night:

Roads and flat patches of land had been flooded. So the trip to Hervey Bay via Bundaberg was a bit challenging in the beginning. But it became a nice day after all the further south we went.

Day 68 – Mackay via Broken River, Eungella National Park

Finch Hatton Gorge

Before we left Airlie Beach, we asked our host about things to see between here and Mackay. He recommended to visit Broken River in Eungella National Park. The way he pronounced Eungella, it sounded almost like ‘Angela’. Funny name for a park, I thought.

Anyway, of course it was not enough for us to just go to Broken River. Following the Mackay Eungella Road (#64), we turned right and crossed the river following the signs to Finch Hatton Gorge. The view from the bridge was already exciting, so we were curious what the gorge would offer. The road became smaller and windy, crossing a small creek a few times and turned into gravel for the last bit.

At the end of the gravel road, there was a parking lot, toilets and small BBQ area. It was also the start of the walking trail to the waterfalls and pools of the gorge. We were undecided, whether we had enough time to complete the walk and still have enough time to see Broken River during daylight. So we asked a group of young presumably local people. “Hmm, it’s about half an hour.”, they said.

The trail wound up through the impressive sub-tropical rainforest, passing massive boulders. After walking for more than 45mins it couldn’t be far anymore. The trail turned downhill and after another 15-20 minutes we arrived at the first waterfall and pools. We took a short break, then headed back to our car.

Arriving at the parking lot, the car next door – a polite British lady and her living-in-Aussie-now daughter had troubles getting their rental car going. So I helped them pushing the car from the lot and slightly downhill to clutch-start the car. It seemed to work. We also found a very small leech attached to my heel just beneath the strap of my trekking sandals. I snipped it off with a credit card, used some tissue to manage the bleeding and we were all set again.

When we left Finch Hutton Gorge a few minutes later, we met them a few kilometers down the gravel road. Their car had failed again. So they asked us to take them to a jungle motel not far down the road, which we did of course. When everything  was settled at the motel, we waived goodbye and headed to Broken River.

Eungella National Park – Broken River

The Broken River site in Eungella National Park is very well developed. Nice, very clean campground, toilets, tarmaced or wooden walkways, handrails everywhere and platforms for watching out for the world famous platypus.

We had arrived much later than planned at around 4pm. However, that turned out to be a stroke of luck. We packed our little one in her buggy and strolled west-bound. We passed underneath the bridge and followed the boardwalk slowly for about 10 minutes, when we reached a lookout platform. We saw a few turtles. It started to rain slightly and slowly dusk was falling. No platypus. The rain became heavier.

We were about to return to our car, when a platypus finally appeared on scene. It is one of this special moments in life, when true happiness sets in. Seeing a very rare, very shy animal even when you are soaked by rain and it’s getting cool and dark, there is hardly anything else to compare.

After almost an hour taking picture of the platypus it was getting too dark and rainy for good pictures and and although our little one was well protected under the roof of her buggy, we didn’t want to take chances. So we returned to our car. While loading it, I felt some unusual touch on my foot. A leech – again! It had not attached yet so I simply snipped it off with my finger. Boy, that worm tried to come back even after being airborne for about a meter. Let’s get in the car quickly. Damned leeches!

Mackay

The drive from Broken River to Mackay took about one and a half hours in darkness and heavy rain. Throughout the trip I had a feeling if something got stuck between my big toe and the toe next to it. I thought it was a piece of a soft leaf or moss or something like it. I decided to take care of it, when we arrived in our accommodation in Mackay.

Well, damned leeches! Of course it was another of those blood-sucking creatures. And this time, it was a bigger dude. I checked the internet what to do. And found everything from burn it with a lighter, put salt on it to even more extreme measures. I decided to take a different approach: Since leeches are not known to transmit any diseases, but in contrary are used in some medical treatments, I let it do its job. After almost an hour, the leech was stuffed and simply fell off. It left a mildly bleeding wound, which didn’t stop bleeding for a few hours.

Anyway, we were hungry. Time for some more tissue around the toe and then drive off to a pizza take-away nearby.

In case you wonder what happened to our friend, the leech: We didn’t kill it. We released it to a place where we were fairly sure, it wouldn’t do further harm to people.

In the news this evening, they expected cyclone Debbie’s landfall in between Townsville and Bowen as a category 3 storm. This is pretty close. Actually too close. Time to get further south.

 

 

 

 

Day 65-67 – Whitsundays & Airlie Beach

Airlie Beach

In the news they said there is a cyclone building up and it’s expected to landfall in the area we just were in. They called it cyclone Debbie. The storm was still a few days away from the coast line, so we decided to shorten the visit of the marvelous Whitsunday Islands and head further south. The weather turned unstable with scattered rain showers every now and then.

But today, we made Airlie Beach our ‘operation base’. We got a good deal at one of the motels a bit out of town and booked an Island tour to Daydream, Hamilton and Whitehaven Beach for the next day. We were a bit concerned about the weather, but it turned out to be ok along the trip.

Whitsundays

First we visited Daydream Island. Our tour guide explained that the island and it’s resort had been acquired by a Chinese investment group and is scheduled for major modernization work. On the island, there were two remarkable sights: The ‘living reef’ aquarium and the mermaid statues.

The living reef aquarium is a huge lagoon-like out- and indoor pool with live corals and dozens of species of fish and other reef dwellers. We had the opportunity to experience the feeding show of the impressive stingrays, which was nice.

The mermaids statues have been the landmark of Daydream Island. The photo below is historically interesting. It might be one of the last ones taken with all three original statues in place. Cyclone Debbie washed two of them away a few days later.

Daydream Island
Daydream Island

We continued on to Hamilton Island for a quick lunch. The island has been over-developed in the past two decades for my taste. We strolled around the harbor and took a look into some of the art galleries located at the harbor. Then it was time to head off for Whitehaven Beach.

Whitehaven Beach is said to be the ‘whitest beach’ on earth. Our tour guide said that scientist still debate where the white sand comes from. It’s certainly not native to the island and must have been washed here from some unknown source.  The sand is so clean that NASA has used it for high-end telescope lenses, our guide explained.

So we took a swim – of course fully wrapped in a stinger-suit, which the tour operator provided – in the warm water. It was really relaxing as our tour guide opted to look after our little one for a few minutes. About an hour later heavy rain set in unfortunately. But it was time to pack and head back to Airlie Beach anyway.

Day 62-64 – Hideaway Bay via Abbott Point

Abbott Point

We decided to decelerate our trip for the last three weeks and make it more of a relax holiday. So the night before leaving Townsville, we were debating whether we should spend a week or two on the Whitsundays. Checking out Whitsundays’ hotel rates quickly rendered that thought into wishful-thinking.

So we adapted our plans. I once more checked satellite pictures of the coast line and found two spots, which looked specifically interesting – yet, the contrast couldn’t have been stronger.

We left Townsville and our first way-point was Abbott Point. On satellite pics you can see it’s a huge port specifically built for coal shipments. I thought I could get some interesting ‘industrial’ shots with my camera. Ha! We approached Abbott Point driving alongside the train tracks. When we reached the end of the street, everything was fenced off and security gated. No view whatsoever on the piles of coal.

Coal train to Point Abbott
Coal train to Point Abbott

Well, that didn’t go to well. So we fed our little one in our car parked on the employee parking lot. Then we drove on to our second stop.

Hideaway Bay

The second spot was a cape. We picked it because it looked very pretty ‘from above’ – Cape Gloucester at Hideaway Bay. After driving a couple of hours through an ever changing landscape, we left Bruce Highway and took a right onto Collinvale Road, then Dingo Beach Road.

We didn’t spend much time in Dingo Beach but headed on to Hideaway Bay. Behind Hideaway Bay a gravel road started and we where adventurous enough to drive around Cape Gloucester and check out one of the two beach resorts hiding away from the mainstream tourists. We loved it and decided to stay for a few nights and just hang loose.

We made some friends with Australian families staying there. And  one of them asked pretty astonished as we explained where we are from: “How did you find this place? Only Aussies usually come here.”

It was a very relaxing stay indeed.

 

Day 60-61 – Townsville via Paluma Dam

Little Crystal Creek and Paluma Dam

Departing from Mission Beach to Townsville, we decided to take a detour and drive into the woods. We left Bruce Highway (A1) at Mutarnee following Barrett Road to Mount Spec Road. Mount Spec Road is a very narrow, windy little road with fairly steep ascents. It’s all tarmac and no problem for anyone who has ever driven in Alpine areas.

When you drive up this road towards Paluma, do yourself a favor and plan for a stop at Little Crystal Creek.  Underneath an impressive little stone bridge, the creek has formed some pools. Ideal for refreshing with a swim on a hot day. Unfortunately, we had a tighter schedule so we just dipped a toe and then moved on to Paluma.

Paluma Village is a snug little town, but not too much to see there. I guess the dwellers enjoy their relative remoteness and tranquility.  So we carried on and enjoyed the view from Star Valley Lookout. A few hundred meters further west, we reached Paluma Dam Road junction. In case you are planning to follow Paluma Dam Road using Google Maps – be warned: the actual track of the road is quite different from the one plotted on Google Maps (at least at the time of traveling this road in 2017).

It’s a gravel road winding through impressive rain forests, crossing a couple of creeks and providing small parking bays every now and then. In some sections there is coarse gravel, which requires slower driving. Other than on Google Maps, where the road ends ‘in the middle of nowhere’, we arrived safely at the Paluma Reservoir, which provides 50 mega-liters of water per day to Townsville. To avoid sucking in sediment of iron and manganese, a floating pontoon intake is used to extract up to 359 liters water per second of the dam’s total 11,800 million liters  capacity. The dam is 20m high and 91m wide  at its base.

When we arrived at the dam, we were very impressed by the excellent infrastructure provided at such a – what Europeans would consider – remote location. Camping area, toilets, BBQs, boat ramp, neatly mowed lawn at the beach of the lake. A perfect hideaway. So we strolled on top of the dam and had a few bites at the BBQ area.

Paluma Dam
Paluma Dam

The sun started to go down and it was time to head to Townsville, where we stayed for two nights. The next day we used to replenish our stocks and just hang loose in this great town.

Day 59 – Granite Gorge Nature Park and Mission Beach

Granite Gorge Nature Park

Departing from Daintree, the obvious choice would have been to return south on the coast highway, however we decided differently. Researching the web and a few local flyers, Granite Gorge Nature Park caught our attention. It said, you can feed Wallabies there. So we decided to leave the coast slightly north of Port Douglas and turned right onto the Mossman Mount Molloy Road (#44) heading southsouthwest to the Atherton Tablelands.

The drive was first a windy uphill road which flattened out as we reached the plateau. And there they were again – hundreds of termite mounds along the road. This time though – in contrast to the ones we saw between Tennant Creek and Mount Isa – the mounds looked more like tiny grey elephants scattered in the high grass.

Atherton Tablelands - Termite Mounds
Atherton Tablelands – Termite Mounds

The last few kilometers to Granite Gorge were gravel/sandy roads and our Maps-Navigator-Voice insisted on sending us to the wrong tracks. However, following the local signs took us there – no problem. After paying admission of AUD $12 per adult and listening to a mandatory safety briefing, we were allowed access to the privately owned Nature Park.

And there they were! About six wallabies waited right a few stairs down from the entrance of the park. You can argue whether feeding wallabies is good or bad. But it’s certainly a unique experience, when they take a grip on your hand with their tiny ‘claws’ to grap a few food pellets.

After a bit, we continued the round-walk in the Granite Gorge Park. A few areas where a bit tricky to climb with our little one strapped to our chest, but with a helping hand we hand no problem at all. Very impressive granite formations rewarded for the heat and sweat as we tagged along the trail.

We finished our walk around 3pm and decided it’s time now to book our evening stay. Mission Beach should be our overnight destination. We booked the accommodation online, got our confirmation email that everything is booked and we needed to arrive there prior to 7pm. – So it was time for us to hit the road. We returned to Mareeba where we turned south on Kennedy Highway (#1) to Atherton, then hit the Atherton Malanda Road (#25) back to the coast.

Mission Beach

Admittedly, it was very tight timing. We arrived shortly before 7pm at our booked accommodation as it just got dark. It was a quiet place, exactly what we hoped for. We parked the car, then went for the reception. It was dark. We checked for any information on off-hours keys access. Nothing. We picked up the courtesy phone and dialed the number provided on a sign nearby. No answer.  After trying for about half an hour, we decided to look around the place.

We were extremely lucky. One of the room service staff members was still working in some other part of the building. After explaining the situation and showing our booking confirmation, she used her master key and let us into one of the empty rooms.

Later that night, the host arrived and we sorted out room keys and payment. She sincerely apologized and we appreciated it – adding to our list of anecdotes  to tell about the trip.