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.

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.