Travel Breaks And Waiting Out The Rain

After our seven day sea kayak trip from Flying Fish Point to Cairns, Doug and I were feeling a little road weary. This travel fatigue seems to come upon us every two months or so when we feel the need to stop moving for a few days and just chill out. We don't just sit – I am incapable of sitting - but we do seem to need a break from endlessly moving from one place to another, as well as planning and executing our trips and activities.

Our last travel break was at Lake Nuga Nuga, which was ideal for chilling for a few days as it was really scenic, relatively deserted, and had kayaking and walking right from our campsite. We took our latest travel break up on the Atherton Tablelands at Kauri Creek Campground on Lake Tinaroo in Danbulla Forest. This was a pretty nice spot for an extended stay although it was busier than Lake Nuga Nuga, suffered from the infernal and eternal smoky campfires that Australian's just can't seem to live without, and was not as remote or beautiful as Lake Nuga Nuga. But, there were two good walking trails accessible right from the campground, as well as many other walks nearby, and we could put our kayaks into the lake and go for a paddle at any time, or practise eskimo rolling.

After a few days, I began to feel rested and ready to move. Down on the coast, the usual southeast trades were blowing at 20 to 30 knots so sea kayaking was not a good option. Instead, we poked about on the Atherton Tablelands doing some hikes (Mounts Emerald and Baldy, Torpedo Bay) as well as visiting some of the scenic highlights of the area (the Cathedral Fig Tree – aptly named, Mobo Creek Crater, Lake Euramoo, Gillies Lookout in pouring rain and thick fog).

With winds forecast to diminish after the weekend, we left Lake Tinaroo on Thursday and made our way via Torpedo Bay hike (I liked it so much when I did it by myself that I did it again the next day with Doug), Peterson Creek walk (where we saw three platypus) and Lake Barrine (a very wet one hour kayak circumnavigation in teeming rain) to Goldsborough Valley campground in Wooroonooran National Park.

Unfortunately, along with the southeast trades, the rain has arrived. This is pretty typical (as we are starting to learn) as the southeast flow picks up moisture from the ocean and deposits it on the coastal areas in the form of rain. The rain started on Tuesday, and, as I write this, it is Friday night and raining steadily, as it has done off and on every day between.

I managed to get out for a four hour walk today during a break in the rain along the Goldfield trail towards Babinda. It was even warm enough for me to feel quite sweaty when I returned so I had a swim in the lovely clear cool waters of the Mulgrave River before the rain began again. It seems that waiting out the weather is just as tedious in Australia as it is in Canada. 

 Camp By Lake Tinaroo