Not Before Time

The weather was really good last Wednesday, so we decided to give job hunting a miss for a day and go for a drive. We didn’t have any real destination in mind, just headed towards Ingham. About 60mks north of Townsville we saw a sign for Paluma Range National Park so headed in that direction. What a beautiful place. We just loved it and will head back again soon.

The national park was named after HMS Paluma and was a tin mining area in the late 1800’s. There are numerous walks and waterfalls in the park and some spectacular views from the road and established lookouts.

The Paluma Road and the bridge over Little Crystal Creek was built by the Main Roads Commission during the 1930’s depression, and the 1930’s was the era that came to mind as soon as I saw Little Crystal Creek waterfall – to me it just had that sort of feel about it.

Further up the range, not far from Paluma Village, we went to McClelland’s Lookout which was named after the Main Roads Commission overseer during the building of the road and bridge. From the lookout you get beautiful views of Halifax Bay and the Palm Island group. It used to be the site of the US Army’s radar station during the Second World War. Now it’s a lovely picnic spot with gas barbecues and picnic tables. It’s also a good starting point for some of the walks. Unfortunately when we were there it was really hazy, so it’s difficult to see the islands in the photos I took.

Cylone Yasi has had a big impact on the range, especially up the top, near Paluma Village. When we stopped at the Rainforest Inn for a coffee, we were told that a huge amount of work had already been done in the area. Apparently you couldn’t walk from one end of the village to the other because of all the trees and debris blocking the road. The army and locals spent quite a while cleaning up. Within the forest there are still a lot of trees damaged, but because of the density, they have fallen onto other trees so aren’t quite uprooted. Not sure if they’ll survive or not, but I guess that’s up to mother nature to sort out.

As you go further up in to the range you move from the eucalypt forest to rainforest. The rainforest is home to the Cassowary which is a stunning looking bird, and one of the largest to be found in Australia. Unfortunately none of them decided to pop out of the bush so I could take a photo. Probably a good thing, I think I’d have dropped my camera in shock if one had We didn’t see much bird or wildlife at all the day we were there. Just some cattle ambling their way along the road.

It’s a gorgeous part of the country and I think we’ll be heading back there soon to see more of it.

I also had my first 4wd lesson in the Suzy – the road is so corrugated and rutted in some places we put it into 4wd for me to have a practice. I’ve never driven in 4wd mode before so it was a good opportunity to get a feel for it in the little truck. There was a fair bit of water over the road too in places so I was able to practice that as well. Had a lot of fun