NORTH QLD ADVENTURE - DAY 10 – WALLAMAN FALLS, INGHAM AND LUCINDA…

We had an early start this morning as we had a good hour drive to head up into the Girringun National Park to check out Wallaman Falls. 

The national park is around 50 east of Ingham and we had a further drive of 24 kms to get to Ignham from the coast.  We were gone from the caravan park just after 8.30am.  The drive there was pretty picturesque as we travelled though green farmlands, and the cattle and horse county until the base of the range. Then it was another 18kms or more of very narrow winding road as we climbed up the range.  We stopped twice on the way up to check out some of the views from a couple of lookouts.  Whilst they were spectacular views particularly of the ranges and rainforests, they were different to Paluma National Park in that we couldn’t see the coast line…

Wallaman Falls is Australia’s highest permanent single drop waterfall, and it is situated in Girringun National Park, west of Ingham. It is surrounded by part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage rainforest and it is home to some of the oldest rainforest on earth along with many endangered plants and animals.  Stony Creek plunges 268 metres in a clear single-drop, often through a rainbow-fringed cloud of mist. Quite spectacular to see.

We were quite mesmerized by the display Wallaman Falls put on for us.  We were one of the fortunate lot of folk who got to see it through a rainbow-fringed cloud of mist from the main lookout and we captured lots of lovely shots with that rainbow.  We then walked to the second lookout which provides stunning views of the gorge and the Herbert River Valley.

We could have walked a further 3.5kms down to the base of the falls, but decided to pass on this today, as it was a good 4 hours walk there and back and it would have chewed up too much of our day considering we still had other places we wanted to see around the area…

The only negative about our visit to Girringun National Park were the march flies.  They were everywhere and since I am hugely allergic to them, we decided not to stop and have our morning tea there.  

Before driving back down the range though we did check out the camping grounds.  Wallaman Falls camping area features a pleasant camping area set in open woodland adjacent to Stony Creek.  Wood fire barbecues, picnic tables, shelter sheds, water and a cold water shower are provided, although since COVID, On-site self-registration is no longer available. Campers must obtain an e-camping permit and pay their  camping fees before arriving at the camping area. The cost of camping there is $6.75per person per night, or $27 per family per night which is pretty standard for National Parks.

 It was almost lunch time by the time we had driven back into Ingham, long past morning tea so we decided to head to the beautiful parklands of Tyto Wetlands for a picnic lunch.  These wetlands are beautifully done and are located 800 metres from the township of Ingham right on the Bruce Highway as you drive into town.  There is also a 48hr free RV park at the Wetlands, although at the moment is not operating.  The lady at the information centre which is also located there advised us that it should be up and running again soon as they are just waiting on the government to authorise their safe COVID plan.  

 

Just loved this number plate of a camper we saw at the Tyto Wetlands..

  

 

 

 

We set up our lunch under at one of the shady picnic tables adjacent to one of the lakes and watched the turtles as they made their way towards us expecting a little feed I would presume.  Whilst watching the turtles, we saw any beautiful butterflies including the beautiful blue Ulysses Butterfly.  There were also beautiful purple water lilies flowering and they just added a pretty touch of colour to the lagoons….

 

After we finished our lunch, we paid a quick visit to the Information centre to collect a few maps and find out what else we could check out in the vicinity.   Armed with our information we set out to walk around part of the wetlands. 

Tyto wetlands is a re vegetated and repaired 120-hectare site and home to over 240 species of birds, numerous tropical plant species and an abundant wallaby population.

Four kilometres of walkways, interpretive signs, marked lookouts and specially created viewing platforms allows you to view the local wildlife without interference or disturbance to their habitats.  We were even informed at the information centre that there are at least two resident crocodiles in the lagoons of the wetlands.  Steve was keen to see these up a little closer but we were all happy to stay on one of the boardwalks…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we walked along the boardwalk to the Observation tower, we noticed a great display on the cane industry that makes up a lot of the history in Ingham.  I found this all very interesting as I grew up in cane country in my youth.

By climbing the tower, we all got a much better perspective of the size of the wetlands…. It was also a good vantage point to take some photos…

Whilst we were in the Information Centre, we were given some information on the Mercer Lane mosaics which depict the history of Ingham. There are over 50metres of handcrafted mosaic just outside JK’s Deli. 

 

It’s one of Australia’s largest mosaic murals and the art form itself is another nod to the town’s Mediterranean roots.  There were over 2000 town folk who all volunteered to be involved in the building of this mosaic wall.  It follows the stories of the cane cutter’s history and their influence on the Ingham of today. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so glad that we got to visit Mercer Lane… It was very impressive and gave us a good insight into what life was like in the early days of Ingham. 

 

 

Whilst in town we also checkout out “The Pub with no Beer”.  The Lee Hotel in Ingham was the Pub that Slim Dusty wrote his famous song about.

Mosaic displays are very popular in Ingham and we found quite a few scattered around town.

 

By now it was mid-afternoon so we decided to head out to Halifax and then onto Lucinda. 

 

The eye-popping pride of Lucinda is a six-kilometre jtty stretching far out into the Coral Sea. The jetty is the world's largest bulk sugar loading facility and is so long it actually curves with the earth.

With the fertile Hinchinbrook Channel to the north and Coral Sea to the east, Lucinda is a very popular spot for the fishermen. Mangrove jack, coral trout, big juicy mud crabs and the fighting barramundi are all known to be in plentiful supply.  This would be Steve’s dream location for a week’s holiday with his boat….

We had a lovely wander along the beach checking out the bulk sugar jetty, and then Steve and Kathy checked out the fishing jetty before we decided to head home… My now the sun was setting and we had been out all day…

Time to head home via Halifax which had some lovely old buildings which we photographed and then as we drove into Taylor’s Beach, we stopped to watch a can harvester cutting the cane.  This bough back lots of childhood memories for both Steve and I as we grew up in  Bundaberg which was also very much a cane growing town.

By the time we got home, the sun had well and truly set, so it was too late for us to go swimming today.  Instead Kathy and I both did up a nice cheese platter and we just just sat out under the awning and enjoyed a nice glass of wine and some cheese and crackers together.

One good thing about this evening was that we didn’t have to think too hard about what to have for dinner as we had plenty of left-over roast pork and vegetables from the evening before…

In the end we had a later dinner, sat and chatted till around 8.30pm and then called it a night… We were all pretty exhausted from our big day out…