NORTH QLD ADVENTURE - DAY 12 – EXPLORING TULLY

 We had a bit of a chilled start to the day this morning.  We have had some big days out exploring in the last week or so, so we were both feeling pretty tired, hence the sleep in this morning.. With having 3 days booked at this park we felt we had the luxury to slow the pace down a little…

We also needed to catch up on some washing and we wanted to give the van a good clean out so most of the morning was spent in at the Caravan Park. 

It was quite humid this morning with a couple of heavy downpours of rain, not something you wanted when you had a whole clothesline full of washing.   Whilst I was hanging my washing on the line, I came across these stunning hibiscus flowers.  I have never seen colours like this before and just knew I needed to go grab my camera from the caravan so that I could photograph them...

 

 

 

It was close to 10.30am by the time we got away.  Today we have decided to explore Tully, which is only 25kms away. 

Tully is one of the larger towns of the Cassowary Coast Region, and it’s  known for its agriculture with sugar cane and bananas being the dominant crops. The sugar cane grown at the many farms in the district is processed locally at the Tully Sugar Mill, and the raw sugar produced is shipped elsewhere for further refining.

Another of the Big Aussie Icons... The Big Golden Gumboot.

 

Our first stop in town was to check out “The Golden Gumboot”, another Big Aussie Icon to tick off our check list.

Tully is arguably the wettest town in Australia with an average rainfall of 160 inches of rain, and so in 2003, it was fitting for the town to erect a giant golden gumboot as a monument to the town’s high rainfall.

There is a lot of symbolism attached to the boot. It is 7.9 metres tall which is exactly the highest annual rainfall ever experienced by Tully. The town received 7.9 metres of rain in 1950. (That is 311 inches - or, to put it another way, nearly an inch a day every day of the year). The gumboot features a mechanical rain gauge running from the heel to the lip of the boot and inside is a spiral staircase leading to a viewing platform. Along the walls are photos of past floods. The Boot is located at Tully's Bus Transit Centre, Banyan Park, at the entrance to Tully's main street.

We took the customary photos and climbed to the top of the boot.  This was a great viewing platform and gave us some great view of the main street in Tully as well as the Tully Cane Mill.  Again, we took some more photos…

Whilst we were up on top of the Gumboot, we noticed some caravan’s that were parked in what looked like a showground so once we were back at the car we decided to go and explore and see if we could find the RV Friendly park…

As we were leaving the Banyan Transit Centre, we noticed another statute located in the park there and on further investigation we found out that it was the Tully District Italian Pioneers statue. The statue was officially unveiled in June 2009 and was dedicated to all the pioneers of Tully and particularly the Italians who arrived in great numbers in the 1930s and helped establish the district's sugar and banana industries.

 

From here we headed off to look for the showgrounds and, in the process, drove past a skate park that was covered with bright colourful street art. Whether you’re a skateboarder or not, it’s nice to appreciate the bright and colourful artwork that has been graffitied onto the bowls.  Not only does it look great, but it makes for a fun, and a great local spot for kids to hang out at.   Even as a tourist it was fun to check it out.

We found the showgrounds.  Tully is a RV Friendly town and you are able to camp here for free for 48 hours, however you must get a permit from the Info Centre to do so.  There was plenty of room, all on green grass and within walking distance of the township, the mill and the big gumboot. 

From here we decided to take a drive out to check out the Tully Gorge.  This was a 45km drive from the centre of town, through some of the most picturesque country side we had seen.  The country side consisted of lush green rolling countryside with the mountains as a backdrop.  Stunning…  You crossed over countless babbling streams and then drove through kilometres of banana farms.

Stunning scenery

Lots of babbling creeks along the way

We stopped a couple of times to explore dirt tracks and check out the rainforests and we also stopped at the Tully River for a look.  There were a group getting ready to do some white river rafting when we arrived.

From here we continued on another 5-6kms until we came to the Tully Gorge, Day/Camping Area.  This was a lovely area with picnic facilities and we thought we would have morning tea here until we hopped out of the car and were attached by the huge March Flies…  This was not good, and morning tea was quickly abandoned, and instead we headed straight down to the Gorge and swimming hole…

 

This is quite a beautiful area with lots of rocks to climb over, still plenty of water and we were pleased we came to see it all, but unfortunately because of the huge population of March flies we had to keep moving.  I am particularly susceptible to their bites coming up in huge very bruised skin which then often turns into a sore so I didn’t want to hang around for too long…

We took the photos we needed to take, headed to the toilets for a pit stop, and even there we couldn’t get away from the flies and then headed back into Tully to have something to eat.

On our way back back into Tully, we drove past kilometres of banana farms.  Very picturesque and as a few of these farms are diseased they are being destroyed and they looked like something out of a sci fi movie so we stopped to photograph them.

Continuing on, Steve spotted a cassowary in the wild at Jarra Creek.  He saw it as he crossed the bridge and was so excited to see one, he did a turnaround off the highway when it was safe to do one and we headed back to the creek in the hope that I could see it also.  It wasn’t to be, as by the time we got back, the cassowary had taken off and was no where to be found… Still it was a pretty little area and we took a few more photos so that Steve could remember where he had seen it…

 

It was after 3pm by the time we got back into Tully.  We stopped off at the Bakery and had a late lunch, half a chicken and salad wrap and half a fetta and spinach sausage roll.

Main street in Tully

It was after 4pm by the time we left Tully, taken a drive down their main street and then headed back towards Mission Beach.

On our way home we decided to take the drive into Licuala, a little dirt road off to the left as you approached Mission Beach.  We had driven past it twice before and looking down the road, it looked really pretty with rainforest on both sides of the road.  It was only a 1km drive in.

At the end of the drive there is a nice picnic shelter area in a clearing in the middle of a palm forest.  There were a few backpackers who were set up in here listening and recording music when we arrived.

We just had to follow the cassowary footprints...

We decided to do a short rainforest walk.  The fan palms were prolific in this area and they provided an almost umbrella canopy above as we walked through the forest.  Although we didn’t see a real cassowary in here, we did see evidences of them being here in the droppings they had left along the path.  At the end of our walk when we were almost back to the car, we found a set up cassowary nest with eggs in it.

Cassowary poop -  full of seeds..

Once we had completed our way it was straight back to the van park to collect our washing off the line and get ready for dinner.  Fortunately for us, we had left overs from the previous night.

Very laid back chilled out night, as I caught up with my blogging and photos and Steve watched a series on Netflix.  We are using plenty of internet data this month, but still now where near as much as we have.

Tomorrow will be another chilled-out day as we hang around Mission Beach and explore it more…