Picturesque Jourama Falls

7th July 2012

 

Today has definitely brought me one of the highlights of travelling in Australia. And that my friends, is Jourama Falls.

 

But first, what did we do from yesterday when we arrived at Wallaman Falls from Mission Beach?

 

Again, another promise to check out a beautiful sunrise with the falls in view was ruined when I woke up to rain. Seems good old English weather refuses to let me go. Begrudgingly, I got out of bed and sorted the campervan out such as topping up the water supply, checking the tyres, putting everything away that doesn’t get knocked over, wake up a rabid snarling Smera, tease Smera about getting worried of a bandicoot biting her, and make a pot of good old..Daintree Tea. I like Daintree Tea, it certainly gives me that warm feeling inside first thing in the morning that no other tea, other than Yorkshire Tea, can do.

 

Impatiently waiting for the weather to subside, there was absolutely no way that the rain and wet weather was going to let up at this high altitude so off we decided to go further south the Australian East Coast.

 

But not only 5 minutes into our descend south that we got even ANOTHER wildlife surprise ! A fully grown Cassowary! It simply tottered about like a girl in too high heels and glared at us for smiling at it. Sounds like a certain Louise Spencer to me! Check out the pic below. It’s massive! I was well pleased to finally see a full grown cassowary thinking we were about to leave the Cassowary Coast without seeing one.

 

Off it stalked down the side of our van and we trundled along down the side of the mountain. Oh! I forgot to note that Smera and I switched driving times for today. Probably a bit of a mistake as I was probably far too chirpy for Smera’s liking as I kept chatting to her animatedly all morning and she silenced me with a turn of the radio haha.

 

Back on the Bruce Highway after getting lost due to inadequate signing, we hit the highway and rocked out to some rock dancing in the vehicle. Smera specially looked the part in her sunglasses and her hair dancing wildly around her face. I probably looked stupid.

 

Leaving Ingham, we followed the road south and turned off to head into Jourama National Park. We got recommended to go there by 2 German lads who we bumped into at Wallaman Falls lookout. I talked to one, Smera tried to flirt with the other. It wasn’t until later that even in separate conversations, we still talked about the same thing and able to finish each other’s sentences what the Germans have been up to. Are we that predictable?

 

Anyhoo, we followed the walking track to the rock pools and I was immediately bowled over by the picturesque beauty of the place. I can’t really describe it. I said to Smera that I Felt an affinity to the place. She probably thought I was taking a load of bollocks. But I really did. It felt so peaceful and calm, the big boulders strewn about with a stone walkway leading to the rock pools itself. And did I swim in the freezing cold waters of the pool? Course I did! You can see how cold it was to begin with and how relaxed I felt about the place. If I could become a naturist at this point, I probably would have. But I didn’t…don’t worry Mum! Gazing upwards, I could see the falls in all of its glory where the falls descend into rock pool after rock pool every 5m or so. It was unbelievably smashing. Also, how handsome do I look?!

 

I changed into my warm clothes and I’m pretty sure Smera took a peek at my water dripping off body in the nude, we headed up to the lookout further up the mountain about 350m. It was gorgeous to view it. I wanted to stay here and explore each rock pool everyday.

 

Feeling invigorated after my bracing swim, we headed back to the van and made some rather pleasing chicken sandwiches which we gobbled down and hit the road in the afternoon with me at the wheel. Driving over some streams and mooing at the cows that still littered the back roads, we found ourselves again on the Bruce Highway and discovered how bad Australian drivers can be.

I understand it takes ages to get to each place as everything is soooooooo far away but it seems like Australians want to break each speed limit and if anything is in the way such as a campervan driven by us slowly to conserve fuel (we can’t afford petrol sob sob), they feel the need to either tailgate or beep their horn incessantly as they overtake you. I normally respond with a crooked smile and maybe followed by the finger. Patience Australians! Didn’t you watch star wars? Impatience leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to the dark side. Australia, you better watch out, you might have an army of Sith Lords on your hands.

 

Anyway! We stopped off again at a designated Queensland Roadside Rest Stop at Bluewater Park where we discovered the water in the creek was surprisingly blue!

 

Late afternoon, we finally trundled into Townsville, the capital city of North Queensland and home to the Queensland Cowboys (Rugby League Team). We stopped off at the tourist information to find out more information about where to pull up for the night and also about the V8 Supercar rally that is being held in the city. What we got in return was a lot of information and a wealth of stories from two very friendly ladies who work there.

 

Consulting the maps, we decided to pull up at the car park at the northern most point of the Strand overlooking the beach and the outdoor swimming rock pools, also near to public toilets as well! Cooking dinner of Chicken Pasta, we settled in for the night ready in anticipation to check out what Townsville has to offer the next day before moving on to Magnetic Island!

 

I got to dash, a very nice Italian lass wants my attention. 🙂