Wallaman Falls, Tallest Waterfall in Oz!
On our drive to Townsville from Innisfail we drove through Ingham where we stopped for a rest. We realised we weren’t far from Wallaman Falls, the tallest waterfall in Australia! We found somewhere to ditch park the van for a few hours and drove inland to have a look. The road to the falls is steep and not recommended for caravans. 
There’s a lookout at the top of the falls. Thank goodness, because we were not prepared for a hike to the bottom that day. The hike was something like two or three hours return. We would have had mutiny on our hands if we’d tried it. 
The falls are spectacular. The kids were enthralled to see the water turn to mist before it hit the bottom. 
The falls are 268 metres high. I took a picture of the sign with this nerdy handsome man so I’d remember. 
I don’t know if you could swim in the waterhole at the bottom, but the kids kept remarking over the pool depth. Twenty metres is quite deep! 
Unfortunately the day we were there it was hazy. I don’t know if it was a bush fire or controlled burning, but the smoke was blowing into the gorge. You can see it in the waterfall pictures, but especially in these pics overlooking the valley. 
It’s okay, you can say it. My kids are the cutest kids ever. 
More cuteness. TurboBug was pointing out letters on the signs and ‘reading’ them. Not that he really knows any of them. 
We often see cattle roadsigns, but it isn’t often that they are actually on the road. This was one of those times! 
After viewing the falls we headed back to Ingham, picked up the van, and headed on our way to Townsville. This little side trip added quite a bit to our journey that day, but now we can say we’ve seen the tallest waterfall in Australia!
Etty Bay on the QLD Coast
In northern Queensland these are a common sight at the beaches. Vinegar to apply in case of jellyfish stings. Fortunately for us, winter is not the high season for stingers. They can still be around but generally you can hit the beach without too much worry. 
This far north you also have to be on the lookout for crocodiles. They don’t care if it’s winter or not! See the map below? We are between Cairns and Townsville at the moment. The sign refers to ‘estuarine’ crocodiles, a.k.a. saltwater crocs. We’ve learned the croc experts prefer the term estuarine to help people realise those salties can be found in freshwater too. 
I’m not sure how we first heard of Etty Bay. But we wanted to have a look since we heard that you can sometimes spot cassowaries here. Cassowaries live in a very small part of the Queensland coast and we were really hoping to spot one in the wild. We didn’t have any luck, no cassowaries wandered down to the beach that afternoon. 
There’s a caravan park right on the beach in Etty Bay. What a great spot! We even saw another travelling family there that we’d recently seen further north. 
We did some exploring but the tide was coming in quick. Our paths down the beach were covered with water on our way back up. 
TurboBug is getting braver in the ocean. It used to be he’d run up to the water, then turn and run back up the beach as fast as he could when a wave came in. Now he’ll actually stay in the water. This was a nice shallow beach with gentle waves, perfect for him. 
The water was warm so we enjoyed ourselves for awhile. 
We saw what may have been puffer fish, quite a few swimming around. 
The kids were having so much fun together, getting along so beautifully. One of those rare occasions! 
A perfect beach-y afternoon! 
No cassowaries, but I’m not going to complain about a lovely afternoon at the beach!
Waterfalls in the Tablelands
West of Innisfail in the Atherton Tablelands is an area with several waterfalls. We were able to drive the Millaa Millaa Waterfall Circuit one sunny afternoon. It’s a sealed road all the way and takes a few hours or a longer day if you are coming from Cairns. We weren’t the only ones out that day, we met some of the same people at each waterfall as we made our way around. 
At each waterfall there is a short walk to view the falls. 
The first we visited were the Ellinjaa Falls. 
Nearby were some wild banana trees. After seeing so many banana plantations we were surprised to see some all by their lonesome. 
See the green bananas? 
I’ll never get tired of seeing strangling figs. 
I think this one is Zillie Falls. We chose not to walk to the end of the trail on this one. We got a pretty good view anyway. 
You just can’t do every hike with kids! 
Stop number three was the Millaa Millaa Falls. A popular stop since it included a waterhole you could swim in. 
The kids got to climb behind the waterfall, something that makes this waterhole special. 
The water was cold! People are always saying kids don’t feel the cold, but they certainly did this day. 
The waterhole was quickly overrun with a tour group. Quite entertaining watching them step into the water and dunk their heads to make it look like they’d gotten in all the way. The tour guide took pictures of them all, directing the girls to flip their hair as he snapped away. I prefer my picture of my boy braving the freezing cold water. 
I think this one is Pepina Falls. 
It was a short walk to the bottom of the falls, but only SkeeterBug and I walked down. Really, you can only take so many waterfalls in one day. 
Plenty of gorgeous things to look at in rainforest country, even mossy tree stumps can be beautiful. 
One more! The Mungalli Falls were located at a restaurant. You could see the top from the carpark and then had to walk through the restaurant to get to the rest of the falls. 
Sometimes I really want to tell my kids to just quit growing up. Quit looking so big! Stay little, just for one more day. LadyBug is looking so big these days. 
The Mungalli Falls were another one where we didn’t walk to the bottom. 
We just gazed from the balcony! 
Looking forward to many more waterfalls and waterholes as we journey around Australia!
Innisfail, Qld
Heading south after Cairns we spent a few nights in Innisfail. The town had a great bicycle track into the CBD. We love family bike rides but prefer bike trails to busy streets. So we rode into town for a play at the park and to do some grocery shopping. 
Innisfail is in sugarcane country. Just driving here you can see what a huge industry it is for the region. 
It’s interesting to see different war memorials in all these towns. This one was right next to the playground we stopped at in town. 
I also found these tiles that tell stories of the town. There was a whole series of them, I didn’t make it to all of them. There were nearby plaques explaining the symbolism behind the artwork. Such a great way to acquaint visitors with the history of the town. 
They were right on the river. What a gorgeous spot! 
We had planned to attend church while we were there. We looked it up, it started at 10:30. Double-checked that morning and realised it was actually 9:30, but there’s a church in Innisfail, Canada that starts at 10:30! Ooops. We were too late. Some of us were all ready to go by the time we figured it out. 
Some of us weren’t quite ready to go but still needed a picture like our big sister. 
I think this is what we’ll always remember about Innisfail. All the sugarcane fields and the burning they did every night. Imagine smelling that sweet smoke every night during sugarcane season! 
We went for a drive to have a closer look. We learned later that burning isn’t as common as it used to be. I think this was the only place we saw it. 
We had a few things to see in the area…
Life in a Caravan: Cairns
We always said we’d never get a caravan. That’s not real camping, we said. No way. Taking a house with you is not camping, we scoffed. But this isn’t a camping trip. All of the kids have done tent camping (TurboBug as a baby!), and we’ll make sure they do more of it. 
This isn’t camping. This is life, lived on the road. We do our schooling, our laundry, our car maintenance. We get eye exams and haircuts. We do our maths lessons, and let the toddler play with the manipulatives. 
We play with our Lego and hang our towels out to dry. 
We grill our sausages and have family movie nights. 
We enjoy the playground at whatever caravan park we find ourselves in. 
The things we miss? There are definitely things we miss. One thing is birthday parties. So every once in awhile LadyBug will decide we need to have a party. I think we’ve had four so far. She plans the games, prepares the activities, gathers the snacks. 
There’s always some art involved. 
Wait, wait, stop. I know what we’re supposed to do next. Pass the parcel! Which she has prepared ahead of time using layers of paper and loom band bracelets as prizes. 
And so we get a taste of birthday parties that we miss. (I love her freckles.) 
A couple of Big Things we found in Cairns: a Big Marlin and a Big Captain Cook. 
Yep, a Big Captain Cook. You have to wonder what the story is behind some of these! 
And lastly, this little guy loves to help with toilet duty. It has wheels and a handle which means it has toddler written all over it. So he’s been helping out with it since day one, much to the delight of the other guests at the caravan parks! He certainly doesn’t mind what’s in it, these bodily functions are quite fascinating at this age. 
Australian Venom Zoo in Kuranda (Cairns)
When we were trying to find BatReach in Kuranda we walked by the Australian Venom Zoo. We were accosted invited to come inside and have a look. Of course the kids were dying to go in. JitterBug especially was begging, and SkeeterBug wanted to also. LadyBug could take it or leave it, mostly leave it. First they send you downstairs for a look at the snakes and a few other creatures. These snakes are among the most deadliest in Australia. Right. Not scary at all. Some of them were quite restless. 
Mostly when you see snakes in zoos they are all curled up and hardly move. Not this one. Did I mention that this is Australia’s deadliest snake? 
This guy is not deadly. At least I don’t think so, I think he’s a skink. He was also downstairs. 
Then it was upstairs where they have a multitude of small aquariums holding various creatures. They take you around and tell you about some of them. There are opportunities to touch and hold some. Snakes and spiders and such. 
I took this picture to help me remember: apply ice to a spider bite. I didn’t know that. 
And then it was time to hold the big, friendly snake. A python. Not that deadly snake from downstairs. 
We weren’t incredibly impressed with this place. It left me with a creepy feeling, and not because of the various creatures inside. It just didn’t seem well cared for, and the animals seemed to be valued for their money making potential more than anything. The kids, however, enjoyed the time we spent there and JitterBug still talks about it!