The Coastline and Cardwell

Cardwell FNQ- halfway between Townsville and Cairns and where the highway meets the Coral Sea.  It was to this lovely place that we ventured north to at our normal turtle pace - took us two days to get from Proserpine with an overnight stay just south of Ayr. 

Not long after we had left Proserpine, a strange sound began emanating from beneath The Turtle.  A bit unusual so we stopped and The Captain checked the obvious things - there were no flat tyres or fluids streaming from anywhere so we continued on our way.  The Captain was perplexed and thought that he would have to jack The Turtle up to try and find out what was the problem was.  It was not until we reached Cardwell and settled in that The Captain realised that the hubs (on the front wheels and for 4 wheel driving) were still on lock.  Not a good thing when you are travelling on bitumen.  Although some of the bitumen roads nearly need to be driven with 4 wheel drive intact!

After fishing dams and impoundments for the last couple of months, we found it a bit strange to actually think about the tidal movements.  In particular when they change by nearly 3 metres at some times of the month.  On our first afternoon we did notice this when there was this massive mud/sand bank which stretched nearly all the way to Hinchinbrook Island.

Hinchinbrook Mudbank

The Captain spent the afternoon networking with the local fishing people and managed to return with a couple of maps and clues as to the best spots.  We had decided not to use the main boat ramp at Port Hinchinbrook but a smaller one a few k's further south.  All well and good but one of the fishing people strongly suggested that as the channels and mangroves all look the same it would be best to mark a few places with ribbons or rags.  Sort of like Hansel and Gretel but not to use breadcrumbs...

Hinchinbrook Mangroves

The little boat ramp that we used was down the creek that is on the far right hand side!  And once you get on the water, all of the channels definitely look the same.

Mangrove Channels

Sunday was our first foray into Hinchinbrook Channel.  A very pleasant day, except for the sandflies that attacked us at the boat ramp.  An extra spray of Aeroguard to drown them and we were off.

We found what we thought was "one of the spots" and anchored up.  After a very short time The Deckie struck gold and caught the first fish - a barred grunter.  Not very big but it was the first fish for Cardwell!!

The Deckie and Her Fish

Not to be outdone and a little while later, The Captain managed to land a bigger fish - not quite big enough to keep but at least there were some fish there!

The Captain and His Fish

There were a few more nibbles and then the tide changed.  Wow, and did it change - it was like someone had pulled the plug out of a bathtub.  The only thing to do was to weigh anchor and head for home which was a shame as the sun was beautiful and the wind wasn't blowing very much at all.  Back into the mangroves - The Deckie/Navigator found our first marker but before she could find the second one, The Captain turned left before he should have.  Well, we turned up this channel and then that one all to no avail until The Deckie/Navigator put her foot down (as best you can in a boat) and strongly suggested we just go back to the first marker and start again.  The suggestion was taken on board and before long we found the second marker and returned to the boat ramp!  Fortunately, our extra little side journeys had not taken all that long and there was still plenty of water at the boat ramp.

Our next two outing were not as successful - a few nibbles and a reef shark.  We didn't feel too bad about it as the couple of local fishing people (who spend six months every year up hear) were also devoid of any catch.

The next best thing to do was the touristy thing.  A few klms south of Cardwell was a lovely little picnic spot called The Five Mile Swimming Hole.  This is a natural deep, rocky hole in the creek and the National Parks people have spent some money and tarted the place up - even to putting in a deck and ladder.

The Captain At The Five Mile Swimming Hole

The next day we headed up to the Tully area to check out another couple of places on the Hull and Tully Rivers that looked like they could be nice and then into Tully itself.

Tully's biggest claim to fame is that it is "the wettest place in Australia" and to mark this, the local constructed a giant gumboot that is as high as what their wettest year was.

The Deckie At The Top Of The Gumboot

Tully is also a big sugar cane producing area with a very large sugar mill.

The Tully Sugar Mill

After a lovely lunch we headed back to Cardwell but called into Murray Falls National Park on the way - just a mere 40 klm round trip.  Lots of granite boulders and a beautiful little river carving its way through to the sea.  A quick 2klm stroll up the hill to the top of the waterfall and then back down again for a quick swim in one of the many waterholes near the picnic area.

At The Top Of The Waterfall

Granite Rock Waterhole

Exhausted, we managed to drag ourselves back to Cardwell for a well deserved rest.

Sometime over the weekend, Team Turtle will pack up and head up to the Hull River.  The wind is supposed to keep blowing for quite some time yet and it would be best (hopefully) to find a river that could give a bit of cover from them.  We can only try.