Airlie Beach to Julago – 257km

Cedar Creek Falls – free

Bush Oasis Caravan Park – $32 unpowered

Prising ourselves from a nice, cosy bed on dry land was not an easy task and we definitely milked that 10am check out time for all it was worth. I was so sad to say goodbye to the apartment view, but oddly excited to get on the road again.

We didn’t really have a solid plan for the day, so decided to take a slow meander up towards Townsville and maybe stop at a couple of points of interest on the way.

Around 25 minutes from Airlie is a waterfall called Cedar Creek Falls. We decided it would be the a great place to stop for a picnic. It didn’t disappoint.

There was a few people swimming but with a three hour drive ahead we gave it a miss and spent a little while watching the fish and shrimp instead before getting on our way.

We arrived at the camp at around 3pm and were pleasantly surprised. It had a beautiful pool, clean facilities and wild wallaby feeding at 5pm. Of course we were first in line to see the wallabies and there was even a little Joey in it’s mother’s pouch.

It was 27 degrees today (winter in Queensland is amazing) so a dip in the pool followed by a little relax in the jacuzzi was just what we needed.

Day 16

Julago to Townsville – 19km

Billabong Sanctuary – $38 pp

Castle Hill – free

Civic Guesthouse Hostel – $52 per night, private double

We woke early this morning to be first in line at the Billabong wildlife sanctuary, which conveniently is just next door to the campsite. I don’t particularly like going to zoo’s, mainly because I have been on safari a couple of times there is just no comparison however, we also wanted to make sure we got a chance to see as many of Australia’s native species as possible. Specifically the endangered cassowary.

Cassowaries are a huge flightless bird who can be found in the wild in Northern Australia but their numbers are dwindling with somewhere between 1200 to 1500 left. In two days time, we will be going to Mission Beach where the majority of that number can be found but with no guarantee, we wanted to see them here too.

The park also has a number of crocodiles and personally, I dont feel very excited about the prospect of meeting them in the wild so this was the safer option! The crocodile feeding was really interesting and we learnt a lot, including how to stay safe in areas where crocs are present.

The sanctuary is home to a number of animals. They offer the stereotypical holding a koala and wombat photos but I refuse to pay an extra $30 to pick up an animal that does not want to be picked up! Instead, we opted to have a photo with a sleeping wombat, Wanda – she was pretty cute.

There was also opportunities to hand feed kangaroos. The ones we met weren’t interested in eating from your hand, but enjoyed putting their entire face into the paper bag instead.

Overall, the animals seemed well cared for and happy. The rangers were very knowledgable and I liked the fact that they had strict no human zones and that the animals who were on display in the shows/photos etc were rotated regularly to prevent stress.

It was a 20 minute drive into the centre of Townsville, where we are staying this evening ahead of our trip over to Magnetic Island tomorrow. To be honest, I think we were both expecting Townsville to be another small, rural town. We were proven so wrong when looking down on the city from Castle Hill.

Fun fact – Castle Hill is 1 metre short of being classed as a mountain and offers 360 degree views of Townsville and surrounding areas. The view was pretty astounding and the photos just do not do it justice but I definitely tried to!