Heading Home - Rainbow Beach and Eungella

Rainbow Beach

13 - 15 November 2017

We chose to stay at Rainbow Beach because of its proximity to Inskip Point. Inskip Point is a fabulous and very popular camping spot where we stayed at the start of the year. As well as a lovely beach and views to Fraser Island, there is also the potential for bird photography.

We stayed in a town house at Rainbow Beach and visited Inskip Point a couple of times without any success. Even so, it was nice wandering along the bush tracks and along the beaches. We spent a morning in Rainbow Beach township and enjoyed a short walk along the beach.

Caspian Terns out on the sand spit.

A pair of juvenile Brush Turkeys got my hopes up briefly. From the moment they hatch these cute chicks are on their own.

Inskip Point is supposed to be a good site for Black-breasted Button-quail. Finding and photographing them was the main purpose of our visit. Unfortunately there were none about... again. There were a good few Bar-tailed Godwits and terns out on the sand spit. Mick

On our departure from Rainbow Beach, we decided to take another detour to Tin Can Bay. As luck would have it we arrived just at the end of the dolphin feeding so we hung around and watched these beautiful creatures until they swam away. You have to pay to take part, but we didn't see anyone collecting money, probably because the activity was almost over.

Australian Humpback Dolphins are fed by volunteers. The Humpback inhabits rivers & estuaries.

Even a baby dolphin turns up.

From Tin Can Bay we made our way back to the Bruce Highway and north towards home. We reached Rockhampton mid-afternoon and decided it was too early to stop. After a break and refreshments we set off again and reached Clairview at about 6:00pm. We made this our overnight stop.

Our cabin was over priced and dreadful but the beach is pleasant.

 We had a short walk on the beach in the morning before heading off for Eungella.

Eungella

16 - 18 November 2017

Eungella has been a favourite spot for many years and we have visited quite a few times. The attraction is not only the birdwatching and rainforest, but the platypus. Apparently Broken River is the most reliable place on the planet to see these unique and fascinating creatures. Platypus were thought to be nocturnal but at Broken River you can often see them during the day as well as early morning and late afternoon. There are a number of viewing platforms along the river's edge with interpretive information, and you can also stand on the road bridge for a look. We spent most of our two days wandering along the walkways looking hopefully and were regularly rewarded.

Although we saw them a little less frequently this time, I think the conditions were better than on previous visits.

We did go for one short walk through the rainforest along part of the Granite Bend Circuit (1.6km, Class 3). We took a detour down to the creek which is part of the Clarke Range track (8.2km and Class 4 - definitely not for us) and spent some time enjoying the peace and tranquility, before heading back to the Granite Bend track. We retraced our steps instead of continuing on (we both thought we remembered the track getting a bit steeper further on) and then turned off again to complete the Rainforest Discovery Circuit (780m and Class 3). The tracks are very well marked, with maps signposted at all junctions so it is easy to make up your own walk as we did.

Despite their bright colours, Noisy Pittas can be very hard to see among the leaf litter.

A green Tree Snake sunning itself on the walking track.

Flowering Lillipillies along the river attract a variety of honeyeaters. Lewin's Honeyeater.

Dusky Honeyeater

Little Shrike-thrush.

Leaden Flycatcher

Female Cicadabird

Male Cicadabird

Fan-tailed Cuckoo

From Eungella it was on to home with a stop for coffee in Proserpine and lunch at the well resourced and maintained picnic area at Guthalungra.

The trip as shown on our Wikicamps Trip Planner

In summary:

1. We were away from home for 29 nights
2. We drove a total distance of 4333km
3. We stayed on 1 island, at 5 beachside towns and in the mountains at 4 places - from the rainforest to the reef in 12 different locations
4. We travelled through two states - Queensland and New South Wales
5. We visited 6 national parks (Mount Clunie, Tooloom Falls,  Nightcap/Whian Whian - NSW; Eungella, Mapleton Falls, Kondalilla - Qld)
6. We have now visited the most easterly spot on the Australian mainland (we have previously visited the most northerly and the most southerly in Tasmania. Just the most southerly on the mainland, and the most westerly to go)