Granite Gorge

 23 - 25 April 2025

Back on the road after three weeks house sitting we were keen to head to the coast, but the weather was against us once more, with lots of rain forecast for the next day, so we made up our minds to have a night at Granite Gorge. West of Mareeba, it's in dry country so doesn't get the sort of rainfall seen on the coast or other parts of the Tablelands. 

Driving towards the nature park we noticed that the area was condiserably greener than usual. We checked in and selected a spot before settling in for an afternoon of reorganising things in the camper trailer. We went for a walk in the late afternoon to see the Mareeba Rock Wallabies that make the gorge their home. The population looked a little healthier than the last time we visited, and there were a number of young ones hopping about.

Bags of wallaby food
are available to purchase,
making them quite friendly

The following morning we checked the weather forecast and saw that there was more rain on the coast so decided to delay our departure by one day. The caravan park wasn't busy so there was no problem to extend. Later in the day we drove in to Mareeba to pick up a few things and also to cast our Interstate Absentee votes in the Federal election. Back at camp and we finished our reorganising and again went for a walk in the gorge. 

We needed to set off the following morning as we had a booking at Daintree Village, so we were glad to see the forecast for the next few days was for clear skies. We left Granite Gorge and headed towards Mount Molloy, and then down to the coast.

Granite Gorge

4 – 8 August 2024

Granite Gorge has been a favourite of Mick’s for some time and we have visited quite a few times. The setting is lovely and there are lots of good birding opportunities, but unfortunately the caravan park itself is not fabulous. The facilities are seriously lacking so not inviting for any longer than a few days. Despite that, we enjoyed a break from the rainy weather while we talked to builders on the Tablelands, and considered our next steps.

We did enjoy walking in and around the gorge and seeing the Mareeba Rock Wallabies. We found the caged birds, on the other hand, were quite distressing.

There are lots of walking tracks around the gorge

After several quite stressful weeks trying to decide on a builder and house design we came to the conclusion that we needed a break and a trip “up the Cape” would be ideal at this time. We spent some time thinking about where exactly we would go, and how long we could be away. We couldn’t leave until after Mick’s follow-up appointment with his surgeon, so we made that our starting point.

We packed up a lot of our cooler weather gear and other items we wouldn’t need for the Cape leg of the journey and left them with a friend in Mareeba. We filled the empty spaces with necessary supplies and prepared the car for the remote trip.

We left Granite Gorge, stopped at Coffee Works for morning tea while Mick had his tele-health appointment then headed north, with our first stop not far away, at Rifle Creek.

Granite Gorge

25 – 27 September 2023

We stopped for lunch in Mareeba, at the park near the Visitor Information Centre then set off for Granite Gorge. I set the GPS for our destination even though we were fairly confident we knew which way to go, and hadn’t travelled far when we realised that, once again, the “crazy woman” was leading us astray. We backtracked and found the correct turn-off.

We checked in and chose our powered site and then the real trouble began. We had packed up in between showers and the canvas was still very wet – and that had led to quite a bit of water getting inside the camper. The mattress and bedding was quite wet around the edges. In the past we have been able to dry things off easily by lifting the mattress slightly and directing the fan onto it but this was much worse than anything we had experienced before. I drove back into Mareeba to buy a larger fan, and also a hair dryer.

Back at the camp we pulled the mattress out of the trailer, set it on the table in the sun and used the new (small and very cheap) hairdryer to dry it out. It took a while, but it worked. We didn’t use the fan so we returned it on our way out of Mareeba a couple of days later.

We had a quiet evening after quite an energetic afternoon. Granite Gorge is home to a unique marsupial – the Mareeba Rock Wallaby so in the morning we walked down to the part of the gorge where they can be seen easily and fed – if you buy the feed at the reception. Mick spent a bit of time wandering the grounds photographing birds, and we also went for a walk along the creek that runs beside the unpowered camping area. It was school holidays and there were lots of families visiting.

We thought we might stay for three nights but decided that two would be enough so we booked a site at Yungaburra for the next few nights and moved on.

Cape York - To The Tip and Back - Granite Gorge, Mount Carbine and Coen

Granite Gorge (near Mareeba)

14 – 16 June  2016

We had enjoyed a short trip part way up “The Cape” (Cape York Peninsular) only a month ago and were keen to head off again, with a much more flexible timeline. We had decided to leave on Monday 13 June, but the weather forecast was for rain – all up the coast – and this time it was quite correct. We didn’t fancy starting off with a wet camp, so we delayed a day and headed off on Tuesday morning.

We had a very leisurely start in the morning and only managed to get away just before 11:00am – very late, even for us. It was raining a little at home and the forecast was for more rain up the coast but we were hopeful that by the time we reached the Atherton Tablelands it would be clear.

After lunch at the Francis Creek rest area just south of Ingham we drove through more rain, especially around Tully, then up on to the Tablelands. Our plan to stay near the Ma:Mu Tropical Canopy Walk was again put on hold due to the weather. It was still raining when we stopped for a quick coffee (and look in the op-shops) at Malanda. We hoped that it would be clear by the time we reached Atherton but alas, it was still raining. We drove on towards Mareeba and the “dry country”. It certainly was – the sky cleared as we drove, even though we could still see some ominous clouds in the distance. After a stop at the visitor information centre to find out about caravan parks, we decided on Granite Gorge, a short way out of town. We are so glad we made this choice. We had seen some very crowded places as we drove through the Tablelands (this is high season for southern visitors – mainly Grey Nomads) but Granite Gorge was pleasantly less crowded, although there were still quite a few there.

White-cheeked Rosella feeding on wattle seed.

Grey-crowned Babblers gathered nesting material close by.

Fairy Gerygone male.

Squatter Pigeon. These were quite tame and common around the camp ground.

This caravan park and campground is part of the Granite Gorge Nature Park and is quite bush-like. We were able to select our own spot among the trees. We were soon visited by the friendly farm animals – ducks, peahens, chooks and a turkey. The Mareeba Wallabies that inhabit the gorge and surrounds also visited. As we had arrived quite late, we didn’t explore our surrounds until the morning.

This is the easiest place I have come across to see and photograph Squatter Pigeons, race peninsulae. There were plenty of Fairy Gerygones and Yellow Honeyeaters about and the Grey-crowned Babblers were quite approachable.  Mick.

After another wet night – do we bring the rain with us everywhere we go? – we had a relaxed start to the day. We set off on a walk to the gorge. The map that all visitors are provided with shows a number of walks around the gorge, many of which involve “bouldering”. You do need sturdy shoes, as well as water and a hat, but it is worth it. One track is rated a grade 3, and another a grade 4. We only did the easy one. We went down past Wallaby Rock and down to the weir, where you can swim.

If swimming, you would be sharing with quite a few of these turtles.

The tiny Striated Pardalote.

Mareeba Rock-wallaby. Very cute!

Extremely cute!!

After lunch we drove into Mareeba for some shopping and then went for a bit more of a walk. This time we approached Wallaby Rock from the other end. This track also involves climbing across rocks, but again is quite beautiful. The track is quite difficult in parts and would not be suitable for many.

Wallaby Rock with some of its residents.

Spectacular rock formations encountered on our walk.

Christie blending in quite well.

Sunset, Granite Gorge.

Heading off in the morning we decided it would be a good idea to book some of our National Parks camping so we stopped in at Macca’s for a coffee and to access the free Wi-Fi. We are glad we did as we could see that the campgrounds we wanted to visit were filling up fast. We travelled on the short distance to Mount Molloy for lunch in the rain at Rifle Creek – a popular free camping spot, then on to Mount Carbine Caravan Park for two nights.

Mount Carbine

16 – 18 June 2016

We had driven through Mount Carbine on our last trip up north and had read that the caravan park was a good spot to stay before heading up to the Cape so we decided to give it a try. It’s situated on the site of the old mining township, in a bush setting. The manager was one of the friendliest people we have met, and was happy to give information about local attractions and possible birdwatching spots.

A Great Bowerbird in its bower.

Tawny Frogmouth found easily in the caravan park.

On Friday morning we drove back along the highway to Maryfarms and along West and East Mary Roads – both good spots to see Bustards. Mick managed to get a few shots although the birds were mostly in the long grass. We also drove out to the dam near the pub but couldn’t get close, due to the long grass and “keep out” signs.

A pair of Bustards.

Being Friday night we ventured down to the pub for a cold beer – an early birthday celebration for Mick. We were the only ones there, apart from the publican, another friendly chap. We only stayed for one beer as we had to drive home.

We were the only punters in the pub giving little indication of the crowds we would encounter further north.

Coen

18 – 19 June 2016

We had hoped to go back to stay on Artemis Station, but couldn’t get in touch with the owner so had to change our plans. We decided to add an extra day to our camping in Kutini-Payamu (Iron Range) National Park. Once you get past Mareeba, mobile signal is patchy at best, but we remembered that there was a good spot in Laura – opposite the pub – so we called to change our booking. I had tried to do it online but the new booking system was “down” again! We had lunch in the park and set off for the mostly unsealed road north. There are some patches of bitumen but they get fewer and further in between as you travel north.

We stopped at Musgrave Station (Roadhouse) and refuelled. We had a look at the campground, which looked OK, but they had no powered sites so we decided to press on to Coen. We arrived there after 4:00pm and checked in at the pub. Luckily they had powered sites available, even though the campground was quite full. We found a spot and set up camp, before heading up to the pub for a birthday dinner. The menu was very limited, but the pizza was surprisingly good, and the beer was cold. Doesn’t get much better than that!

There was rain again overnight, but quite light and not enough to really wet the canvas.  In the morning we packed up and bought some grossly overpriced supplies at the servo (the supermarket doesn't open on Sunday) and heading north once more.