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.

Mareeba

14 – 30 September 2024

Finally leaving the comfort of the cabin in Atherton we hitched up and drove to Mareeba. The trailer really needed a clean so we called in to the carwash before checking in to the caravan park. While cleaning underneath Mick discovered that we had a broken shock absorber. I must have done it on the trip back down the Cape from Lockhart River but I hadn’t noticed any change in handling. We went straight from the carwash to ARB, who set about determining what was needed. It was late on Saturday morning so we left it to them to try and source the part needed and checked in to the caravan park.

Although I was a little concerned about how we would go setting up with Mick physically limited, we managed just fine and didn’t need any help from friends. The caravan park wasn’t the sort we would normally have chosen but it was well maintained and had a very friendly atmosphere. We weren’t the only ones there waiting for post-Cape trip repairs.

We ended up having to spend longer than planned as the part we needed had to come from Cub in Sydney and there were some delays. Again we made the most of the time in Mareeba including returning to Cairns to talk to builders – again – and visiting local attractions. A walk to Emerald Creek Falls, followed by ice cream at the Emerald Creek Ice Creamery was a highlight, both places we had never visited before, but definitely on the return visit list. We also visited Davies Creek Falls in Dinden National Park.

There is a nice walk at Emerald Creek Falls

We had been experiencing ongoing issues with the 12v system in the camper trailer so we found an auto electrician who would come to us. Fran was fantastic and identified a number of issues. She presented a couple of options and fixed the main problem at a very reasonable price. We may need to replace one of the battery chargers down the track, but on Fran’s suggestion we will see how it goes with the new fuses and a new solar panel, and then decide.

After one final visit to builders we were able to make our choice and were ready to sign initial agreements. The trailer part arrived late on a Friday afternoon and was booked in for Monday morning. We decided that we would head off from Mareeba as soon as the trailer was ready, and where we would go would be determined by what time we could pick it up.

We packed up and dropped the trailer off fairly early and went for a wander around town before settling in to the library to get some admin work done. We returned to town for lunch and had just finished when ARB called to say that the trailer was ready to pick up. We wanted to go to Etty Bay but the only site available was not suitable so we decided to go back to Atherton for one night, then on to Etty Bay after that.

 

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.