After a fun filled week with the Eglin family, it was finally time for us to start moving south again and keep the wheels moving on our epic adventure. After saying our goodbyes at the very beautiful Palm Cove, we decided to skip Cairns and head a little further south towards the little township of Babinda. Such an awesome call. Only an hour or so south of Cairns but a world away from the tourism hub. We found a fantastic private camp just south of Babinda with a river, swimming holes and (apparently) platypus! We set up camp (number 101) and it didn’t take the kids long to find the water bike and rope swing.

We spent two nights in Babinda and explored the local highlights – waterfalls, swimming holes and the best bakery we have found on our travels. Set very much still amongst the rainforest, Babinda has lots of fun areas to explore and thankfully the rain clouds stayed away during the day time for us.

Having failed to spot a cassowary when we were in Cape Tribulation, I was hopeful that we would spot one someone on the ‘Cassowary Coast’ between Cairns and Townsville. We were driving back to Babinda from a beach and suddenly noticed the car infront of us had stopped and there on the side of the road were two HUGE cassowaries! So amazing to actually see them randomly in the wild and not a wildlife park. Awesome spot!

After leaving Babinda, we set our sights on Wallaman falls – Australia’s tallest single drop waterfall. From the top, the view was amazing….

From the bottom, it was even better!! The volume of water coming over the top every second must be phenomenal.

We broke up the drive down to Townsville with a short one night stay at Forrest’s Beach and hit the road early the next day to make it down to Townsville for lunch. We have usually tried to avoid the bigger ‘towns and cities’ but Townsville had a nice vibe to it and we enjoyed four nights.

Managing to get some logistics sorted whilst we were in ‘town’, Andy had organised a service for the van. We decided to take a drive up to Crystal Creek and Paradise Pools whilst the van was being serviced then Andy received a call from the van company saying we needed the suspension replacing on the van. This was his reaction…

Shock of the suspension issue over and we had a super fun day exploring the creeks and checking out the produce at a local fruit stall.

The wind was certainly up for our time in Townsville, with the opportunity for kiting every day. Fin had his first lesson and spent some time body dragging in the water before trying to get up riding on the board. Super proud of him for conquering some fears and getting out there.

The Cassowary Coast has reminded me there are so many hidden gems on the east coast and I am excited to keep moving down the coast and see what else we can find. Next stop, the Whitsundays.