Mission Beach to Townsville

Day 22 - Mission Beach to Townsville

Saturday, 13 August 2011

Off to Townsville today but before we headed south we were going to visit Millaa Millaa falls which is about an hours drive north west, up onto The Tablelands. Just before we set off Jess spotted our first Kookaburra sitting in a low branch in a tree just outside out motel. We got really close before it flew away.

The next piece of excitement was when we met Keith (Preston). He was a nice man who stopped us for a chat. Unfortunately he was wearing a uniform and had a car with flashing blue lights in it's radiator grill. 112 km/hr in a 100 km/hr limit. I tried every trick in the book from the ignorant tourist to my wife's having a baby, but he seemed very keen to give me a ticket. He did do it with a smile though, and asked me all about our trip so far. That was when I tried my next plan - bore him to death, but it didn't work. I even promised to put him in my blog but he astutely pointed out that he would probably feature anyway. We eventually agreed it was a fair cop and I will have to pay the fine. Boo hoo.

After that we got on our way at a steady 99 km/hr and made our way past banana and tea plantations and sugar-cane fields up to the top of The Tablelands to Millaa Millaa falls, having stopped at Innisfail to get some breakfast from a bakery on the way.

Milla Millaa falls is a beautiful high waterfall with a pool at the bottom that it is safe to swim in.This is when the next bit of excitement occurred, which you're not going to believe! I was getting ready to swim in the pool and we noticed a small piece of wood floating near the bottom of the waterfall. Then the piece of wood disappeared and reappeared at the other side of the waterfall. On closer inspection.....guess what....it was a DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS. How cool is that? There is no doubt that is what it was and we were amazed. We had read that it might be possible to spot one here but we didn't think it was very likely.

Anna, Lizzi and I got changed and went in for a swim (chilly), and I swam out to the bottom of the waterfall. The duck-billed platypus was swimming at the surface about 2 metres away from me and didn't seem bothered at all. Anna had warned me that they have a poisonous spike and so I tried not to bother it too much and swam around in the pool beneath the waterfall. I imagine it must eat stuff brought to the pool by the river above. There were some yellow catfish in the pool too. When We got too cold We got out and dried off and headed onwards to Townsville, stopping at Milla Milla tea rooms for some drinks on the way.

we cruised to Townsville listening to my Rolf Harris CD until there was an in-car rebellion and we switched Rolf off (I have him loaded up for tomorrow, but don't tell the girls).

When we got to Townsville, I couldn't believe how much it had changed, and grown. I worked at the hospital here as a medical student in 1987 and I took the family to have a look at where I worked, only to find that the hospital has been demolished and apartments built in it's place. A new hospital has been built just out of town.

We had a bit of difficulty getting a room and we are staying in a budget motel which is pretty basic and we are not planning to stay more than one night. We had thought of staying in Townsville tomorrow but I think we will shoot through Blue, when the sun arise early in de mornin' and go to Airlie Beach and stay an extra night there, sport. Two little boys.....

	Kookaburra [Map]		Millaa Millaa Falls [Map]
	Duck-billed Platypus [Map]		A bit chilly! [Map]
	Swimming in the pool [Map]		Millaa Millaa Falls [Map]

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