Eungella and Finch Hatton

2019-03-13

This post is part of the series Cairns Roadtrip.

We wanted to go snorkelling at Port Douglas, so decided to make a road trip of it so we could visit family in Rockhampton on the way up. Our first stop was to visit Eungella National Park.

I visited here as a kid, but didn't remember much other than seeing a platypus at dusk and dad getting a leech.

Broken River was a nice walk, and there was a cafe at the top but not much to see in the middle of the day.

The Sky Window Lookout was pretty cool looking out at the Pioneer Valley and the windy road we drove up. It was pretty crazy to see how far the bushfires got up, basically one side of the track was burnt and the other wasn't.

Next up we went to Finch Hatton Gorge. It had rained the day before, so there was a bit of water over the road on the way in (which always makes Rachael nervous) but we had no problems crossing.

We didn't originally plan on swimming so didn't wear togs, but once we started hiking it was super hot and humid and we kept passing swimmers leaving so the waterholes sounded pretty tempting. When we got to Callistemon Crossing it was flowing pretty heavily, so Rachael decided to wait - but I waded through and kept going up to Wheel of Fire.

We were talking to Grandma before we went and she said that years ago Grandad made her climb up all the steps - but when they got there it wasn't even flowing. There was definitely a lot of steps, so probably good Rachael didn't come and get to say the same thing about me.

The walk was excellent, and the Wheel of Fire was definitely flowing when I got there. I would have loved to have gone in for a swim but didn't want to leave Rachael waiting too long.

I had to take my shoes off to wade through the crossing, so when I got back Rachael asked me what was on my foot. I thought it was just a leaf but after trying to flick it off it was definitely a leech. I wasn't able to easily flick it off so just left it for a bit and we kept walking. Wasn't particularly bothering me but Rachael didn't want to swim after that. After it had got a bit fatter it was easier to flick off.

We stopped at the Araluen Cascades on the way back, and the water was super refreshing (although we didn't jump in).

Was super impressed with Finch Hatton, would definitely go back (if there has been rain).