Heading Home via Cowley Beach

Sadly our three nights at Goshen Station had come to an end and as we all started packing up our camps, slowly I might add, we were already planning our return trip to this magnificent area.  Half of our crew were heading home via Mt. Garnet  but Joan and ourselves were heading east down the Kirrama Range Road to Kennedy.  Joan was staying with family at Tully and we had pre-booked a night at Cowley Beach Caravan Park.
The Kirrama Range Road slowly changes from the giant Eucalypt forest to Rainforest.  It is a very picturesque drive but sadly it was drizzly and overcast for most of our journey.  We stopped a couple of times, once to photograph this fellow

and the next to photograph the mileage sign for future reference.

The next stop was at Tuckers lookout.  It was a shame that it was so cloudy as the view is spectacular.

We finally arrived at Cowley Beach at 4.00pm and quickly set up the camper.  The Cowley Beach Caravan Park is right on the beach.  We literally stepped out of our camper and on to the beach.  There are not too many caravan parks like that anymore!  I wanted to photograph the sunset and sunrise but the weather was atrocious......windy and rainy....but we made ourselves sundowners and took our chairs down to the beach and watched the sun go down.

From WikiCamps we had heard that the fish and chips from the restaurant across the road from the caravan park were excellent, and they were right.  It was the freshest battered fish I have ever eaten and for $20 we received four pieces of fish and too many chips for us to eat!  We have vowed we will return to Cowley Beach and next time try the fish and chips from the park kiosk that was closed the night we were there.  Apparently they are also very good.

I wanted to photograph the sunrise so the next morning we woke at 5.30am and walked quite a few kilometres along Cowley Beach, stopping now and then to take photos.  It was still windy and wet and the sun never really appeared.

We cooked up a hearty breakfast after our walk and waited out the passing shower of rain before packing up the camper once again.  This only takes five minutes when the camper is on the back of the vehicle as it's just a matter of locking down the roof and turning the gas off!

We looked at our Hema Explorer app on the iPad and worked out that we could visit quite a few beaches without having to go back onto the highway. The roads were only lanes in some cases but it was a lovely drive even if the weather was ordinary.  The first port of call was to Mourilyan Harbour where  a good percentage of North Queensland sugar is exported.  

Next place to visit was Etty Bay where some of our camping friends had stayed before they arrived at Goshen.  They loved it but we weren't quite as impressed.  I guess it was because of the miserable weather.  Perhaps we will re-visit on a nice sunny day.

We had to head back to the Bruce Highway for a couple of kilometres before making our way into Innisfail.  We had alway used the bypass road through Innisfail so never really saw just how lovely this city is and well worth a return trip one day.  The town was almost destroyed by Cyclone Larry in 2006 but you would never know it.  The town planning committee certainly did a remarkable job at rebuilding. 

We passed through Innisfail and headed out to Flying Fish Point.  From here we tracked through cane farms and cattle properties, all interesting, until we came to Bramston Beach.  We were impressed with this beach and most particularly the Council Camping ground that is also right on the beach.  There is a nice hotel/motel across the road where it looks like you could get a very decent meal.

Brampton Beach - kilometres of pristine beach.

It was time to keep moving and we headed back along the Bramston Beach Road, arriving back on the Bruce Highway at Mirriwinni.  The traffic was quite light as we once again headed north back through Cairns.  We made our final stop at Ellis Beach for lunch.  This is quite close to home but we were very hungry and it is a lovely place to stop for a meal break.

Over lunch we reflected on what we had seen and done over the past five days.  We had seen things that truly amazed us and talked to some very interesting people. We had driven many roads less travelled and vowed to visit a lot of the places again, most particularly the Herbert River region.