Babinda - The Boulders

We broke our own world record this morning by being packed up and ready to leave by 7.30am!  All three boys were a fantastic help (inspired by the promise of two free lollies if we could be ready to roll by 8am.)  Jack and Jarrah worked really well together moving large items like the Waeco, the portaloo and the chairs and tables, while Fletch worked on smaller things like moving the apples and mandarins.

 

We were sad to say goodbye to our beautiful beach, campsite and our now great friends Lyndyl and Daniel.  We were more than happy, though, to put some distance between us and the caretaker’s pet funnel web spider!  We were also pretty pleased that we had managed to nurse Fletch through a few nights of croup without an emergency dash to the hospital.  That would have been a challenge when the car ferry doesn’t run after midnight!

There was no wait for the ferry at 8am, so it was smooth sailing back through Mossman and then Cairns where we stopped for a few supplies, and some more gas (not running out again!)  Then it was off to Babinda.
We were lucky to get the 8^th and last spot at a lovely Babinda free camp.  Unfortunately, though, it started raining just before we arrived about 11am.  The boys decided to brave the rain and ride their bikes around the campground.  After 15 minutes in the pouring rain it was time for a change of clothes. 

 
I’m afraid Fletch is going to need a little more training in dressing himself.  Yes, they are Jack’s jocks!

Being optimists, we still thought it might just blow over so we donned our wet weather gear, boots and hats and went to see the nearby popular swimming and picnic area known as The Boulders.

 

The Boulders is in the tropical jungle in the foothills of Bartle Frere (Chooreechillum), Queensland’s highest mountain – 1622 metres.  The Boulders are a series of huge spheroidal outcrops of granite strewn along the Babinda creek amongst volumes of sparkling, cascading cool, clear mountain water.

 

The area has an exceedingly high average rainfall of 4616mm and has recorded falls of 600mm in a 24 hour period.  Thus the surge of water in the creek as it thunders through the Boulders adds to the wild beauty of the region.  Even as we stood at the lookout this afternoon in the bucketing rain it was quite spectacular, so I imagine it would be quite a sight to see in the wet.

 

So, by 3.30pm it was back to the caravan for a(nother) change of clothes.  This time it was straight into pjs for an afternoon of tea, fruit toast and A Fortunate Life on DVD.

After a feed of burritos for dinner out came the playing cards.  A few games of Uno first up then we finished the night off with Donkey.  It got really interesting when we swapped the coins for marshmallows, but we had to put a halt on the game before (1) someone spat their chewy because they didn’t get a marshmallow or (2) all the small people got overdosed on sugar.

 All in bed by 9pm and it is still raining!!!!! 

Note:  free lollies are those lollies that are not preceded by a general knowledge question.