THURSDAY 6 AUGUST     FORREST BEACH

Time again to stir ourselves into some tourist activity in the area. It was just too easy to veg out at camp all day.

We drove back through Ingham and out to the west again. It was a most attractive and interesting drive, firstly through the sugar cane farmland of the Herbert Valley, to just beyond Trebonne, where we turned off, heading for Girringun National Park and the Wallaman Falls, some 50 kms from Ingham.

The road became gravel but was fine to drive on. It was quite a climb up the range, on a twisting and turning road, but the heavy vegetation meant I didn’t notice the roadside drops all that much. The gradient flattened out once we were up the range. It was nowhere near as nasty as the Paluma road had been, and I’d happily travel it again.

A sign at the entry to the Falls area, told us the drop of the Falls was 268 metres, the depth of the plunge pool at the base of the Falls was 20 metres and it was all 540 metres above sea level. Since our camp was at sea level, that was how far we’d climbed, in a relatively short distance.

Stony Creek, that the Falls are on, has a permanent flow. We wondered if there were springs further upstream; it extends some distance to the south, along the top of the range, from the Falls.

Wallaman Falls are notable because they are the highest, permanent, single drop falls in Australia.

We went  along the road to the Lookouts parking area.

Despite the season, there was still a lot of water coming over the Falls. They were making quite a loud roaring, too. They fall down into one hell of a gorge, and eventually, the creek runs into the Herbert River.

We walked first to the Falls Lookout. This was a great place from which to appreciate the size and power of the Falls. In a really Wet Season, they would be something else again.

The nearby Gorge Lookout let us view the Falls from a bit further away, and also the gorge of the Stony Creek, on its way to join the Herbert River.

We did not tackle the much harder walk down to the base of the Falls – it would have meant coming back up again…..

Drove back to the day use area, near a very pleasant little campground. From here, walked through rainforest, to the Rock Pool.

On the way, we spotted a Pale-yellow Robin, for the first time – a NEW bird! They were so hard for us to find, these days, This species was only found in a couple of rainforest areas on the east coast, so we were lucky.

The walk took us to big pool areas in Stony Creek. There were turtles in the pools – apparently this species of turtle could eat cane toads without coming to grief.

There were a few drops of rain. It had been cloudy all day.

Returned to Ingham, the way we’d come. Had a very late lunch there. This morning, I’d had no makings for a picnic lunch, and then didn’t think to stop and get something on the way through Ingham. At a Deli, we had toasted wraps – they were very yummy. I now wanted to buy a flat toaster press!

Did a couple of chores in Ingham, before returning to camp. Our new cards still had not arrived at the bank. Deja vu – we’d played chasey with bank cards before on our travels.

I got some more library books. Having these had been such a luxury. I didn’t have to ration my reading quite so much when I didn’t have to buy the books. Being an extra fast reader did have its drawbacks.

After the late lunch, tea was soup, some salad and cold meats.