Wallaman Falls

On the road again...

Today was Townsville to Cardwell, via Wallaman Falls - at 268m, it's the highest single drop waterfall in Australia if not the Southern Hemisphere (?).

It was also where we found a German couple who had driven for miles into hills and after admiring the waterfall realised they didn't have enough fuel to get back to civilisation!

Unfortunately we didn't have a fuel can to help them out, and after work their way around the car park and other fellow campervaners found someone who could help. Having found someone willing to give them $20 of petrol, the German couple then went round from van to van asking for change! Turns out they only had a $50 note.

Personally - if you're enough of a muppet to drive into the mountains of one of the most inhospitable countries on the planet without enough petrol to get home, and you're lucky enough to find someone with a spare can of petrol who is willing to help - you count your self lucky and give them what ever money you have!!!

Wallaman Falls is spectacular - and there is a 3km path down to the base of the falls and the 20m deep plunge pool, but today was another incredibly hot day, and we couldn't face the walk back up the side of the valley!

Back on the road we headed for a little town called Cardwell - and a free campsite in our book which sat right on the beach. There is a moderate risk of crocodiles, but the view is second to none.

When we got there however, we found that Cardwell was so little and so sleepy that they were still picking up the pieces from Cyclone Yasi in 2011, and our perfect free campsite was in actual fact a tarmaced car park for the local diggers and bulldozers!

That night we wondered into the town as it was, and went to the one bar we could find - the Marine Hotel. It didn't have air conditioning and had all the ambiance of a local rugby club. Still - the beer was cold and the locals were... ... well they were so drunk I have no idea how they were standing!

One kept telling me how hot Sophie was every time he thought she wasn't looking, and we met an English ex-pat mother and son. Son was the ex-mayor of a mining town in the northern territories. Mother was a massive and very vocal racist, who got into an argument with Sophie about vetting!

Thank you Cardwell - you were....... memorable!