Ingham

Ingham is the main town in the region and is home to Victoria Mill the largest Sugar Mill in Queensland. Ingham is also the main service town for the satellite communities of Lucinda, Halifax, Taylors Beach and Allingham. Ingham has a population of about 11500 people and therefore has most of the services that the people living here require. Of course it is not too far to drive to the City of Townsville and all that it offers.

Ingham is a fairly basic country town but it does have a very large park splitting the north and southbound lanes of The Bruce Highway, that, of course, is routed through the centre of town.

Another view of the central park.

This, apparently, is the very Pub that Slim Dusty sang of in his well known hit song "The Pub With No Beer".

Adjacent to the Library, Art Gallery and the Tourist Information Office is the well presented Wetlands Park, known as The Tyto Wetlands Park Precinct.

Another view of the Tyto Wetlands Park including the elevated walkway that links The Tourist Information Office to The Library and Art Gallery Area.

As this is a major Sugar Processing Area it stands to reason that historical relics of the Sugar Industry would be included in this Precinct. This is an elevated view.

The same elements of the display from a different perspective.

This is a Sand Sculpture of The Tyto Capensis (The Eastern Grass Owl) that gives it's name to the Wetlands Area that it habitates.

Wallaman Falls, Girringun National Park

We waited on the weather forecast each day before venturing out to Girringun NP and the Wallaman Falls. Each day we could see low clouds shrouding the ranges to the west of Ingham. Finally, the weatherman said that Saturday was the day to venture out, so off we went. It takes about an hour to drive out to Wallaman Falls from Forrest Beach through Ingham and the small town of Trebourne and when we arrived the falls were invisible behind a wall of mist. The weatherman was in error again. We could hear the water falling but could not see anything but mist. People were arriving and not being able to view the falls, were returning to their vehicles after about 5 minutes and leaving the park. That is not our 'style' so we took the hard option and walked the 2 km down a steep trail to the base of the falls. We felt that we were sure to get a glimpse down there. The walk down was relatively easy but we knew that coming back up was going to be hell of a lot different. The trail was very wet and the stone steps were quite slippery. We had to be very cautious where we placed our feet. Didn't want to walk back up with a sprained ankle or something like that. All the other people taking the walk down to the falls base were under age 30, that either made us stupid or still young at heart. We made it down without mishap and really enjoyed the view. The walk back up was challenging but obviously we made it back to the top. It was about 2 hours round trip to the falls base and back up. By the time we surfaced, the top of the falls was clear and we could view them from above as well. All in all, a brilliant day and well worth the drive out.

This is the view that greeted us on our arrival at Wallaman Falls. The gorge was completely full of mist.

This is the story of what we should have been witnessing. These falls are claimed to be the longest single drop in the Southern Hemisphere.

On our way down the trail we found other sights to stop and wonder at. The water droplets on this grass was one of them.

To prove that we actually made it to the falls base.

Judy too.

There was a slight breeze coming up the gorge from the right and driving the mist up the rock wall to the left, this water then ran back into the base pool.

It's not my imagination going wild but while we were at the falls base a brief ray of sunshine made itself evident and provided a faint rainbow in the mist at water level. Surely you can see it too!

On the way back up the trail I contented myself with taking some photographs of various fungi growing in the damp conditions. At least I was having a much required breather at the same time.

Another variety here.

Yet another.

Still another, this was only the varieties we noticed.

A team of ants was busily engaged in transporting this unfortunate butterfly back to their nest. The ants were working well as a team too.

Not sure wether this is a 'yeti' in the forest but it was following me up the trail. I think it became wetter inside the Poncho than outside by the time we reached the top of the trail.

A large proportion of the rock along the trail was impregnated with green stone as this photograph displays.

The view of the falls that eluded us on our arrival. What a magnificent sight. Well worth the visit. We were actually on those rocks in the bottom right of this photograph.

Forrest Beach Caravan Park.

Must be time to report on our whereabouts as we are leaving our present beautiful camp location at Forrest Beach Caravan Park tomorrow morning. The Forrest Beach Hotel/Motel/Caravan Park complex is actually located in the small town of Allingham, which is 18km, through magnificent Sugar Cane Fields, from Ingham. We booked into Forrest Beach CP for a week, as without power, we only paid $100 for the week. While we have been here we have toured the local area extensively and separate reports will appear over the next couple of days. We were able to purchase replacement bicycle tubes at Halifax another small town out of Ingham. The bikes are now repaired and we have been cycling all over Allingham.

Our camp site for the week. A quiet corner that was out of most of the SE breeze. We have just cleaned up all the gear ready for the exodus tomorrow.

The locals boast of a 12km beach, well this is half of it, looking south, the other half extends just as far looking north.

Looking out towards Orepheus Island from our beach. The tide has turned and is on it's way in. The fisherman are catching Barramundi off the beach. Need to watch out for the 18 foot croc that is lurking out there though.

This is the view of the Forrest Beach Hotel/Motel with the Caravan Park visible way down the back. The beach is just to the left of picture.