Innot Hot Springs – Lake Koombooloomba

Got an early start mainly due to the cold! It was our first cool night since leaving Gascoyne coast in WA. We slept on a bank on the side of the road, and woke up in the morning to find a ute parked behind us. They had 4 or 5 dogs running around having a early morning walk before going off pig shooting. We worked it out as all the dogs were eventually wearing a strange padded jacket. It was strange because it was short and seemed to only protect their neck and chest below. Steve asked someone along the way and our suspicions were confirmed. We have seen a fair few pigs dead on the side of the road since entering QLD and for that matter I think the more remote parts of NT too. We did actually see our first live one only a few days ago fossicking on the side of the road. It ran off when we passed.

Innot Hot Springs sort of reminded me of the Katoomba area around the Blue Mountains. A sort of place stuck in a time warp from the 60s. The signs were so old they were mostly unreadable, and the buildings and accommodation were still painted their sad and tired old 60s colours. You could pay to take in the springs in pools in the caravan park, but the backpackers told us you only had to walk down to the rivers edge and it was hot just 100m from where we’d parked. We strolled down, and of course Midget jumped straight in. She chose the hottest part to jump into and squealed and jumped straight out. It was a funny sight! She was strolling up and down in the stream looking for the few fish that were living in the cooler part of the water. You could see the steam coming off it and it was even hot in the sands at the water’s edge in the hotter parts. Steve stepped into a few that were too hot to handle and he danced his way further down away from what appeared to be the main spring.

We then headed out further down the road towards Ravenshoe and saw a sign to Millstream Falls National Park. We drove in and had the carpark to ourselves, so we wandered down the magnificent sealed path 340m to the falls lookout. We were well and truly into the forest now. The scenery was breathtaking. The views were amazing!

We then headed further up the road to Ravenshoe. What a cute little town. Full of great old timber houses, two timber two storey pubs dating from 1900 – 1920s and the traditional wide main street manicured with annuals and obviously well cared for.

We checked out the real estate in the windows of the shops. The places were very well priced. There were many average looking houses around the town on 3-5 acres for around $300-$350k. We saw 115 acres that backed onto the river we’d just visited for $500k with sheds, solar power and batteries and more. The weird part is that its in the tropics but its 900m above sea level. So it gets down to -7 in winter and we did hear in the low 40s in summer. But as its mostly all part of a world heritage area, its well protected from over farming and over development. I’ve never seen so many tress as we have since driving in from Undara (turning onto the Kennedy Highway). Its truly a magical place. A lady we met in the street said they’d moved up from Surfers Paradise to retire here. They had 5 acres about 14kms north of Ravenshoe. She said they were only 120kms from Cairns where her husband was now commuting to work almost every day. She said everything is really quite close, which it is appearing to be now we’re closer to the coast.

Steve then suggested we head on out to Tully Falls. Its only 24kms on sealed roads from town. We were then going back into town as they had a campsite right in the centre of town located at the railway for a small donation. Since the town was so nice we thought that this was a great town to support. So we headed off to the falls. We had a fit of athleticism and Steve went for an hours run, and I got out the skipping rope and did some abs for a while (yesterday). Steve could hardly walk today, and was finding the walk difficult and couldn’t do the 2kms to the lake, so I finished on my own. The falls were gorgeous. Well most of the falls weren’t working as they dammed up further to create a hydroelectric scheme. Apparently it generates enough electricity for the northern end of QLD so is quite efficient.

We then headed further down the river to Lake Koombooloomba, where the hydro dam is located. Unbeknownst to us, we stumbled into a great campground. There were people with dogs around – even more strange for QLD the dog unfriendly state. We had to stop and ask, and were told that it was State Forrest not National Park, and therefore camping and dogs are permitted. We were instructed that a great place to camp and park was just over the ridge down a little lane way. We had to snap a branch off a tree to get in, but boy was it worth it! We had the lake’s entrance to ourselves! What a view to wake up to in the morning! We pulled the kayaks down immediately and went to meet the neighbours.

Interesting visitors. Just a few people know about the wonder of this place. They have travelled from Cooktown, Brisbane and as far south as the lakes in NSW.

We returned to the van to watch the mist come over the hilltop and over the trees to land on the lake for the evening. We relaxed in the peace and quiet of our marvellous spot for the night!