We started our 5-week Australian adventa (immediately fell in love with their accent, though it can be challenging to understand them 🙂 ) in the Tropical North Queensland. The area is most famous for the Great Barrier reef (the northern part), rainforest and the many crocodiles living in the area. The Tropical North Queensland should simply not be overlooked due to its beautiful remote beaches and waterfalls, as well as other scenic places such as the Daintree Rainforest, Cape Tribulation and Mission Beach. Here’s our itinerary for a few days and the Tropical North Queensland highlights that should not be missed.

When to visit?

The climate here is indeed tropical with distinctive dry and wet seasons. It’s actually quite similar to what we had before in Bali though maybe slightly cooler and less humid. This makes it a great place to visit in the winter months (May – September), where also many Aussies from the south make the trip. Another reason why winter is probably the best time to visit is that there are deadly jellyfish during the summer months so you need to wear a wetsuit at all times.

How to get around?

It’s quite easy to get around, since all the main sights in the area are all very easily accessible by car. Even with our motorhome it was never a problem to find a parking spot. If you want to get off track though to access some more beautiful waterfalls, a 4WD is a must.

You need to take a tour for the Great Barrier reef, though I strongly suggest to visit the reef from the mid- or the southern side. The northern part of the Great Barrier reef is sadly dying and many corals are bleached due to global warming.

For other places you don’t really need a tour, though go on one in Daintree if you can. We did a full day tour with Daintree Discovery Tours and we got a fabulous introduction and overview of the area that we explored further on our own in the next few days.

Itinerary

We came to the area solely due to nature and just briefly passed the larger towns of Cairns, Port Douglas and Townsville.

Day 1: Intro to North Queensland and Tour with Daintree Discovery Tours

Mossman Gorge, Daintree Rainforest, Daintree River & Crocodiles, Cape Tribulation, 4 WD Jeep drive to Cassowary Falls

Day 2: Hike & scenic drive

Hike in Mossman Gorge, scenic drive by the beach, Babinda Boulders and Nucifora tea plantations

Day 3: Chasing waterfalls

Millaa Millaa, Elinja, Wallicher & Zillie waterfalls

Day 4: Coastal drive and stay at Mission beach

You can extend the trip by spending more time in the Daintree area and take it more slow. If you only have 3 days for the area skip one of the waterfalls.

Our Tropical North Queensland Highlights

Daintree Rainforest & Mossman Gorge

To be honest I did not know Daintree prior planning our trip in Australia. It’s actually one of the wealthiest in terms of number of bio diversity on Earth, despite its very limited size (about 1/1000 of Australia).

There are more different kinds of trees in one hectare than in the whole of North America and Europe combined! They do look quite similar though since many are covered in moss.

The tropical rainforest is also considered to be the oldest tropical rainforest in the world. It’s 110 million years old, while the Amazon rainforest for instance is “only” 55 million years old.

There are many places to visit in the area our favorite and most picturesque was Mossman Gorge. We went there both on the first day and as well on the second for the short hike.

Crocodiles

As animal lovers, we’re always looking to admire animals in their natural habitat. We went on a cruise on the Daintree river during our Daintree Discovery Tours trip and saw so many “beautiful creatuas” as the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin used to call them. After seeing them for the first time away from zoos in Sri Lanka, I couldn’t agree more.

Crocs are very common in North Queensland and there are tons of signs with warnings against crocodile attacks. However, there were just 5 fatalities due to crocs in the last 30 years. All of these happened at night when people went swimming in swamps or the ocean, so other than that you should be fine.

Sadly, there are many crocodile farms that breed them for those overrated Louis Vuitton bags… pay attention what kind of industries you support!

Cape Tribulation

Where 2 World Heritage sites meet: The Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest. Cape Tribulation is a beautiful long beach that is worth visiting. A spot you shouldn’t miss but think twice about bathing as the sea is inhabited by crocs.

Mission Beach 

Sleepy town towards the South with a fantastic long beach. Best part was at any time of the day there were no people around, but that is basically any Australian beach that isn’t Bondi. A luxury you can’t find in Europe. Let the photos do the talking…

Nucifora tea plantation

Wonderful spot to take some nice photos for your Instagram, as well as buying some quality tea for the colder days in the South!

Millaa Millaa waterfall

Having seen our fair share of waterfalls in the past few months like the most spectacular one in Laos, Millaa Millaa is a nice waterfall which can is really easily accessible. You can even take a photo from your campervan 🙂

Elinja waterfalls

Probably our favorite waterfall of the many we saw in the area. Spectacular even in dry season where the river flow is generally low. If you still feel like chasing waterfalls, don’t miss out also on Tchupala and Nandroya Falls. In order to reach them you’ll need to stop by the road close to the Falls on map and hike about 15 minutes to reach them. It’s a beautiful hike tho!

Babinda Boulders

Babinda Boulders do not only offer beautiful views and a refreshing dip but it holds a special story behind it. According to aboriginal legend the spirit of one woman who died in one of the boulders still haunts the area. She is calling young men to join her and according to the official stats of the 17 people that died in Babinda Boulders the vast majority were young men!