FNQ 2026 Trip Summary

 The Winter trip for 2026 was to spend two weeks in the FNQ area.

A really nice time, seeing some familiar places, new places, catching up with old friends and even a quick day of diving on the reef.

The standouts for the trip were:

Lake Barrine tea house, a truely great place, with a nice drive to and from, certainly worth the visit.

The Babinda Boulders and the Josephine Falls, a very nice area, spend some time if traveling past.

The Strand in Townsville, a great place to relax for a few days and with Magnetic island just there, it has lots of opportunity to explore more. a definite return to place.

see the detail in the individual day's posts.

FNQ Homeward bound

Today we leave Townsville heading to Cairns ready for the flight home tomorrow. 

A rainy day with lots of roadworks and a closed section of the highway due to a car accident. Following Apple Maps in this countryside is perhaps not a smart move. 

Apple dutifully worked out a route around the closure and off we went. All good for the first 10klm then the turn down the dirt road in the middle of the sugar Cain fields became a bit of concern. 

But the cars and a semi trailer on the road gave us confidence. Then we hit the river crossing with a truck bogged on the bank, water flowing and an exit bank that you would think about in a 4wd let alone a fwd hire car with a big excess. 

So nope turnaround. Ok for the cars, the semi had a very long backup to turn. He did after a couple of klm's  manage to pull over and let us past.
So back into Ingam for lunch , lucky break, the lady at the bakery spotted the tourist look, and asked if we were stuck with the highway closed. Then offered the way to get around it. Completely different way but rather enjoyable detour. In the end around 7 hours to do 350klm. 

 Flight home day uneventful

 

FNQ - Townsville returning

So took the decision to head back along the coast rather than inland given forecast of rain.
So back to Townsville and yep, the same apartment for a two night stay and relax.
Walks in Townsville along the strand was an absolute delight, lots to see and take in. Also, a lot swimming and water activities which was an interesting thing given the croc warnings. but the locals do say really not an issue. and there isn't any real mangroves or other interesting places for them in this area.

Didnt get across to Magnetic isalnd as planned due to the day being rainy with very low cloud, so a book day.

Angela found a great Thai Curry Luka!

Charters Towers

A few days in Charters Towers, so Angela could catchup with an old friend and I could enjoy a couple of down days with a couple of books.

The town is a textbook country town with a variety of characters and mix of old and modern buildings. We stayed at a lovely place , Kernow apartments, which was the asylum originally. 

 A very enjoyable few days with various sightseeing, relaxing and catching up with Sandra and David.

Just be careful on the wide roads not to miss the giveway signs which may or may not be there!

FNQ Day 9 Townsville

A short drive to Townsville in the morning.
Found The Strand, which is the main beachfront. A nice place, a lot more relaxed than Cairns and with great views of magnetic island.
Booked into the Aquarius on the beach apartments good rate very good room.
A walk along the strand a trip up to the castle hill Lookout which provides great views in all directions . A very nice Thai for dinner and relaxing night. Definitely a must come back to spot

Townsville

FNQ Day 8 Mission Beach

Travel from Cairns toward Townsville,
a lot of road works slowed  progress , so finished the day at Ingham with stops at
Innisfail , a nice town for a walk and look, good feel for a qld country town..

The  chocolate factory on the road to Mission beach , different sort of place for chocolate making. The signs promoting  I think oversold it, but anyway a good stop.

 
Had lunch at Mission Beach, sort of nice place right on the beach but overpriced and very average food. Mission beach itself looks stunning but wiht lots of signs warning about stingers and crocodiles , made it difficult to see me swimming there!

Mission Beach . Dunk island in background

FNQ Day 7 Cairns gardens

Relaxing day walking through the Cairns botanical gardens and Centennial Lakes ,
Followed by lunch at muddy's on the beach front and a relaxing afternoon.

FNQ Day 6 Road Trip Yarrabah,Babinda Boulders , Josphine falls

Today was a road trip to explore parts we had bever been south of Cairns.

Babinda Day Trip Depart Cairns • 
Drive over Yarrabah Range • very nice drive with some great views and windy roads
                Stopped at lookouts (views over Cairns/Trinity Inlet) & into Yarrabah, which turns out to be an Aboriginal settlement, nice and quite large. We headed over to the Yarrabah Arts & Cultural Centre unfortunately they were closed •
Onto Gordonvale via Scenic cane fields  and the ranges for a stop for an early lunch & opp Shops•
From there a drive down to Babinda Boulders, a very nice Safe swimming area, on the return to list •
  Then down to Josephine Falls (10 min from Babinda) for a nice walk and views of the waterfalls • 

Return to Cairns •

view on the way looking back at Cairns

Day 5 Relaxing Sunday - Muddy's for lunch

A more relaxing Sunday lunch at Muddy's with a browse of shops on the storefront DFO etc.

Nice relaxing day with of course another swim in the pool

Cairns Day 4 diving day

A very calm day, with an offer of half price dives, made it too good to past up a day on the reef diving,

  Full vid on diving blog.

https://terrysdiving.blogspot.com/2026/05/great-barrier-reef.html

FNQ day 3 palm cove brunch onto port Douglas drive

A lazy drive day today , from Cairns upto Palm Beach for a very lovely Brunch and then onto Port Douglas for a wander and look around.

Road works meant the day was a lot longer than expected, for what was planned as bit of relaxing, so Mossman gorge was put on hold .

Day trip to Port Douglas

FNQ day 2 lake barrine teahouse , Coffee factory & Barron Falls

Day 2 – Lake Barrine Tea House Today’s highlight was a visit to the Lake Barrine Tea House, a truly stunning location surrounded by rainforest and mirror‑still water. After a relaxed lunch, we took the long way home via waterfalls and country towns, enjoying the scenery even as the road twisted and turned.

A stop at the coffee works was brilliant with a haul of chocolate and a liquor for the trip!

onto the Barron Falls, delightful but must look stunning in rainy season with a full flow.

Cairns day 1 arrival

Cairns – Day 1 Arrival :An early flight at 6.30 provided plenty of time on day 1 to settle in 
Arrived in Cairns and the shift in climate was instant — warm, lush, and unmistakably tropical.
Spent the first part of the day getting settled and preparing for the adventures ahead.

A quick lunch of subway, on the cairn's foreshore, 

followed by a drive up the coast to Yorkeys Knob Beach for a coffee, rather nice quite beach and area, worthy of thinking about next time we are in Cairns.

 Back to motel for a relaxing afternoon

Sydney the road trip summary

 

A summary of the road trip to Sydney. (see each day's post for more info)

A great road trip along the east coast from Melbourne to Sydney and back via the inland freeway.

A great week in Sydney, with daily adventures and explorations.

View from Apartment.

Day 8 Navy review and homeward bound

 

The final day of our adventure , starting with an early look at the navy 125 years celebrations on the harbour, due to the early time only the first wave of ships were in and with them actually dropping anchor toward the heads and not so far down the views were limited,. Still good to see but home was calling!

The journey home was the straight route via Goulburn, Albury etc and was an easy and enjoyable drive of 10 hours.

Morning walk and last look at the bridge

Where we used to watch navy boats, right next door is Kirribilli house , so the view point was excellent.

Day 7 Manly , Kayak on the Harbour

 So with the morning kayak cancelled but rebooked for the sunset one, it was off to manly beach..

and then we finally get to paddle in the evening on the harbor!

Morning coffee view 

Day 6 Bondi walking and swimming

 A nice lazy day, over to Bondi for the walk from Bondi to Coogee beach, lots of very nice views along the way and the walk is well setup albeit with a fair few stairs,  6.5 klm in 80 minutes.  But you could stop at the various coffee houses etc for a break.  Highly recommend, but would start in Coogee as the beach there is not as good as Bondi, so a quick drive back to Bondi for a great swim in the surf and then a late  lunch.

Interestingly the cafe on Bondi was reasonably priced and had a very very good chicken salad.

A very good day, you could catch the bus but parking wasn’t really that bad but it was mid week out of season.

Pics in reverse order for a change.

The mandatory brunch.

Nearly there! coming down into Coogee Beach

Day 5 Summer bay, palm beach. Day trip

 

A very early start today for the planned kayak on the harbour event.

However a text at 5.15am to postpone due to lightning and rain.  So back to bed !

A day drive to palm beach for the "Summer Bay" exploration.

Fun day and palm beach is an exceptional place, great beach, little commerce , crowds.

Saw the filming sites, and then a nice Nice lunch , followed by a drive back past skein sisters wool shop, before home, walk to see admiral and kirribilli house , the sydney residences of the governor general and prime minister.

Then for the heck of it a night walk on the bridge to round out the day.

Walk in Kirribilli, past the two famous houses, for the PM and Governor General.

The lookout next to Kirribilli house.

Day 4 bridge opera house walking

 First day was an early morning walk over the bridge around to the opera house coffee and return.

Then we caught the train to the QVB shops and a general look around the city with a late lunch at darling harbour followed by a ferry ride back to kirribilli.  Then a chill time given we had been on the go for a few days.

Morning walk to the Opera House.

Day 3 Sussex inlet to sydney

 A nice day leaving Sussex inlet , Mounties Sussex camp ground.  A very nice place.

Driving up along the coast and the tourist route had a lot of great views, the road was windy with lots of Forrest’s and bays. just outside Wollongong we took the pacific tourist drive , with some great views and bridges. Then onto to see Homebush and the sites of the olympics then onto the dfo outlets for some retail therapy. Then into Kirribilli to the apartment for dinner.

A very enjoyable day.

The Pacific Scenic drive just outside Wollongong.