Exploring Tropical North Queensland: Waterfall Hopping and Chocolate tasting

From Townsville we stayed at Vincent ‘Bushy’ Parker Park RV site (free with facilities!) to get ready for a long day of waterfall hopping. 

In the morning, we packed up and headed to Little Crystal creek. It is about a 15 min drive from the main road but all on narrow sealed roads. Once we found the car park, we walked over to the bridge ( built in the 1930s depression) and down the steps to the water. We swam in both the upper and lower waterfalls-with the lower probably being my favourite. 

Unfortunately you do have to go back down the same road and then out again to get to the Big crystal creek, but I’d say it's worth it! This was probably my favourite natural slide, as you can start from the top and go down different pools till the bottom water and also a dual slide! To get here we thought we were going the wrong way.. But if you just keep following the path up the hill, you'll eventually come to the signpost and a turn. There's also Paradise Waterhole nearby, which is a peaceful spot next to the campsite, perfect for a swim.

On our way out we stopped off at a fruit stand and bought a star fruit and a pineapple (take cash as its an honesty box), there was so much more here as well! But we didn't have enough cash. 

We then made a stop at Jourama Falls and hiked up toward the waterfall. Adam jumped in for a swim, and we both took the uphill walk to the lookout. If you ever visit, I highly recommend going all the way to the end; it's totally worth it!

We then drove to Ingham, had dinner and spent the night there. 

The next morning, we woke up early and hit the road to Wallaman Falls, the tallest constantly flowing waterfall in Australia. On the drive, it gets pretty windy and And keep an eye out for wildlife—we spotted some wild pigs. The waterfall is amazing and the sound it makes is incredible! There is a path here that leads to the bottom but we decided to get on with our day. 

On the road back down (the same road, we came up) we stopped off for breakfast with a view and headed to Charley's Chocolate Factory. Unfortunately we were a bit late to join the tour but we did have a chocolate tasting paddle each. Also, seeing the cocoa beans growing on the property was pretty cool! The chocolate was really nice and we ended up buying a few bars (although, we actually found them being sold for cheaper at other places in the area?). 

Our next stop was Parallel park which I'll talk about in another blog!