“Once the travel bug bites, there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life.”
― Michael Palin
Tropical Queensland
I’m starting a new adventure and I’m doing it at the worst time. On this trip I’m touring tropical Queensland in the heat and humidity of summer. Technically, the tropics starts as you pass over “Tropic of Capricorn”. This imaginary line and geographical marker is 750 kilometres south of Townsville on the latitudinal line through Rockhampton. But for many people the images of flowing palm trees and azure tropical waters starts in Townsville.
It’s February and I have a break in work commitments, so I decide to continue my search for the best beach in Queensland. I will be touring tropical Queensland in the heat and humidity of the monsoon season. Or as it is known in Australia “The Wet”.
Having just finished my marathon motorcycle tour of Queensland in September 2021. It reminded me that Queensland is such an immense land mass, that it would take a lifetime to see every bit of it. So I concentrated on some outback tracks and some beaches. You can read about this trip at the following blog link: https://digitalswaggie.com.au/?p=3641.
Bike upgrades
Emu needed some tender loving care after completing the 7000+ kilometre journey. He also needed some modifications. Those modifications included a new Sargent’s Seat, KLR Dash, a change in tyres with Dunlop D605 on the back and D603 on the front and a touring windscreen. To keep myself cool, I found a mesh jacket with inbuilt body armour that would allow the breeze to cool me off as I rode.
Townsville
My journey again started in Townsville, the unofficial capital of North Queensland. With the intention of touring tropical Queensland to Cooktown. This was part of my illusive quest for the best beaches in Queensland. Along the way I rode through the oldest rain forest on the planet, tackled some super steep hills and had a red wine or two at the legendary “Lion Den’s Hotel”.
Townsville has a lot of spectacular scenery from its long golden sandy beaches to the weirs of the Ross River. There are an infinite number of sports on offer, from kayaking, kite sailing, SCUBA diving and mountain biking. I rode down beside the river to watch the sun rise and then onto the strand for some beach photos.
My intention in this blog post is to capture the beaches of Townsville and north to Ingham. In the next blog I will explore the beaches up to Mission Beach. and in the third post I will go from Mission Beach along the Captain Cook Highway to Ellis Beach. Then I will ride through the Daintree Rain Forest before crossing the Bloomfield Track and making my way to Cooktown.
The Strand
There are some amazing beaches and beach side facilities in Townsville. Most are centred around The Strand and Pallarenda. The Strand is a beach side strip that overlooks both the Port of Townsville and Magnetic Island. It is a five kilometre stretch of walking track and parkland with beach frontage and views of Magnetic Island. While on the other side of the road is an assortment of restaurants, hotels and accommodation. At the southern end is ANZAC Park and the Tobruk swimming pool, while at the other end is Rock Pool and the Zilline Barrack.
To get to The Strand I ride through the city, it’s early but already there is a throng (Gaggle, not sure what you call it) of traffic starting to build, cyclists (Men in lycra) dice with death as they ride three abreast down the road. It is already humid, I can feel the moisture pushing through my mesh jacket. I’m starting to sweat a little, so I turn up the tunes on my blue tooth to distract me. I’m bopping to the sound of Queen’s “Another bites the dust” as I weave in and out of traffic trying to ignore the growing heat.
“Where did they get this name from?”
I ride through Flinders Street and lean into the roundabout opposite the famous or infamous depending on your point of view “O’Flanagan’s Pub” then up over the small hill that leads directly to the ANZAC memorial (Lest we forget). This is a very important monument in this barracks town, it is elegantly set amongst manicured grass land and tall towering trees. The boat harbour is just behind the park providing a picturesque back drop.
The Strand is part of Townsville’s history since 1910. It was known then as The Strand Park until the name was officially changed to ANZAC Park in 1934. A number cyclones damaged the water front and washed away parts of the beach frontage. After Cyclone Sid in 1998 the whole foreshore was redeveloped to what we see today.
The beaches are coves between small rocky headlands. They spread out down the length of the strip. The water is deceptive, at times it reflects the crystal clear azure ocean. While at other times, when the wind is pumping and current running it is a grey wash with white caps.
The Rock Pool
The Townsville Rock Pool is a saltwater swimming enclosure. Some rock pools get flushed out with the tidal movements. The Strand Rock Pool has its water pumped and filtered to reduce the possibility of marine stingers being sucked into the enclosure.
Pallarenda
The beaches in Townsville continue past the Rock Pool and Zilline Barracks. This northern section is a long sweeping golden sand beach that starts at Rowes Bay and continues to the Pallarenda Point. Renowned for sailing, it is ideal for sail boarding and kite surfing.
Touring tropical Queensland and finding the best beach is becoming more difficult the further north I go. The beaches all start to resemble those tropical oasis seen on tourist brochures. It’s time to get on the road and start exploring further north.
Bushland Beach
As I ride north out of the city, it’s not long before I come across the sign to “Bushland Beach”. It is promoted as an up market beach side suburb of Townsville. About 20 minutes north of the city gates, you turn right from the highway. There’s a small shopping centre that greets you, before you ride through an urban landscape. It’s not long until you get to the older part of Bushland Beach with many semi rural blocks.
It’s only about one kilometre and just past another little shopping centre that you get to a small park and the Bushland Beach Hotel. The hotel is adjacent to the carpark at the end of the road and is a great place for lunch or dinner and to look out over the magnificent beach scape.
I stoped here for a morning coffee and enjoyed the quiet ambiance of the place on a weekday.
Time to move on
With coffee done, I put my helmet and gloves on, slide onto my bike and head north once more. From Bushland Beach I ride up the Bruce Highway. The heat is really starting to hit me now, the dry tropics lives up to its name. The first beach sign I come across, is Saunders Beach. Like many of the northern beaches of Townsville, Saunders Beach has evolved from fishing huts.
As the tranquility of the laid back beach side life style becomes more sought after, retirees and sea change devotees move further north and the houses become more substantial.
Saunders Beach
The community looks like it is in transition as it has a number of architecturally designed houses, sitting next door to beach huts. From the beach you can clearly see Castle Hill in the back ground, the beach stretches like a golden rainbow in a big arch.
Saunders Beach has a small free camping site at the northern end of the community. Unfortunately, like many of these beach side camping areas, they aren’t really for the motorcycle touring set. They they tend to be more carparks with hard surfaces than friendly camping sites.
The beautiful parkland that adjoins this camping area would be spectacular to camp on. Unfortunately, the council keeps the lights on all night and sets off the sprinklers at 5.0am. Still the beauty of riding an adventure bike is that you’re not constrained to the road and it is easy to ride onto the beach from here for a more appropriate camp setting.
After talking with a few tourists about their adventures, I hit the road once again. I’m aware of Bluewater and am looking forward to seeing if the beach lives up to its name.
Bluewater Beach
Bluewater is a beach community divided into two parts. The first exit off the Hume Highway will take you to a tidal boat ramp. But if you’re searching for the Bluewater Beach, you’re going to be disappointed. Unfortunately, there is no beach access to Bluewater Beach.
As you ride down the tar sealed road it branches with both roads turning to dirt. This left branch leads to a number of houses that face out to the water, this is Blue Water Beach. Each house has either a tall aluminium or a large colour bond fence. There are signs everywhere proclaiming security companies or that you’re being watched by cameras.
I can’t help feeling sorry for these people, it’s like some Central American drug cartel hangout or a throw back to New Zealand in the 1980’s when Maori gangs has barb wire fortification. There is no way around these houses so the average person can’t get to the beach. If you continue to the right you come across a refuge centre and then a small concrete boat ramp.
Toolakea Beach
Unless you are a keen fisherman, I’d give the first exit a miss and concentrate on the second one just up the road. This will take you to Toolakea Beach, which is a little more accessible. The beach is your typical tropical beach. At low tide there is a stony bottom and a thin strip of sand with swaying palm and coconut trees. The area has a number of substantial buildings all with water frontage. Here again I see those people who brought water front properties claiming the crown land in front of their houses and restricting public access.
It’s worth noting the second exit is directly opposite the Bluewater free camping and park area. You can read more about this in my blog post: 5 free camping spots near Townsville.
Toomulla Beach
There are houses and semi rural blocks of land with well established residences all along the road leading to the highway. It’s hot now and while I’m riding the wind and my own sweat act like an evaporative air conditioner, when I stop the humidity becomes oppressive. I turn right at the highway junction and twist the throttle to get up to cruising speed.
Again it’s not long before a sign appears on the right side of the road, this time it’s Toomulla Beach, and I make a quick right hand move towards the centre turning lane. I have discovered three parts to the Toomulla Beach area, if I go to the southern end you will find a small estuary system with a boat ramp. Like all these small estuaries, you can only really access them at high tide.
Toomulla Free camping
There is free camping here at Toomulla Beach, it’s not easy to recognise it from the park land. As you ride into the small park, there is a toilet block in front of you. If your camping you can set up anywhere outside the railings. Just be aware of the large gum trees all around and try to find a place away from any possible limbs that might fall. Certain gum trees will drop branches if they get too dry, these branches can weight upwards of three tonnes. Many a camper in Australia have made the fatal mistake of camping under such trees.
Toomulla Beach is a residential community that started as a small fishing hut community. However, over the years it has grown, as more and more people seek out the sea change lifestyle. There are an assortment of fishing huts mixed in with very modern and in some cases expensive architecturally designed houses.
Finding the beach
I ride back to see if I can find the beach frontage and come across a small park. There are some well established trees and it looks almost like a tiny rain forest. This is the centre of Toomulla and I park Emu under a tree and wonder down to the beach. The track meanders through scrub until I come across a small inlet or lagoon between the beach scrub and the beach.
It’s too muddy to get around onto the beach and I have some distance to go before settling down for the night. I decide to continue my exploration of Toomulla Beach. There is a small escarpment at the northern end, and it is here that the many houses have been built to take advantage of the sea views and breeze. You can access the northern side of Toomulla from here and look out over Rollingstone and Balgal Beaches.
Rollingstone
Rollingstone is slightly deceptive, as it encompasses a couple of beach area including Balgal Beach, Rollingstone Beach and the estuary of Crystal Creek. If you turn off at the Rollingstone exit just past the Rollingstone Hotel you will come across a small community with a police station and a petrol pump. Alternatively, you can turn off just before the Rollingstone Hotel to Balgal Beach.
At the Rollingstone turn off, follow the road south and you will come across the Vincent “Bushy” Parker Park free camping area. If you continue south on this small access road you will go under a bridge and across a causeway which joins up with the Balgal Beach access road.
The park was named after a war hero who flew in the Battle of Britain, it is a fascinating story you can read it at the following site: https://www.townsville.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/5628/Vincent-bushy-parker-park-factsheet.pdf
Vincent “Bushy” Parker Park is next to the Rollingstone Creek, this fresh water creek is ideal for cooling off during those hot summer camping trips.
Balgal Beach
Balgal Beach is another small beach side community that would have started as a place to go fishing for the weekend. It sits on the Rollingstone Creek at the mouth of the estuary. The community is spread out along the long sandy beach and slightly inland to the creek. It has a small cafe near the park and just above the substantial boat ramp. It is opposite a beautiful park area with play equipment to entertain kids. At the front of this park is a small first free camping area that leads onto the beach.
Looking for the best free camping
However, one of the best free camping sites close to the beach is a little further south of boat ramp, tucked away. This site is my pick of the free camping a long the road to Lucinda and Ingham.
I’ve camped here a few times, the last time in a swag on the beach with my son. We came up for a quick overnight adventure and camped next to our bikes on the beach.
The beauty of having adventure bikes is that you can ride in between the fence pailings and find more appropriate camping areas. Just so we are clear on this, I do not encourage breaking council bylaws in anyway and may or may not have done this.
Balgal Beach No 2 Camping Site
There is a second less known free camping site at Balgal Beach. If you ride south and turn towards the beach you will find it. This camp site has direct beach access and is more secluded than the one in town, while still having good amenities. I stayed here with my son when I was trialling my new Dauche Ranger II bike swag. We set up our swags overlooking the beach and made a fire on the beach to keep warm that night. In the morning, we observed a young bull shark hunting food in the shallows.
Rollingstone Beach
The ride out from Balgal Beach has nice sweeping corners and passes pineapple plantations, it’s not long before I’m back on the highway going past the Rollingstone Hotel once again and heading north. I’m looking anxiously for the small sign that signifies the Rollingstone Caravan Park. I ride down past the sign towards the beach when I come across a swing gate.
Camping at Rollingstone Beach
The Rollingstone Caravan Park is a member of the Tasman Group of parks, it has all the facilities for entertaining adults and for a relaxing beach side holiday. If you were staying for a couple of days of a week, this would be an ideal rest stop. However, at $45 for a non powered site, I’m not sure that it fits within my budget when a perfectly suitable free camping area exists just over the creek.
When touring tropical Queensland on a motorcycle you don’t have the trendy gear and relaxed demeanour of a traveller in an air-conditioned vehicle. I felt quite uncomfortable walking around in my grubby riding gear. The whole place was neat and tidy and the sites were very orderly with the average van/car package looking upwards of $150,000. There were beer guts and bikinis galore. The men were dressed similarly.
It wasn’t hard to image sitting back and sucking on a red wine sun downer and watching the sky change colour as it set over the tropical waters of Rollingstone beach. But I had to continue my touring tropical Queensland. There were places to go and beaches to see. I got back on Emu and we headed off to the next beach side suburb.
Forrest Beach
Forrest Beach is a small fishing community in the heart of sugar cane country, it was established in 1925. As a residential and holiday town for the local Ingham residents and mill workers. It has a surf club that operates a stinger net. Unfortunately, the day I visited there was a fairly strong onshore wind so the waves were rough. On calm days the beach has a stunning back drop of Hinchinbrook Island.
I didn’t stay long at Forrest Beach as it was blustery and humid, not a great combination. It was important for me to see as many beaches as possible and continue touring tropical Queensland. As it was getting close to lunch time, I decided to continue on to Lucinda.
Ingham
In order to get to my lunch destination I had to ride through Ingham. It is clear from the vegetation that I have crossed over some imaginary line delineating the dry tropics of Townsville with the wet tropics of the rest of North Queensland. The topology changes constantly as I continue touring tropical Queensland.
Ingham was first discovered by Europeans in 1864 by George Dalrymple on a expedition to the Valley of Lagoons Station. But it wasn’t until 1871 that the town was officially gazzetted and named Ingham. Conflict with the local Aboriginal peoples occurred throughout the late 1870’s, until the native police in the area were disbanded. There is no doubt that significant conflict occurred between Aboriginal peoples and European settlers.
However, much of the sugar industry in North Queensland was expanded by the use of south sea islanders, it is reported that up to 17.5% of the slave population (Black birding) died as a result of injuries or disease. A royal commission was established into “Black Birding” and it was outlawed in 1886 after a royal commission.
My destination is the small township of Lucinda which is the main distribution point for refined sugar from the mills in the region. It is towns like Lucinda that many people go past when touring tropical Queensland in order to get to the next named destination. However, these towns have contributed so much to Queensland’s history and prosperty.
Lucinda
Lucinda was initially established to store and provide access to transport sugar cane from the Victoria Mill. The town came into existence as a storage shed. It has grown over the years, it is now a small community with a caravan park, pub and substantial boat ramp. There are motel and airBnB accomodation available in town or various other small communities in the area.
The town provides access for walkers to Hinchinbrook Island and for fishermen ploughing the Hinchinbrook passage. However, the town’s main purpose is still the storage, transport of sugar to waiting ships along its 5.76 kilometre trestle and ship loading facility. The trestle is said to be the longest trestle in the Southern Hemisphere. If you’re touring tropical Queensland drop in to Lucinda, it’s and interesting place.
In my next blog I continue touring tropical Queensland, and pull up at Mission Beach for the night. I hope you enjoyed my travels up the tropical east coast of Queensland. Please leave a comment and stay safe riding…..Cheers:)
