8 to 29 July 2022.

(Click maps for a larger size if they are too small to see).
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Jools and I are flying north to North Queensland tomorrow for three weeks. You would think this would be quite a change from the currently cold climate of Canberra and for the most part it will be, though in these times of unusual weather, Laura looks like being much the same as Canberra.  We attempted this journey in 2021 but had to bail out when we got caught in a COVID lockdown in Brisbane for a week and the ACT Government advised all travellers to return.

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In 2021 we flew north to Brisbane to stay with friends for a few days and had intended to fly on to Cairns (as shown above).  This time, we fly straight to Cairns and back.  The itinerary up there is very similar but we are taking more time this time and there are a couple of additions.

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From Cairns, we drive south to the Atherton Tablelands, staying in a small village and then in rainforest near Lake Eacham and Craters Lakes National Park.  We expect to visit Cathedral Fig Tree, Lakes Eacham and Barrine, Yungaburra, Curtain Fig National Park, Atherton, Hasties Swamp National Park (bird hide), Herberton, Mt Hypipamee National Park, Ravenshoe, Tully Gorge Lookout and Millaa Millaa waterfalls.  We also expect to visit the Art Deco town of Innisfail and various waterfalls and nature sites along the way.  This is not shown on the map which I haven’t updated it since last time but it’s a loop down to the coast, starting from Millaa Millaa and meeting up with the road from Cairns to Atherton where it goes inland.  You can see it if you click the map for a larger view. 

Wildlife we hope to encounter includes striped possums, platypodes (the correct plural of platypus since the word derives from Greek not Latin) and tree kangaroos.  Tree kangaroos may be elusive though.

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We then drive to Laura where we stay overnight and join a camping excursion for Aboriginal rock art over three days and two nights.  We next drive to Cooktown where we stay for several days and join another Aboriginal rock art tour on the last morning.

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After Cooktown, we drive to Mossman Gorge where we stay for two nights.  Next is an early morning wildlife cruise on the Daintree River, then we head to Daintree National Park, where we stay for a few days at Cape Tribulation.  The rainforest here comes down to the sea and we may encounter a cassowary. 

Next we drive down to Kuranda, in the hills near Cairns and stay overnight.  The next day we drive back down the hill then take a cablecar back up to Kuranda and come down again in a small train.  Then we have a day or two in Cairns including a day trip to Fitzroy Island (where I visited in 1987 taking pictures of lighthouses).  Finally we catch our plane back to Canberra.

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I am planning to take both just Fuji photographic equipment.  In the abandoned trip in 2021 I also had Nikon for long telephoto and wildlife.  The penalty for that change is that the autofocus of my cameras will not be nearly as good for birds in flight (a new Fuji camera is, but It’s not available yet) and I will not have as much capacity to compose loosely and crop down (eg for wildlife which may move unpredictably).  The advantage is about 3 kilos less weight and a long lens easier to hand hold.

I will have Fuji X-T2, X-E4 and X-T2 IR cameras, together with 4mm f2.8 fisheye, 8-16mm f2.8, 14mm f2.8, 23mm f2, 35mm f1.4, 56mm f1.2, 80mm f2.8 macro, 70-300mm f4-5.6 and 200mm f2 lenses and a 1.4x TC.  My photographic pack will be about 11 kg which is fine.  Jools will  have an X-E4 and a 18-135mm lens and will be able to borrow the 70-300mm when I am using the  200mm for wildlife.

There’s a complication with selecting lenses for infrared because some produce a “hot spot” or bright flared area in the centre of the image.  So I could have taken the 27mm instead of the 23mm and 35mm but it’s not good for infrared.  The 8-16mm is only good for infrared at f2.8 so I took the 14mm as well, the 80mm macro is no good for infrared and the 200mm is only good at f4 and below but I have the 70-300mm. 

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I may find time for some temporary posts while travelling and will in time include below links for all posts I make from this trip.  In the meanwhile I have one more post to release from Crete and will resume posts from that trip later. 

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Brisbane 2021 posts:

• Mount Tamborine
• At the water’s edge
• Lockdown is for the Birds 

North Queensland 2022 posts:

• Atherton Tablelands
  • Canberra to Yungaburra (IR)
  • Herberton and Tully Gorge
  • Rainforest and Sugar Gliders
  • Waterfalls and Striped Possums
  • Atherton Tablelands in Infrared
  • Atherton Tablelands Monochromes 1
  • Atherton Tablelands Monochromes 2
• Laura
  • Yungaburra to Laura
  • Laura Bush Camp Day 1
  • Laura Bush Camp Day 2
  • Laura and Cooktown Infrareds
• Cooktown
  • Cooktown and Rock Art
  • Keating’s Lagoon (Mulbabidgee) 
  • Laura and Cooktown Infrareds
  • Cooktown Monochromes
• Mossman Gorge
  • Mossman Gorge
• Daintree Village and River
  • Daintree Valley
  • Daintree River Wildlife
  • Daintree River Views (IR)
  • Mossman Gorge and Daintree River Monochromes
• Daintree
  • Daintree Day 1 – Cape Tribulation (IR)
  • Daintree Day 2 – Beaches and Swamps
  • Daintree Day 2 – Myall Beach and Madja Boardwalk (IR)
  • Daintree Day 3 – Cape Trib Rainforest and Swamps
  • Daintree Day 4 – Noah Beach
  • Daintree Day 4 – Afternoon at Rainforest Hideaway
  • Cape Tribulation Monochromes 
  • The Times of Sand (Cape Trib Monos)
• Kuranda
  • Daintree to Kuranda
  • Daintree to Kuranda Monos
  • Kuranda Butterflies
  • Birds at Kuranda
  • In and Out of Kuranda
• Cairns and Fitzroy Island
  • Fitzroy Island
  • Cairns Botanical Gardens
  • Cairns Lakes (IR)
  • Kuranda Monochromes
  • Fitzroy Island and Cairns Monochromes

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