Location(s):
Cairns, Port Douglas, Mareeba, Cooktown, Palm Cove, Kuranda, Mt Molloy, Great Barrier Reef, Daintree, Cairns Beaches, Undara Lava Tubes, Chillagoe, Mossman Gorge, Daintree River, Lake Eacham, Yungaburra, Laura, Black Mountain, Lake Barrine, Millaa Millaa Falls, Cape Tribulation / Daintree National Park.
Description:
Eclipse Tour 2012 in the Outback
This must be the most comprehensive of all Solar Eclipse 2012 tours on offer in regards of North Queensland experiences.
10 Day Tour in November 2012 (Tour 2 / long tour version) - 07.11. - 17.11.2012 With English speaking driver / guides
Possibly the best chances to successfully view the total solar eclipse on 14 November 2012 without possible rain or cloud obstruction, are west of the Great Dividing Range, which shelters the Outback from the coastal humidity. We have been able to secure the prime Eclipse viewing spot in the Outback, the Palmer River Roadhouse, for our exclusive use.
There is barely another region on earth which offers a similar diversity of different landscapes, climates, fauna and flora to the Tropical North Queensland.
Especially the Atherton Tablelands to the west of Cairns is an area which is unique within Australia and possibly the world. What makes it so special is the combination of its geographic location in the Tropics, its altitude of 300 – 1200 metres and volcanic activities, which have shaped large parts of its landscape.
Further north to the Atherton Tablelands borders the classic Outback. There, the prevailing dry and cloud-poor climate offers the best conditions to view the Total Solar Eclipse on 14 November 2012.
Along Mulligan Highway and not far from the central line is the Palmer River Roadhouse, which we have secured for our exclusive use as accommodation and eclipse viewing place.
On the days prior and post the eclipse you experience amongst many other things the Great Barrier Reef, estuarine crocodiles in Daintree River, historic Cooktown, the world renown Quincan rock paintings near Laura, rock wallabies at Granite Gorge, tropical rainforests with impressive trees, eucalypt bushland, volcanic craters, Millaa Millaa Waterfalls, the Outback Star Observatory in Chillagoe and last but not least an overwhelming night sky far from light pollution.
The Highlights of the tour:
• Two groups of each 20 participants, one group with German and one with English speaking driver/guide
• Solar Eclipse in the dry and clear Outback
• Nightly observations of the southern skies
• Ride on the historic Kuranda Scenic Train and on Skyrail Rainforest Cableway
• Rainforest and volcanoes on the Atherton Tablelands
• Undara Lava Tubes
• Outback-Observatory in Chillagoe
• Hand–feed wild Rock Wallabies at Granite Gorge near Mareeba
• Quinkan Rock Paintings near Laura
• Cooktown and Black Mountains
• Wild crocodiles at Daintree River
• Mossman Gorge
• Great Barrier Reef
• Professional Astronomical English and German speaking Guide
Travel Route from Cairns, Australia
Wednesday, 07 November 2012: Cairns
Individual arrival in Cairns. Transfer from airport to Queens Court Hotel, where we are staying for the next two nights. In the afternoon opportunity for a city sightseeing tour with Lake Morris Road Lookout and a walk along the famous Esplanade. Spend the rest of the day and evening to explore the city on your own.
Thursday, 08 November 2012: Day Tour to Kuranda (included: Breakfast)
Transfer at 8 am to Freshwater train station, from where you travel on the historic train to Kuranda. Enjoy the ride through dense rainforest and past lookouts with splendid views down to the coast. Be impressed by the steep rock escarpment of the Barron Falls.
Join your guide for a short interpreted walk through the village of Kuranda, before venturing through the markets and attractions on your own. In the early afternoon you take Skyrail Rainforest Cableway back to the coast. Transfer back to the hotel. Evening at your own leisure.
Friday, 09 November 2012: Cairns - Lake Barrine - Curtain Fig Tree - Hypipamee Crater – Undara (Included: Breakfast, Morning Tea, Dinner)
As we have a long and eventful day ahead of us, we leave Cairns already at 7 am. Gillies Highway takes us from Gordonvale to the steep escarpment and then via 20 km and 262 bends 700 metres higher to the Atherton Tablelands with its upland rainforest, its lush and green rolling hills and grazing country.
During a short hike into the rainforest we learn about the structure and survival mechanisms of plants in the Upland Rainforest. We then marvel at the large Cathedral Fig Tree which appears like a huge pillar of a cathedral within the surrounding rainforest. Next we enjoy morning tea and freshly baked scones at Lake Barrine Tea House. Lake Barrine is a volcanic maar, 65 m deep and slightly over one kilometre in diametre. There, we also visit the Twin Kauri Pines, two rainforest giants with an estimated age of 1000 years.
Lake Eacham is also a volcanic maar. A three kilometre hike takes us around the lake and past some amazing trees in virgin rainforest. This is another opportunity to absorb its distinct sounds, smells and life forms. With some luck we can spot the smallest of all Kangaroos, the Musky Rat Kangaroo.
In the quaint historic township of Yungaburra there is the opportunity for a hearty lunch in the local pub.
Next, Curtain Fig Tree is the most visited tree in Australia. There is a chance to see the local family of tree climbing kangaroos.
Hypipamee Crater, 60 metres in diametre and 120 metres deep, is a geological oddity with no parallel in the world.
Now we leave the area of green pastures and rainforests and dive into the open eucalypt forest of the dry Outback.
Another short walk takes us to Millstream Falls, which run over a cliff of basalt columns. After heavy rains, these falls become the widest in Australia.
In the late afternoon we arrive at Undara, where we sleep in fixed, so called Swag Tents. Alternatively you can book accommodation in one of the historic train carriages (surcharge applies).
Today we have the first opportunity to gaze at the clear night sky, far away from any urban light pollution.
Saturday, 10 November 2012: Undara - Almaden – Chillagoe (Included: Breakfast, Dinner)
After bush-breakfast at the open camp fire we go on a two hour tour to two sections of the gigantic lava tubes, which have formed during the production of a 160 km long basalt lava flow from Undara volcano.
An unsealed road takes us through uninhabited Savannah country further north to the small township of Almaden, which is known for its many straying cattle on the village roads. The local pub offers a bite to eat, before we continue to Chillagoe. Hard to imagine that 100 years ago around 10 thousand people worked in the nearby mines and the smelters. Today, Chillagoe is a quiet Outback town of only several hundred people, and with no street lighting!
Chillagoe Eco Lodge offers basic air-conditioned accommodation with restaurant and a swimming-pool. They also operate the only star-observatory in North-Queensland, and which is available for our use on that night. Where else would you be able to observe the southern skies better than from such a remote location.
Sunday, 11 November 2012: Chillagoe – Irvinebank – Granite Gorge (Included: Breakfast, Dinner)
Our first stop on the way back towards the Atherton Tablelands is the lonely Lappa Museum, a collection of relicts of the harsh pioneering times more than a hundred years ago.
Irvinebank, a historic mining town, enjoys the reputation of being a “living museum“. Still today, most houses are uninhabited and the school has a total of six students.
Rich findings of tin caused the establishment of the town of Herberton in 1880 and consequently of other places such Irvinebank and later the settlement of the wider AthertonTablelands.
Millaa Millaa Lookout, at an altitude of 1070 metres, must be one of the most magnificent lookouts in Australia with views stretching over 100 km and down to the Pacific Ocean.
Another of today’s highlights is the Millaa Millaa waterfalls, the most photographed waterfalls in Australia. They run over a cliff of basalt columns. The pond below the falls is a popular swimming spot.
The area around the townships of Atherton, Tolga and Walkamin is the part of the Tablelands that is extensively used for agriculture. On the fertile volcanic soils almost everything grows that one can imagine. In particular, there are large plantations of maize, sugar cane, potatoes, peanuts, pumpkins, bananas, avocadoes, macadamias, tea, coffee, mangoes, pineapples and citrus fruit.
In the late afternoon we reach Granite Gorge, a rugged rocky landscape and home to many wild rock wallabies, which you will be able to hand-feed. Watch the sun set whilst the iconic kookaburra birds engage in their daily evening competition of their distinct songs and sounds.
We stay the night in our own comfortable tents at the Gorge.
As for dinner, we take a short 15 minute drive to Mareeba, the largest town on the Tablelands with about 7000 people.
Monday, 12 November 2012: Granite Gorge - Mareeba - Palmer River Roadhouse (Included: Breakfast, Dinner)
After breakfast we visit the Heritage Museum in Mareeba. There are some interesting exhibits of the local aboriginal culture and the pioneering times, including a rail ambulance truck that was in use in the area until the 1980s.
North of the town lies the Mareeba Wetlands, a series of lakes that are home to lots of bird life. In the surrounding dry eucalypt forest there is a good chance to see emus in the wild.
In the afternoon we are heading through uninhabited Outback towards the Palmer River Roadhouse along Mulligan Highway. There we set up our tent camp for the next three nights. When the generators are switched off around 10 pm there is absolutely no artificial light, another opportunity to enjoy an overwhelming night sky.
Tuesday, 13 November 2012: Day Tour to Quinkan Rock Paintings (Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
Early in the morning you might want to check out the best spot on the Roadhouse property for tomorrow’s viewing of the Eclipse.
After breakfast at about 9 am we continue on Mulligan Highway to Lakeland, from where we turn into the Peninsula Development Road (which eventually leads all the way up to the most northern tip of Australia). Highlight of the day are the world renowned Quinkan Rock Paintings, which belong to the most significant aboriginal rock paintings in Australia.
We enjoy lunch in Laura, which is considered the last outpost before the long lonely drive on dirt roads up north. Laura Creek invites for a swim before we head back to the Roadhouse in the early afternoon, where you can prepare for the big event the next morning.
Wednesday, 14 November 2012: Total Solar Eclipse and day tour to Cooktown (Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
Early in the morning we experience the absolute highlight of the tour, the Total Solar Eclipse in the Australian Outback.
Position: 16°06'27''S/144°46'37''E (Palmer River Roadhouse). Duration of the eclipse: 1m59s.
• 1. Contact: 05:44:17 (Sun at 00.2°)
• 2. Contact: 06:37:39 (Sun at 12.4°)
• 3. Contact: 06:39:38 (Sun at 12.9°)
• 4. Contact: 07:38:50 (Sun at 26.7°)
After this highlight we have breakfast together before we head to historic Cooktown for the day. There we drive up to Grassy Hill Lookout for a view over Cooktown, the Endeavour River and surrounds. It was here where in 1770 Captain James Cook had to repair his boat, the “Endeavour”, after it ran aground on a reef and got damaged.
Later, in 1873, when gold was found in the Palmer River area, Cooktown was established as a supply port for the goldfield in the hinterland.
On the way back to the Roadhouse we stop at the unusual pile of round granitic boulders that make up the Black Mountains. For lunch we drop into the well known “Lion’s Den” in Helensvale.
Thursday, 15 November 2012: Palmer River Roadhouse - Daintree River - Cairns (Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
Time to say Good Bye to the Palmer River Roadhouse crew and head back south towards. Near Mt Molloy we cross the Great Dividing Range and descend to the coast near Mossman.
After lunch at the Crossroads Café we join a boat trip on Daintree River in the search for estuarine crocodiles, the larges reptiles in the world.
A visit to Mossman Gorge offers the opportunity for a swim in the clear waters of Mossman River without the danger of crocodiles or stingers. Alternatively you can go for a stroll into the lowland rainforest and look for the common brush-turkeys.
Passing by Port Douglas and through fields of sugar cane we drive along the picturesque coastline back to Cairns where we spend the next two nights in the Queens Court Hotel.
After check-in you have some time to get ready for our farewell dinner.
Friday, 16 November 2012: Great Barrier Reef (Included: Breakfast, Lunch)
At 8 am you will be picked up by bus to the Reef Terminal, from where you join a day trip to the outer Barrier Reef on the „Reef Magic“ catamaran. After about 90 minutes the Marine World platform is reached, where you can enjoy the reef and its rich life forms in a number of different ways: snorkeling, diving (surcharge), from the glass bottom boat, from the semi-submarine or from the helicopter (surcharge). Buffet lunch is provided. The total stay on the platform is 5 hours.
Saturday, 17 November 2012: End of the tour in Cairns (Included: Breakfast)
After breakfast the program of this tour is finished.
We reserve the right for changes of the itinerary if that is necessary due to road closures or other reasons out of our control, or if we feel changes are in the best interest of our travelling guests.
Operator Name:
Northern Explorer Tours
Operator Description:
One day and two day tours from Cairns to the Atherton Tablelands, the Daintree and Cape Tribulation area and into the adjoining Outback. The regular tours are conducted in German language, tours in English by special request.
Additional Info: