Day 20, May 14, Cape Hillsborough National Park

In the morning, we took a short 4km hike along the creek. After all, we saw some nectar birds, the hummingbirds of Australia. Had breakfast in “peace” with the intrusive bush turkeys, then at 8:30 we hit the Bruce Highway heading north along the Queensland coast.

As for the highway: The maximum speed limit on the mostly single-lane road was 100 km/h.

As for the coast: We didn't get to see the sea. Only once did we catch sight of a kind of lagoon, and there we finally spotted many pelicans, which we had already hoped to see in Kakadu.

By around 14:00 we arrived at Cape Hillsborough National Park, famous for its opportunity to observe kangaroos and wallabies on the beach at sunrise. Unfortunately, I had found out yesterday that I had booked the wrong campground for that purpose: The one in the national park with the nicer beach but without kangaroos, without electricity, and without showers, rather than the private campground with all those amenities just a few kilometers further. So last night I hastily booked the correct one, 20 euros per night; the national park one for 9 euros per night I could not cancel on such short notice. So we ended up with two campgrounds, which even made sense.

We reached our spot, located directly by the sea, everything seemed fine. Then we drove a few kilometers back to a boardwalk in the mangrove swamps. Extremely impressive plants, palms, tree ferns, the mangroves, and then a patch full of grass trees. In the mangroves, we saw crabs and mudskippers, but both were of the smaller variety, also shy and not densely populating the mud.

Then on to our national park campground, beautifully shaded but still directly by the sea, quite secluded.

Cape Hillsborough is a peninsula extending into the sea. And of course, facing east on the east coast of Australia. But here we were in a bay looking west, so we could enjoy the sunset peacefully at 17:30. At the beach of the other campground, you can't see that so well, plus it's crowded with tourists.

Before it got dark, we were back, as the drive took less than 10 minutes.