From Cape Hillsborough to Platypus Bush Camp

morning walk, Cape Hillsborough Nat. Park

While Brisbane sat in lockdown, we were extremely lucky to spend last week in Cape Hillsborough National Park. The water was beautiful, but uninviting:

box jellyfish (aka Irukandji) are only supposed to be present in the summer months, as are the crocs, but we didn’t see anyone jumping in the water

But the part iron-ore volcanic rocks on the beach were perfect for climbing!

And with no phone, there was plenty of time for reading. K read most of Stephen King’s It in four days. Rhiannon finished The Ickabog and is onto Nevermore. I read Devil in the White City, about Chicago’s 1893 Columbian Expo and the serial killer H. H. Holmes. Lee’s enjoying Venero Armano’s Firehead.  

time to read
Off to Platypus Bush Camp

Then it was time to pack up and head to Platypus Bush Camp, where we stayed on our trip round Australia in 2016. It was as perfect as I remembered.

We’ve just spent four days and nights in the rainforest with no wi-fi and on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the most relaxed, I’m sitting on 11.

fun with innertubes in the ‘pool’ at Platypus Bush Camp

This magic spot is located in the rainforest with a natural pool and showers with three walls that open onto the outdoors (I spotted an emerald pigeon while showering). There’s a campfire where we made friends, and viewing area for platypus. This is about the sweetest camp spot in Australia. Thank you, Wazza! He’s the old man who built this retreat 26 years ago.

view from my kitchen
rock-hopping at nearby Finch-Hatton Gorge
rainforest

Aside from a run-in with a vicious hairy Mary vine (it seems even the horticultural naming is sexist in Queensland) it was a perfect four days.


Next stop, Eungella.

Author: sarahklenbort

I'm a Brisbane-based writer and mother of two children--one deaf and one hearing. I'm also a sessional academic at the University of Queensland, where I teach literature and creative writing. In 2016, my husband and I took the kids out of school and travelled around Australia with a camper trailer, visiting deaf schools along the way. When we found Toowong State School, it was so good, we decided to move to Queensland! We still have the trailer and take off for the bush whenever we can.

5 thoughts on “From Cape Hillsborough to Platypus Bush Camp”

  1. What a brilliant experience! I think this must be the right country for you – so much variety and new places to discover without even leaving Queensland. And the peace. I wouldn’t fancy the dangers of jellyfish in the sea but there was a lot more to do. I am also intrigued by the box of Exploding Kittens in one of the photos. Good game?

    Like

  2. Thanks for the prose and the photos, Sarah! We’re right there with you. The 18 pages of pigeons in my Australian bird book shows the Emerald dove to be a stunner. Almost as memorable as the wompoo pigeon. Keep the blog a weekly thing when you get home?

    Liked by 1 person

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: