Day 8: 24/8/25, Around Cairns.

Day 8: 24/8/25,  Around Cairns. 

 Lazy day today in Cairns as we have to be up at about 4:30AM tomorrow to catch the coach across the Gulf to Karumba/ Normanton.

 After a short walk around the camp ground we decided to visit Copperlode Falls Dam, the source of Cairns water supply.

The road in is 14Km, which doesn’t seem much until you sample it. Speed limit is 40 Km/Hr and to be honest I rarely got anywhere near that, the 14Km taking the best part of ½ hour though it seemed like about two hours. The road is extremely narrow and climbs about 450M to the Dam (again seemed like a lot higher).

 


 

One of the wider sections

The drive was spectacular although nerve wracking, especially with the added hazard of dappled sunlight then shade, then full sun, together with joggers and cyclists (it’s the local bicycle training course) adding to the excitement.

 

 

Yes, there is a road,  but it’s pretty hard to see at times, fortunately we didn’t see a lot of traffic

 

Dam has plenty of water but is about 2M from full


 

Constant outflow keeps the river well fed.

 

Falls are completely empty at this time of year but must be quite a sight in the wet season.


 

The bridge to the car park looks more like a walkway, but isn’t. The dam is down about 2M below the spillway but must be spectacular in the wet season. The height gauge indicated it could be as much as 3M above the lip at times. 

A couple of lookouts provide a magnificent view over Cairns but parking is limited and they can fill up fast 


                                         View of Cairns from about 200M above sea level.

We had hoped to also visit the Armoured car Museum but ran out of time so that will have to wait until next time.

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