Black Mountain Road - FNQ

Stephen, we drove that road Nth. To South a few years ago and it is indeed a great drive. We even managed a small campsite alongside a creek in the forested area. The bird life was amazing.
Regards, Graham.

Thanks Stephen, it looks like a fabulous drive. I think I have tracked it on Google Maps.

Does this look right?

A photo of a creek crossing showing a log is daunting - or was that alongside the crossing?

Hi Stephen,
Gee you get around. It was interesting to read your post. I am originally from Cairns and knew about the road from many years ago, afaik in the 1970's a bridge burnt out and you could no longer get through to Julatten. Very interesting to learn that it's reopened, not too many times that happens! A number of roads in FNQ that took you to some wonderful places quickly became untrafficable once the world heritage area was declared, as they were logging roads maintained by the Forestry Dept. No problem with the declaration btw, it needed to happen. Didn't prevent some gross environmental vandalism though with the George Quaid/Joh inspired road from Cape Tribulation to Bloomfield. Once saw a tourist bus on this road charge a water crossing to create a big bow wave for tourists to film, unfortunately one of the environmental concerns about the road was the delivery of sediment to the reefs that actually meet the shore in this section of the GBR. A responsible tour operator? I hope they are now out of business.
Cheers Warren

Thanks Stephen, you bought back some memories about that road and it would be around 25 years since I have ben on it. I remember well that it used to be pretty slippery in the wet, guess they would have shoved some road base on top since then.

BTW. From memory Keith Quad built that road as a private road but it was never gazetted by the Government and remained locked.

Stephen you have me thinking. I think you mean Kuranda not Mareeba. My memory is of the road meeting the highway just East of Kuranda.
The road is marked 4wd on the RACQ map of the area.
Graham.

Hi Stephen an Co

It is indeed a nice little drive and unless its wet, you don't need 4wd. There is active pine forestry carried out by HQPlantations Pty Ltd who leased all Qld State plantation forestry in 2010 so the road is very well maintained and its not uncommon to encounter logging trucks at certain times of year (or the odd idiot on a trail bike).

In a number of places in the NP section before and after the pine forestry you will find overgrown old logging and Telecom tracks that head off into the rainforest. These are terrific short walks on which I often see Cassowaries and other birds and unfortunately the odd feral pig. There are a number of unofficial foot trails from Black Mtn Rd down to Clifton and Kewarra Beaches and along the ridge to Saddle Mtn (BoM radar site) but I wouldn't recommend these. I made some of the trails through some pretty thick rainforest and walk them from time to time and I still get lost. The Twin Bridges side track is now foot/mtn bike traffic only, this is where the bridge burnt many years ago.

The Quaid Road is gated at each end and only accessible from Black Mtn Rd or other forestry tracks. It was constructed by George Quaid (not the govt) in the 80s from Wangetti on the coast (Cook Hwy) to the Mulligan Hwy just south of Mt Molloy at the dam he built without approval on Southedge Station. He was trying to flog it as a site for multi-function polis (remember the MFP trend that never took off in the 80s? And yes, dear ol Joh encouraged George to undertake this sort of activity. The road was never properly engineered and has suffered significantly from collapse and erosion at the Wangetti end where it comes down the steep slopes of the MacAlister Range. At its prime it would have barely coped with a rigid truck of 20T let alone a truck with a dog trailer or B Double config. You can however drive from where Black Mt Road intersects with it to near the eastern end and part way down the range on the left you'll find a foot track into Wangetti Falls (about 1/2 km). Top little swimming spot.

Near the Julatten end is the infamous Bump Track carved out by Christie Palmeston when the Hodgkinson goldfields were supplied from Pt Douglas before the development of Cairns. The Bump track is a sensational walk to the coast (abt 3 hours) through a range of forest types and with some magnificent views and a side track to the delightful Mowbray Falls. It is steep in parts but wide and easily trafficable. The Bump was still used as a road until after WWII where was mined in case of invasion and rather than disarm the mines they blew them up after the war. It is open to mtn bikers and forms part of the national horse trail as well. You used to be able to camp at the adjacent Wetherby Station but I'm not sure if they are still taking in campers, try googling if interested.

Certainly a nice way to spend a day and not well known as tourist drive but that's a good thing.

Cheers

Hi Stephen, a great looking drive. We are heading up that way in Sept./Oct. this year. We are towing an 18' Full Off Road van, is this road suitable for vans? From the look of the photos it does not seem to pose a problem.

Macca.

Thanks Stephen, always enjoy your trip comments & photos.

Macca.