One weekend we decided to head up to Crystal Creek, which is just 45 mins or so north of Townsville and WE LOVED IT! It was the kids "favourite place ever!" It's up in the mountains and there are all these pools you can jump into and rock waterslides you can slide down. There are actually 2 creeks: Big Crystal Creek and Little Crystal Creek, and they are only about 20 mins apart.
The first time we went we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into, but it was gorgeous out and the water was just a perfect level for the kids. We swam under waterfalls and went down little waterslides and had a nice picnic. Then on the way home we got Asian food and Baskin Robbins ice cream, so of course they thought it was the best day ever!
The second time we went up to Paluma in the rainforest first for some little hikes and lunch, and then we came back down to the creek for a swim. The water was quite a bit higher and running faster because it had bee raining, but we still had fun jumping in and then floating down a little waterslide. The kids were a bit braver than me I think! After that we went over to Big Crystal Creek just to check it out for "future reference". We didn't see the waterslides that time because we didn't know where to look, but we saw the swimming area and it was really nice!
The third time was on our last day in Townsville, Andrew was finished work at 11am, so I had everything ready to go and we headed off as soon as he got home. This time we had done our research and knew where to find the waterslides! Too bad Charlie and Elly were in a really bad mood that day and it was raining.... Oh well, Andrew and I still had fun! There was one waterslide in particular that was super fun and would just shoot you up and out at the end. I managed to get Elly to go down a couple of times with me, and then she was just done. Charlie took a lot more convincing and we managed to get him to go down once with me, but we lost our balance a bit and he scraped his elbow on the way down and then banged his knee when he was trying to get out, so there was no way he was going again! Andrew found a smaller waterslide a bit further down the creek that they went down a few times, but they were more interested in the cookies we brought for our snack.
All in all it was a really neat area and I would definitely go back. Although the water would have to be just right, I learned after we got back to Mount Isa that a guy had drowned there just before Christmas!
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| Hazel spent most of her time testing out her new teeth by chewing on rocks! |
