Just 137km north of Townsville on the banks of Victoria Creek the small community of Taylors Beach is perfect for a boating mini-break. Home to the week-ender, holiday and retirees’ homes, community life revolves around fishing and crabbing. On a day such as the one in the photo below, the still waters of the creek blend seamlessly with the ocean and the islands appear to join the mainland, yet they are 20km off-shore.
When launching a boat at the double lane boat ramp it is best to either follow a local boat at first or take a look at the area at low tide before launching as submerged sandbars pose problems. Strong winds can also make using the boat ramp difficult. The gorgeous green water yields delicious mud crabs, barramundi, grunter and mangrove jack, more than making up for any difficulty encountered.
CROCODILE AND MARINE STINGER WARNING.
Whilst this warning is under the heading of Safety on the Orpheus Island page, it applies to all saltwater areas in North Queensland.
Victoria Creek at Taylors Beach.
Taylors is the closest jumping off point for the National Park island of Orpheus and it’s northern neighbour Pelorus (the far left land hump) with it’s beautiful coral fringing reefs.
Camping is allowed on Orpheus and Pelorus, neither of which have fresh drinking water. Camping permits are required for the three camping areas on Orpheus – Yanks Jetty (fish feeding), Little Pioneer Bay and South Beach. Read about the facilities and booking for Orpheus Island camping HERE. Pelorus has no facilities but camping is allowed.
If you are not set up for island camping there is a CARAVAN PARK with camping and cabins right in Taylors Beach.
We have stayed at the Taylor’s Beach Holiday Park several times in their A/c units and camping under the shady trees and the pool is great to cool off in.
Boat Ramp. Swimming Enclosure with posing seagulls. Black Cockatoos on Patrol looking for fallen Pacific Almonds.
The map below shows popular stop off points along the route.
Balgal Beach has an undercover picnic area with BBQ’s on the foreshore. A long beach for dog walking and Rollingstone Creek for beach fishing. A small community with one Cafe at the mouth of the Creek. Back on the highway at Rollingstone, the Creek provides freshwater swimming holes on both sides of the highway.
The Mount Spec Road crosses LITTLE CRYSTAL CREEK via an old stone bridge on the way to Paluma Township. It is surrounded by tropical rainforest, while at the base of the hill Big Crystal Creek flows through rock slides and through open woodland where Paradise Waterhole can be found.
Just past the Paluma turnoff is my favourite road stop – Frosty Mango – featuring exotic/tropical fruits, icecream, Coffee and Cake, plus more.
On the southern outskirts of Ingham the natural landscape of the Tyto Wetlands is home to 230 species of birds.
Fiorelli’s Cafe in Ingham has great coffee and homemade cakes and savoury food.
Dungeness Creek near LUCINDA has a four lane boat ramp and pontoon.
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The water looks perfect – great tip about watching someone at the boat ramp.
The camping areas sound good – even Pelorus with no facilities would be nice – we had to take our own water and toilet paper with us down to Lake Tabourie on the weekend.
The cafe – Frosty Mango – would be a spot our boys would want to stop at 🙂
The scenes around Townsville always look so dreamy. I lvoe the quality of the light, and the water looks so calm and inducing – not like our crashing waves in most places in WA 🙂
Oh, I remember your afternoon see breeze/gale the Fremantle Doctor. We learned not to visit the beach in the afternoon to avoid sandblasting. But those waves are so refreshing when the temps are in the 40’s. I used to catch a bus to the beach after work to catch that breeze on those days. The water temp was lovely at Taylors Beach at this time of year, but in summer water temps are tepid warm in the shallows.
Beautiful….
My hubby would love this place. He loves boating and fishing and I could see myself sitting on the shoreline. However I’m wondering whether there are any crocs here, or are they further north?
I stand in the water at the boat ramp and there is a swimming enclosure on a beach in the creek (enclosure for stingers). I have heard of Croc sightings up the creek. We used to water-ski in the creek when our kids were little but there were less Crocs around then. Crocs are a possibility anywhere in NQ. They are in the creeks around Townsville where we live. I did think about including a warning about them and stingers and I will add something into the post. We all snorkel at the islands wearing a stinger suit in the stinger season but we don’t consider crocodiles although technically it is a possibility.
Oh just lovely…I move past Turkey and snakes and now I’m smack dab in the middle of crocodiles! Really, Jan… And no, I’m not some pussyfoot because…well when I was walking with my kid…we were constantly in rattlesnake country. Even ran into one that lunged at Phoenix one day. Victoria’s Creek is soooooo beautiful and camping sounds fantastic! Frosty Mango sounds perfectly yummy too! 🙂
What a lovely way to take a mini-break! Although it feels like a real vacation for me!;-) Always love your posts, they transport me across the world!
It was such a relaxing mini break that it did feel like a holiday Jess 🙂