After leaving Townsville we headed up to Paluma, a little spot right up in the hills.

When I say right up I mean it… We drove 20km up winding roads to get to the lookout area right in the middle of the forest and the drove another 15 kms of winding dirt road to get to the campsite by the lake. It was a tight windy road and it took a while to get there – and once there it was cold!

The clouds were over the lake and the air was very cool indeed. The camp itself was nice, but a little over-regulated. I guess its one way of making sure it stays pristine. $20.00 gets you an unpowered site and if you want firewood (you aren’t allowed to gather wood) its another $10.00. We waited for the ranger to leave and gathered wood… naughty I know…

It was a lovely spot, spoilt only by 2 car loads of 20 something Euro travellers who rocked in at 5.30pm with music blaring. The vibe of the place changed as they were loud and raucous and pumped out their music till 11.30pm. Admitedly it wasn’t super loud, but I tend to feel that anything that intrudes on other people’s enjoyment of the serenity of a place is not good.

Its something we have noticed as we have travelled – that the younger crew don’t see loud music as an imposition on others. I don’t mind my music loud, but the whole element of consideration for others seems to go missing with some of these guys.

They nearly had a grumpy old 40 something come over and tell them to turn it down before he did something equally inappropriate with their stereo.

All in all Lake Paluma was nice, but a long drive for a relatively expensive campsite.