Cooktown

Cooktown now lay within our grasp. We wanted for more supplies and a charge of our batteries (Camper trailer batteries that is - we by this time have had a very restful trip, thank you for asking) so on we go.

We were noticing with each 50km we go up that the temperature and humidity are more and more becoming quite Darwin like, so we were less and less inclined to want to do very much of anything strenuous.

The rain forest is changing too as we go, with less under-story and a bit more grit and red earth beneath our feet.

The trip had taken its toll on our poor old bike rack (and the poor old bikes that were on it) We had the rack reinforced in Yippoon, but as you can see, it has just decided to become droopy elsewhere.

 We found another engineer willing to 'have a go' at it,  and soon enough we were upstanding types again.

We came into Cooktown itself and found a really nice place with most of the services we required and a wealth of history from Queensland's very early days.

The exhibits in the museum were very interesting, telling the story of Captain Cook's encounters with the local indigenous and the town's boom through the gold rush and the bust to follow when the gold ran out.

But most of all, Cooktown was just beautiful. There is a high hill within the town that has a 360 degree view over the harbor inlet and the town itself that was quite outstanding at sunset.

We did make one surprising discovery at Cooktown. That is that no one seems to know how to cook!

We thought we would go our for dinner at the local RSL (yes I know... we were always only gonna get meat and three veg... but!) and had the singularly most dreadful plate of goop that I have ever seen in all my travels. Interestingly the staff were chipper and cheery and were keen to know at every opportunity how we were enjoying our meals (We opted not to tell the truth).

The following day we thought we would grab some Chinese at the dinner, which was almost the equal of the night before. So if you are reading this and you can cook, fame in your own lunchtime lay at the end of your spoon in Cooktown!

Here are some more nice shots from the Area

Bloomfield Track

Leaving Noah's Beach we set out north once again towards the Bloomfield Track with Cooktown laying beyond it. While the roads are still sealed, they are a much more serious prospect than the run of the mill. In some stretches, bitumen would give way to concrete because of steep incline. On one of those, no mater how much we lent forward, the truck ran out of power/gears and we came to a shuddering halt half way up. Low range saved the day and we wound our way up up up with trailer still in tow. It was on these stretches that we also learned that if we put the heater on full bore that the motor coped much better, even if we didn't. (More on the cooling system in an upcoming post...)



It's true that most of Australia is very flat, but Northern Queensland  has some of the most breathtaking rain forest clad mounts I have ever seen. Following every steep assent came an equally impressive descent, most of the time taking us back to sea level again.

On one of the beaches there were mangrove trees growing right out in the middle of nowhere, as opposed to the border between swamp marsh and sea. Mangroves are a favorite haunt of crocs and I would usually never venture towards them up here. but this one mangrove all by itself in the middle of the beach was something like Moses' burning bush which we just had to go look at. ( and you could see that there were no crocs there - I don't mess with those bad boys!) 

Further along we came to the town of Wujil Wujil which has a great waterfall. We stayed a couple of nights at Hayley's caravan park where the owner told us of a 4WD track that wound for miles up to the head of those falls. The next day we set out with the kayak on the roof of the truck. We arrived at the top and put in.  The top of the falls is a sacred indigenous area where we were not allowed to take pictures, but we were able to paddle along this wonderful stretch of water almost right up to the head of the falls. The birds and butterflies were wonderful as we lazily paddled along.


Tanya has put together  a collage of our day up at Roaring Meg (from the places we were allowed to take pictures)

Cape Tribulation

Moving north from Mossman we started to get the feeling we were almost in the woop woop. Cossing over the Daintree river by barge, into the rain forest which just abounds (I don't know any better words for it) Cell coverage was getting patchy at best. All in all we were starting to feel that we were away from it all! We stayed for a few nights at Noah's beach where again we were just a short stroll to the shore which doubled as our morning shower substitute and Tanya's office (there was just enough signal there to download and mark her student's assignments - between the high tides) It has been many years since I had played in such wonderful surf that just kept on rolling in. We also spent a couple of afternoons at the tree top walk and also a really interesting morning at an insect museum. The Daintree is a wonderful place.

Did you know that they grow tea in the Daintree region - well you do now!

On the 'my cup is half empty' side of things, a couple of cans of coke costs $9.00 ($1.00 in Cairns... Ok you have to be in a supermarket and buy 24 at a time, but $9.00! Yes we are in the woop woop!)

Still further north - Mossman

 Upward and onward we go from Cairns to Mossman - and of course the 'must see' Mossman Gorge.
Now don't get me wrong, the gorge was a great spot. It was just that everyone was there seeing it - it seemed to us, on mass. Well maybe that was what they meant by it being a 'must see'. I would have put it as a 'Well if you must, you must...' but we wanted for more exquisiteness on the path less trod.
Overall I would give Mossman a B- with a 'could try harder' on the report card. possibly because the people in the camping ground were peevish and nasty types. I hear the trail north calling...