Month: August 2021

192 km

Today is Matt’s birthday…we celebrate with pancakes for breakfast, which didn’t turn out great as the gas stove in the camp kitchen was a bit temperamental. As a matter of fact, I nearly lost my eyebrows and hair when trying to light the problematic gas BBQ!

We also gave Matt a present from us all, which we hope would come in useful- a towel which sand doesn’t stick to.

It was fairly close to our first destination,  Isabella Falls. You literally drive over them, as a water crossing.  They are not a big drop, but pleasant anyway.

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Next stop after the waterfall was the Old Laura Homestead, which has changed and been added to and now stabilised for tourists to view.

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With the ever changing landscapes,  I was pleasantly surprised to come across both White & Red Lily Lagoons. These large bodies of water were covered in lilies and the birdlife is incredible: lots of egrets, darters, brolgas- large Australian cranes, jaribus or storks, shelducks, kites hunting in the grasses and many more! There are of course crocodile warnings by these water bodies.

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Our campsite is close to the water but not on it. A fire would have passed through not too long before and in essence created a dustbowl around us…this combined with a strong wind meant loads of dust! Not much fun there.

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I caught up with two older guys at the campsite next door, then we went for a drive to the furtherest most campsite- nr 20. It’s about 9.6km away, but slow going.

After dinner we had one final surprise- a strawberry cheesecake- one of the frozen ones from the supermarket – but everyone polished it off . It was a very big mission to try and light the candles in the wind that was still prevailing!

162 Km

It’s a fair drive to Elim Beach,  took us approx 1 hr. As we didn’t have mobile reception we couldn’t check tide times and happened to arrive on high tide.

Not much beach to drive on then, so we parked the cars and walked down the beach towards the coloured sands and first gorge.

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The first thing you notice on the beach is a very rusty Toyota that fell victim to being caught out in a high tide several years ago.

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Note, one can also go to Sleaford Bay but we didn’t have enough time or willingness to drop tyre pressure to go through the sea sand.

There is a 10 AUD per car fee to enter the beach and bay.

We headed back to town to resupply for next 2 weeks, unfortunately we couldn’t resupply our cask wine supply as the local laws mean none is for sale before 4pm.

We got to Cooktown in time for lunch and were hoping for something other than wraps…our general go to lunch menu item.  However every place we went to kitchen was closed,  if we wanted something it was sandwich and coffee.

We sat in a café to complete our online census, a little early as there will be no signal for a while.

172 km

Today we headed to Cooktown via the Bloomfield Track. This track doesn’t have the same nasty reputation as the CREB but there are three steep sections,  the last of which is being cemented,  to prevent loss of traction in the wet.

The rough track itself is only 32km long, with climbs between 21 and 33 percent!! The steepest of which is 1.5km long… let’s say, we could feel the trailer pulling us on that one!!

Besides these steep sections the trail is pretty good, though, being clay based,  would be terrible in the wet, as with all these tracks up north here.

A few kilometers before Cooktown we entered Black Mountain National Park. It was one of the most interesting landscapes I have seen. The mountains, of which you can only see a small part- as per the noticeboard photo- are eroded magma chambers. The green bits are strangler figs, that have managed to get their roots down to some water.

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Our campsite was 15km out of town, near the airstrip- Endeavour River Escape- on a station. Good facilities,  no power and nice and quiet. Large campsites with treelines between them.

Christo and I took the opportunity to do some forward planning and see what we needed to book from town the next day, when we had signal. We got some tips from a couple who had been to the top 3 times already.

56 km

Our day started with a cruise of the upper Daintree River…about 10km upstream from yesterday. We were treated to a large 4m male croc swimming down the river to find a nice warm spot for the day. Birdspotting went pretty well too, with several heron species and many welcome swallows.

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After our boat trip ended we walked to camp, and got things together quickly to commence the CREB ( Cairns Regional Electricity Board) track , which commences just outside of the village.

Upon arriving at the Daintree River… which we were now well aware,  had a healthy crocodile population, we stopped on the banks to let out the tyre pressure and check the line we should take across the river.

There were several other vehicles that were doing the same and the joke was that everyone was working slowly so that the other party could go first.

The track goes through some farmland before hitting the rainforest proper. It’s here that the clay track is usually pretty wet as the rainforest cover doesn’t allow for proper evaporation of rainfall.

There were some sections that were wet but others were actually nice and dry.

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Johan drove first and gave me some instructions,  then after our 3^rd water crossing, I took the 4WD wheel for the first time . We drove for approx 45min before we hit a traffic jam… we weren’t sure what happened but seems that a motorbike had slipped and possibly a car rolled in a very slippery , wet area. The car roll over was not confirmed though, but is not unusual for the track. Mind you, there are many opportunities to lose control on slippery clay and slide off the side of the mountain into the rainforest trees! As far as my first 4WD session goes, it wasn’t too bad, but neither was it too technical…the shitty bits we didn’t get to…like the 2 log bridge crossings.

As the time passed we decided to turn around, have lunch and head back into the village,  having not even completed 1/3 of the track in 2.5 hours! We did go slowly and carefully though. Lara drove back and did a good job of all the hill starts she had gotten herself into! The car is a manual, so a quick refresher is required .

138 km

This whole day was set aside to explore the tourist area from Daintree to Cape Tribulation and slightly beyond.

First stop was Waluwurrigga Alexander Range lookout, which overlooks Cape Kimberley…which was our final stop for the day.

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Floravilla Ice-cream factory was next… at 10am mind you…however non of us were impressed with our ice cream flavours . Oh well- you win some, you lose some.

At the end of the road that turns into the ice cream factory is Cow Bay where we walked on the beach. I keep in the middle of the beach as there are crocodiles here …and they are obviously great hunters and will see me before I see them!! A note is that there are approx. 30-40 thousand crocodiles in Queensland…most concentrated in Cape York area where we are headed.

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Had a leg stretch by doing the Jindalba boardwalk, which is a short walk through the rainforest where one can admire the multitude of plant species.

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We also popped into the Discovery Center but decided that we were not going to enter. We had done skywalks before and weren’t interested in the dinosaur section. Entry 37 AUD pp.

Next stop was Thornton Beach, a large expanse of sand and fairly calm waves. The water in this area is well known for being crystal clear and have the turquoise hue, however all the waters were pretty muddy …a good place for crocs to hide!

We had lunch at Cape Tribulation lookout parking and then did the short walk to a disappointing muddy lookout point…but imagined how nice it would be under ideal conditions.

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Now I don’t remember which section of road this happened on, I think en route to Cape Kimberley, but as we were driving around a corner, a cassowarie ran across the road in front of us!! It was a big one with a bright blue skin…I need to find out what this skin flap is called?!?! It was very exciting as this was my first seeing a cassowarie in the wild! No photos unfortunately as it was in deeper bush pretty quick !!

Directly after departing the ferry crossing we went to the 15h30 Daintree River cruise to see what wildlife we can spot. Considering that we saw Scarface… a super large croc…on the banks of the river already, we were excited.

This part of the river is brackish as the tide brings in seawater. We saw a few crocodiles , some bird life and baby crocs too. The croc along the banks , that has 2 missing scutes- or scales- is Lizzie. The missing scutes were used to determine her age.

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185 km

We spent the afternoon meandering around Port Douglas as we arrived during lunch time. It is a holiday town that has been considerably less busy due to the lockdowns that have taken place across the East coast. It is pretty similar to Noosa, which is north of Brisbane.

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We arrived at our campsite in the mid afternoon in little Daintree Village. It only has a permanent population of 120 people. We were all happy that we were staying here 3 nights and do not have to take down camp for a while!

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PS Now that we arrived in Cooktown,  I definitely reckon that Port Douglas Coles is the place to restock and resupply for the trip up north!

251 km

Was great to have a quiet night!! Bush camping is much better than the side of a highway!! The day started with laundry… before the sun was even up and then full cooked breakfast at the café!!

We went back on ourselves,  to Undara National Park. This park features volcanic landscapes, fairly rare to Australia,  which is in essence a huge crayon. We were at first keen to do a tour of the lava tubes, but at over 60 AUD per adult, we opted not to and to do 2 walks instead.

The first walk was to Atkinson’s Lookout and the second was the Katani Crater Rim walk, looking into the now eroded and vegetated crater. Was good to stretch the legs rather than sit in the car for hours!

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386 km

After packing away and Johan helping our neighbour with an injection fault in his car, we headed to Charters Towers to refuel and buy some food.

Took the opportunity to take some photos of the nicely restored old buildings in town.

Charters Towers,  like most of the towns around here, have a very strong mining background as well as regional farming hubs.

After camp was set up we headed off for a short walk around the walking track of the station. The Dam track lead us around three dams and through the bush. We were joined by many of the caravan park campers , some with sundowners in hand 🙂

No doubt, a highlight of the trip thus far… the showers here… clean , hot water …what more can one ask for?? The name of said bathrooms is also great…The Wee Stables ! Hehehe

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595 km

We left Bluff without having breakfast as we were heading to Emerald to pick up a good coffee and have good signal for Christo to be able to have a meeting. We walked around Emerald Botanical Gardens while Christo handed over. The botanical gardens are a bit patchy; but are a nice place to exercise around.

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After the handover meeting we had a quick stop at the Big Easel…one of Australia’s many BIG things. It is a huge enlargement of Van Gogh’s Sunflower painting.

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All these mining town roads are really bumpy with the heavy loads transported on them, including cattle.

Lunch was outside the closed Claremont Museum with mandatory photo of the group in front of a dragline bucket.

The road to Charters Towers is VERY long and boring! There is a warning sign saying that there is a high accident rate for 350km!!! Yes, kilometers!! That summarises it!

Our camp for the night was outside Charters Towers,  again a free camp with toilets and cold water showers

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423 km

Today we planned to reach beyond Emerald. However we diverted to Hurdle Gully Lookout, an unexpected 11km of dirt road followed to an unassuming view. We did have lunch here though.

The most exciting part of the day was driving through the coal mining town of Blackwater… yes… when you don’t stop anywhere and are off the beaten track…then this is excitement …hahahaha.

We ended up pitching camp at a very small pub backyard van park, in Bluff. Bluff has a shunting yard for coal trains, and is right along the highway. Thus its definitely not a quiet nights sleep!! It was too late to get to Emerald that day though.

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458 km

All excited and packed we left Brisbane early on Saturday morning. Two vehicles: Toyota Hilux towing trailer and Toyota Land cruiser. Five members make up our travel party: me, the documenter of the trip, Lara and Johan, as well as Christo and Matt. Matt just recently arrived from Vietnam. I’m the 5^th wheel and not a car owner , just lucky to be in for the ride J .

Several hours north of Brisbane we got signal and noticed that Brisbane is going into Covid lockdown from 4pm. We thought lucky we made it out way before the time! The instruction being lockdown if you can. We discussed our current situation , checked if any of us had been in hotspots, which we had not. Further, we decided to self isolate in the car, free camping, away from people  and cancelled all our accommodation up the coast, as we went up a much less busy inland route.

Our camp for the night was approximately 20km down a dirt road, sponsored by a rural fire station. Was great: had toilets, picnic tables and BBQ. The best was that we had it all to ourselves!

Everyone had a pretty cold night! I’m in my hiking tent and sleeping on 2x foam pads. I used my buff as a beanie and had my warm jacket on. It was 7C.

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