Mike & Carol's Bushtracker Adventures Around Australia: July 2005

CAPE YORK TRIP - 2005

CAPE YORK TRIP 2005
Cooktown
Wednesday 27 July to Saturday 30 July

We left Port Douglas as a 3 Bushtracker convoy, met up with John and Rhonda at Mt Carbine and have travelled as a 4 Bushtracker convoy since. John has worked in Cape York for more than 20 years, knows the land, the history and the people and instantly became trip leader.

We stopped at Palmer River Road House for lunch and Earl Jones lookout on top of the tableland providing spectacular views of the surrounding valleys.

We arrived at Cooktown after travelling on our first red dirt road. Mike had to go back to Cairns the next day to have our burst air bags and suspension springs fixed in the Lexus. We were glad that it happened before we had travelled further north to the TIP. With the problem solved and a much happier Mike and car, we proceeded to explore Cooktown and its surrounds.

We left the caravans behind and headed off road with our 4WDs. Down to Quarantine Bay, a beautiful beach then up to Archer Point, an unbelievably windy spot on a rugged coastline; a lighthouse and derelict jetty with an interesting story attached. Some more beaches and then to Grassy Hill which overlooks Cooktown and the head of the Endeavour River. We spent some time with one of the old Matrons from the Cooktown Hospital on her cattle farm that she now runs with her adult son, daughter and son in law. Interesting stories of life in Cooktown in a previous time. Quite a remarkable way of life.

We explored the Cooktown Museum which is located in a beautiful brick building and wrought iron balconies which was once a Catholic Convent school. It was amazing to see the anchor and a cannon from the Endeavour. We spent some time at a Coroboree in Anzac Park in town. Aboriginal dancer, New Guinea tribesmen, Solomon Islander pan flute players, and acrobatic troupe. Some better than others but a most enjoyable few hours. Cooktown is a friendly place and layback place.

Main street of Cooktown full of cars in town for the Cooktown Music Festival - more Toyota 4WDs than anything else.

This guy was a pigmy about 4' nothing tall but very happy to pose for this photo.

Am I not Beautiful?

New Guinea Tribesmen preparing to perform

Great to watch for the first five minutes.

The little kid in the middle stole the show during the corroborree - he was probably only 4 or 5 years old but performed perfectly.

Beautiful looking Islander preparing to take the food from the pit.

The locals preparing the Hangi - wild pig, chicken, various local vegetables cooked in the ground over hot stones and under Banana Palm leaves for several hours.

And this is the Qld Music Festival Cooktown Local Choir.

Attendants at Anzac Park for the Music Festival and Corroboree in Cooktown

Locals weaving a hat

Cooktown Music Festival celebrated at Anzac Park in the heart of Cooktown - these islanders were incredibly strong and their feats were fantastic.

Keatings Lagoon this is called but wild pigs have completely dug up this wetland and what you see is the result.

This is the Water Supply of the Annan River to Cooktown - just beautiful and the water is so clear.

Back: Steve. Phil, John, then left to right Helen, Leith and Carol.

Raging little waterfall at the little Annan River 20km south of Cooktown.

The bar at the Lion's Den - think the bloke at the front of the bar has had a few too many...

The Lion's Den is an old Pub some 30km south of Cooktown at the end of the Bloomfield track.

Story about interaction between local Aborigines and James Cook in 1770 - very worth while reading - just click on the photo to blow it up and you should be able to read it.

Original Anchor from the Endeavour

Original canon from HM Bark Endeavour

Front verandah of the Museum - beautiful building.

This used to be a Convent School - now the James Cook Museum.

Bust of James Cook inside old Bank.

Old Bank on main street, Cooktown

Local cutting coconuts at Cooktown market

One of the old pubs in Cooktown.

One beast per acre. Only 5000 acres suitable for use out of 36,000 acres on Joan's property.

John with Joan (the Matron)

Scones for afternoon tea were just delicious.

The stove in the kitchen - no doors or windows - see the scones cooking front left in the pan. And the big pot just to its right is the water being boiled for the tea and coffee.

The pantry

The lounge room

One of the Matron's (Joan) farm houses where we were invited to afternoon tea.

We drove 38km out of Cooktown to visit "The Matron" on her 64 square mile property.

Cooktown, looking South from Grassy Hill.

View of Endeavour River from Grassy Hill.

View North from Grassy Hill, Cooktown

What Captain Cook said in 1770.

History of Lighthouse

Lighthouse at Grassy Hill - Cooktown

Looking north to Archer Point from the old wharf.

This wharf was built to ship grain from the region to Japan but half was blown away by wind during loading and this venture failed - wharf quite derelict now.

Very, very windy at Archer Point

View from Archer Point near Cooktown

Quarantine Bay

Quarantine Bay near Cooktown

Story about Black Mountain

Black Mountain just outside of Cooktown

Very interesting countryside

This is typical view on the road to Cooktown

Famous Palmer River Road House on the Peninsula Development Road

Now we know where towns are.

This is John and Rhonda. John is the expert on our journey to Cape York.

We gave the Gallahs a bit of a fright

At Mt Carbine on our way to Cooktown

CAPE YORK TRIP - 2005

CAPE YORK TRIP - 2005
Sunday 24 July to Wednesday 27 July 2005

We have had a great few days in Port Douglas. We have met up with 2 other couples, Steve and Leith from Western Australia and Phil and Helen from Gosford at the caravan park who also have Bushtracker caravans. We are going to meet up with a 3rd couple at Mount Molloyand then we will be off to explore Cape York together. It will be a safer and more fun with 4 vehicles in convoy.

It has been unseasonally wet according to the locals but that has not stopped our exploring. We spent Sunday driving up to Cape Tribulation and beyond in convoy with the other 2 4WDs. The caravans were left at Port Douglas and our car was so happy not to be pulling an extra 3 tonnes.

We crossed the Daintree River by car ferry which must be even more beautiful in the wet season, and then headed into the Daintree National Park. Each beach was a stop and a walk. The beaches were spectacular and the grey clouds made for silver water. The Bloomfield Track north of Cape Tribulation is 4WD only and leads to Cooktown. The storms of the previous few days must have been quite strong as there were a lot of fallen trees on the track. There were rivers to cross and rain forest to drive through and of course much less traffic than at Cape Tribulation.

We stopped for lunch along the Bloomfield River and took note of the Crocodile warning signs.

We turned off the Bloomfield Track at Wujal Wujal and headed down the CREB track (Cairns Regional Electricity Board) which had been closed in part due to the wet.. Our ultimate goal for the day was to reach the Roaring Meg waterfalls off this CREB track but the track was quite slippery, the water crossing were getting deeper and it was getting late. We headed home enjoying the beautiful rain forest that was surrounding us.

We have spent some time preparing our van for the trip to the Tip and are heading north to Cooktown on Wednesday morning. We are really looking forward to the journey.

Nature at work - Magnificent art produced by a crab living in the hole in the sand on the beach at Cape Trib.

Cape Tribulation - late afternoon

Fantastic Fungi in the Daintree

Here we are at Cape Tribulation

South End of Cape Tribulation (in the mangrove)

Cape Tribulation looking North

Nature is just beautiful in the Daintree World Heritage listed National Park

This is Phil & Helen in their F250 crossing another creek on the Bloomfield Trek

How do these trees survive?

We are 3 vehicles in convoy - this is Steve & Leith crossing one of the creeks on the Bloomfield Trek north of Cape Tribulation

Cape Kimberley - Beautiful Beach - Looking South

Crossing the Daintree River

CAPE YORK TRIP - 2005

CAPE YORK TRIP - 2005
Saturday 16 July to Friday 22 July 2005

We have now been travelling in our new Bushtracker home for a week. It has been fantastic and everything so far has worked the way we thought it would. We basically headed north without any sight seeing as we have seen this part of the coastline before and our goal is to get to Cooktown to start our northern trek.

We stopped off at Maroochydore to fix a few things at Bushtracker on our way. We spent the first 5 nights staying at roadside rest stops. The rest stops have great facilities, toilets, water, BBQ, space and lots of other travellers at each stop with stories to tell. Everyone is so friendly.

The weather for the first few days was sunny and increasingly warmer as we travelled north however over the past 3 days the rain has been heavy at times with strong winds. Nothing has bothered us and the van has no leaks. The car is behaving itself and pulling our 3 tonne van effortlessly, the only penalty being that it CONSUMES a massive amount of petrol!!!! We have stopped off at some beaches for lunches and a stroll and the road from Cairns to Port Douglas which hugs the shoreline is spectacular. The highway north is flanked by huge fields of sugarcane along with some banana and mango plantations. The many shades of green overlaid on each other are beautiful and contrast with the blue tinge of the mountains in the background.

We have seen no live kangaroos so I guess the kangaroo deflecting whistles we put on the front of our car must be really effective??

A huge male Southern Cassowary managed to stop the traffic on the highway as we all watched it look at us and then decide not to risk crossing the highway after all. It was very funny to see and interesting to hear the truckies talking about it on the UHF afterwards. We arrived in Port Douglas on Thursday night and are staying at our first caravan park 6km out of Port Douglas. We have met up with 2 other couples also towing Bushtracker vans and hope to travel together to Cape York. Today we had breakfast together in Port Douglas and then walked the main street of shops.

We then spent a few hours walking through Mossman Gorge north of Port Douglas, it’s a rain forest (part of the Daintree) and it rained through the canopy for all 5km of our walk. But it was just spectacular. So far, so good.