Well after leaving Mt Carbine we headed off down the road towards Mareeba for a few days.  We still weren’t sure what way we were going to head, either towards the coast or inland towards Normanton.  We thought Mareeba might be a good place to sit back in and make up our minds in a relaxed non stressful environment.

We stayed just out of Mareeba at a place called Granite Gorge Tourist Park and as the name says it is near some small granite gorges. The only real downside was that it was still the school holidays so everywhere was pretty crowded with families.  It was quite a nice place to stay and would be great with smaller numbers there.  The granite walks are great and there were plenty of small rock wallabies everywhere as well, great for the kids.  We also did a day trip around the area and visited Jacques Coffee Plantation which Kaye enjoyed more than me as she is the one with the coffee addiction.

We did manage to stay relaxed enough to decide that we would head towards Normanton and maybe go to the coast later on.  When we spoke to a few people that had come from that way they all said how crowded it was everywhere on the coast, even without the school holidays.

 

 

 

 

 

With a clear plan to follow we left Mareeba and started heading down the road and inland towards Normanton.  We called into Atherton and caught up with Janet again for a cup of coffee and chat.  After saying our goodbyes we headed off and then had to decide where to stay for the night.  We chose a place called Pinnarendi Station, which when we got there wasn’t quite ready to open for station stays but they let us stay the night anyway.  They have just started to prepare the place for tourists but are still around 6 months away from opening.  They were a great couple running the station and made us feel very welcome.  We would definitely stay there again if ever coming past again as it should be very nice to see once they have finished doing all the preparations.

From Pinnarendi Station we then drove to Forsayth to stay and from there travel out to look at Cobbold Gorge.  They had a pretty good deal at Forsayth where it was only $110 for the week with power to stay, so that was an easy decision to make.  Forsayth was mainly famous for gold back in its day and now really only gets fossickers staying there or people like us that are going to the gorge.  The pub does a really good meal so put that on your places to visit as well.  We decided to do the gorge on a tour to save driving out and you also got a lunch provided as well.  It was just our luck that the night before we had two inches of rain and it also rained all the next day we went to the gorge.  The trip to the gorge ended up being cold and wet which was unfortunate but “thems” the beaks.  When you arrive at the gorge you can only see it on a tour , even if you drive your own car out there, that’s really why we decided to do the tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After what finished up being a pretty wet week in Forsayth we headed off towards Croydon for the night.  We were only going to stay in Corydon for one night but after arriving we decided to stay two as there is quite a bit to see in this very small town.  Croydon was also famous for its past gold mining heritage and they have done a great job in restoring a lot of old buildings that are free to walk around and look in.  We got the bikes out in Croydon and spent the next day riding around the town and having a good look around at all the displays.  They also have quite a good caravan park with nice grassed sites which is pretty rare in inland Queensland.  Croydon also boasts having Australia’s oldest running general store that dates back to the mid 1800’s.  We also did a meal at the local pub where they had a great special on bottles of red wine which made the night really good, lucky it was a short walk back to the caravan park and I didn’t have far to carry Kaye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Croydon it was next to Karumba on the east coast of Queensland.  Karumba is a small fishing, cattle export and mining export town that really does fill up with tourists this time of the year.  This is the place that if you haven’t got a tinnie on the roof of your car your not part of the scene.  It wasn’t really that bad but you did feel the odd one out by not having a boat.  There wasn’t a real lot to do in Karumba besides fishing but when you spoke to everyone there weren’t many fish being caught.  That didn’t surprise us with the amount of boats going out each day.  We did have fish and chips from Ash’s World Famous Fish Shop that were very nice and we would recommend.  We also did a sunset boat trip that for $50 each was well worth it.  You get beer, wine and nibbles and it goes for just over two hours with some interesting commentary about Karumba.  We had some great neighbours also at Karumba and it was good to meet Michael and Heather.  They were from the Barossa Valley but we didn’t hold that against them.  Michael and Heather were keen to hear of our trip to Cape York as that is where they were heading.  I wish them well if they are following any of the advice we gave them and hopefully we haven’t got them lost.

 

 

 

 

 

Normanton was our next stop after Karumba which was only a short 70 kilometre drive down the road.  These are the sort of drives I like, short and quick.  Normanton is the commercial hub for the gulf county in Queensland and has quite a bit of infrastructure in it.  We planned on doing the Gulflander Train ride while in Normanton and have to wait until Saturday to do it,  which means we will have to sit around for another day and wait, how tough is that.  Krys the 8.73mtr crocodile was also shot near Normanton and there is a life size replica in the main street.  It is absolutely massive and would have been a scary sight to see let alone kill.  Krys was shot by a young girl and the croc’s name is shortening of her name.  The weather is also warming up a little bit and most of the other travellers are starting to complain a bit.  Hopefully some might start heading south a bit earlier which might make it not as crowded in most places, can only hope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Normanton we ae going to do our biggest gravel drive with the van so far on this trip.  It will only be about 150 kilometres to Burketown so hopefully we wont have any issues.  We have also been away now for over 12 months and it really is getting easier.  You can see why some people just keep travelling around all time.  A couple of interesting facts are;

Travelled over 33,000 kilometres,

Spent over $9,000.00 on fuel,

Worst fuel economy 3.2 km/ltr

Best fuel economy 7.0km/ltr

We hopefully will be in Lawn Hill NP in about a week and a bit, and hopefully also all still in one piece after taking the van over the gravel roads.

Well what an exercise this update is turning out to be.  We are experiencing huge IT issues that are proving hard to resolve with downloading of photos not going to well, we will just have to see how we go.

We said our goodbyes to Janet and Atherton and headed off towards Mt Carbine where we planned to leave our caravan and just take the car to Cape York.  We had ordered some extra side walls for our car awning and had arranged for them to be sent to Mt Carbine.  Mt Carbine turned out to be an excellent place to prepare for our trip north and also to leave the van at.  If you pay for two nights you can leave your van there for as long as you like for nothing, about the best deal going around.  Mt Carbine itself is not vey much, a pub, roadhouse and caravan park and that’s the town.  Suited us fine though as you are staying in a real bush setting.

As we didn’t take the computer on our Cape York trip we did a daily update on the I-Pad and have just downloaded this for this update, well kind of.

Day 1

Left Mt Carbine around 09.30 and set off finally heading for Cape York.  Our first stop was Bobs Lookout which had some great views and would have been more special if the weather was a bit finer.  We then stopped at Hamilton Peak and this was the same as Bobs Lookout weather wise.  A stop at Split Rock Aboriginal Art Site was well worth it.  This would have some of the best aboriginal art we have seen so far.  The art work was more like what we have been expecting to see at other sites with paintings of people,  animals, and some really abstract tall paintings of people that looked very alien in nature.  We finished day 1 at Artemis Station where we were hoping to see a glimpse of the Golden Shouldered Parrot.  We were lucky enough to see one of these elusive parrots.  The station owners let us use one of their four wheeler bikes and we drove to the nesting area.  They make their nests in termite mounds and you have to be very quick to see them.  Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get a photo of the bird itself, only the nest but there is picture of one below.

 

 

Golden Shouldered Parrot

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2

We were up early on Day 2 from all the bird noise, a bit to early for one of us as she then had to have an early cup of tea in bed.  A great place to stay if birds are your thing.  It was morning tea at Cohen, they say it is the capital of the gulf region but there really isn’t much here.

We thought we would detour off and have a look at Oyala NP as there were meant to be some good things to look at.  Drove 60km in just to see road closed signs at all the turn offs.  Pity they didn’t have them up when we first turned off.  We did see some pretty interesting termite eaten trees where they seemed to be only eating the bark

We then travelled the 60km back to the main road and started back on our way north.  Filled up with fuel at Archer River, $2.00 a litre, pays not to stuff up with your fuel calculations.  After what seemed a bit of a wasted day we called into Merluna Station for the night.  The camping area is huge at Merluna with space everywhere and lots of grassed area.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 3

Can’t help but get up early up this part of Australia as the bird life makes sure of it.  They start around 6am and are vey loud.  All this means is that princess gets her tea in bed a lot earlier than normal.  Fully recommend staying at Merluna, really nice camp area and pretty good facilities.

On the road around 10am and off towards Weipa.  Weipa was only a quick hour and half drive down the road.  Being a Sunday we can tell you that there is literally nothing open in Weipa on a Sunday.  Drove around a had a good look at Weipa and its quite a nice place and would be a great place to live if you were still in work phase of your life.  We did have a very nice picnic lunch down at the beach, tried to get Kaye to go for a swim but for some reason she wouldn’t.

We booked into the caravan park for the night.  It will be interesting as it is quite full and you are pretty close to each other.  The last couple nights we have virtually been on our own with heaps of space around us.  We have decided to only stay in Weipa for one night as it is a bit crowded and we would rather be travelling.

 

 

 

Day 4

Day 4 was an early get up for some of us while others laid around waiting for the mandatory tea in bed.  After some persuasion everyone finally got up and after breakfast it was a short walk to Woollies for some essential supplies.  I had forgotten to bring deodorant with me and Kaye was starting to complain that I was smelling a bit.  I tried to explain that only the real essentials got packed for the trip and that room and weight was a priority.  Needless to say I lost the talk and ended up with deodorant.  It was then a quick stop to top up with fuel and at only a $1.39ltr it seemed a bargain compared to Archer River.

First stop for the day was at Moreton Telegraph Station.  We thought we would spend a bit of time looking around Moreton but were fairly disappointed when we arrived.  There is not much left of historical significance to look at except for some old photos in their vey different museum.  We had a coffee and tea then headed off towards Bramwell Junction.

We are spending the night at Bramwell Station which is about 7 kilometres from the Junction.  Today was a short drive for us and with not much to see between Weipa and Bramwell we were finished driving and set up camp by 2.30pm.  Bramwell is not as bad stopover though it is very commercialised compared to other station stays and we probably wouldn’t stay here again if we ever do the trip again.

Tomorrow we are planning to stop off at some waterfalls for a swim etc so hopefully it will be more interesting than today.

 

 

 

 

Day 5

What a much better day it was today.  After what we thought was a fairly dull day yesterday for seeing things today was really good.  We were on the road by about 9.30am and started off towards Fruit Bat Falls.  We arrived there around 10.30, packed in the morning smoko and headed down for a swim.  It was a great place with beautiful clear water and good water flow over the falls.  We spent about hour and half there just laying around and swimming.

From Fruit Bat Falls you can take to Old Telegraph Road on towards Eliot Falls and Twin Falls but it does require one fairly deep creek crossing.  As we don’t have a snorkel on the car we decided to drive to the crossing and watch a couple of cars do the crossing.  We were lucky enough when we arrived to see a group of cars getting ready to cross.  After watching them we decided to backtrack a bit and go the long way round to the falls.  The road we were looking for is not very well sign posted and we took a few wrong turns till we finally got the right track in.  This still required a couple of rough creek crossings but they weren’t very deep.

Both Eliot and Twin Falls were excellent and well worth the drive to get to.  The swimming is great and the falls are easy to swim up to and get underneath if you prepared to get battered around a bit.  These were definitely the highlight of the trip up so far for the first 5 days.  This is where both Eliot Creek and Canal Creek meet and they flow on down to join the Jardine River.  Right next to these falls is also The Saucepan which is also a great little place to swim.  We are camping tonight at Eliot Creek camp ground which is really like bush camping and sharing our site with John and Liz.  We first  met John and Liz in Weipa as we were camped next to them and then bumped into them again at Fruit Bat Falls.  We told them where we were staying and the campsite was big enough to take two vehicles and offered them both the pleasure of our company for the night which they were very eager to accept.

Tomorrow we will catch the ferry across the Jardine River and then try to book our day trips to Thursday and Horn Islands, so depending on how booked they are will decide our movements for the next couple of days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 6

Day 6 it was up a little earlier to pack up and then have one last swim at Twin Falls before heading towards the Jardine River and ferry crossing.  Well that was my plan anyway before Kaye told me otherwise and what the actual plan was.  It was similar to mine but didn’t involve the getting up early bit.  We swapped contact information with John and Liz before leaving and will more than likely catch up with them further north as we all seem to be doing the same things.

The swim after packing up was very refreshing as it is still quite humid at this time and you don’t have to do much to get a sweat up.  After a 40 minute swim it was back on the road again.  Part of the drive today was along the Old  Telegraph Track which is only one car wide and makes it interesting when you have cars coming the other way.  The track is also very densely vegetated and passing spots are had to find.  We got to the Jardine River Ferry at 12.10pm and had to sit around until 1.00pm to get a ticket as they were closed for lunch.  My tip for anyone coming up this way is to arrive well before 12.00pm or a bit after 1.00pm to avoid sitting around.  The queue by the time we got on the ferry was about 150mtrs long.

We arrived at Seisai at around 2.30 and dove to Loyalty Beach Campground to book as it was recommended to us by several different people.  If we were up this way in another 4 or 6 weeks it would be interesting to see how crowded it would be.  You would probably have to book your accommodation in some places and that would be hard as you would have to stick to your dates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 7

What a wet night we had last night.  We had some quite heavy showers and it was also very humid which didn’t make for a good nights sleep in the roof tent.  Anyhow we survived and “both” got up early as we had our trip to Thursday and Horn Island booked for today.  It was supposed to be tomorrow but they changed it on us.  We had a 30 minute walk to the ferry so that was our exercise for the day sorted.

Our first stop was Horn Island for a look at the museum they have there which has a lot of WW2 information and photos.  It would have been good to have more time there as it does pack a lot of information into a small room.  Some of the photos really show how bad it was during to second world war and just how lucky we were in Australia from being invaded by the Japanese.  If the Japanese had had better intelligence they could have just landed at Horn Island and taken it over instead of all the multiple bombing raids they carried out.

Next it was on the boat and over to Thursday Island which is only a couple of kilometres away or about 10 minutes by boat.  Thursday Island really impressed us with how developed it was and the amount of infrastructure on the island.  Frank our taxi driver was very informative and showed us all the points of interest.  Thursday Island would probably have the only purpose built fort in Australia that was built in the late 19th century as at the time it was thought the Russians may invade Australia.  It has three canons in place and only one was ever fired, and that was only once when a ship failed to identify itself as being friendly.  Apparently after the warning shot over the bow it very quickly identified itself as being friendly.

We had a great lunch at one of the local hotels and the cold beer went down very nicely.  With the high humidity it is amazing how much you sweat and have to replace fluids.  Seems like a lifetime ago now since we lived all those years up north in all the heat and dust.  After lunch it was a walk along the foreshore to the harbour area and back to the boat.  We had a nice smooth ride over to Thursday Island but the trip back was a different story as the wind had come in and the waves were nice and lumpy.  All in all we really enjoyed our tip to Thursday Island and would definitely come back if ever up this way again.  We even caught up with John and Liz again and enjoyed a few dinks around their campfire at night.  It does make travelling worth it when you meet nice interesting people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 8

Well today we finally made it and got to the most northern point in Australia.  We both thought it would be a bit more crowded than it was and were happily surprised that it wasn’t when we got there.  We weren’t sure what to expect when we got to the top in the way of geography.  The tip is all rock right to the waters edge and you have about a 10 minute walk from the car park.

Apparently it is not unusual for crocodiles to be seen around the tip and there were reports of one lingering about in the water a couple of days before we got there but I’m not sure if that was just tourist talk that does the rounds every year.  We took the obligatory photos then walked along the rocks onto a beautiful white sandy beach and back to the car park.  The drive up to the tip from Seisai was quite spectacular as you drive through some very dense rainforest to get there.  That was something we weren’t expecting.  Once you get to the tip and see it you do feel that it was all worthwhile and if it isn’t on your bucket list it should be.  The drive from Cairns to get here is really easy if you take the development and bypass roads.  It could be done in a normal sedan quite easily.  Mostly the gravel roads are excellent if you compare them to gravel roads in the Pilbara.

After looking around the tip and taking in the great scenery we dove onto Punsand Bay for a look.  This had a fantastic looking beach in front of it and if it wasn’t for the crocodiles it would have been a great place to stay and swim.  The campground there also looks nice and worth staying at.  From Punsand Bay we called into the Croc Shed tourist hut that you have to drive past to get to the tip.  We did buy a T-shirt each to prove we actually got to the tip.  We then drove out to Umagico and Injinoo settlements for a look around.  The campground at Umagico looked really nice and would be another option to stay at.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 9

Today we start our journey back down south with plans to get to Moreton for the night.  We left Seisai at about 9.30 and had a good drive to Jardine River Ferry where we then sat for nearly an hour and half waiting to cross over.  There was a bit of a queue when we arrived but the service was very very slow.  My next tip for this service is don’t do it on a weekend as they only had one person operating it and  it looked like not all the locals work weekends.  There was only one guy working the ferry and his pace is pretty ordinary.  As we weren’t in a great hurry we just made a coffee and waited while others around us got quite toey and impatient.

We finally got across and then headed back towards Fruit Bat Falls where we decided to go for a swim and have lunch.  The falls were a lot more crowded this time with the start of the school holidays and just more travellers on the roads than the week previous.  After lunch we headed off and decided to see if Captain Billy Landing was open as on our way north the road in was closed.  To our luck the road was open so we decided to try the 27km drive in and have a look.  When we got there it looked petty nice so we decided to spend the night.  It had a nice large grassed area right on the ocean front.  You have to be prepared to put up with a bit of wind blowing but still worth putting on your map for a stopover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 10

Today was an early rise as everyone around us seemed to want to be on the road early.  After trying to kid myself into going back to sleep I gave up and got up as well.  The wind was not as strong as what is was yesterday so that was a nice change.

We decided to go to Chili Beach for a look as quite a few people had told us it was a great place to stay at but could be very windy.  Parts of the drive into Chili Beach would have to be the worse roads we have driven on so far.  For a place that seems so popular I would have thought the roads would be a lot better.  Some of the holes and corrugations were huge.  Once we got to Chili Beach it was a nice place, but as we were told it was also vey windy.  If there was no wind it would be a great spot.  With the palm trees on the beach it really does look like a tropical beach not in Australia.

We decided to stay the night at Kaanju Ngaachi Campgrounds which are run by the Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation.   When we arrived there was only one other couple here and they were a lot happier to see us than us them.  They seemed a bit nervous at the prospect of being on their own.  With Kaanju Ngaachi being on an Aboriginal reserve I think it must make a lot of people stay away.  There were hot and cold showers and flushing toilets which is a lot better than you get at most campgrounds.  You have to light the fire yourself to heat the water but that’s no big deal, brought back childhood memories.  Really good place to stay and would definitely stay here again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 11

Today we both had a bit of a lie in, making up for the restless night before at Billy’s Landing.  We had around a 300 kilometre drive today but with the roads getting better as you drive further south it was going to be relatively easy.  We were both surprised how many bitumen sections of road there are up here.  They say the road to Weipa will be fully bituminised within the next 2 yeas which will make the trip to the top very easy.

We headed off towards Lakefield NP where we were booked into the Hann Crossing Campground.  This was right next to the North Kennedy River and our camp site was right on the rivers edge.  There was even a fire place prepared for us from the previous nights occupants so that was a real bonus.  Tried to get Kaye to go for a swim but she banged on about crocodiles and asked if I was trying to get id of her.  What a silly idea that would be.

We are glad to be heading south now and back to the van as the roads are vey busy up here at present and some of the people on dirt roads are not very considerate.  They are all in a hurry, don’t slow down and spray you with rocks.  We must have passed over 100 vehicles today heading north towards the Cape.  All the campgrounds would now be jam packed for the next three weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 12

Today we woke up to probably the sunniest morning of the trip so far.  It was nice just laying in the cool of the morning listening to the sounds of birds and running water from the river, can’t get much better than that.

Today it was off towards Cooktown continuing on through Lakefield NP on some vey very dusty roads.  With the school holidays there was still the idiots on the roads.  Some people should not be allowed to drive on gravel roads.

We stopped off at Old Laura Homestead for a look around.  They have done a excellent job of preserving the old buildings around the homestead and you can walk around the grounds.  It was very interesting to see how they lived before all the mod cons of life came along.

Cooktown greeted us to some really strong winds and overcast skies.  The town was vey busy with tourists and traffic all over the place.  We stopped at the local bakery and had a very high calorie lunch which was vey nice.  We then went for a dive around town before heading to the local carwash to give the car a birthday.  We spent, or should I say I spent around 40 minutes with the high pressure cleaner trying to get most of the dust and mud from under the car.  It was then a drive around to find the most wind protected place to stay for the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 13

What a windy night we had for sleeping, it wasn’t much different from our night at Captain Billy Landing.  Luckily we managed to be in a fairly sheltered area and it didn’t rock the roof top tent to much, people might have got the wrong idea.

After packing up we decided to try and vote early and headed off to the local PCYC to register to vote.  It was a really easy process and with no queues we had it done in a matter of minutes.  It definitely was a lot quicker than doing it at home and you didn’t have all the people hassling you out the front.

After doing our democratic duty we left Cooktown and headed off along the Bloomfield Track towards the Daintree NP.  The drive stated off good but as we got closer to the Daintree the traffic and crowds certainly got larger and busier.  Hate school holiday times.  The drive itself was quite spectacular with some great areas to drive through and several small creek crossings that were mostly flowing.  By luck we decided to have a look at the Roaring Meg Falls near Wujal Wujal and they were pretty spectacular.  The water certainly was roaring over the falls, probably would be the best waterfall we have seen so far.  We also stopped at Cape Tribulation but didn’t hang around long as it was packed and parking was a huge hassle.  We drove another 20 minutes down the road and found a small picnic area for lunch and were the only ones there, crazy.

We were intending to stay the night in the Daintree but with all the people around we decided to keep going towards Mossman to do some shopping then drove back to the caravan.  So after planning to be away for around 15 to 16 days we managed to be away for 13 days.  We don’t feel we missed anything really worth seeing by arriving back earlier than planned.  The east side of northern Queensland is very windy at times and it does spoil it a bit.  Also with some of the beautiful beaches and not being able to swim is disappointing.  Our next big decision is to decide  where to head to next as this years goal was to get to the top of Australia.  Tough decisions to be made.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well that’s it for this marathon update and what a marathon it has been.  Hopefully the next one will be a lot easier.  Until then keep safe……….