After a nice week in our rental home with Kellie’s parents it was time to tackle Cape York the most northern point of mainland Australia, we arranged to store the caravan in a local park and packed the car with tents and camping gear.
We left Cairns heading towards Mossman and Daintree, the road here is nice winding along the coastline with rainforest on one side and brilliant blue ocean on the other. We joined the queue for the ferry over the Daintree and continued onto the dirt road of the Bloomfield Track, after many steep climbs and some as steep descents we made it to the Lions Den Hotel a welcome sight after the drive.
We pushed on to Cooktown and setup camp in one of the local parks, what surprised me was the high prices for unpowered camping, we paid $45 for one night, another place was going to charge $54/night which is crazy.
From here we continue on north through Lakefield National Park stopping for two nights at Hahn River, great National Park campground with cold showers which is good as there are crocs in the river so no chance for a swim.
From here it was a good drive out to Musgrave Roadhouse then northwards again through Coen and finally after a big day, our last stop before tackling the Overland Telegraph Track was Bramwell Roadhouse, this is the northern most cattle station in Australia and the kids enjoyed feeding the young calves.
The Overland Telegraph Track is just that, back in the day the telegraph lines cut through the middle of Cape York all the way to Bamaga on the northern tip, these days there is a well maintained road but you can still drive the original track which is not maintained and what some would consider a must do 4wd track. The only issue with the track is during the wet season the river crossings are flooded out and the next dry season means the entry and exits change from year to year, the challenge is some of the deeper crossings which add to the excitement.
We only had only had one minor drama crossing the deepest crossing at Nolan’s Brook, half way across and with the front wheels nearly out the water the car cut out, turning it off and restarting I was able to drive out.
Some highlights Elliot Falls, Fruit Bat Falls and Twin Falls.
Next stop Loyalty Beach campground for a few nights and a trip to the tip of mainland Australia,
One more place to tick off the list was Thursday Island, a 1.5hour boat trip takes you to the island where you can spend the day wandering around like we did and checking out the island. Lovely place with only a few thousand people and a rich history from during the war years to the local indigenous who are spread far and wide on the small Islands that make up the Torres Strait.
We then made our way south stopping at one of the roadhouses and taking the detour into Weipa to check out the bauxite mine that the town was built to service.
Our last 4wd track on hearing it had been reopened just recently was the CREB track, we hooked up with another guy for safety in numbers but it was really just a really good technical drive with some impressive scenery and interesting locals towards the end.
And so that was the end of our Cape York adventure, next it was back to Cairns where we hung out with our friends for a week before heading back to Darwin for work.
