Daintree, Cape Tribulation & Cooktown

We left Cairns quite eager to get on the road again, and not at all disappointed about leaving the hussle & bussle of Cairns behind, including traffic lights, the first we’d encountered since Mildura! We took our time cruising along the Capt Cook Hwy which hugs the coast similar to the Great Ocean Road. Our first real stop was Mossman Gorge which is an amazing spot where we did a great walk, taking in the main gorge as well as a side stream and the surrounding rainforest. Popular spot, and we were lucky to get a spot with the trailer, not sure how the coach we saw there made it up the narrow road with cars parked every which way – not sure how some people get their license, though to be fair when most of those oldies got their license tight parking wouldn’t have been an issue.
From there we had a late lunch in Mossman. The cane harvesting season is in full swing and the mill there was working overtime, as well as the many cane trains heading there to offload their cargo. We didn’t get much further up the coast before setting up camp at Wonga Beach, at a nice little c-park right on the beach. Also had heaps of wildlife, with orange-footed scrub fowls (these guys build a huge mound to incubate their eggs), brush turkeys and the most amazing was bandicoots everywhere – something sadly we don’t see in Vic anymore. The kids loved this place as it had two big pools, one of which had a water slide. We decided to base ourselves here another day and spent the next day checking out the coast north, starting with Daintree. It’s a nice little village but we were surprised how settled or cleared the valley was. To get further up the coast we had to cross the Daintree Rv by ferry, and did a number of the great walks in the parks along the coast before getting to Cape Tribulation. Amazing how many little B&Bs, crafty type places and tour companies that now operate along this strip, well at least for 6 months of the year.
Next day we packed up and headed up the same way and on the ferry again, but this time with the trailer in tow. The highlight was the Bloomfield track which basically starts at Cape Trib and heads north to Bloomfield where it joins the road to Cooktown. Apart from some steep sections it was quite easy and in good nick. We ambled along as it made its way through virgin rainforest basically following the coast quite closely, though it was a shame there was no place to stop and check out any views, we had to make do with glimpses through the vegetation. The water crossings weren’t high with no rain recently and we stopped for lunch at one and the kids spotted heaps of fish, yabbies/crayfish and a couple of eels. That night we stopped at a little joint called Ayton, just north of Bloomfield. The trip next day into Cooktown was very short and cruisy.
Cooktown is a great little place, not too big or touristy, but still large enough to have the nice to haves like a bakery, IGA and of course a pub or four. Today was spent checking out a couple of the great museums here – after all this was the joint one James Cook spent over a month repairing some old rotting boat called the Endeavour or something! We also found out we’ll have to vote at either Weipa or Thursday Island, most likely we’ll be closer to TI so we’ll need to make sure we’re close on election day! Lunch was spent down the beach, no swimming again – damn those pesky crocs. Late arvo Lachlan tried his hand at fishing off the wharf with a hand line – one undersized something or other was his reward, but it was a nice way to spend a lazy afternoon. The girls did a big shop in readiness for us heading north tomorrow to Lakefield NP and beyond. The next blog might be a way off as I’m sure the NextG options from here north are either minimal or non-existent.