Mon, 5th to Tues, 6th September - Cooktown

What a wet and windy night!  We woke on Monday to an overcast day with strong gusts of wind.  As the morning progressed the rain eased and we ventured down the main street.

We think we found the place where John stayed when he was up here about 7 years ago.  We wandered down to the wharf area and watched for a while but we didn't see any fish being pulled in.  We then headed up to Grassy Hill lookout and lighthouse where we could see for miles!  This truly is a beautiful place. We drove out to Finch Bay which is another lovely beach area on the other side of the peninsula and we think we've seen this in one of John's photos too.

Lunch was a terrible pie from the local bakery before we headed to the Botanic Gardens and Nature's Powerhouse.  The Powerhouse provides visitors with general information about the area as well as the natural history of Cape York Peninsula.  The snake and 'creepy crawly' exhibition was fascinating.  Another permanent exhibition is Vera Scarth-Johnson's botanical illustrations of local flowering plants which are beautiful.  The Botanic Gardens were established in 1878 and are among the oldest in Australia and we enjoyed a walk in the shade.

We decided we would try the Italian Restaurant in town for dinner.  When we arrived the lights were well and truly out even though the opening hours showed '7 days a week'.  Driving down the main street, we found most of the restaurants were closed, so we settled for some fish and chips instead.

Tuesday was day 200 of our trip!!  We decided to try our hand at fishing from the wharf.  We managed to pull in 3 bream but unfortunately they were just a 'tad' under the legal limit of 25cm.  Never mind ... we had a bit of fun and more luck than the others on the wharf.

After lunch back at the van we went to the Captain Cook Museum which is housed in the old Girls' Convent building.  Here we saw the Endeavour's enormous anchor and one of the ship's original cannons, both rescued from the sea at Endeavour Reef in 1969.  Queen Elizabeth II opened the Museum during her visit in 1970.  After a leisurely couple of hours in the museum we headed back to the van to have roast beef for dinner.

Is this familiar John?

The view from the Grassy Hill lookout

The wharf area

Looking down over Cooktown

One to be cautious of

The Endeavour's anchor ... too big to fit into a photo

The view from the top level of the old Convent

Sun, 4th September - Cooktown

Even though it was Fathers' Day, Rick was up early washing the Navara.  It is something he likes to do whenever we have access to water.  It was nearly 10:30am by the time we had finished and packed up ready to travel again.  We had already decided we would go all the way through to Cooktown, a distance of about 250kms.

We had a fairly uneventful trip until we were on a downhill run and left-hand bend, when we came across two huge bulls sauntering across the road in front of us.  Most of the roads in far north Queensland and NT are unfenced and there are warning signs everywhere about cattle being on the roads.  You become quite used to seeing them close to the edges of the road and they don't even lift their heads to look at you as you drive past.

We continued on to The Lion's Den hotel just 20kms south of Cooktown.  This is another interesting pub with many stories to be read on the walls.  It is located in a pretty spot on a river where you can also camp if you want.  We had lunch there but decided to keep heading to Cooktown for the night. We checked into the Big 4 Caravan Park for two nights with the option of another two.  Once set up Rick watched the football and I had a quiet time.  It was quite windy and cool with a few spots of rain in between.

A couple of big boys on the road in front of us

The Lions Den Hotel near Cooktown

The writing's on the wall ...

A most unusual flower on a creeper at the front of the pub

Our pleasant campsite at the Big 4 Cooktown

Fri, 2nd to Sat, 3rd September - Mareeba

On Friday we once again we said goodbye to Kay and Glen as they were heading in a different direction to us.  We had a big day ahead of us ... a 15km drive up the road to a town called Mareeba!  Mareeba is located approximately 65kms inland from Cairns.  We went into the Mareeba Rodeo Grounds, where we could camp for $15 per night with power, water, amenities and access to washing machines.  We booked in for two nights, set up camp and once again caught up with washing all the linen.  We have a small washing machine in the van but it only holds the equivalent of one sheet at a time, so sometimes we need to use a campground washing machine.  There were roos everywhere in the grounds and I counted about 15 that I could see from our van.

With the chores done, we went for a drive into town and had a look at the Mareeba Visitors' Centre and historic museum.  This was another excellent display and we spent a good hour having a look around and found out about a few things to have a look at.  Rick was pleased to hear there was a speedway meeting scheduled for the following day and that the speedway was right next door to where we were staying.  We had a bit more of a drive around to get our bearings, before heading back to camp. We discovered that each Friday night the local scout group uses one of the rodeo canteen facilities to cook and sell hamburgers.  We decided to support the scouts and save on washing up by having hamburgers for dinner.

On Saturday Rick washed the van again and I gave the inside a bit of a 'do'.  By the time we had finished it was nearly lunchtime.  We drove into town and went to the Beck Museum, which is the largest privately owned aviation and military museum in Queensland.  Once again it was an impressive collection although being stored in an open-ended shed, most of the items were covered in dust and would eventually deteriorate.

We left there to go to 'Coffee Works' for lunch.  We didn't bother doing the whole tour as it was all a bit too commercial with lots of 'touristy' unrelated items for sale.  The small samples of chocolate on offer were very nice, but it was extremely expensive to buy, costing around $7 per 100grams.  Lunch was very nice and my coffee was delicious! We then drove a little further out of town to the Golden Drop Mango Winery which was a little disappointing.  Rick had a couple of tastes before purchasing a sweet dessert wine.  The mango trees in the orchard were nice looking trees and we could see they were just starting to develop fruits.  We passed several sugar cane fields on the way in various stages of growth.

We returned to the van and I did a couple of small loads of washing in our machine, while we played a game of TriOminos.  Thanks Jen for the game ... we have played it quite often when we haven't had TV reception.  A bit later in the afternoon Rick went around the corner to the speedway while I caught up on the blog.

Our camp at Rocky Creek ...next to Kay and Glen

How would you like to sit in this nose cone?

A Dakota parked in the back yard

The story on the Dakota

Thurs, 1st September - Herberton/Rocky Creek

We were up early to be at the Auto Electricians at 8am, but of course he's a tradesman so he didn't arrive until 8:15am.  It took until 9:30am for him to install a new 12-pin plug for us and put our electric brake wiring back to the way he found it.

We left Ravenshoe and headed north along a very scenic but winding road for about 30kms to a historic little town called Herberton.  Herberton's claim to fame is tin mining.  We went into the Visitors' Centre where a lovely lady told us a bit about Herberton and tin.  We didn't realise just how heavy tin is in its natural form and that it has many uses.  It is used to produce tinplate, or steel coated with tin is used for food packaging. Tin and tin alloys are used also for solder, especially in the electronics industry. It is commonly used as an alloy for bearing metal and as an alloy in metallic coatings.  Inorganic compounds of tin are used in ceramics and glazes. Organic compounds of tin are used in plastics, wood preservatives, pesticides and in fire retardants.

We picked up a map of the town's main street and as we had been up so early headed for a coffee shop.  The one we went to was run by volunteers from an animal rescue organisation.  It wasn't the best.  Rick ordered a milkshake and was told about ten minutes later that the lady couldn't get the milkshake maker to work, so she would give Rick his drink 'un-shaked' and refund his money.  I ordered a devonshire with coffee ... the scones were cold, the cream was fake and the coffee was pretty awful.  Half-way through consuming our morning tea, another lady came into the shop.  She must have been the 'boss lady'.  Next thing she came out to Rick and said she managed to get the milkshake maker going and would Rick like his drink 'shaked'.  There wasn't much left so he declined.

We then drove about 1km north of town to the Herberton Historic Village.  We were a bit skeptical by this time but paid out $20 per head and went in.  It turned out to be one of the best $40 we have ever spent and enjoyed a good 3 hours looking around.  There are 50 buildings dating from 1870, which are original and have intact displays, original machinery, vehicles and related items.  The original Herberton State School building from 1881 was particularly interesting with its blackboards full of typical examination questions from its time ... Rick and I both failed miserably.  Over the years the buildings have been moved to their present positions and restored.  Harry Skennar and his wife started the collection and it has continued with present owners Craig and Connie Kimberley.  We also enjoyed a lovely lunch in one of the old buildings.

We left Historic Herberton and drove on to yet another nice free camp just north of Atherton called Rocky Creek Memorial Park.  Here we ran into Kay and Glen again (from Gilbert River free camp).  This ended up being quite a pleasant spot with grass for a change, and we had TV, weak internet and mobile.

Rick actually spent most of his school years outside the classroom rather than in it ..

Some dentist torture instruments

A beautifully restored hearse wagon, complete with coffin

A small part of the 'Box Brownie' camera collection

A view of one of the restored streets

The huge Comet Windmill

The Comet Windmill story

The Harry Skennar story

Wed, 31st August - Ravenshoe

Ravenshoe is Queensland's highest town at 950 metres above sea level and is located in the Misty Mountains.  It lived up to its name and the day started off misty and cool. We needed to have our 7-pin plug (connecting the car to the van) replaced, so we went to see an Auto Electrician in town.  He couldn't help us out until 8am the next morning, so we returned to the Railway Museum and unhooked the van so we could do some sight-seeing.  First stop was the Little Millstream Falls just outside of town.  There are a lot of falls in the area and we ended up visiting 5 of them.

We decided to move on to Big Millstream Falls but somehow missed the turn and after about 15kms of twisty, narrow road ended up at the beautiful Tully Gorge.  We backtracked and eventually found the turn to Big Millstream Falls which is reportedly the widest single-drop waterfall in Australia.

After having lunch back at the van we had a walk up the main street, looking into a couple of interesting little craft shops.  We then took another narrow and twisty road to the Mungalli Creek Dairy, stopping briefly in a quaint little town called Millaa Millaa on the way.  We came across a quirky statue in the main street ... click on the second photo below to enlarge the explanation.  The Dairy wasn't far down the road and was all a bit of a disappointment, however we purchased some cheese and a tub of yoghurt.  On the way back to Ravenshoe we drove a loop past the Zillie, Ellinjaa and Millaa Millaaa Falls.  There was a small busload of young people swimming at the Millaa Millaa falls even though it was overcast and only about 20 degrees in the rainforest.

As we headed into the Zillie Falls we were met by what we think was some type of turkey that actually crossed the road and headed straight for us.  We gave him a wide berth and he disappeared into the surrounding bush.

Little Millstream Falls

Big Millstream Falls

Quirky statue in the main street of Millaa Millaa ... note the tree in the background

The explanation for the statue

Ellinjaa Falls

Zillie Falls

Not what you would call a 'pretty' bird

Millaa Millaa Falls ... note the person swimming at the bottom of the fall

Tues, 30th August - Ravenshoe

It was already 25 degrees by 8am ... we expected a hot one again.  We were travelling on another developmental road, meaning some stretches were single lane.

We stopped for a short time 50kms later, just 20kms west of a small town called Georgetown.  We had a closer look at the Cumberland Chimney which is all that remains of a gold crushing plant built by cornish masons.  Nearby was a dam covered with beautiful, white water lillies and birds everywhere.  

We continued into Georgetown and went into the Visitors' Centre.  Also housed in the same building is the Ted Elliott Mineral Collection called TerrEstrial.  This is an exhibit of over 4,500 minerals, gemstones and fossils from local mines and other countries.  Ted Elliott began gathering minerals as a teenager in 1946 and this display is his work over a period of 50 years.  One of the stars of the display is the largest cut and polished agate in Australia and perhaps the world.  It measures 50cm x 30cm x 10cm and was found by Ken Collins in 1950 at Agate Creek south of Georgetown.  Ted Elliott acquired the agate in 1976.

After spending quite a bit of time in the Ted Elliot display we continued to Mount Surprise and had lunch in the local park as it had turned out to be a pleasant 27 degrees.  Mt Surprise is a railway town on the old Cairns to Forsayth Railway line.  It is a centre for gem fossicking with topaz, quartz, spinel, garnet, cairngorm and aquamarine to be found. We wandered across the road from the park and had a look at a shop called the Gem Den.  I didn't find anything in the way of jewellery that I couldn't live without and Rick didn't find anything that he could live with!

We continued on for about 55kms to the Undara Volcanic National Park.  Approx. 190,000 years ago a major volcanic eruption produced 23 cubic kilometres of lava, most of which flowed down the western side of the Great Divide.  This created what is known as the Undara Lava Tubes.   The tubes distributed lava over 100km from the crater, the longest flow in the world from a single volcano.  Unfortunately, there wasn't another tour of the tubes until 3:30pm which would have been too late for us, so we had to keep moving.

We stopped 150kms further down the road at Ravenshoe.  Here we were in a totally different environment to what we were used to.  We were now is lush, green, rainforest and it was cool and overcast with spits of rain.  We were going to spend the night in the free camping area at the rear of the Railway Museum which happened to be in the main street.  Many more campers pulled in for the night and we had a good night's sleep in the cooler weather conditions.

The narrow single-lane developmental road

White water lillies on the dam

The remains of the chimney

Another beautiful gem ... Amethyst Crystal

Our camp in the Railway Museum

Mon, 29th August - Gilbert River

Last night we had dinner on the lawn of the local tavern, overlooking the ocean and watched the sun set.  It had cooled down a bit and there was a lovely cool breeze.  Interestingly, Karumba usually only experiences one high and one low tide per day.

Before leaving Karumba, we called into the Barramundi Discovery Centre.  The centre is run entirely by volunteers and it is the only hatchery in the world that breeds the Gulf strain of barramundi for eventual release into the Gulf river systems and dams.  There were several tanks in the centre where we could watch and feed the barramundi.

We then called into Raptis and Sons to pick up another 2kg of freshly cooked prawns and Rick couldn't resist buying a cooked mud crab.  After doing all the usual stocking up and refuelling, etc. we drove about 230kms to a little town called Croydon.  The Navara was telling us it was around 37 degrees outside, but we still got a shock at the heat when we got out of the car.  It was nice to walk into the quite new and air conditioned Visitors' Centre.  We didn't spend too much time there as it was getting a bit late in the afternoon.

We continued another 70kms to a free camp for the night at Gilbert River.  It was a terrific spot except that it was full of bull dust which rose in little clouds with every footstep.  We managed to find a small area that had a bit of gravel underfoot making it a bit more pleasant.  There was another van parked there before us and the occupants, Kay and Glen from Innisfail joined us for a drink before sundown.  It was an extremely hot night ... still 34 degrees at 8pm and there was lightning visible in the distance.  Several more travellers pulled in late in the evening.

The view from the lawn of the Tavern

Rick having an eye-to-eye with a large female barramundi

A tin man outside the Croydon Visitors' Centre

Another funny sign along the road

Gilbert River camp during 'happy hour'

Sat, 27th to Sun, 28th August - Karumba

It was a really warm night for sleeping, but fortunately the traffic on the highway was minimal.  When we rose at 8am on Saturday it was already up to 21 degrees in the van so we knew we were in for another hot one.  We continued north to the Burke and Wills Roadhouse which turned out to be just a fuel stop in the middle of nowhere. The road we were travelling on from Cloncurry to Karumba in the north is classified as a Developmental Road.  After the Burke and Wills Roadhouse and for a distance of about 150kms the road narrows to one lane only in sections of 10km and 20km at a time.  Fortunately, there isn't much traffic so passing and overtaking doesn't create too much of a problem.

When we arrived at Normanton it was 37 degrees and being a Saturday afternoon there wasn't much happening!  We called into the Visitors' Centre and were amazed to see photos taken around 1974 when the town was totally flooded.  A short distance down the road is a replica of Krys the croc - the biggest croc ever shot by a woman.  Click on the photo below to enlarge for the full story of Krys. 

Leaving Normanton we passed lots of small creeks that were slowly drying up, leaving only small puddles.  There were birds everywhere making the most of what was left of the water, especially Brolgas.  They would be hoping it wouldn't be too long before the wet season would start again and the creeks would start to flow.

We arrived at Karumba at around 3:30pm and had a look at all three caravan parks.  We had been advised earlier not to stay at the park near the water as the people there supposedly weren't friendly and were a bit 'clicky'.  After looking at all the parks we decided this one was in the nicest area, so we would risk it.  All the parks were pretty well packed out, but we were able to squeeze into a shady site where we had mobile phone and internet, but only poor TV reception.  It turned out that the couple parked directly behind us were from Cobargo so we joined them and their neighbours for a few drinks later in the day.

On Sunday we were woken early by all the fisher 'people' heading out fishing.  Almost everyone in the park has a boat as they come here to catch the elusive Barramundi but often settle for a lot of Blue Nose Salmon, which we have tried and found to be very tasty.  There are groups of people in the park who stay here for 3 months every year and have permanent site bookings.

We walked a short distance to the waterfront to check out the Sunday morning markets and had a coffee overlooking the beach.  While there, we watched as a fellow lifted his crab pot from within the mangroves and carefully removed two mud crabs.We then went for a drive around the town and ended up having lunch at a seafood cafe on the Norman River.  We also bought some tasty prawns for dinner for $15 per kilo.  After lunch we returned to the air-conditioned comfort of our van as once again it was 37 degrees.  I did a bit of work on this blog and Rick went for a quick swim in the pool, before returning to watch footy.

Some of the very straight and narrow Developmental Road

Krys the croc (Savannah King's) story

Our 'squeezy' camp site

Looking back towards the town from the boatramp

The view of the Norman River from the Cafe

Frid, 26th August - Cloncurry

We didn't end up looking at much in Mt Isa.  It is a strange town in which a lot of the roads seem a bit dangerous.  In fact, we saw a major crash during the short time we were there.  The people of the town didn't seem very enthusiastic about anything and everything cost a lot of money.  Rick wasn't comfortable about the whole place so we left the very next morning.  However, the country surrounding Mt Isa is beautiful as you travel through the Selwyn Ranges.

We stopped about 120kms further down the road at Cloncurry and visited the Royal Flying Doctor Museum commemorating the work of Rev. John Flynn and the beginnings of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.  The initial flight of the first aircraft supplied by Qantas to the RFDS was on 17th of May 1928 to Julia Creek to attend an injured stockman.

While in Cloncurry we ran into a fellow and his wife in a 5th Wheeler who happened to know Wendy and Greg from Bathurst ... it's a small world isn't it!

We had lunch and at about 2:30pm drove into a service station in town to fuel up.  While there, two young ladies in their early twenties (and dressed for a night out) walked across the road and approached Rick to ask if we could give them a lift into Mt Isa.  Rick was most disappointed that he had to say 'no' as we were headed in the opposite direction.  We watched as they walked down the street and approached anyone else who might have been able to give them a lift. 

We decided we were going to go to Normanton and then Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria so we left Cloncurry and headed to a free camp 80kms north.  We had a pleasant night cooking sausages over the open fire and watching the sun set over the hills in the distance.  It was going to be a warm night as it had been over 30 degrees during the day.  As usual, we met some lovely people who were also camped for the night.

The Selwyn Ranges ... leaving Mt Isa

A quarter scale model of the first aircraft supplied by Qantas ... the Victory

Sausages over the open fire

Another beautiful sunset