Property hunting in Port Douglas

Leaving Cooktown we had no choice but to retrace our route at least as far as Mount Molloy, and in fact since we had decided to stop at Port Douglas, we were retracing that part too. The road down to Mossman from the high tableland was an adventure. Although a perfectly good road, surface-wise, it twisted and turned and at times came down very steeply. Scenic and hair-raising!

Looking down towards the coast from the tableland above

We had booked ahead this time so had a space at Port Douglas and ended up as so often adding an extra night, to make it three in all.  Port Douglas really does have character and we are fairly committed to looking for a small property there. We did an initial look with a real estate agent but he didn't really have the measure of what we want. However, we were able to see what some of the advertising really is all about. In any case, we have to sell Dingo Beach first. That could be difficult. I can see us flying back in a few months as it is risky buying without seeing. We did that with Dingo Beach but at least Karen was there to see it. Anyway, it all makes for another little adventure!

The second day at Port Douglas as we walked through the caravan park, Warwick noticed the "Coachmen" again -- the rather large motorhome of safari participants Allan and Lyn, whom we had last seen at Cooktown. It was nice to see them again and compare experiences. For us, however, it was time to move on as the appointment has now been made for the Winnebago to have its service, etc, in Townsville on 5th and 6th September. There is a lot to see between Cairns and Townsville and we have to have a few days in Cairns, collecting mail then probably acting on it, so we needed to get moving.

So here we are in Cairns again, back at the same park, which is lovely. It is so full of birds, the sounds are just non-stop, (day and night, unfortunately!) The stone curlews are very vocal at all hours of the night and one could be forgiven for thinking some husbands are murdering their wives. They shriek in the most horrendous way.

Last night's rugby match was fantastic. We watched it in the van this time, without the company of Kiwis, and this time the Wallabies played a great game and won the Tri-nations series. We are looking forward to the World Cup in a few weeks time and hope that we will be able to see a lot of the matches. Let's hope the Wallabies can play like last night.

Cooktown

Well, we had been told that Cooktown was delightful and so we found it. Having booked in for 3 nights, we quickly added 2 more. We arrived on 20 August, an auspicious date, being Karen"s birthday and the anniversary of our arrival in Australia "to stay". Celebration was required and we went to Cooktown's upmarket restaurant, the 1770, where we had a delicious meal of freshly caught prawns, and barramundi accompanied by a very nice chilled white wine. All this with a view of a stunning sunset, looking over the estuary of the Endeavour River.

Sunset over the Endeavour River (the only river Cook named)

Cooktown was of course where James Cook landed his ship, the Endeavour, for repairs after he had managed to put a hole in it on the Great Barrier Reef in 1770. The town has had an amazing history of growth, decline and survival over the years and all of it is documented in a couple of wonderful museums. We spent many hours in both.

James Cook Museum, originally the convent of the Sisters of Mercy

While "Endeavour " was being repaired, Cook was anxious to see how he was going to get back out through the reef and frequently went up "Grassy Hill" from where there is an amazing 360 degree view. He must have been fit, though! The climb up is steep in the extreme, and nowadays the road winds through sharp bends, forbidden to vehicles such as our Beast. We opted for the easy way, and took a taxi.

Looking towards the Reef, which at this point is very close. Any spaces to get through?

The Lighthouse on Grassy Hill, built in England and brought out to Cooktown

The estuary of the Endeavour River from Grassy Hill

A walk through the cemetery told its own story of the hardships of life here, with so many people dying at a very young age. Malaria was often the cause.

Today we went on a tour with an aboriginal. He took us to several sites sacred to his people and explained the rock art found there. The Aborigines were such gentle people, so close to nature, it is sad to see what many of them have become because of what the white fella has done to them, and supposedly "for" them.

Willie Gordon, our Aboriginal tour guide ..........

........ having just caught a lizard. He HEARD it!

A Golden Orb spider. Unfortunately it is difficult from this photo to realise the size of the thing.  They are huge.

We are disappointed that for us, Cape York ends here, barely at its beginning, but we can go no further with our Beast. At Cooktown Holiday Park we had met up with Allan and Lyn, two of our safari members, who were also thinking it was such a shame to stop there. They have bitten the bullet and are flying up from Cairns to the top and going over to Thursday Island. We thought about it but have decided to leave it for another trip. We will be interested to hear of their adventure.

The Daintree and Cape Tribulation -- croc country

We have been out of range for the last few days so we have a bit to catch up.

Huh! The lottery win will not buy us the house in Port Douglas! 14 dollars is not quite enough although it did buy us another ticket. Maybe 3rd time lucky.

Moving on from Mossman we went a very short distance to Wonga Beach, from where it was easy to visit Daintree. The village itself is tiny, on the Daintree River and in the heart of the rainforest and National Park which is just referred to as "The Daintree". We did a river cruise, which we did many years ago, but we never tire of this kind of scenery and of course the purpose of the trip is to see as much wildlife as possible. Crocs of all ages and sizes were in abundance, and we also saw the beautiful azure kingfisher, mangrove herons, brahminy kites and great egrets. All of a sudden a snake leapt off a tree and swam across in front of the boat. Although it was non-venomous (a yellow-bellied tree snake) we were quite relieved that it did not do as our tour guide said it might, and climb on the boat. It was a super trip.

Back at the caravan park the next day, Warwick had a close encounter with another yellow-bellied tree snake on the way to the beach.

A 5-metre male

After two nights at Wonga Beach we crossed on the Daintree Ferry to make our way to Cape Tribulation. The last time we came this way, this road was restricted to 4WD vehicles so we were particularly thrilled that this time we could get up to the cape. On the way we visited the Daintree Discovery Centre, one of the best interpretive centres of its kind we have yet seen. A high tower got us right into the canopy of the rainforest and a booklet and sound system explained everything very clearly.

The Daintree Ferry

The Cape Tribulation caravan park, "Paradise Found", was delightful and made even more so when the first night we found ourselves next door to Tim, Bec and the kids again. We were again able to compare experiences and make recommendations to each other. We had booked for 3 nights but ended up adding one. An interesting diversion was the arrival of two huge vehicles, one with Dutch plates and the other with Belgian ones, a very unusual sight in Australia. These belonged to two couples who had driven across from Europe, quite independently. They found each other on the internet and they meet up from time to time. We had a fascinating conversation with them. It makes our adventure quite tame by comparison.

Our European adventurers

Cape Tribulation was the end of the road as far as our Beast was concerned, but we were rather keen to see at least part of the 4WD Bloomfield Track which continues from there. We therefore took a half-day (5 hour) tour and were lucky enough to be the sole participants. The tour guide was delightful, and he made his tour interesting, informative and at the same time quite informal.

Mike and his 4WD Toyota Prado

The gravel road seemed quite inoffensive at first and we both wondered what all the 4WD fuss was about but it fairly quickly deteriorated and became very obviously unsuitable for anything else. The reason for warnings to pregnant women against doing the tour were quite clear!! Apart from the potholes and ruts, the road went through creeks and it was all great fun, especially being driven by someone else! Part of the tour was to the Bloomfield Falls, or Wujal Wujal in the Aboriginal language and we were handed over to an Aboriginal tour guide for that part of it. She was also delightful and informative and we learned a lot about the Aboriginal Community of Wujal Wujal, a successful community and one of many which has renounced alcohol, the cause of many problems amongst Aboriginals.

Wujal Wujal in the winter. In the summer "Wet" the falls will be the whole width of the rock face

Mike, our tour guide, had also arranged to meet up with Gary, who does the Cooktown newspaper, and who was hoping to see and photograph a crocodile. Nothing daunted, we set off in search of a suitable croc and were rewarded with a 5-metre beast which was first of all sunning himself on some rocks but then slid off into the water, showing us just how long he was. We did not hang about on the bank for long in case he decided to come out on our side of the river! Recounting this tale at the caravan park later, we were told this croc is called "Spartacus". We find it amusing that every creek has its resident croc and the locals all know their names. They consider them their "pets". We feel safer with dogs and cats.

Spartacus swimming in the Bloomfield River 

The Australian sense of humour is incorrigible and we were highly amused by what has almost become a "logo" for the area. Someone at some time has converted two roadsigns which are together on the same pole, warning of cassowaries on the road and speed bumps to slow people down because of the possibility of cassowaries into this:-

There are T-shirts, and every imaginable souvenir with this on them. So funny.

The coastline going north from Cairns.

The drive along the coast road north was stunning -- beautiful sandy beaches, no waves of course because of protection by the Great Barrier Reef. Access was easy and although there were dire warnings about stingers (not applicable at this time of year), this time at least there was no mention of crocodiles! Isobel felt easier about swimming there, not like at Yorkey's Knob the other day. It is one of Cairns' northern beaches, which tells you that crocodiles may inhabit the area. Although there are the usual "swim between the flags" signs and lifeguards on duty, indicating one is expected to swim, one can be forgiven for having a certain hesitation. With Isobel's track record for accidents she was keeping her swimming sessions very brief.

Not finding space in any caravan parks in Port Douglas, a very nice resort where we had originally intended to buy a small place before we bought the Dingo Beach house, we carried on to Mossman, where the first people we saw were Tim, Bec and the kids, in the same caravan park. There was a bit of catching up and comparing notes over a drink, and we are sure to meet up with them again. We just love their company.

We had thought we were priced out of property in Port Douglas, but reading some ads in a real estate window made us realise this is not the case. We may yet end up with something here if we sell Dingo Beach. In fact there was the perfect place at a very reasonable price. We must check the lottery ticket from last Saturday in case we can buy now!! We won 23 dollars and 20 cents on the last one we bought!

Today was spent in Mossman Gorge, following a walking trail of a few kilometres. It was delightfully cool in the rainforest on what could have been a hot day and we managed to complete it without incident in spite of roots and boulders to negotiate.

This caravan park has an Olympic-size pool, in which a swim was the perfect end to the afternoon.

The "Good Shepherd", very important in local aboriginal lore

One of many strangulating figs in the Mossman Gorge rainforest

Huge buttress roots, which the aboriginals in days gone by used to make their woomeras and boomerangs. How fascinating is the rainforest and how Isobel loved teaching on that subject to Class 4!

Kuranda on a perfect day

Kuranda is a little village on the Tableland above Cairns, which can be reached either by "Skytrain" (cable car) or by scenic railway. We chose to take a return ticket on the cable car, having done the rail trip many years ago. The cable car takes you across the top of the rainforest, in three stages, and one can get out at the two stops on the way. It was a perfect day weather-wise and the views were stunning. Kuranda is a very "arty" village, full of markets selling clothes, opals, artwork and even mango wine! Warwick indulged in a fresh coconut, reminiscent of visits to Bali.

Looking down on the Barron River

The Barron Falls as seen from the cable car

Our friendly ibis, back at the van park

Back to the city -- Cairns

It's strange to be in a city again after the calm of the Tablelands. Nice to see the sea again, though. We're planning a few days here before moving on towards Cooktown. We'll have to see whether we can get further.

Yesterday was cleaning day! Gravel roads take us to beautiful places, but the red dust gets into every nook and cranny. It's all good now on the inside. Need to find a carwash for the outside.

Hoping the Wallabies can improve for the World Cup. Their performance last night was less than wonderful in the Bledisloe Cup. We watched the match in a pub in the company of sone Kiwis!

The Atherton Tablelands

So much for another night! We are now spending our fourth night in Millaa Millaa. This is indeed waterfall country, just delightful, rolling countryside reminiscent of Tasmania, of Scotland or indeed of parts of Switzerland.

Millaa Millaa Falls

Zillie Falls

Ellinjaa Falls

Upper Mungalli Rapids

Lower Mungalli Falls

Malanda Falls

After the safari

The farewells were hard and the empty feeling was strange. After our extra night in Karumba, however, we drove on to Croydon, an old mining town, of which many buildings have been resurrected as a "heritage precinct". It makes a very interesting museum and good on them for doing this. There is nothing else to Croydon now.

An old crusher from the gold mine 

The next stop was Undara, famous for its lava tubes.

Rock colours at Undarar

We had actually been there about 15 years ago, but memories are not always reliable and things change, so it was good to do it again, and also we caught up with a number of couples from the safari. Dinner together was a joyful affair, but the next morning brought more farewells. Tim and Bec and the kids were still there for another night so we had a very enjoyable walk with them and joined them in the evening for a campfire and barbecue. The crater walk the next morning was also in their company, which was delightful.

Tim and Bec, Erik and Oscar

Eventually, however, even that farewell had to come and we went our separate ways.

Our route took us on unsealed roads. Most of it was good but the rutted parts of course brought the contents of the wardrobe down and filled the van with fine red dust. Oh how we hate it and a thorough clean will have to happen before long, inside and out. The other side of it of course is the beauty of the places those roads take us to.

We have left the red empty outback now and are on the Atherton Tableland, which couldn't be more different. Beef cattle have been replaced by dairy herds, the rolling hills are reminiscent of Scotland (and the colder nights also) and it is all beautiful. On a visit to another "heritage village" yesterday we ran into our young family again and we are sure this will continue to happen.

There is so much to see that we are in no hurry to leave here. It is a country of waterfalls and it is good to see them when they are not raging torrents. Perhaps another night is justified to see some more.

Millstream Falls

Outback to the Gulf Safari in photos