Cooktown

It's exciting to be exploring places for the first time. We've never travelled past Mossman before so we're really looking forward to the next few months' travel up to the Cape and across the Savannah Way to the Gulf and Darwin. 

Cooktown is fascinating. History (gold, timber, Cook's Endeavour), the town, the temperature... we planned two or three nights here but stayed four. 

It's a town of about 2000 people, and the town pretty much shuts down for 3 months of the year for the wet season when very few tourists come through.

Cooktown is always windy apparently! It certainly was the whole time for us!

A great water park on the waterfront at Cooktown.

A visit to Cooktown is not complete without a visit to the Lion's Den Hotel, about 20 km out of town on the road to Bloomfield and Woojil Woojil, still closed after December's Cyclone Jasper. 

The water got above the gutters and the publican and staff were evacuated by chopper off the roof. 

Cooktown Botanical Gardens was a standout. Really well tended and maintained.

Black Mounted. Haunted. Stories, strange forces... yeah, right.

Cooktown from the lookout

A pretty lazy four days to be honest... we must be getting the hang of this. 

On to Laura tomorrow. Not a big day but a few hours up the road.

Mossman

Just an hour or so north of Cairns is Mossman. You've probably heard of Mossman Gorge. We didn't visit this time... if it was warmer we might have revisited but it was too cold for a swim so let it go.

We stayed at Mossman Golf Course for three nights for $27 per night.

We crossed on the Daintree Ferry and went up to Cape Tribulation for the day. Glad we did... this area had 4m of rain in 4 days on the back of Cyclone Jasper in December 2023. The land slides are enormous and will it likely take years to completely repair the roads to 100%. 20 kilometres of stop/go one lane traffic lights makes it slow going.

They're working hard to open the last part of the road north at the Bloomfield River but until that's done, we'll have to head south to get to Cooktown via the inland route tomorrow when we go.

Cape Tribulation was just as we remembered it.

One thing that HAD changed significantly was a resort at Coconut Beach just south of Cape Trib. In the past we've been there for a swim and a drink, but now it's abandoned and being swallowed by the tropical jungle. 

There's evidence of buildings if you look carefully.

Cairns

We parked up out the front of a friend's place on the northern beaches of Cairns - great to catch up with Dave and his wife MJ. Filled the tanks with water and camped on the road. 

The sun shone enough between the cloud and occasional rain to keep the solar at or near 100%.

A few nice walks along the beach front at Kewarra Beach and along the path to Palm Cove.

The four of us went out to dinner a couple of times, and we took in a Ben Lee gig at The Tanks.

A bit of shopping, a spot of maintenance (simple gluing), a tourist drive up to Kuranda... very rested. 

On to Mossman next.

Innisfail

 An hour or so on the road north from Mission Beach and we're at a (virtually) free ($7) camp at Innisfail.

A much bigger town that we thought it would be or remembered.

A really wet day.

Chatted to a few others in this camp ground, a quick trip to Woolies in the rain and a pretty quiet night in watching TV. 

On to Cairns today.

God it's been wet!!

Mission Beach

Leaving Ingham we drove through Cardwell (across from Hinchinbrook Island)

and Lucinda, home of the longest wharf in the southern hemisphere at more than 5km long.

We stopped at Mission Beach, near Tully, the wettest place in Australia. Highest rainfall one year of nearly 8 metres, the height of this gumboot!

We're staying two nights in a caravan park on the beach here.

You know that iconic image of a long, gently sloping beach, coconut palms fringing the shore, thick masses of forest and vines immediately behind? That's Mission Beach, the start of the whole rainforest meets the sea thing.

Ants are obviously a massive problem up here, we'd heard of the fire ant problem in Queensland, but not electric and crazy ants. 

It's been overcast but a lovely temperature. 

That's Dunk Island you can see behind Robyn. The resort is still not operational after Cyclone Yasi all those years ago. 

Now owned by Mike Cannon-Brookes' wife. Locals are hopeful a rebuild and opening is sooner rather than later.

Ingham

So, ready to leave Bluewater... all packed and ready to go and... nothing, the car battery was completely dead.

We carry a lithium jump starter, but that failed, as did trying to jump start from another car. So a call to the RACQ for a car battery replacement (glad we extended the NRMA coverage to include all rural areas) and we were on the way to Ingham.

We stayed in a CMCA park here - $7 per night for members (us). It doesn't get you anything more than a nice grassy area close to town to stay the night (you have yo be self-contained as there are no toilet facilities) but it does come with some friendly chat and a happy hour at 4pm where everyone (generally) comes together for a drink or cuppa and chat.

We walked through the TYTO wetlands. Beautiful water lilies in a billabong.

We then ventured into the wetlands on a path about 2m wide with swampy water and grasses on either side. It also was adjacent to a sports field with no fence. We had been warned not to walk in some spots as slide marks had been noticed on the track! So we walked to a bridge over a billabong - murky water, glad we were on a bridge, and there it was... a croc about 3 m long sunning itself on a little island under a tree. We watched him for a while then he gracefully slid backwards in the murky water, not to be seen again. We left quite quickly!

We stopped at Lucinda - the longest wharf in the southern hemisphere at 5.76 km long, a conveyor belt loading sugar.

Bluewater (Townsville, Day 2 of 2)

We didn't like the free camp we had in Townsville.

It was too noisy, so we headed 20 minutes up the road to another one at Bluewater, a small community that provides free camping on a large grassy area with potable water provided.

Lots of shade if you want it, but as it's been overcast we wanted the sun for the solar on the van (everything - lights, power, fridge) and car (2nd fridge we use for drinks).

We had a relaxing afternoon there and a lazy start to the next day.

Townsville (Day 1 of 2)

Townsville is a big city, last census 200 thousand plus. Of course the army is a huge employer but the industry that comes with that is significant I guess. 

We free camped at a truck stop for the night: fine, but we've decided to head to another free camp tomorrow 20 minutes north.

John's mum was born in Townsville so of course did a drive by her old house and school. Her house in Queen Street was somewhere in here...

Home Hill

Home Hill is the southern side of the mighty (everyone adds the adjective) Burdekin River, the other side being Ayr, about 10 km away.

You know those towns that ooze evidence of a previous bustling and thriving history but now are a shadow of their former past with empty shops and a quiet main street? This one of those towns. Hard to imagine the 850 seat cinema not coping with the number of patrons wanting access, but that's what the tourist brochure says!

Free camp in a street one street back from the main road beside the railway line - not too worried about the disturbance form the daily train that comes through.

Airlie Beach

Airlie Beach is emblematic  of the growth of Queensland tourism and the population shift north. What was a small town 40 years ago when we first came here on our honeymoon on the way to South Molle Island was noticeably busier about 15 years ago on a driving holiday with the kids. 

The town has continued to grow, probably making millionaires out of people who owned parcels of land on the steep blocks on the edge of town. 

A bustling backpacker strip is still there, surrounded by marinas, shopping centres and parkland. 

We drove out to Shute Harbour,  a lot quieter now that marinas have been built in Airlie Beach itself. 

We spent four nights here in a caravan park - no free camping close to Airlie.

The weather was pretty ordinary for the four days, but we did enjoy a walk around town, the marinas and the obligatory beachside pool 

We spent a day on Whitsunday Island at Whitehaven Beach, famous for its beautiful white sand. 

Getting there was... interesting, given the open boat driving into rain at 35 kph!

The sun came out for a little while as we walked to the lookout and walked on the beach. We did a bit of snorkeling in the rain; we've been spoiled by some really lovely reef experiences in the past so while it was OK, it wasn't as spectacular as the outer reef can be.

Since we were staying in a caravan park we caught up on some (a lot!) of washing and managed to get it dry under cover.

Next night will be a couple of hour's north, past Bowen to Home Hill for a free camp.