Fruit Salad

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DAY 329


At some point in the night I was awoken by the scuffling of little feet outside, at first I could not see what it was but I heard what sounded like someone trying to suck a rock, looking outside I flicked the torch on and could see a Bandicoot sat just outside the door of our tent, he was not perturbed by the light from the torch at all, so I sat and watched him for a while before he finally disappeared behind the truck and back into the bush. There was plenty of wildlife activity but only the one Bandicoot to be seen.

Just before 7.00am I woke up and could see that Andy had just woken too, it seems strange that now we are back out on the road again we are waking up at the usual early time of 7.00. Still did not get up until 7.30 though, bed was so comfy, even though once again we slept only under one blanket and one sheet.

Andy got up and made the tea while I once again made the bed and zipped up the inner flaps to get the tent ready for folding as today we head further North through Cape Tribulation and onto Cooktown.

We had an easy breakfast of cereal and both sat and read our books while we drank our tea, a lovely way to start the day.

We were packed up and ready to go so headed out of Noah Beach and came to our first stop of the day the Dubuji boardwalk which takes you in and around the beautiful rainforest and onto Myall Beach. At 9.20 we started the walk, taking some water with us, we did not bother with hiking boots as it is not a serious hike, more of a meander really and only expected to take an hour to do the 1.2kilometres.

At some point we both reflected on the trip and commented how amazing it is that we seem to learn something new about Australia and its ecosystem everyday, today is no exception to that rule, even though we have spent time already walking through rainforest we still learn more by walking through another.

The Daintree Coast is absolutely beautiful, a little bit more commercialised and touristy than I expected but to the best part I think mainly unspoilt. We still don’t see any Cassowaries but we learn more about the part that Bats play in the rainforest, again responsible for the dispersion of seeds vital to the survival of the rainforest we also learn about the important part that Cyclones play in rainforest survival, the canopy suffers more so than the forest floor, however once the cyclone has been through it leaves areas exposed to light that it would not ordinarily have had, thus some of the smaller plants and the seeds that have been dropped now have light and are allowed to thrive creating a more diverse environment for all of the wildlife to feed off.

There is a lot of fruit around the floor, we are not familiar with the fruit, much of it the birds, especially the non existent Cassowaries, eat but this fruit may be poisonous to humans so it would be wise not to eat any of it unless you know what you are eating.

We soon walk out onto the beautiful Myall Beach, ok it is a bit similar to Noah Beach and Cape Kimberley that we were on yesterday, but it is still a beautiful beach, not as deserted as the others, some people are in a boat on the water trying to paddle against the waves, others are just stretched out sunbathing in this early morning sun. We can smell the smoke from a spent fire on the beach it still smoulders.

Back in the truck exactly one hour later we hit the road, soon we run out of bitumen and we are now on a dirt track, the Bloomfield Track, we know it is 4wd only but it seems not to deter some who we meet on the road in 2wd cars.

The track becomes steep in places, we are uncertain if this is the track that the Wallaby Wanderers (Darryl and Sarah) told us about, they said they came across a steep track that felt as if they were going to fall back on themselves. We see other 4wd’s and trailers coming towards us so feel more comforted that if someone else has a trailer then it should be ok for us.

At one point a Britz Landcruiser comes hurtling around the corner in a cloud of dust, narrowly missing us, but only because Andy was already tight into the corner, I think if he could have turned around and given them a piece of his mind he would have!

We have roughly 100km from Cape Tribulation to Cooktown today, no big deal but as nearly 70k’s is off road then it can easily add time to the journey.

Andy saw a Dingo cross the road ahead of us, but sadly I did not see it, it had long gone into the bush by the time we got level with were it had crossed the road. The track itself was fairly busy with vehicles, we would pull over to let faster vehicles pass us and likewise any slower vehicle would let us pass also,

We drive alongside a river as we head toward Bloomfield, stopping to admire the view and take pictures, Andy took the binoculars, we both think we have seen a crocodile, one look through the binoculars confirms it, there is a crocodile swimming in the shallow water on the edge of the sandbank on the other side of the river. Continuing on we drive through roadworks and into Wujal Wujal an aboriginal community just before Bloomfield, we see a huge sign that says alcohol is not allowed, except for bona fida travellers just passing through, we have no alcohol onboard anyway. We cross the river and continue to Bloomfield.

It seems that Bloomfield has a single Inn, comibed with a supermarket, café and petrol station, but we continue onto Cooktown, there is no point in stopping too soon for provisions.

By 1.00 we arrived in Cooktown, passing the Black Mountains on the way in, the Black Mountains have mysteries surrounding them of people disappearing never to be seen again and the mystery of the Queensland Tiger who they think is responsible for killing hundreds of cattle (sounds a bit like the Beast of Bodmin Moor).

In Cooktown itself we find our campsite we decided to stay at a Big4 here, not part of our original plan, we were going to head slightly further north for our overnight stop, but we decided that a fuel top up, a few fresh provisions such as milk and bread would be needed and of course a tempting swimming pool not to mention Cooktown itself needed exploring.

By 2.00 we are pitched and have had lunch, it is hot here, really hot but thankfullyt the shade is cool and we are backed in as far as possible to take advantage of the shady trees.

We rest for a couple of hours, that is to say we do a few chores, I upload and try to publish yesterdays blog and later we pop out for a quick look around which takes us up to the lighthouse and interestingly enough a point that says it is the site where the first Europeans spotted the Kangaroo in 1770.

We get to the lighthouse, which is tiny, I never expected it to be so tiny, which also incidentally housed the lighthouse keeper and his family, I have no idea how they all fitted in!!

The views from the top of Grassy Hill were just amazing, you have a complete 360 view of the area. I wonder what Captain Cook really thought when he first arrived here, apart from worrying about repairing his ship that he had managed to damage on the Great Barrier Reef. While looking at the view I wonder what Captain Cook would have thought about Cooktown today.

Up at the lighthouse, we see the people who are in the caravan on our campsite just behind us, we start talking and they suggest we “drop by” for a drink later, which would be nice. We finish looking at this historical lighthouse then start to make our way down the hill stopping at the fantastic lookouts on the way.

We need something to eat for tonight and tomorrow night, we have lots of frozen meals on board for when we are further up but just need something fresh for a couple of nights, so we drop into the only supermarket in town the IGA.

We have a quick squirt round, getting a couple of beef and a couple of Kangaroo steaks, milk and fresh bread, then drop by the local “Bottle Shop” to by some beer and wine for a drinks with our new neighbours.

Talking to the chap behind the cash register, he asks us where we are heading and where we have been, and he starts to tell us about his journey across from Broome, covering the savannah way, which we have done and staying in epic places like Heartbreak Hotel and places we thought were just brilliant, he said that he and his girl friend had taken 4 months from Broom which is 4076k’s, so our Hema map shows, in an old 1984 Suzuki jeep, which is by no means an easy route.

We get back to camp, Caroline goes for a swim and I go for a shower, we make some effort to prepare something for dinner tonight, and then go and sit with Ian and Barb, who very kindly invited us over for a drink, Ian is a Major in the Australian Army and Barb works at a University and both are on “Long Service Leave for 6 months.”

In no time at all it is past 8.00 o’clock and we thank them for their hospitality but we all need to get an evening meal.

We have already prepared the veg, but it’s too late to do any serious cooking so we just rustle up a Bacon sandwich for a quick fix.

What is left of the evening we type some of the blog up and have a read then its time for bed, although when we went to bed there was some music going on somewhere, we were hoping that the music would stop at a reasonable hour, however it died down for a while and then continued, I had no problem sleeping but Caroline will not be able to sleep well through this music.

So until tomorrow fellow travellers and armchair travellers, you are all welcome onboard and we will bid you a good night!

Goodnight!!

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Photos

Fan Palms
They provide birds with good rain shelters

Myall Beach
Busy as usual

Crocodile
Exactly centre if this picture is a shadow, it is a salt water Crocodile

First water crossing
On the Bloomfield Track