RAVENSHOE to COOKTOWN

10^th August, 2015

We're heading south. Yes – we know that this is the wrong direction but we have booked the caravan in for its 12 month service at the Crusader dealer in Townsville (no dealer in Cairns). By noon we are on the outskirts of Townsville and freecamp overnight before braving the early morning commuter traffic. You know a town is developing rapidly when you run into traffic jams but we made it to the Crusader dealers bright and early. All was going smoothly – the guy behind the reception desk was pleasant and efficient – noting down all our details and checking out the van ready for its service. Wok unhooked the van and we were in the process of working out where to spend the rest of the day when the proverbial 'spanner in the works' cropped up. The service guy called in to say that due to a death in the family he would be unavailable to work for a few days. Oh well – these things never seem to go according to plan! We decided to get the service done later in our travels and headed west over the ranges where we found a nice spot to camp beside the Burdekin River.

Camped beside the Burdekin River

Wok tried his hand at fishing but had no luck catching anything. We did enjoy the ambience though and spent a pleasant afternoon watching the swallows fly back and forth to their mud nests under the nearby bridge.

View of the bridge from our campsite

In the morning we turned north and travelled up the Kennedy Highway to the small village of Ravenshoe. We checked into the quirky little campground there which is run by the Railco Railway Museum. There is a 7 day limit on camping here but with the campground a stone's throw from the centre of town it is very popular. The $15 a night fee on a powered site is also an added incentive to stop here for a few days. For railway enthusiasts it can't get much better than this.

Wok checks out the steam engine from our campsite

Our site backs onto the railway line where volunteers help to run and maintain a working tourist railway museum. While we were there the steam engine was having maintenance work done so the Sunday tourist run was not operational. However we were treated to the 'wonder if it works' drill

Robyn watches the steam engine go by

and the 'shunting' and 'hooking up carriages' exercise.

Hooking up the carriage

It was great fun – railway enthusiasts come from all walks of life and are an interesting bunch.

We are now on the southern end of the Atherton Tablelands and take a few drives to explore the area. There are lots of dairy farms on this end of the tablelands with Millaa Millaa displaying this unique sculpture. We have posted a photo of this before but think it deserves another go.

The Reluctant Cow

We visit a dairy and do some cheese tasting – very yummy! The scenery is very pretty in these parts with rolling hills and lush green grass. It's a stark contrast to the drought affected country which is not that far west.

Countryside around Millaa Millaa

After spending a week in Ravenshoe we head further north to one of our favourite places to stay – Walkamin Central Caravan Park at the northern end of the Atherton Tablelands. We are going to base ourselves here for about six weeks while we check out some areas we have not been before and generally relax until it starts to get warmer down south. Of course supermarket shopping is always a chore to be done and while we were in Mareeba stocking up on groceries we happened to park outside a house with this great 'dog beware' sign on the front gate.

Nothing more needs to be said ...

To the west of Walkamin is Granite Gorge. There is a caravan park and picnic area which is privately owned and access to the small rock strewn gorge is accessed by paying a fee. The gorge is home to a colony of rock wallabies and this little guy was hanging out near the caravan park office/kiosk.

Aren't I just the cutest thing ever ...

Of course the reason why he was hanging out here was to get a free handout – not just a pretty face!

Roo Food ... YUMMM

It is lovely and peaceful and we check out the caravan park thinking that we may come and spend a few days here for a change of pace after leaving Walkamin. Not far from Walkamin is Lakel Tinaroo. On a lovely sunny day we pack up the Jeep and head out for a day's fishing. We try our luck on the western side of the lake but get no bites so we head over to the eastern side. We get a few bites which keep us interested but the fish just won't play the game and we come away empty handed. We stop in at the dam wall on the way back and find a shooting plume of water coming from the large pipe at the base.

Tinaroo Dam

The dam was built across the Barron River many years ago and the water is shooting out into the river bed.

Wok is getting slightly drizzled on

Thousands of litres of water are gushing out of the pipe and the noise is deafening.

Pipe outlet at base of Tinaroo Dam

Back at the van that night we console ourselves with a frozen fish dinner. It would have been nice to have freshly caught barramundi but the fish didn't play the game.

We have decided to tackle the Bloomfield Track. This is a dirt/sand/creek crossings track which runs from Cape Tribulation (north of Cairns) for about 40 klms to Ayton (south of Cooktown). We head out early one morning and just south of Cooktown turn south towards Ayton. The road is tarred here and sometimes narrow but it is a very pretty drive through the rainforest. Along the way we spot a pumpkin stall with a very unique way of displaying its wares.

Large woven birds head sits beside pumpkins for sale in hanging basket

Just to the south of the aboriginal community of Wujal Wujal the tarred road ends and the Bloomfield Track begins. The track is mostly one lane wide and we wind up and down steep inclines with the rainforest pressing in on both sides. Occasionally we meet a vehicle coming the other way and it is a bit of a jiggling act to pass safely. We think we are doing rather well and enjoying the challenge when a ute coming towards us flags us down. The driver tells us that the track has been closed a few kilometres further on. Rain has fallen overnight (and there are still rain clouds overhead) and two trucks are bogged blocking the carriageway. The authorities have closed the road until the track dries out. With rain forecast for the next few days it may be quite a while before the road is open again. Oh well! One can't fight mother nature! Now all we had to do was find a place to turn around which was not an easy ask. However the next bend in the track allowed Wok to do some neat reversing manoeuvre’s and we retraced our steps. As it was now mid afternoon we decided to head into Cooktown to spend the night before heading back to Walkamin. We saw a signpost to Archer Point along the way and decided to have a look. It was a dirt road but in reasonable condition and after 15 klms we found ourselves at a lighthouse overlooking the ocean.

View to the south from lighthouse at Archer Point

It was very windy but had a wonderful view looking out towards the reef and if there had been any large fish, sharks, turtles etc. swimming past we could have easily seen them in the water below.

Wok is looking for marine life

We figured that just around the headland to the north lay the entrance to the Endeavour River where Captain Cook beached his ship (the Endeavour) after being damaged on the reef. Cooktown is of course named after him.

View to the north from lighthouse at Archer Point

We continued on our way and checked into the Sea View Motel at Cooktown. That evening we walked to the local bowls club to have dinner.

Looks good - doesn't it?

Wok was really looking forward to the 'freshly caught wild barramundi' he had ordered but after the first bite he was extremely disappointed. The fish had no flavour at all and with the batter seemed to have an odd taste. He managed to eat one of the fish pieces and then pushed the fish aside and ate the chips. I had ordered Lasagne which looked good but tasted weird. At least the veggies were edible. We thought about taking our meals back but couldn't be bothered. We would have been hesitant about trying any of their other options and everyone knows what happens when you send your meal back to the kitchen. We've all seen those videos!

So we quietly left the club and walked along the river to the motel – where we sat on our balcony and munched on some apples and bananas and had a nice cup of tea while we watched the sun go down. Not a bad end to a very unusual day … !

Sunset from our balcony at the Sea View Motel, Cooktown