Monday 20th May

Pat and I decide to drive into Cairns today, we’ve never been there so it will be interesting for us.    It is raining again, and the drive there takes us through the Gillies Ranges (part of the Great Dividing Range) which is a very steep and tortuous route down the range into Gordonvale, we’re glad that we haven’t got the caravan on the back.   Shopping for the caravan is necessary on the way into town but lunch is the next priority which is taken in an hotel overlooking the bay.  We find the Cairns waterfront singularly unimpressive, although they have done a lot of work to make it a good amenity with the pool and artificial beach, the rest of it is mud!   At this point in time the sun is hiding somewhere hence the terrible photos!

   

By the time we have made it back to Michael and Sue’s place it is time for the evening’s social event!

Tuesday 21st May

Another rainy day but we have to do some sightseeing after shopping in Atherton and lunch in Yungaburra and today it is the Cathedral Fig Tree, not too much different to the Curtain Fig Tree but extraordinary nevertheless.   The rain did hold off whilst we visited.  This bird was one of many in the trees where we had parked the car. It looks like a reddy-brown pigeon, unfortunately we can’t identify it at the moment.   Later identified as a Pheasant Cuqual would you believe!

       We decided to go back to Michael and Sue’s by way of the Tinaroo Dam, the water was up to the top of the wall and they were releasing water to maintain the level which made a spectacular sight.

Wednesday 22nd May

We’re leaving this morning after five days of rain on the Atherton Tablelands, although the weather has been wet and at times quite chilly, the welcome has been warm and friendly.

This morning we get a glimpse of what Michael and Sue’s place is like in the sunshine.  

We’re going via Mareeba where we have to do some shopping but can’t find a place that makes decaf cappuccino coffee! This is the main coffee producing centre of Queensland and maybe Australia.  So we do a bit of a u-turn and go to the Coffee Works where we can taste all sorts of different coffees and everything else coffee (eg. ice cream and sorbets) or associated with it eg. plungers, and Chocolates. We have a nice lunch and an excellent coffee.

After lunch we turn down a track and off the Mulligan Hwy and after about 3ks find a suitable spot to free camp for a night, the sun is shining!!!

Thursday 23rd May

A beautiful morning and we’re off heading for Cooktown, the further east we get the darker it gets and by the time we get to Cooktown it is persisting down!

Cooktown appears to be a fairly typical sort of frontier type town, with a bit of character.  

We decide to have lunch before looking for a campsite and initially go into the Bowling Club but after signing in we didn’t think much of the menu and left.   Next we tried the RSL and have a lovely lunch which was also very good value.  

The caravan park is very nicely laid out and tidy. The sites we are allocated are large and reasonably grassy in an area that is mostly rain forest and although at the moment is still quite wet, the setting is pleasant.

Cooktown is named after Captain Cook who made a landfall here in 1770 from his ship the Endeavour.    In fact, he had to stay here 48 days as his ship had been holed on the coral reef and needed serious repairs.   His Midshipman, Jonathon Monkhouse, made a name for himself by suggesting that they pulled a piece sailcloth under the boat so that they could plug the hole with horse hair and dung, which held long enough for them to limp into the estuary and get it fixed properly.

Friday 24th May

Surprise,surprise today begins with what has become a typical morning up here – a bit of sunshine then grey, and a short shower soon follows, of course.    We have now had seven days of rain and we are really over it!!  So much for Queensland being the Sunshine State!

Pat went with Brad and Denise to to the Botanic Gardens while Roger went to get the handbrake on the Landcruiser adjusted. If it was just the Landcruiser it wouldn’t be too bad but with a 3.5tonne caravan on the back the handbrake becomes a bit more critical!   Roger could have done it himself but jacking the car up and crawling under it in the rain and on wet grass didn’t appeal.   It only took the blokes in the garage half an hour, cost – $50!

In the afternoon we went out to visit both the Endeavour and the Isabella Falls.  They still have quite a bit of water going over them making it worth the effort to get there.   Apparently it is safe to swim at Isabella but there are crocs at Endeavour!  I don’t think we’ll be chancing it!

  

Saturday 25th May

It’s Roger’s birthday today and we’re all going out for dinner tonight at the Sovereign resort. It has actually stopped raining!

What else would we do on his birthday but get get up early, forgo breakfast and go to the markets.   These are held down on the foreshore but perhaps because the holiday season hasn’t really started yet, they didn’t seem to be particularly good.   There were some fresh vegetables, some very nice fresh eggs and a fresh baked ciabatta loaf but the rest was local handicraft stuff really.   Having returned to the van and had breakfast then went back into town for a coffee with a view over the estuary!   It has beaches and mangroves but also crocs!  We take the time to visit the James Cook Museum which is housed in a beautiful building that was originally built in 1889 as a convent school run by Irish nuns, the Sisters of Mercy. It has been restored and is administered by the National Trust and is full of interesting and well displayed items that are not only part of the houses’s history but that of Cooktown too.

     

There is a lookout above the town with an old lighthouse and a superb view of the town and it’s surrounds.

          

Before dinner we have a decision to make.  There has been a lot of rain and we have been advised by Parks & Wildlife that the Lakefield NP, which we were keen to see, will not be open until the middle of June.   We can’t really wait that long.   So, shall we cut our losses and and head out across the Gulf or, take a chance on getting up to the tip of Cape York?   After some serious discussion we decide to go  on up the Cape and if there are bits we can’t see, so be it!

Having made the decision we get the courtesy bus into town to have a very enjoyable meal overlooking the river on a lovely warm night.