27 August 2011 - Cooktown Orchid Travellers’ Park

Last night we enjoyed the free entertainment staged at the hotel up on the corner, from the comfort of our own caravan. Fortunately the music was “dated” and thus to our taste in popular music. It was however at several decibels higher than the night before and may not have been as welcome to others. They played much later last night however I still managed to fall asleep, no doubt enjoying the lullaby effect from this distance.

I checked the thermometer once I was up and about at 7 am to find it was already 24 degrees and the wind was yet to come up. We were breakfasted and ready for our day’s adventure before our pre-arranged Skype call with the big grandkids. It was good to see them and a bit scary to see how they have grown since we last saw them. We will be that much more surprised when we see them in the flesh, I am sure!

Soon after 8.30 am we were down on the waterfront wandering about the Saturday morning market. Our purchases there were paltry; a tropical passion fruit from a woman who had come up to the area less than nine years ago from Sydney, now cultivating all sorts of weird and wonderful tropical fruit. She pointed in the general direction of her property, north west toward and beyond the airport, the hazy view she blamed on all the recent bushfires. We assured her we had seen the wonderful views on a clearer day and we could see why she lived in such a lovely place, but I did privately wonder how she could adapt from the throb of Sydney to the sleepy isolation of Cooktown.

The only other purchase at the market was a pawpaw which we shall enjoy tonight with the passion fruit. It should be noted that this one passion fruit is very large and I have great expectations of the amount of pulp that will be extracted.

We then popped in to the IGA supermarket and overcame our prejudice in paying exorbitant prices for fruit, buying apples, tomatoes, more carrots and some meat bargains marked down to the ridiculous fire sale price of just $2 a piece.

Endeavour Falls

We returned briefly to the camp and to place our purchases in the fridge, then we set out on our excursion north west, with no definite destination decided. We followed the Endeavor River up the wide valley, admiring the small holdings along the way, and then stopped at the Endeavour Falls Caravan Park to ask if we could see the falls. We were generously directed to proceed and told where the donation box was at the gate. The falls are very pretty but the best view would be from the bottom and given that there are crocodile warning signs everywhere, we did not venture thus, limiting our viewing to the top side of the falls where we figured large crocs could not reach. Chris is exhibiting great respect for these monsters and in doing so, will probably save me from what may otherwise be reckless adventure.

We proceeded on across the road that leads through to the Lakefield National Park, emerging at either Laura or Musgrave, both points on the Peninsula Development Road. The Battle Camp Road shows on maps as being only suitable for 4WD and we were both sure we had seen it featured on the Gall brothers’ DVD (of Kedron Off-road Caravan fame) as being a rather reckless alternative route, or at least reckless for the likes of us. And yet, since being here in Cooktown, I have been surprised as to how many people had taken that option and in doing so added to their 4WD experience.

Isabella Falls

We were keen to continue on until we reached the Isabella Falls on the creek of the same name. The road was excellent until then and we forded the creek with no problem, walked to the base of the falls, took the obligatory photographs and chatted with a couple of guys who were just setting out on their Cape York expedition.

Given the state of the road, we were keen to carry on, at least for a while, and so we did, continuing on over the Battle Camp Range on a beautiful road, 99% of which was as good as the best of the PDR. The two possibly problematic river crossings reported in Ron Moon’s 4WD bible, the first being the crossing over the Normanby River, turned out to be easy because, while a little deep, there were narrow concrete slabs across to remove the danger of falling in to any mysterious holes.  Finally after 84 kilometres, we entered the Lakefield National Park where the road did start to deteriorate. 

Lake Emma

We turned off and drove less than a kilometre north to Lake Emma, and then again to Horseshoe Lagoon two kilometres off the road. Both of these were lovely, but the land lay low all about and the signs back at the road had advised that not only were there crocodiles all about, but they were protected for conservation here. We were not keen to hop out of the vehicle to explore, and it had occurred to me as we turned off the main road on to the narrow track with our UHF radio still broken, we would look rather foolish if we found ourselves stranded for whatever reason. Who knew when some other vehicle might take a similar detour?

Succulent flowers; a treat for a roo

Needless to say, nothing untoward happened and we emerged safe and sound back out on the road and carried on toward the Laura River, crossed just a few days ago further upstream just at the northern edge of Laura. The crossing was uncomplicated and we were soon across and up the other side where we stopped to have our lunch. It was dead on midday and we are sticklers for routine! While we later discovered a spot on the other side of the road, which offered more shade and privacy, we had a lovely picnic in the company of an old male kangaroo who carried on grazing on the succulent red flowers that were falling from the large trees above us like intermittent snow, the butterflies, flora and the great variety of birdlife.

Old Laura

After lunch we drove the last half kilometre to Old Laura, the old homestead that is now part of the National Park, which stands at the cross roads where one would take the decision to go on up through the rest of the National Park to Musgrave or cut the 28 kilometres through to Laura. This fifty square miles of land was taken up for farming in 1879 by a couple of Irishmen and was occupied until 1966. The Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service purchased the property in 1978, by which time the buildings had been vandalised and deteriorated with time. Restoration was carried out, but only so far as to make it look as if it was abandoned and neglected, but still recognisable as a station homestead. Net wire protects the homestead itself from uninvited entry, but there is a collection of stories and photos on boards under the verandah which we found interesting.

We chose then to turn back and retrace our route to Cooktown and enjoyed the journey as much as the opposite journey out.

Jacana walking on the waters of the Barrett Lagoon

I was keen for us to call in to the Barrett Lagoon on the return to the Endeavour estuary however as we have found only too often, the tourist information expounds the virtues of an attraction, but does not show clearly where it is on their local maps. We zigzagged across the valley, generally heading in the right direction but never quite finding it. Giving up, we went instead to the Keating Lagoon on the road toward Cairns, easily found and well signposted with maps and information about the array of birdlife. We were particularly fascinated with the jacanas, who not only feed but also nest on to top of the floating lily leaves. They moved with such feathery grace across the top of the lagoon, impressing us with their behaviour and with their distinctive deep pink wattles.

We did have a moment, or rather a nano-second of excitement when Chris thought he saw a crocodile sliding across the muddy shallows, however on further scrutiny, nothing could be seen and we will still have to resort to a commercial experience to get up and personal with these terrifying creatures.

From there it was a short run back to camp. The day has clouded over and the wind has died away again, if it ever came up here in Cooktown today. Chris just came in and said he had felt a few drops of rain; I doubt it will come to much, however I shall not mind if it does. We are no longer confined to a tent, and tomorrow will be spent getting from A to B before exploring another part of this lovely country.