Day 77 June 29 2012 - Palm Cove

We were very lucky today and managed to get an upowered site at Palm Cove Caravan Park.  Their powered sites are booked out until September but they do not prebook the unpowered sites so it is first in best dressed.  We are staying here at Palm Cove for about five days and will not be doing very much whilst we are here apart from a few bike rides so I will bring the Blog up-to-date when we leave here.  The caravan park here is right opposite the beach.  We went to the night market tonight, not many stalls.  Hopefully our time here will be spent on the beach, reading and relaxing.  Once again we had to come down the windy road from Kuranda, I think we were a bit more relaxed this time.  

View over Cairns from Hyslops Lookout

Day 76 June 28 2012 - Rifle Creek Rest Area

We are staying at a free camp tonight near Mount Molloy.  Once again there are at least 50 vans in here.  There were some big hills between Cooktown and Rifle Creek and some really nice scenery.  

Rifle Creek

Rifle Creek Rest Area

Day 75 June 27 2012 - Cooktown

We have had a really lazy day today.  We went into Cooktown to pick up the mail - thanks Damien (we had forgotten all about it until late last night).  Then we had a quick walk around the Fisherman's Wharf, got some documents that we needed printed and then came back to the van where we spent the rest of the day reading our books in the glorious sunshine.  This afternoon we spent a couple of hours by the pool, which made a change - today was perhaps one of our better days weather wise here in Cooktown as the wind has dropped. 

Mick the Miner - In memory of the Palmer River Gold Rush

The Queen's Steps - Made for Queen Elizabeth II for her visit to Cooktown in 1970 to open the James Cook Museum

Day 74 June 26 2012 - Cooktown

Had a lazy morning and then went for a bike ride around the town.  We called in at the Information Centre then had a walk around the Botanical Gardens, which were well worth seeing.  We then visited the James Cook Museum.  The building that houses the Museum is a restored Sisters of Mercy Convent which was originally built in 1889.   Part of the display is the original anchor and cannon and it was interesting reading Cook's diary extracts.  Cook spent 48 days in the harbour here after the Endeavour was damaged on the reef.  

Slipper Orchid in the Botanical Gardens

Building which houses the James Cook Museum

Original Anchor & Canon  (downloaded)

Day 73 June 25 2012 - Cooktown

We decided to drive out to the Lions Den Hotel at Helensvale.  It is about 32 km from here but the road there was pretty good.  The Hotel was built in 1875 on the banks of the Little Annan River. It is a landmark hotel made of timber and iron, famous for its quirky decorations and walls adorned with visitor’s signatures.  It is a very interesting place - reminded me a bit of Daly Waters.  From here we drove through to the Bloomfield Falls at Wujal Wujal.  This was about another 35 km on from the pub over some pretty rough road and Wujal Wujal is where the Bloomfield Track starts.  The falls were spectacular but we were not quite sure if it was worth the extra kilometres to see them.  On our way back we had a look at Quarantine Bay.   When we got back to Cooktown we had a walk down Charlotte Street - there are a few tributes to James Cook as well as a musical ship - I am not sure if it is supposed to be a replica of the Endeavour but nevertheless it was good fun.  The view from the Grassy Hill lookout was incredible - pity today was very cloudy and once again very windy.  

Lions Den Hotel

Little Annan River

Bloomfield falls

Musical Ship

James Cook Monumen

James Cook Statue

View from Grassy Hill

Day 72 June 24 2012 - Cooktown

It didn't take us long from Lakeland to Cooktown it was only about 79 km so we arrived here about 10-30am.  It is very windy - bordering on gale force.  We have a good spot at the caravan park but it is very shaded so at times is quite cold.  We had a quick drive around the town and took a few photographs but other than that the day was spent reading our books in the sunshine - we had to sit behind the van to get out of the wind and to get some sunshine.

Coral Sea

Endeavour River

Day 70 & 71 June 22 & 23 2012 - Lakeland

We decided to have two nights in Lakeland there is not much here at all just a few houses and a service station/supermarket.  On Saturday we had a ride into Laura - there is even less there than there is here in Lakeland.  On the way back from Laura we called in at a place called Split Rock - this has some Aboriginal Art.  Other than that we have not done much whilst we have been here except relax and read our books.  The weather has been really nice and the nights are getting warmer.

Aboriginal Art

Aboriginal Art

Split Rock

The long road back to Lakeland

Day 69 June 21 2012 - Cairns

Once again we hooked the caravan up and this time took it to have the fridge looked at.  We decided that we would put the bikes on top of the car and while the fridge was being repaired we would have a ride down The Esplanade in Cairns.  There is a great bike path which goes for about 4km.  We were surprised to see that the Lagoon was closed for maintenance, I suppose they are getting ready for the school holidays next week.  Muddys water park was open, we went there with the children when Sharon & Damien were travelling.  It took longer than we thought for the fridge and it was about 2pm when we picked up the van.  We didn't get chance to go to Copperlode Dam, but it will be something we can do when we come back to Cairns at the beginning of July.  Tomorrow we leave for Cooktown via Lakeland and I am not looking forward to the drive up the mountains again.

The Pier at Cairns

Cairns from the bike path

Day 66 - 68 June 18 - 20 2012 - Cairns

Monday 18th June - Drove through to Cairns today through some very windy and steep roads.  I was as usual a bit on edge but Graham did very well coming down the hills.  We arrived in Cairns mid morning and we are staying on the Crystal Cascades Caravan Park which is very nice and surrounded by mountains and rain forest.  

Tuesday 19th June  - Had to be up early this morning to take the caravan to Cairns Jayco to have a couple of things fixed.  We had a small water leak on the outside at the back of the caravan and one of the hinges in the cupboard had ceased.  They fixed everything for us without us having to unhook the van so that was a bonus.  We brought the van back to the park and then we had to get someone out to fix the computer.  It was making an awful noise (a deafening screech) and I wasn't sure what it could be.  It turned out that when I updated SKYPE on Sunday it had automatically put the microphone on full and it was giving us feedback.  I have never heard anything like it but at least it was an easy problem to fix.  After all this we decided to go to Palm Cove and see if we could book on the caravan park there for when we come back from Cook Town.  The powered sites there are booked out until September but the unpowered sites are given out on a first come best dressed basis.  We will have to ring the day we leave Cook Town to see if we can get a site. Otherwise we will spend some more time here in Cairns.

Wednesday 20th June  - We visited Crystal Cascades which is only about 5 km from the caravan park.  It is a very pretty area with lots of little water falls.  We then thought we would go to Copperlode Dam which apparently at the top gives a panoramic view of Cairns.  Well we got about half way up and then the road was closed.  Apparently they are doing some roadworks and it may be opened tomorrow.  Where we were stopped was quite high and we did get a good view over Cairns.   We had morning tea sitting looking over Lake Placid and then went to Barron Gorge.  There is a hydro electric power station at Barron Gorge, apparently one of the most visited power stations in Queensland.  In the visitors centre we watched a video which showed the floods in 2000, it was amazing to see how high the water was in comparison to how low it was today.  

Crystal Cascades

Lake Placid

Waterfall Barron Gorge

View over Cairns

Day 65 June 17 2012 - Atherton

Had a drive out to Herberton which is about 18 kms from Atherton.  There is an historic village based on the discovery of lode tin in 1880.  Again we passed through some beautiful scenery and some very windy roads.  On our way back to Atherton we went to Hasties Swamp, not realising that this area is a bird watching area and there was a viewing hide where we sat and watched the bird life on the swamp and had morning tea.  We watched a very small kingfisher catch a fish, it was really too big for it and he had a struggle to swallow it.  There were also loads of whistling ducks on the swamp - we had not seen these since Yellow Waters in Kakadu.  We have met another couple from Mornington at this camp and also a couple from Mentone.  We had happy hour with them.  

Whistling Ducks 

Kingfisher - you can just make out the fish

Day 63 & 64 June 15 & 16 2012 - Atherton

On Friday we decided to move out of the Woodlands Caravan Park and travel about 18 km out of Atherton to Rocky War Memorial Park, which is a free camp.  There are about 30 vans here.  We didn't do much else today just sat, enjoyed the sunshine and read our books.

Saturday we decided we had better book ahead for a few weeks as the Queensland School Holidays start next Friday.  We have booked for Cook Town and our return to Cairns after Cook Town.  We have also booked ourselves on a day flight to Cape York, which we are both really looking forward to.  

After this we went for a drive into Mareeba where we visited Coffee Works, The Golden Drop Mango Winery and also the Heritage Museum at the Information Centre.  At the information centre there is a Tobacco Display - apparently Mareeba was one of the largest tobacco growing areas in Australia contributing thousands of dollars to the Australian Economy.  Tobacco is no longer grown in Australia but Mareeba and Dimbulah were the largest tobacco growing areas.  At Coffee Works the entry included unlimited coffee, tea, liqueur and  chocolate tasting.  Graham enjoyed his fill of coffee and I enjoyed trying the different varieties of tea.  We both enjoyed sampling the chocolate and the liqueurs, which I have to say were very nice.  We brought back a few samples with us.  The Golden Drop Mango Winery was okay - Graham tried the port and said it was nice but it was very expensive at $34 per bottle, which wasn't even a big bottle.  It was good to see all the Mango trees growing though. 

Some of the old coffee making machines

Graham relaxing after all the chocolate

Mango Trees

Day 62 June 14 2012 - Atherton

We had a great day today doing part of The Waterfall Circuit here on the tablelands.  We visited five waterfalls altogether and they were absolutely beautiful.  We travelled about 95 kms there and back to Atherton and went through some spectacular scenery.  It is so lush and green and the tropical plants are incredible.  The weather was really warm today with clear blue skies.  

We went to Malanda Falls, Millaa Millaa Falls, Zillie Falls, Ellinjaa Falls and finally Mungalli Falls.  They were all very different and of course it is difficult to get photographs sometimes when the sun is not in the right place.  We did our best and I hope you enjoy seeing some of them.

Malanda Falls

Millaa Millaa Falls

Zillie Falls

Ellinjaa Falls

Rapids at Mungalli Falls

Mungalli Falls