The top of Queensland (at least for us)!

We continued on our journey north from Cairns towards Cooktown. The big question we were asked when telling other travelers was; are you going the inland route, or the coastal route? The inland route has nice, new, smooth double lane roads all the way. The coastal route (while scenic), includes the notorious Bloomfield track connecting Cape Tribulation to Cooktown. This is 4 wheel drive only territory. Even though this section of the route was relatively short,  it didn't take long to work out which route we were taking!

The drive to Cooktown took us back over the great dividing range through Mareeba . We stopped at the markets to have some lunch and while ordering our sugar cane juice were approached by a well known independent politician dressed of course in jeans and an akubra (we assume this is his electoral area)? Despite him calling me rich (because i mentioned that we were from Sydney  and were traveling for 6 months) the conversation was pleasant enough. I was however, interested to see many locals approaching him , taking photos with him and wanting to engage in conversation. Maybe it's just me (and my lack of interest in politics), but i found that odd! A quick visit to coffee works and then back on the road.

The drive from there to Cooktown was a lot of nothing! It made us realise (probably for the first time this trip), how remote some of Australia is. Given Cooktown is not really that remote, we are in for a steep learning curve!

Cooktown itself today is a very small town , that is mainly on the map because of its rich history, fishing reputation and tourism. A few shops and restaurants ,several pubs (!!), two  hotels and caravan parks and a proud history museum  is all that is left of the once grand/prosperous mining town that it was in the 1800's.  A huge effort has been made to preserve the history of the area and we enjoyed a day wandering through town learning about the area as we went. 

We also learned first- hand about the trade winds. They supposedly arrived two days before we did and are there to stay until September. While they didn't impact our stay significantly, we met a couple whose dream of doing a world record jet ski ride was shattered by these winds. They had planned to circumnavigate oz and in doing so would have smashed the record for the longest continuous jet ski journey. Instead however, they told us that they would take the skis up to the Cape and launch again from up there (which is more protected from the south -easterly trade winds). This means that they will not get the record, but will instead make adventure documentaries.

Three days later we headed back down the same road, past Mt Molloy (again) and onto our next stop, The Daintree. We had decided on a little beach (Newell Beach) just north of Mossman and south of the Daintree for a few reasons. It seemed like it would be a good base for exploring those two areas (Mossman and the Daintree) , we had never heard of it  (hence probably not overly touristy) and the reviews for the caravan park were great. We were right about two of the three. It is a great little area, but the park itself is very run down and has basic facilities. Luckily, this was one stop where we had planned to be out more than in! We had decided on two must-do outings, Mossman Gorge and a Daintree river cruise.

Swimming at Beautiful Mossman Gorge

For the Daintree River we chose a company called Solar Whisper. As the name suggests, they run the boat on solar power and therefore very quiet and can get up close and personal with the wildlife...eek!! The cruise ended up being relatively uneventful. We saw a few little crocs and a "teenage" male called Yoyo, but no big ones. Probably a good thing, given we will be in big croc country for another month or so (wouldn't want the kids getting too scared or worse still getting complacent). Like all tours, the guides provide so much information re the area and ecosystem. I didn't realise that Queensland's croc population is actually quite small (relative to the NT). Maybe we should stay in the Sunshine state!

Next, the big drive west. Starting on the bitumen sections of the Savannah way to Karumba. We will take three nights to get there, but not entirely sure what those stops will be. We know we will do the Undara Experience on the middle night, but other than that we are open to ideas!

We will be using the Savannah way as a guide (pending roads conditions).

www.savannahway.com.au

Up until now we have been in what we would consider to be known territory (the east coast). I thought therefore, it would be good to document the top five "luxury" items that i couldn't go without up until this point.

(1) Coffee machine (unless you like instant, it really is essential)

(2) Chocolate

(3) Dyson vacuum

(4) Laptop and WIFI

(5) Running shoes and clothes

Interesting to see if my list changes throughout the journey! 

Next stop, outback Australia (somewhere)!