COBBOLD GORGE AT LAST

After many delays, we finally managed to leave Mt Surprise.  We had intended staying there for 2 nights, but this became 5 as we tried to get new tyres delivered and fitted.  One unexpected outcome was a last minute decision to catch the once weekly train to Einasleigh, which turned out to be a pleasant afternoon.  We were bussed back to Mt Surprise, with a fair dinkum billy tea on the way (water taken from the Einasleigh river).  All very pleasant with nice scenery and good weather.

 Einasleigh hotel, welcome sight on a hot day

 Boiling the billy beside the Einasleigh river



The weather's been great for a week or more, every since we left the coast.  It gets a bit cool at night, but the days are splendid, warm and sunny.    Who'd believe it was winter?  Chris was just invited to pick some star fruit from the caravan park tree, and the mangoes are in full blossom so they'll be full of fruit soon.  


We stayed at Cobbold Gorge for 2 nights.  I didn't like that place at all.  There's a magnificent swimming pool but the weather's not THAT hot, and the rest of the place leaves a bit to be desired.  I gather the owners want it to be some fancy resort and are working towards that end, but they're already charging top prices.   $34 for a powered site, no slab, uneven ground, and a climb up to the admittedly quite good amenities (though no refinements like soap or  paper towels to be found).  

             Cobbold Gorge from above

The attraction is the stupendous gorge, and they charge $75 for a guided tour- you can't go there otherwise.  The tour was good, but not worth that amount for three hours.  We had bush tucker commentary, then climbed to the top of the gorge and looked down, finally into boats to be driven up the narrow gorge.  Dozens, literally dozens of big and small freshwater crocs live here.  We saw at least 8 of them, and the guide said there are 80 in residence.  Who counts them?  We got as up close and meaningful as we would ever want to be, with all those teeth grinning at us as we glided past.

            Freshwater crocodile, Cobbold Gorge
For anyone contemplating a visit, I would recommend staying at Georgetown and driving in for the tour only- it doesn't start till 10 am so there's plenty of time to cover the 70 or so kilometres, which is all rough gravel from Forsayth onwards, another reason they shouldn't charge so much.


Today we're having a washing/shopping day in Croydon before pushing on to Leichardt Lagoon, a cattle station near Normanton.  From there we'll do a day trip to Karumba, on the Gulf of Carpentaria.


Croydon is a former goldmining town, which like most of these is a shadow of its former self, but a likeable town with friendly people and a caravan park with FREE use of washing machine and, as mentioned above, free pickings of their many fruit trees.  There are a couple of servos/small supermarkets in town, one of them claiming to be the oldest store in Australia, and it includes a free museum.  


The picture below is a kapok tree.  Many of us will remember those awful kapok mattresses which became so lumpy and made it so hard to make your bed neatly before innersprings were thought of. It has a bright yellow flower, making it stand out in the bush, although the wattle's out as well. The kapok is found in the seed pod, somewhat similar to cotton.

  Kapok tree, very plentiful in the savannah land.

MULTI-TALENTED PEOPLE AT MT SURPRSE

Quiet day at "home" today, we've been doing housework, the washing, washing the car etc.  Our neighbours are Pauline and Kevin from Kurri, who we first met at Malanda- we were amazed to run into each other again because they were going in the opposite direction, but changed their minds. Good to see them again.  Turns out they both knew a relative of Chris, Jack Donne, who used to manage Stockrington mine- Pauline's father was the under manager and Kevin worked there.  It appears that Jack passed away very recently. Small world.


Yesterday we walked down to Elizabeth Creek, which is very pretty.  The walk from the caravan park brought home to us the nature of the land here.  It's all basalt rocks just under or on top of the ground, the locals say if you want to dig a hole here, be prepared for a lot of hard yakka.  On the way in we passed long piles of rocks and wondered who was responsible, now we know it was Telstra workmen putting in cables, and the roadworkers building the road.  The caravan park owners put in a lot of time clearing the ground in little bits, it's been 14 years to get it to this stage.  

              Elizabeth Creek, Mt Surprise.

We walked back along the railway line, which was much easier and not at all dangerous because the only train runs out here on Thursday and returns on Friday. 
There's a tourist train ride to Einasleigh which Pauline and Kevin have decided to do.  They've already been to Undarra a few weeks ago.


It appears everyone in Mt Surprise has another string to their bow.  The caravan park owner is a mechanic and can mend anything, they also run tours to Undarra and on the train.  The post office across the road doubles as a cafe as well as a gem shop and runs fossicking tours.  Down the road a bit there's another much more basic caravan park where the owner runs snake shows and I think he's also the owner of the little museum.  The service station is also the grocery store and a cafe.  And so it goes.  I suppose you have to be resourceful in a place like this, which is over 300 kms from Cairns and most of the other towns on the road are fairly small.  I'm hoping to find someone who can cut hair as I'm looking like a shaggy dog, last had my hair cut in Bowen, which was a long, long time ago.  Chris has had his done a bit more recently so he's not too bad yet but a trim probably wouldn't go astray with him either.


Did I mention that Rocky, the dog who accompanied us fossicking yesterday, had an encounter with a freshwater crocodile a few years ago?  It bit him on the nose and he needed 28 stitches- it hasn't stopped him swimming in the same creek though.

            Rocky the croc attack survivor.

Nature studies

We'll be staying at Mt Surprise a little longer than expected because of a flat tyre on the way in.  It happened while we were traversing a one-way bit of roadwork where we couldn't stop so the tyre was damaged enough to need replacing.  Unfortunately they can't match the tread so Chris is forking out for a whole new set of tyres.  I don't understand why the treads have to match, but he says it's a safety issue.
Lots of money going out..... Luckily the caravan park owner is also a mechanic so he's ordering the tyres for us but they won't get here till tomorrow night, he'll fit them first thing the next day so we can be on our way.  A day was wasted with staff not passing on messages to us or to him (we haven't met him, but have spoken to his wife) but it's all sorted now.


We were lucky Mt Surprise has someone to do this sort of work because it has a population of 65, not exactly a metropolis.  Our bus driver/tour guide yesterday, Steve, a former surveyor who loves the bush, said he lives in nearby Einasleigh, which has 20 people, if they're all at home, and he was out, so the population was 19.


We've had a busy couple of days.  yesterday we did a tour to the Undarra Lava Tubes, which are awesome. Lots of exercise involved, starting with a 2.5 km walk around a crater rim, then up and down stairs and rocks in various tubes. The lava system spreads for 160 kms, the longest single lava event in the world.  Not all of that is tubes, of course. Some of the former tubes have fallen in and created fertile hollows, others were filled with lava which solidified. But there are a number of hollow tubes, like giant caves, and probably more not yet discovered.  One of the tubes has a small entrance, and brown snakes hang from trees to catch the bats as they emerge in the evening.  Undarra Lodge runs a twilight tour to witness this delightful event.  Not for us, thank you. Steve told us about this happening just as I was descending the stairs past the trees into the tube.  "Where are they now?" I asked and he said the bats were still asleep.  Not the bats, the snakes! No sign of them, luckily.  We did see lots of bats, though, 3 different species, and at times had them flying above our heads.  No worries.

          In one of the many Undarra Lava Tubes.


We had a great time in terms of animals and birds while in the National Park- apparently there are 10 species of macropods (big-foot, that is kangaroos, wallabies etc.) and we saw six species, dozens of roos and wallabies, most of them in full flight- it's always great to see them bounding away, I always think they look like some sort of mechanical toy, their action is so unlike any other animal's.

          Australian Bush turkey, or Bustard
As for birds, we had close-ups of many including wedge tailed eagles, a bustard, and a kookaburra chorus while we ate lunch- the kookaburras flew inside the high roof at Undarra Lodge and sat there watching us eat after they'd sung to us.  The Canadian kids who were with us were delighted.  Such a nice family, with polite, helpful boys.  In one of the lava tubes my torch gave up the ghost just as I was about to walk down some stairs.  I told the guide, who was walking behind me, but 15 year old Tyler immediately gave me his torch, which was very thoughtful of him, and this turned out to be typical of his and his little brother's behaviour.  Nice boys.  I felt sorry for them at lunchtime- they were given small helpings of chicken nuggets and chips, the type of thing you'd give a 5 year old.  Since Tyler is a gangly teenager who towers over his parents, I thought he must have wished for more, but nary a complaint was heard.  He did help himself to a big dessert, though, and who could blame him!  


Today we've been fossicking, and found a couple of topaz stones.  We came home with 5, but 2 of those were salted into our pan by the tour guide, so I don't count those. It was fun, though. This time there was a German family with us; although the parents had lived in Australia and spoke good English, and chatted with us,  the kids didn't understand the language, so there wasn't a lot of interaction there, but they did say they'd had a good time.  


Quiet day tomorrow, no tours planned but there's a pool here (did I mention that I'm wearing a sleeveless blouse, sitting outside under the awning in a pleasant breeze?)  It does get cool at night, under 10 degrees, but warms up quite quickly once the sun rises.  There's also a creek which is apparently worth a look, we haven't been there yet.  

MAREEBA TO MT SURPRISE

After a week in caravan parks or freebies with no mobile coverage, finally back online at Mt Surprise.  We stayed at Malanda for several days, the caravan park immediately next to a small waterfall and lovely bushwalks where we walked looking upwards because there were tree kangaroos, but the trees are so tall we couldn't see the tops of the trees, let alone the kangaroos.  Saw lots of baby tortoises, though.  


Malanda is near the Misty Mountains, a very appropriate name for the area near Millaa Millaa, where it appears the sun rarely shines.  Lots of great waterfalls in the area and although we're a bit blase about waterfalls now, they still come up with something different to surprise us occasionally.  Millaa Millaa Falls are right next to the carpark and very pretty; Dinner Falls is a long series of cascades with a very strange crater nearby, Little Millstream Falls, despite the name, is quite impressive, and the real Millstream Falls (both of these near Ravenshoe) is awesome.  Love to see all of these in the wet season, they must be incredible!

                          Millaa Millaa Falls
One day we did a round trip which took in the famous Curtain Fig Tree, Yungaburra and Lake Tinaroo, the Cathedral Fig Tree and crater lakes Barrine and Eacham.  Each of these provided great sights and it was a spectacular day.  Strangler fig trees are a parasite which starts from bird droppings in the crown of the tree.  Aerial roots descend and eventually envelop the host tree, which over much time dies through lack of light and rots, so the inside of the strangler fig becomes hollow.  These two are the best examples I've seen- we do have strangler figs in the rainforests at home, but they don't grow quite so aggressively.  

                     Curtain Fig Tree.


While walking around Lake Eacham, we saw a couple more examples, but they are not as photogenic as the curtain and cathedral trees. This was a pleasant walk with the misty rain clearing up as we went, and at the end, when the sun was coming out properly, we saw a biggish black snake coming out to warm up.  He was fairly sluggish after days of rain.

                          Lake Eacham
After Malanda we headed for Ravenshoe, planning to stay at the freebie right in town, but it was just too popular- though there were a couple of spots, we decided against it and went to Archer Creek, which is a pleasant and large campground.  Lots of others decided to join us there and we ended with about 45 neighbours.


Next we went to Innot Hot Springs, a big 15km further west.  After such a long drive, we had to plunge into the hot pools and found it very relaxing, so we stayed there two nights and enjoyed several dips. 


Moving along this morning, we have now reached Mt Surprise and tomorrow will do a guided tour to the Undarra Lava Tubes.  The following day we'll do a tag-along fossicking tour, and the day after that we'll head to Cobbold Gorge, where we're booked on a guided tour which includes a boat ride through the gorge, which has a number of freshwater crocodiles. 


So all very exciting at the moment, lots to do and plenty of money going outwards, but we've been fairly prudent since the Thursday Island trip and tours are the best way to see things properly and understand what you are looking at.


Mobile connection is a sore point with me at the moment because my mobile phone tells me there's no signal even when passing a tower, though Chris (also Telstra) has a good connection.  I can't use his phone because the screen's all scratched so I can't see what it's saying. I see a visit to a Telstra shop coming up- when we can find one!  It's been a real problem this week because of illness in the family, but luckily that's over now. 


Obviously as we continue further west, we will have even worse service.  The few people who live at Innot Hot Springs have to drive up the nearest hill to get a signal, and we are heading for some fairly small towns.  Here in Mt Surprise they have a phone signal but are still on analogue TV and we can't pick that up either.  We've had no TV for five days but at least we don't need to look at the weather forecast for a while, as it should be all fine.  Not much rain falls out here, but I've been surprised to see so much greenery.  When I think of outback, I think of red plains, dust and flies,and we haven't encountered any of that since we returned to Cairns from The Tip.


We plan to visit Normanton and Karumba, which is on the Gulf, before returning south.

FINAL DAY OF TOUR- BACK TO CAIRNS

We woke to drizzling rain, which would continue all day.  During a brief respite we managed to walk along the main road of Cooktown to see the sights but by the time we drove up to the excellent lookout, which has 360 degrees views, it was raining hard and almost nothing could be seen.  We did find a spider huddling out of the rain.


On the highway south, we stopped briefly at Black Mountain, a very strange affair of huge granite boulders piled on top of one another, making a very unstable surface which has accounted for a number of climbers.  The rocks are covered with lichen, which gives the black appearance.  Apparently the local tribes greatly feared this mountain and gave it a wide berth.


A stop at a quaint pub named Daniel's Den and a visit to Wojul Wojul Falls before we headed off on the Bloomfield Track, through dense rainforest and up slippery slopes.  Again and again on this trip we have been very pleased to have someone else doing the driving and someone else's vehicle copping the pounding, and this was another of those times. There are a number of creek crossings on the way, and we stopped beside one big one while the bus brakes cooled down.  Most drivers are cautious but there are some who are just stupid, and who fly through the crossings without knowing how deep they are.

 Creek crossing, Daintree National Park


Cape Tribulation was disappointing because of the heavy rain, which meant a very hurried trot up the track to the beach and back, and because of the huge crowd of people doing this.  The rain meant we had to eat lunch in the bus, but since it was sandwiches this was not a problem.  




Next stop was a tropical fruit plantation which sold icecream made from exotic fruits- yum! Then on back to Cairns, where we were the first ones to leave the bus, as our caravan park was on the outskirts of the city.  Everyone waved to us as they drove off- it's always a sad moment at the end of a trip, but at least we know we'll keep in touch with Bob and Faye.

DAY 7 TO COOKTOWN

Wallabies were hopping around the lawns during the night, but disappeared by morning.  We set off down the road, and Peter soon turned onto a little track to take us to Low Lake, a lovely spot where he was hoping we'd see a crocodile, but no.  They all duck underwater when we come along.  


Finally at lunchtime beside Normanby river, after crossing so many creeks and rivers, and seeing so many beaches with nary a sighting, we finally saw a croc. 

Freshwater crocodile on Normanby river


 I still say we haven't seen one, because this one was reasonable small, and was a freshwater croc, recognisable by the narrow snout- they are not dangerous although you wouldn't want to pat one.  


We visited Old Laura station, now deserted but with some buildings still standing.  A surprise here was the donkey behind the building, being unpacked by her owner.  They are WALKING to Cape York!  I think I've seen this old guy on TV some time ago.  The donkey carries a huge load of tent and supplies, and he walks beside her.

A man and his best friend. "She's not a pet."
He has few teeth, and little time for people.  After being surrounded by people taking photos and asking questions, he politely asked us to go away, he needed peace to set up his camp. What a character.

                           Isabella Falls
Isabella Falls was a lovely sight in the afternoon before we hit the highway and headed for Cooktown, a remarkably welcome sight.  Here we were to stay in an airconditioned motel with "seaview" rooms- actually estuary view, but water nonetheless.  Lovely sunset photos.  

                      Cooktown sunset
That evening, our last of the tour, Peter took us for a farewell dinner in a very nice restaurant down by the water. The weather had closed in and it was very blowy, but apparently that's normal for Cooktown.


Bob and Chris enjoying final dinner




 

Final dinner- with Peter the ace driver/guide
 

Day 6 to Musgrave station

The roads today were the worst corrugations yet.  We shook and rattled over many sections and saw a few vehicles which failed to make the distance.  Archer River roadhouse was a welcome break, where we crossed the road to photograph a giant termite nest.  We've seen hundreds of these, sometimes looking like a cemetery's headstones, but this group was really tall.  As we approached, a man and his little boy were in front of us.  The boy reached out his hand and touched the face of the mound, and Chris said :Isn't it amazing that ants did all that with their POO?" The kid, who'd been nodding his head in agreement, at the end suddenly snatched his hand back as if he'd been stung.


We had a little tour of Coen quarantine station and were duly surprised at some of the many infestations of plant, insect and animal life.  We had only recently heard of electric ants (that name really makes you think, doesn't it?) Turns out they are miniscule, so tiny you can barely see them.  A bit further down the road, we came to Coen township and visited their excellent free museum. Although the displays are static, they are not just objects, but stories about people, for example a woman named Toots who, despite a family of eight children, drove a truck in the area and could be relied on to deliver the post come rain or fire or flood for many years.  Another story was about the last official black tracker, who was retiring after being replaced by tracker dogs.  He'd saved a number of people's lives in the old days as well as catching numerous escapees.


Musgrave station is another former telegraph station where the accommodaton is in dongas.  We'd never heard this word until we were in Queensland but it's becoming increasingly common.  Dongas are multiple  prefab. units, very basic, usually used by mining employees and sometimes even shared by two people in a "hot bed" situation where the people concerned work different shifts and never actually meet.  Ours was OK, similar to a very cheap motel without the ensuite.  Bathrooms were a short distance away.

T.I trip- Day 5 to Weipa

For some reason this silly thing won't let me look at my previous posts but I think I'm up to the day we went to Weipa.


We crossed the Wrexford river and headed south.  Yesterday was a snake day, today it was wallabies and eagles.  At one stage Peter pulled over next to the road to show us a kapok tree.  The more mature readers will remember those horrid kapok mattresses we used to have, usually all lumps and bumps, and so hard to make the bed look neat.  The kapok itself is found inside the seed pod, and it would take a lot of pods to make a mattress.  thank goodness for inner springs!


The main reason for the existence of Weipa, which is located on the Gulf of Carpentaria, on the western side of the peninsula, is bauxite, used in the manufacture of aluminium.  The mining is open cut, but quite unlike the open cut coal mines in the Hunter Valley.  Here the land is flat, the bauxite is found between one and four metres under, and they simply remove the top metre and put it aside, remove the next three metres, and replace the top metre, although now three metres lower than it used to be.  It is replanted with vegetation similar to that which was removed, and the rehabilitation looks not too bad considering- at least it's more natural than the Hunter Valley rehab jobs.  The bauxite itself (which looks like reddish brown ball bearings) is washed and screened several times before being shipped by train to the shipping terminal and sent either to Gladstone or Newcastle for refining, or overseas.


We stayed in a very nice motel and enjoyed very nice outdoor meals, went for a bus tour of the mine, and although some people have actually been taken by crocodiles in the recent past, we still didn't see one.


One of the highlights was seeing azure-winged kookaburras in a nearby nest.  The blue is amazingly bright but they don't laugh, they cackle.

            Chris gets a bit of help from Faye

ATHERTON TABLELAND

Drove down to Lake Tinaroo to check out the free campsites at the northern end, but decided not to go there.  Isolated, reached by bumpy road, and nothing to do if you don't have a boat.  We had morning tea at the Platypus day area after climbing a fairly recent staircase to the top of a huge boulder to a "lookout" which has no view whatsoever- big trees all around prevent vision of the lake.  ????


We then returned to Kuranda as we wanted to see the Butterfly place, and so glad we did as it's wonderful.  I adore the brilliant blue Ulysses butterflies, have seen a few individuals in the bush but great to see them close up.  Also the amazingly large birdwing butterflies, also with brilliant colours.  Many other types as well.  One landed on my hand and stayed for a while. (Someone I know would be freaking out at that but I quite enjoyed it.) They are so quick moving it's hard to get photos, I ended up with a lot of photos of leaves and bushes. We had a guided tour of the breeding and rearing rooms, which was quite interesting. 


Then we drove to Barron Falls, where we had a pleasant elevated boardwalk to a place with a much better view of the falls than we'd had from the train.


On the way back to Mareeba, we stopped at a coffee plantation but were a bit disappointed in it.  We were a bit too tired to do the tour and would have liked some information about the coffee but it wasn't available.  We looked it up on the net instead.


Mareeba District's sign calls it "District of Diversity" and that certainly applies.  We've seen roadside signs for avocadoes, zucchini, potatoes, peanuts, and hay, and we see bananas, sugarcane and coffee growing all around.  The people seem to be diverse as well- there's a large Italian influence, reflected in the cemetery which has not only ornate graves, but quite a few mausoleums with Italian names, as do many streets in the area.  There are also some street names which sound more Croatian or Serbian.  There's also a large indigenous population if people you see on the street are anything to go by.  


Tomorrow we've booked into a caravan park at Malanda, as we want to visit Lake Eacham and the surrounding area.

MORE ABOUT CAIRNS

We've been so busy with one thing and another that I'm way behind on my blogging.  We've been on the Scenic Train and Skyrail one day, and had a visit to Green Island another day, plus catching up with various relatives.


Marg came with us to Kuranda on the Scenic Railway, which is a lovely trip through rainforest and steep hills with outstanding views of the Cairns area and several waterfalls.  Kuranda itself is a tourist town- I think you could probably go there before 10 am or after 3 pm on any day and not see a soul.   Between those hours, especially around lunchtime, it's packed with eager shoppers buying various tourist kitsch.  Japanese girls love wearing shorts, black stockings and ugg boots.  At 29 degrees!  Akubra hats are popular, and we actually saw someone wearing one of those hats with dangly corks (to keep the flies off). He was an Aussie boy, not a foreigner- he won't be troubled by flies anyway.  Neither are the rest of us because flies aren't a problem, at this time of year at least.

Our train crossing Stony Ck Bridge- there's a waterfall there.

On the Skyrail back to the coastal plain (spectacular views) we met a honeymoon couple from Bowral.  Their choice of honeymoon souvenirs floored us- a stuffed cane toad and a crocodile head!

  Coastal plain seen from descending Skyrail.


Green Island turned on the sun for us, luckily because it was still damp and cloudy back in Cairns.  We'd already snorkelled on the Whitsundays so this time we tried the glass bottom boat, and found it really interesting.  Lots of biggish fish, especially when the driver threw some food overboard, we witnessed a feeding frenzy attended by gulls as well as various fish almost leaping out of the water.

Green Island  from the glass-bottomed boat



The water round the island is a beautiful blue and the beaches are sandy.  Quite a beautiful place.  We found an empty clamshell which was an awesome size- not the giant ones, but big just the same.  The animal who used to live in it must have made a good feed for someone.


Back in Cairns after our half-day trip, we caught up with my sister and several other relatives, took Ben to the airport and visited another relative in hospital. (Ben's plane was delayed two hours so he was not happy).


John and Marg have moved on so we're on our own now, and looking forward to doing our own thing. Today (Sunday 15th) we've come to Mareeba- we'd planned to stay at the rodeo grounds but picked the wrong weekend- the rodeo's on.  Hundreds of people camped there, all using the same amenities blocks, queues of people waiting for showers or to clean their teeth- no thanks. We've moved on to Granite Gorge, which is a fairly basic caravan park but with pleasant surrounds and several bushwalks.  It started to rain just as we set up so we haven't tried the walks yet, but it's fairly light rain so we'll probably brave it after lunch.


Later- the granite around here is awesome.  The word "boulder" doesn't cover it, they are enormous.  A creek tumbles down through the boulders- you can hear it chuckling but much of the time you can't actually see it without scaling a big rock.  Rock wallabies live on the rocks, scrambling around like mountain goats.  I saw one who was seemingly hanging onto the side of a rock, nibbling- I got Chris to take a photo of him.  A moment later, his lower leg, which I thought was holding him onto the rock, came up and he casually scratched behind his ear, hanging on with only his upper leg and his little paws.


Some German kids were thrilled to be able to hand-feed the wallabies, who would come right up and eat literally out of their hands. Such excitement! I saw one woman exchange kisses with one of the wallabies.  I have never seen them so  tame. The male wallabies are feeling amorous but the females are not interested at the moment.


A big Thanksgiving turkey is gobbling outside the van, which is a change from all the scrub turkeys we've seen.  His mate is with him- we've seen them wherever we've been in this park so perhaps there's more than one pair.

SEEING THE SIGHTS AROUND CAIRNS

FRIDAY 13TH. We've had a busy couple of days seeing the sights around Cairns, including the emergency dept of Cairns hospital because my niece was taken there with chest pain. She's recovering, luckily, but it's meant my sister has now returned to Cairns from Brisbane.  More tests next week, we'll know more then.


In the meantime, Ben took us to breakfast at the Wildlife place near Port Douglas, an absolutely amazing place where you walk around on a boardwalk above various birds in their natural habitat, and some of them actually fly above you or perch on the railing in front of you. And a particularly amazing sight, a Jabiru sitting on an enormous nest just a few metres away.  And we actually saw a crocodile!  Two, in fact- we've never been closer to these animals, but luckily there was a fence between us.


After spending a few hours here, we pressed on to Mossman Gorge, where you now transfer to a shuttle bus for a few kilometres to the gorge itself, which does cut down on the traffic and the parking problems there.  A lovely rainforest boardwalk takes you to the most spectacular part of the gorge, where many people were swimming.


Finally we visited Crystal Cascades, right here in Cairns, and it was almost as spectacular.  Lovely day altogether until my sister rang with bad news, my niece had been taken to hospital with chest pains- as Colleen was in Brisbane, we went to check on Sarah , who was resting quietly.  Colleen flew up first thing this morning and is keeping an eye on things.


More later- tea's ready.

DAY 4; TOP END TO MORETON TELEGRAPH STATION

(TODAY, 11 JULY, actually in Cairns organising tours to Kuranda and Green Island, and the sun's trying to come out)

A more comfortable start today, as we didn't have to get up in the dark.  First travel for the day was to return to Seisia (which is pronounced Saysha for some reason) to refuel the bus.  I should mention the bus is very comfortable, with good seats and the suspension's been modified for the bad roads- mostly it's quite good, but on corrugated sections we do feel it, probably not as much as people in normal 4WD vehicles).


Seisia's a tiny place, really not much more than a wharf with some small associated buildings, caravan park nearby, and some houses and a servo.  The main town in the area is Bamaga, quite a pleasant place with neat gardens and a few shops- still a very small town.


Leaving Bamaga behind, we set off down the road to the south.  We passed another settlement, where people have been relocated from Weipa because they were in the way of the bauxite.  They're taken hundreds of miles from their land, put in these settlements with people from other tribes and nothing to do, a recipe for trouble.


The first stop of the day was the Jardine River crossing, where drivers are held to ransom.  Only one way across, and $88 return fare for a fairly short crossing.

Jardine River ferry- closes at 5pm sharp


Next stop, Fruit Bat Falls, so named for the shape, not for the presence of bats.  It's a delightful place with safe swimming, but we arrived at the same time as a large convoy of 4WD vehicles, each one full of kids on school hols. Normally a very peaceful place, according to Peter, it was really jumping this day, and the air was filled with shouts and squeals.  

                         Fruit Bat Falls

When they all left, suddenly peace reigned, but it was time for us to leave as well.  Luckily they were heading north, we were going south, so we didn't have to eat their dust.


On the way Peter kept his eyes peeled for items of interest.  He stopped once to show us a dead black snake, and another time for a live python, which he unsuccessfully tried to grab by the tail, but we were able to see it slithering away into a pile of debris, quite a long snake.


At Moreton Station, a former outpost of the northern telegraph line on the banks of the Wenlock River, which floods the whole area each wet season.  (A croc was seen walking up the main road last season- this is the middle of the peninsula!)  Peter drove us across the river to show us the sign high above us in the trees - "we were here in a boat"- incredible but the high water mark is also shown outside the main building.  


We had safari tent accommodation, which is actually quite comfortable, with even a little bedside table, so nicer than the previous nights' "resort". No ensuite but the amenities were close by.  The only problem was the similarity of the tents- when returning to ours after dinner (which was excellent, in an indoor/outdoor dining area) it was too dark to read the numbers and I found myself in the wrong tent!  Luckily nobody was in it.


We'd been for a pre-dinner walk to some strange caves,  formed by the forces of this river.  I felt really strange here, and couldn't leave quickly enough.  I don't know for sure, but I think people have been swept into these caves and died.  

DAY 3: THE TIP

When Peter the driver first mentioned going to the tip, we thought he was referring to the rubbish dump, but no, this is what the locals call Cape York.  At breakfast Chris and I realised we'd met Peter previously- he drove our tour bus on Fraser Island some years ago. Nice bloke, good driver, and knowledgeable, so it was good to see him again.


We set off in the dark as it would take us about an hour to reach The Tip.  Once there, we had quite a climb to reach the northernmost point, but the rocks, though wet, were not slippery and everyone made it except John and Marg, who stopped at the highest point.  The trail then led down over more rocks until we reached a sign announcing we'd reached the tip, where the Pacific Ocean (hereabouts called the Coral Sea) and Torres Strait merged with an awesome current. The wind was fierce but the clouds were dispersing by now. The temperature was such that we sought shade wherever possible.

              Tour group at The Tip of Australia
Back at the beach where the bus was parked, we searched for shells, but the only unbroken ones I could find were occupied.  We felt sorry for these hermit crabs and put them together so they wouldn't be lonely.

We could now acknowledge Peter's wisdom in the early start, because although ours was the only vehicle in the area to begin with, a steady stream passed us on the way out- probably more than 30 vehicles heading for a small carpark.


The beaches up here were all clean and sandy, but of course you can't swim because of crocodiles and stingers.  The rainforests are thick and green, except next to the road where red dust covers them.  The roads are super-bumpy, with creek crossings and erosion- and this is early in the season.  Our bus has special suspension and is really quite comfortable but some sections of the road are shake, rattle and almost but not quite roll. 

Typical Top End road- but much redder than it appears here.


We visited Somerset, an historic former cattle station, and Somerset Beach,  a rather rugged camping area, but with quite a few residents, where we saw a memorial to Edmund Kennedy, the first white man to almost reach Cape York.  Fishing is the only pastime here- resident crocs, so no swimming. (We didn't see any but were assured they were there.)


Peter took us on a "diversion" to a perched lake- these are formed in depressions which over time have acquired a dense covering of leaf matter which prevents rainwater from soaking into the sand.  There are several examples of these lakes on Fraser Island as well.  They tend to be a little acidic so are not usually populated by fish, but they are quite attractive.

                   Perched lake near Top End
While walking around the lake, we saw dingo and pig tracks, and walked under a big spider's web.  Big orb-weaving spider, big web.

On the way back to Punsand Bay we stopped at the Croc Tent, a quirky but touristy gift stall which is packed up each year for the wet season (as are all the resorts- most of them get flooded).


Back at Punsand Bay we enjoyed another hearty meal and were pleased to hear that tomorrow's breakfast would be at the much more pleasant hour of 7 am.

DAY 2 THURSDAY ISLAND & CAPE YORK

written from Cairns Tuesday 10th, where we've all been helping Ben with the unit- it looks great and will be finished tomorrow.

We left Horn Island for Thursday on Monday, if you see what I mean.  Thursday Island's only a 15 minute  ferry trip, and most of the time you're heading in the wrong direction to clear the sandbanks- not really far at all.

(I don't think I've mentioned there are 103 islands in the group, only 17 of which are occupied- some of the others are so low they are covered at high tide. If you saw the movie Mabo, it was about Murray Island, some miles further north.)

We were met at the wharf by our driver from yesterday, Liberty, who actually lives on Thursday, as do many of the people who work on Horn Island, though there is a small resident population on Horn.  Thursday's a bigger island, with more shops etc, though it's still a fairly sleepy place.  Again, not your typical tropical island, though the water is sparkling blue when the sun shines.  It has more history than Horn Island, and has a mixed population.  In the past, people came from  Japan, China and Malaya for the pearling industry and the indigenous population left for the outer islands, later returning to resettle on Thursday for various reasons.  I didn't realise that pearls were not the object, although probably they were welcome finds- the main target was mother of pearl, (nacre) which was used in buttons.  The local oysters were enormous- they say an oyster needs to be cut in two before you can swallow it, and I believe that, having seen the shells.  The industry died out when plastic buttons came in.

One unusual custom here is the covering of tombstones with plastic and having a ceremony for the unveiling, which marks the end of the mourning period.

The island is largely comprised of two big hills, and Liberty took us to an old fort on top of the smaller.  Great views, and luckily the rain stopped for a while.

We could see the mainland from there.  

Beautiful aqua waters around T.I seen from the fort, looking towards another island.

Like Fort Denison in Sydney Harbour and Fort Scratchley in Newcastle, the fort was built to repel the Russians back at the time of the Crimean war. It's been maintained as a museum.

We had free time to roam around the town's main street, but with showers threatening we chose to sit on the hotel veranda enjoying the view until it was time for the ferry to the mainland.  By then it was raining steadily so everyone made a beeline to sit on the lower deck, rather than the open air top deck.  The trip was quite comfortable, and took about 45 minutes.

At Seisia, the mainland ferry port, we met our driver/guide for the overland component of our trip and had our first taste of red mud.  Peter drove us over bumpy roads to our accommodation at Punsand Bay, where we were booked into another "resort".  We had individual ensuite cabins, which sounds nice, doesn't it?  Not quite. Twin beds, ceiling fan, skimpy curtains which only just covered the glassless but screened windows, and not another stick of furniture, not so much as a hook to hang your clothes on- such luxury!

With rain still hanging around, we couldn't do much exploring before dinner in a covered open air room where we met our fellow travellers.  Four other couples had travelled to Seisia on board the cargo ship Trinity Bay - we'd actually seen them on Horn Island the previous day, and watched the ship unload cargo for the outer islands.

So there were eight couples all told, which meant a full bus.  Peter said that one of us would sit beside him each day, and that like the rest of the seats, this would be rotated.  He announced that next day's breakfast would be at 5.30 am, much to our horror.  

The temperature was quite comfortable despite having no glass in the windows, the food was good so it was quite pleasant staying there really, but I would have liked even a banana case to put my specs on overnight. 

                     Punsand Bay in the rain

DAY 1: CAIRNS TO HORN ISLAND

A very early start because we were to be picked up at the caravan park gate at 6.25.  We were early (of course- we're always early).  This time, so were they, so we were well on the road before that time, ending up at the next pickup fifteen minutes early with nobody waiting, so the driver showed us the sights of Cairns CBD until closer to the given time for the next couple.  We passed by Harbour Lights, where Chris and I had enjoyed our degustation meal at Marina Paradiso, the brand new restaurant overlooking the marina which is owned by my niece Sarah and her husband Biagio.  They'd just received their long awaited liquor licence and were planning to officially open on the Monday, but Saturday was a practice night, to introduce the new staff to the menu, get them used to working together etc.  Sarah and Biagio live in the apartment block above the restaurant, and had invited their neighbours as well as a few other friends (and Auntie Val and Uncle Chris, who just happened to be in town at the right time.)  We had little bits of 16 courses, which all went down very well, with the help of some very nice wine.  Delicious.


Back to early Sunday morning.  We continued picking up the two other couples (as well and John and Marg, and ourselves) who were taking the flying to Horn Island option.  Later we'd meet up with the people who'd opted to go by ship.

                   Deplaning at Horn Island
We were surprised to be boarding a pink plane, but it flew the same as any other, landing at Horn Island a couple of hours later. As we circled Horn before landing, the flight attendants pointed out Thursday Island, just across the bay, and we could see many other small islands.  We could see why the airstrip isn't on Thursday- there isn't a level place to put it!  


Horn Island is not your dream tropical isle, far from it.  As far as we could gather, nobody was much interested in it at all until WW11, when the airstrip was built and an airforce base put up in the face of the advancing Japanese army.  The island was bombed a number of times, and people were killed.  Horn doesn't seem to have much more history than that.  We were taken on an island tour which showed us the old fortifications, which left us rather under-impressed.  I used to play in old gun emplacements in Stockton when I was a kid, and Chris has shown me others in Wangi and various places so these ruins were not exactly exciting to us.  The tour driver, of Chinese extraction, was named Liberty, and what an exuberant personality he has, which made the otherwise fairly ordinary tour interesting.  


We were staying at a "Resort", which brings up certain expectations, doesn't it?  Wrong.  It was an old 60's motel, really- had all the necessary bits and pieces, but a bit tired, not particularly attractive decor,  and a bit of a letdown.  On the plus side, it did have a lovely pool, and the food was plentiful.  There's also a free museum which belongs to the owners, Liberty's family. Lots of war photos and relics, but also some indigenous artefacts and history.  The items had handwritten notes and one amused me- a turtle shell was labelled "flat back turtle not so good eating and very smell." Apparently the green sea turtle is very good eating and presumably not smell.


It was hot, very hot.  Chris wanted a walk but he went by himself.  I made for the pool and had a lovely swim alone until joined by Faye and Bob, whom we'd met on the plane.  (The seating was jumbled and Faye was my companion- we were talking about exchanging email addresses by the time we landed). 


Later Chris returned and took a short dip before the four of us walked down to the jetty to see the sun set over Thursday Island.  The jetty was crowded with local people, young and old, fishing in an intriguing manner.


There are a number of holes let into the deck of the jetty.  Through these holes, people catch small fish they call "herrings" (though they're bigger than any herrings that come in tins). These fish are in enormous numbers under the wharf- a boatload of people went in there with a net and landed about 30 fish in seconds- then back out to deep water using the little fish for live bait.


 A few young boys and a couple of adults were fishing from the wharf but we didn't see anyone catch anything.  The tide was out and a kid caught a big mud crab using his hands and feet in knee deep water.  There are crocodiles in this water but the people didn't seem scared of them.  There are sharks too.

Sunset over Thursday Is., seen from Horn Is.
Dinner was pleasant enough but we all headed for bed early, after our early morning start.

BACK TO CAIRNS SUMMARY

We had a busy 8 day trip, covering more than 2,000 land kilometres and a bit less by air and sea. Lots of great sights, islands, waterfalls, rainforest, different accommodation, small and smaller towns, and several seas- and lots of red dust!  Shared the trip with another seven couples and a really good driver/guide who kept us entertained and managed to retain not just his patience, but his never-failing good humour.


If you want more detail, look to the following entries which I'll try to input over the next few days.  Lots to talk about!