Sunday, 2 September 2018

Cooktown to Mossman - DAY 40-43 -memories from 2013




DAY 40

Mossman 

We finally got on the road after our detour to the Museum, and before long we came across some more cattle being driven south, and this one decided to do a "runner" across the road in front of us, but we had slowed down so there was no problem.



We arrived in Mossman mid afternoon and booked into the caravan park for a couple of nights.Next morning we drove out to the Daintree Crossing and took the ferry across and drove to Emmagen Creek which was the creek we drove to on our last visit when we had a hire car and couldn't go any  further because of the dirt road, so this time we ventured a bit further to Tachalbadga Creek and onto the Bloomfield Track for just a short distance so we could say we had been on The Track!

Daintree Ferry Crossing

Daintree River


Emmagen Creek

Tachalbadga Creek

Creek Crossing
Emmagen creek crossing

The Daintree rainforest

A few swimmers in the creek
 A few people were swimming in the creek and it looked very enticing but we had other things to do and lunch was high on the list.

Boardwalk Cafe, Daintree
We had a lovely lunch here at the Boardwalk Cafe, the same cafe we had lunch at before, but I think it had changed owners and name, still good.

Cape Tribulation
 We then drove on to Cape Tribulation and had a stroll along the beautiful beach and of course took a lot of photos.
Cape Tribulation
There were a few coconuts from the palm trees near the beach, thought it made a good photo. The palms are amazing in the Daintree and I could have just sat looking up at them for hours.



There were quite a few brush turkeys wandering around
Fan Palms

Noah's Creek - just for our grandson
 After a few more stops along the road, we came to Thornton Beach.  This beach has unique properties as the stones actually bounce when thrown onto the rocks.  We learnt about these stones in our school days and apparently they don't want people to know about it nowadays as tourists have been taking them from the beach.  It's a shame that nobody knows about them now, but it's one of the problems of too many tourists in an area.
Thornton Beach

Thornton Beach

Thornton Beach


 We left beautiful Thornton Beach and on our way we stopped at the Daintree Ice Cream Shop, and were surprised how it had changed in the 13 years since we were there.  It was now a much larger shop but the ice cream was just as good, in fact there were more flavours, so that was even better.  There were beautiful gardens with lovely tropical flowers, so we sat with our ice creams enjoying the surroundings.


 We finished the drive at Mt Alexandra lookout but it was a bit hazy so we weren't able to see the views very clearly, but it was still lovely.


 We drove back across the ferry and  back to the Mossman caravan park and after a full day we were exhausted.
Next day we drove across the mountains back to Mareeba to collect some lights for the Toyota that we had ordered on line.  We also thought we might be able to vote there, as we would not be home for the upcoming elections, but we were too early so we would vote in another town in a few days's time.
Mossman cane fields


Mareeba campground at the rodeo showgrounds



Red Ant Hotel, Mareeba

Saturday, 25 August 2018

Cooktown Memories 2013 - Day 37

Cooktown 2013

Day 37

Cooktown

Isabella Falls
 Our first morning in Cooktown and we decided to drive out to the Endeavour Falls and Isabella Falls about 25 km.  The weather was hot and humid, pretty normal for FNQ. 
Isabella
falls

Wildflowers




A water crossing
The road to the falls was sealed at first and then a reasonably good dirt road with some corrugations in parts, but we weren't towing the van so the conditions didn't worry us too much.

Reflections
 After spending some time at the Isabella Falls, we drove back on the same road to the Endeavour Falls which we entered through a caravan park which would have been great to stay there but our caravan is not made for off road conditions.  The Endeavour Falls were lovely and it was only a short walk through the caravan park to the falls.

Endeavour Falls

Endeavour Falls

Endeavour Falls

On the way back to Cooktown we stopped to take some photos of the waterlilies, which were beautiful, but as we got out of the car we discovered a very bloated and smelly wild pig, so took a few quick photos of the waterlilies and made a hasty retreat to the car.  I have never smelt anything so bad.





After lunch we drove up to the still operational Grassy Hill lighthouse built in 1886 located on the site of Captain Cook's landing in 1770.  In 1993 the lighthouse was converted to solar power.



Grassy Hill Lighthouse

View from the lighthouse

Grassy Hill Lighthouse

Finch Bay

Finch Bay

Finch Bay
After a short stroll along the beach at Finch Bay we went back to the wharf area for some more photos.
Cooktown Wharf



Sculpture in bronze to commemorate the goldrush pioneers






Saturday morning and of course I had to go to the Markets, and it was a very interesting mix of fresh fruit  and handcrafts.  I had a taste of some tamarinds and really enjoyed the slightly tart taste, and while we were sitting down having a refreshing smoothie, a lady started talking to me and I told her I had been having trouble with my RA and she said she usually had a stall at the market and sold a "special oil" which helped many types of pain but she didn't have any with her but gave me her phone number.  I think the special oil might have been illegal but I would have been tempted to try it as my pain level was getting a bit too high for comfort and we had been doing a fair bit of walking, but I didn't phone her and just continued with my prescription medication and rest. 




Our next adventure was to The Lion's Den, a popular pub about 30km south of Cooktown.  We were looking forward to seeing this iconic hotel which has an amazing collection of memorabilia and good Aussie food and we weren't disappointed with our Barra Burgers and a nice cold beer.  






On the way back we stopped at  Keating's Lagoon and went for a short walk and almost trod on a green tree snake.  It was a beautiful green and stayed long enough for a photo before slithering away.

Green Tree Snake 




What a lovely colour for a snake


Next morning it was time to leave Cooktown, so after hooking up the van, we headed out but stopped at the James Cook Museum located in an old 19th century convent.  






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