Blog for September 2022

Mossmon . Daintree Rainforest . Jardine River Crossing . Cape Tribulation . Bloomfield Track . Cooktown . Elim Beach . Noah Beach . Hannah’s Engagement Sydney . Old Telegraph Track . Loyalty Beach . Cape York . The Tip

Perentie Wandering

September 2022

Day 220, Thursday the 1st September, 2022

We left Mossman and headed north. We got to Daintree Village and decided to do the Mossman river cruises. There were 2 cruises that could be done, you paid $34 and you could do either cruise as often as you wanted for a month. We did both cruises.

The lower river cruise had lots of croc sightings – definitely not a place to go swimming

This is the dominant male from the area, his name is Scarface

The upper river cruise did not have as many crocs but it was more scenic

One of my favourite birds, the Rainbow Bee Eater

After the cruises, we crossed the river on the ferry and continued our journey north along the iconic Bloomfield Track. We stopped along the way at the Daintree Ice Cream company, and we were very glad we did. Their ice cream was delicious. They made their own ice cream and specialised in using the local tropical fruit to flavour the ice cream.

They had different signature flavours which are dependent on what is in season, you could try a cup with all the signature flavours – which we did of course.

Coconut on the bottom, then Mango, Black Sapote (chocolate pudding fruit) and wattleseed.

They have tropical fruit farm and this is their ripening cage.

We spent the night at the Lync Haven Rainforest Retreat Caravan Park. I loved it, each space was secluded with rainforest around you. The only downfall was that there was no phone or internet reception.

Flying Foxes in the trees above the adjoining bay – good thing they were not above us, their droppings are like tar.

Day 221, Friday the 2nd September to Day 222, Saturday the 3rd September, 2022

We visited the Cape Tribulation Exotic Fruit Farm where we did a tropical fruit tasting and learnt a little about the history of the farm, where it is heading and some of the fruit growing there.

We loved coming here and would come again in a different season to try more fruit.

This is the actual fruit platter of the fruit we tasted, I have included the names of the fruit so I can remember what they were 🙂

Bread Fruit – ours was sliced and baked then salt was put on top – tasted starchy almost like potato chips, tasted Ok.

Yellow Mangosteen – very tart, yellow fruit, used best in jams and cooking. Purple Mangosteen which we did not try is apparently sweeter and easily eaten raw. Yellow one was too bitter for me as a raw fruit.

Cacao – Sucked the seeds then chewed the seeds, coating around the seeds was sweet, the seeds tasted like 80 to 90% very dark chocolate, a little bitter – Lots of antioxidants didn’t mind it.

Soursop – Sweet and Sour all at once, often called the tropical fruit, fruit, has lots of different flavours, very nice.

Black Sapote – Hint of dark chocolate but sweet – very soft and delicate – almost mousse like in texture – twice as much vitamin c than an orange. Also liked this.

Yellow Sapote – Sweet, texture was like that of an egg yellow, nice.

Japanese Cumquat – nice, sour fruit with a sweet skin – pop them in your mouth with the skin on. We grow these at home, love them

Jackfruit – very sweet, silky in texture, nice.

Football fruit – very sweet, with hints of mango, loved it.

Tea from galangal, stick of lemongrass, turmeric and black pepper – very nice – black pepper has a component called piperine which is an anti-inflammatory in itself, but its other benefit when paired with turmeric is that it helps in the absorption of the curcumin from the turmeric, which then acts as a strong antioxidant and has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and anti-fungal properties. Galangal and lemongrass also have many antioxidant health benefits. Liked this too, will try it at home.

The tall tree in the back is a breadfruit tree

Jackfruit tree with a dragon fruit vine growing up into it – the Dragon fruit is a cactus type plant

There is a lot of wildlife on Cape Tribulation roads, including the endangered Cassowary, as a result their speed humps are next generation and very successful in stopping speeding. The rain has also caused all the creeks to run very fast and full.

The speed humps are on all the roads, max speed is 60, and they have big rocks cemented into the top of them.

Creeks and rivers running very full and very fast with the current rainfall.

We camped at the Cape Tribulation Camping Ground. It is a great camp spot, even if it is a little expensive, right in the rain forest. There was not enough room in the normal camp area, so we stayed in the Bush Camp area.

The camp ground had a bar and a restaurant that did wood fired pizza some evenings. It was right on the beach and there were creeks running through the rainforest. We did some exploring.

The beach with the mist over the mountains in the background

everything is big here, look at the size of this snail, that is Bob’s hand.

Day 223, Sunday the 4th of September 2022

Today is Fathers Day. Happy fathers day to all the Dads out there and especially to my Dad. I took Bob out to lunch for his Fathers day, since he could not spend it with the kids, it was the next best thing.

We stopped at the iconic Lions Den Hotel, which was started in the 1800’s to accommodate the tin mines of the time. The lion is looking very sad at the moment.

We stopped to have a look at Myall Beach on our way up to Cooktown. It was low tide, but still very pretty, now that we had some sunshine. We had a look around, being very watchful for crocs.

We also stopped at Woobadda Creek, just off the road and very pretty.

Our last stop for the day before we camped at the Cooktown RV camp at the Turf club was at Wujal Wujal Falls. These falls were roaring, there was so much water coming down.

These calystamins were growing everywhere

Day 225, Monday the 5th September and Day 226, Tuesday the 6th September 2022

We spent the first and second nights at the Cooktown RV camp ground for fully self contained motorhomes and caravans, on the local turf club grounds, donation payment. It was a good place with lots of shady and non shady parking. However the second night a group of 6 caravans and motorhomes decided to park right next to us, the closest motor home was literally 2 feet from our truck, we did not quite understand why as the park was almost empty with lots of suitable space away from us and any other campers, but they wanted that spot and did not want to move.

The resident rooster, he walked around the camp ground looking for snacks and would start crowing at around 4 am each morning. I am surprised he is not soup yet.

This paper wasp nest was in a nearby tree

It is fascinating that they use the leaves from the tree and then make the paper like substance that you see.

We had a look around Cooktown itself, it was quite interesting that this is the place where Captain Cook first stepped foot on mainland Australia. This is where our heritage, good and bad, first started.

This cairn marks the spot where Captain James Cook beached the HMS Endeavour on the 18th June 1770.

One of the many tributes to Captain Cook.

The Cooktown Canon. It was Cast in Scotland in 1803, in 1862 it was transported to Moreton bay as a gift from Queen Victoria to the new colony. The Canons were distributed throughout Queensland from 1885 to 8187, it is unclear how why this one came to Cooktown.

This well was one of the first dug in Cooktown, it delivered water to the wharf and nearby dwelling via a steam pump. Water was close to the surface in Cooktown, you just had to dig a hole deep enough. There were over 50 well dug in Cooktown, most in back yards and some in public places

The musical Ship. It is made with musical instruments that can be played.

This sculpture commemorates the contribution made by Chinese immigrants to the development of northern Queensland. The statue in the front represents a newly arrived Chinese man contemplating his new country and the trek to the gold fields, the two in the back represent those who later prospered and contributed to Australian business, services and commerce

and Armoured Personnel Carrier. These were used to carry soldiers to the front, they were only bullet proof but not armoured to be able to shield against heavy artillery or bombs.

There were mango trees on every street, this one already had large fruit on it.

The Cooktown Top Pub, or Cooktown Hotel, built in 1885

The first building was originally the Bank of North Queensland, the second was originally a furniture and cabinet makers shop with the family residence above, and the third was originally the Queensland National Bank.

This is the furthest building in the previous photo, such a grand old building originally the Queensland National Bank, when it was built in 1891, it was also the Bank of NSW and a Westpac bank, at the moment it has been bought privately and Cooktown is awaiting what it will be in the future.

Don’t you hate it when someone takes a photo just as you put something in your mouth…..

We drove up to “Grassy Hill” which is where in 1772, Captain James Cook and Joseph Banks stood to contemplate the dreadful predicament them and their crew faced as castaways on these shores

view from the top of Grassy Hill over the Endeavour River

We spent the night of the 6th September at a farm stay called Endeavour River Escape. This is a fantastic farm stay, the sites are large and surrounded by natural rainforest where you could walk. It had really good facilities, was reasonably priced and the owners were really lovely. If your ever up this way, it is a great stay.

you could walk to a branch of the Endeavour River

The Billabongs had turtles in it and another camper showed me a photo he had taken that day of a salt water croc in the same lagoon, I however did not see it.

This lace monitor and lots of his mates wandered through the camp sites

Bracket Fungi, unfortunately grows and feeds on healthy trees

Look at the size of this seed pod, it was over a metre long and looked like a giant green bean, it is the seed pod for the Matchbox Bean Vine

Green tree ants making a new nest with leaves from a growing tree. See how they work together to bring the edges of the leaves together to form their cocoon like nest.

Day 227, Thursday 8th September to Day 228, Friday 9th September, 2022

We travelled to and stayed at Elim Beach camp ground. It is a privately owned camp ground. The camp ground is in the Hope Vale Town area, which is an Aboriginal community. The owner Ivan inherited the camp ground from his dad Eddie, who was famous for being a great host, Ivan has carried on his dad’s tradition.

Apart from being a great beach area, which could not be swum in due to crocodiles, the area is known for the coloured sands nearby.

The camp ground was lovely, could definitely come back.

Cape Bedford can be seen in the background

Tide is out, you can see the coloured sands in the background

It was quite amazing to see fresh water springs bubbling out of the mud flats at low tide.

An Ant Plant. This is an epiphyte, that is a plant that grows harmlessly on a tree.
The Ant plant has a special relationship with the Golden Ant which lives in the tuber of the plant, and also with the Apollo Jewel Butterfly which lays its eggs on the plant then the Golden Ant takes the eggs into the chambers in the tuber where the larvae hatch and develop into butterflies

We spent Saturday night at Bloomfield Caravan Park, nice little caravan park.

Day 230, Sunday the 11th September and Day 231, Monday the 12th September, 2022

We drove to the Noah Beach Camp ground, right on Noah Beach, it is a gorgeous little camp area with a bar and they make wood fired pizza. The beach is beautiful and the surrounding rainforest is spectacular.

Crab Art, these look like works of art, they are actually the nests built by little crabs. This one looks like a butterfly

Whilst in the area we visited a few places, one of them being the Madja Boardwalk, which is a rainforest boardwalk through mangroves.

We also walked the Jindalba Boardwalk, a rainforest walk.

We ended the day at the Daintree Icecream factory again. This time the icecream was Coconut, Wattle Seed, Yellow Sapote and Passionfruit

Day 232, Tuesday the 13th September and Day 233, Wednesday the 14th September, 2022

We stayed at the NRMA Caravan Park in Cairns. Lots of birds here, loved it. There were mainly Australasian Fig Birds and Australasian Imperial Pigeons, which I had not seen before.

Little Willie Wagtail building his nest.

Day 234, Thursday the 15th September, 2022

We boarded a plane and flew to Sydney. Our gorgeous Hannah had got engaged and she was having her engagement party on Saturday. We definitely could not miss that, we were very excited to help her and Jacob celebrate and also see our family and friends in person after 7 months on the road.

Day 236, Saturday the 17th September, 2022

Today our beautiful girl Hannah and her gorgeous fiancé, Jacob celebrate their engagement. We are so happy for them, they are a great couple and work well together. We wish them every happiness for their future together.

Day 239, Tuesday the 20th September to Day 240, Wednesday the 21st September, 2022

We fly back to Cairns Tuesday to continue our adventure. We were pleasantly surprised to see some of the barrier reef from the plane, it was beautiful.

These are the baggage returns in Cairns airport

We returned to Lake Placid Rainforest Retreat caravan park for the next 2 nights. The friendly little Curlew we met the last time we were here ran to meet us, he is very, very cute.

Day 241, Thursday the 22nd September 2022

We started our journey up the coast towards Cape York today. Along the way we stopped at the Emerald Creek Ice Creamery and tried some sorbet, we both had the Dragon fruit with Lime and the Papaya. It was nice.

We spent our first night at a free camp called the Rifle Creek Rest area in Mount Malloy. It was a great overnight camp with toilets and a shower. There was a river nearby where you could swim, there was plenty of room and it was fairly quiet. All this for a $2 donation per vehicle per night – Bargain

Jack fruit growing right behind our camp site

Day 242, Friday the 23rd September, 2022

We made it to the Hahn River Roadhouse where we stayed the night. Along the way we stopped at a farm stall with an honesty box and bought some bananas, there were banana trees everywhere. The bananas we bought were amazing, they were called sweet Ducasse bananas. They were not too sweet, but really creamy with a really think skin, much nicer than the Cavendish bananas we buy at the supermarket.

The Hahn Roadhouse was a really nice place to stay, lots of space with toilets and showers. There were animals everywhere wondering around the place. At 5:00pm each afternoon one of the owners feeds the local Agile Wallabies, and you can watch. The peacock was gorgeous and the peahen was also very attractive.

I asked him to put on a display for me and he obliged

The Pea hen was also quite beautiful, just not as spectacular

This little wallaby could only jut reach the food tray, but he managed

“well the state of the economy at the moment……”

Day 243, Saturday the 24th September, 2022

We managed to get to the Schramm Creek free camp today. Along the way we stopped for fuel in Coen, the pub there used to be called the Exchange Hotel, it is now called The Sexchange Hotel.

This termite mound was over 4 metres high

Day 244, Sunday the 25th September, 2022

We started driving the iconic Old Telegraph Track today. It starts at the also iconic Bramwell Junction Roadhouse and meanders north all the way to the Jardine River. We were only going to do the track till we got to Eliot Falls and Twin Falls, then we get back onto the Bamaga Bypass Road and the ferry over the Jardine River.

The Old Telegraph Track is a very technical and challenging road accessible only during the dry season in Australia, located on Cape York, in north Queensland. The road is 350km long. It’s definitely 4WD only. The track is generally narrow, with some sections being very rocky and eroded. It’s what’s left of the original telegraph track that was used in the 1880s to connect Cairns with Thursday Island. The road was created to run the telegraph line from Cairns to the tip, then under the sea to Thursday Island.

This is one of the trees and supports for the hundreds of number plates nailed to it. The number plates are those that have been found on the track, or put there as a memento by those who have crossed the iconic Gunshot Creek.

The start of the track, just behind the roadhouse

It quickly became more and more challenging, requiring a fair amount of technical skill

Here you can see one of the remaining telegraph poles used in the 1880’s to transmit between Thursday Island and Cairns

There were bits of cars left all along the track

some worse than others, who did not make it

There were a number of very challenging river crossings along the track. I have listed some of the more significant ones below. The first was the Palm Creek crossing. the first descent you come across looks so bad that a lot of people just turn around and go back. We would have as well if we had not gone to the right and found a second descent that was more manageable.

The first descent into the creek – yeah, nah

He expertly drives down – I heard gasps of admiration from the crowd that had gathered

The next major crossing was the Dulhunty River. It was such a pretty river that after crossing we stopped for lunch then took a dip to cool off.

Very pretty river with a little waterfall and no crocs

Then there was the Bertie Creek Crossing, you can see the exit on the other end of this picture to the left.

The last crossing for the day was the big one, the Iconic and extremely challenging Gunshot Creek. The infamous descent is the first one pictured, luckily Bob has some sense and decided to do one of the other descents into the creek, which was a little less challenging. There were a few people there who had already crossed themselves or had come up to watch as others crossed, apparently it is a thing. Bob did and excellent job coming down the river bank, everyone including me was very impressed.

I have this on video, but unfortunately I can’t post video’s on this forum, so have a look on my Facebook page, I posted it there.

The is the infamous 90 degree vertical descent

This is the descent that Bob actually did

This is the exit up the other side of the creek

Getting out the other side however was a different story. Bob took the wrong line and ended up in a hole and wedged against the bank and a stump. He had to use the winch cable to pull himself out. The other people there were amazing and helped. The only damage done was the security door handle broke, another thing for Bob to fix.

Still an amazing feat, we conquered Shot Gun Creek, tick that off the bucket list.

Damage done to security handle, that will have to be replaced

We spent the night at the Gunshot Creek campground along with other people who had conquered the creek. Two of the couples there, we had met at Dalhunty River. There was Steph and Steve, who both lived in Maitland, just down the road from us, and there was Grace and Tom, who lived in Cairns. Both couples were much younger than us but we got on quite well and shared a camp fire that night. We were amused that we had met another Grace and Tom, we had also met another young couple Grace and Tom when we were in Perth, and both couples were getting married this year – quite the coincidence.

Day 245, Monday the 26th September, 2022

Our second day on the Old Telegraph Track. Today we reached Fruit Bat falls.

There were wash outs with narrow and crumbly edges

Along the way we hit a tree when we leaned to the side a bit more than we thought and broke our awning.

The entrance to the north side of the Old Telegraph Track

On our way to Fruit Bat Falls we crossed Sailor creek, which was a little deep.

We also crossed Cockatoo Creek

We crossed a creek that fed into a lovely turtle pond, full of small turtles. Very cute.

We finally reached Fruit Bat Falls, we were both very hot after the long drive and could not wait to go for a dip. The water was just the right temperature and we soaked for over an hour.

We spent the night at Canal Creek free camp ground. To get to the camp ground you had to cross the creek, which was also challenging. Having said this, the creek was just beautiful and clear and perfect for a soak at the end of the day.

The water was glorious, we soaked for over 2 hours

We met up with Tom and Grace, and Steph and Steve again and shared another camp fire.

Day 246, Tuesday the 27th September, 2022

We visited Eliot Falls and Twin Falls, which are both accessed from the Old Telegraph Track. Both Falls were amazing. We swam at Twin Falls, in the area between the top falls and the lower falls. The water was glorious, we did not want to get out but we had to get to Cape York.

Eliot Falls was amazing, so much water coming down the falls.

Top of the falls looking back over the river

Twin falls was also beautiful.

This pretty butterfly was on the boardwalk

After our swim we continued our trip and headed for the Jardine River ferry.

The last bit of the Old Telegraph Track for us

In Bamago the wild brumbies were everywhere

Day 247, Wednesday the 28th September, 2022

We stopped at the Loyalty Beach Caravan park for the next 3 nights. It was a really lovely, very lay back caravan park with a bar and a restaurant.

We watched the sunset over the beach and had visits from a wild brumby mare with her foal – very cute.

These cute little gecko’s were all over the amenities blocks

Day 248, Thursday the 29th September, 2022

Today we visited Thursday Island, also called TI and is know as ‘Waibene’ by the original custodians of the land the Kaurareg people. We caught a ferry from Seisia, which took about an hour, then we also did a tour which took us around the island by bus.

Thursday Island is approximately 40km from the mainland of Australia and is part of the ‘Prince of Wales’ island group or ‘inner Islands’ of the Torres Strait. The Kaurareg people are the Traditional Owners for this area. The Kaurareg people followed traditional patterns of hunting, fishing and agriculture and maintained close cultural and trading ties with the Aboriginal groups of the Northern Peninsula Area of Cape Your for thousands of years.

Thursday Island now acts as the commercial, transport and administrative hub for 20 communities spread across a geographical area spanning approximately 48,000 square kilometres. The people on the island are almost all public servants.

Waibene acquired the name ‘Thursday Island’ in 1848 when Captain Stanley, who was in charge of HMS Rattlesnake recorded the names of three islands in the area; Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Islands. Admiralty maps made in 1855 however, reversed the order of the islands as set down by Captain Stanley^[5].