Campers Road Trips

[Camper]

Another shot from Heales Lookout



Lake Barrine below







Clean clear water

Internet connection is failing now, will try for more tomorrow.

[Camper]

Good morning all,

Lake Barrine still, and a walk around the edge




very clean, clear water







SNEK! DANGER NOODLE!





These twin Kauri pines are massive 75m easy, the only 2 of their sort in the area





Who doesn't love a tree fern




Really got the Van look here





You can take a boat tour around the this lake, might be the only boat tour I turned down this whole trip.

[Camper]

Lake Eacham, truly beautiful spot nice drive in. good carparks and picnic areas but no camping here.








The water has a slight blue tinge, otherwise it is clear and you can see deep into it.











There is apparently a fresh water Croc here, couldn't find him though, he would be healthy, lots of fish and easy to find.

I took a couple of really nice 360 photos here that I would love to share if I can work it out.



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[Camper]

Drove around Yungaburra to Atherton where I finally washed the car, had a good lunch on a hill top lookout and kept driving, will get back here one day.







The famous Curtain Fig Tree, pics don't do it justice, this thing is huge.





The country around Mareeba reminded me of so much of Arid Australia and was a bit of a let down after the rain forest, so I was really glad to get into Kuranda and back into the forest.


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[playwme]

Awesome. Keep em coming.

Have you got a full route map? Father in law is planning a Bucket List trip to ride the motorbike as far north as he can. Being the good son-in-law, I told the wife I'd go with to keep an eye on him. ;)

[gregbark]

You can probably get as far north as Cooktown on bitumen and it is worth a couple of days stay. There are so many places and pubs with character you might not want to come back south. Port Douglas can be expensive and is like Sufferers Paradise at times. It is Grey Nomad/ Caravan country so camping spots can often be full. Regardless it is still one of the top parts of Australia that is easily accessible, still close to all facilities and yet can have some remote areas where there is no sound of human habitation. As they say you Gotta Gotta Go.

[wbute]

You need to see if you can go all the way to the UK! Plenty have done it on motorbikes.

[Camper]

Have you got a full route map?

So I pretty much followed the blue line here on the way up and came back along the coast, there are graded roads from Cooktown to Weipa and on to Bamaga, which is very close to the tip but the corrugations can be murder on stock suspension so I chose not to go further. (P.S. friends tell me Bamaga is the kind of community you drive straight through with the doors locked)

From Bamaga it's 4 hours drive return to the tip, walk the last few hundred meters. 4wd recommended.

You can do a tour from Cairns/Cooktown/Weipa/Bamaga that will take you to the tip in a Bus if you're keen. My boss took his Caravan last year, he has been going since 68...

Between Cooktown and Cape Tribulation is still real 4wd country, the Bloomfield Track and Old Telegraph Line, they are made worse each year by the traffic and it is recommended that you ring the local police before travelling as conditions change drastically. (we did the Bloomfield track in the early 90's in a Hilux and it was great fun)

To get from Cooktown to Cape Tribulation on the blacktop you need to come back inland through Lakeland, go down to the coast at Port Douglas then head north again, it is worth it. True Jungle.

Fun fact, Cooktown was settled before Brisbane.

[Camper]

Should mention, it is blacktop all the way, some of the Lynd Highway between Charters Towers and the Lynd turn off is single lane, you could get around this by using the Bruce Highway (coastal) all the way up to Cairns or Port Douglas then heading up the range and following signs for Cooktown.

Any dirt/gravel roads I went on were purely for fun/exploration or to get to camp grounds and do not need to be travelled. There are many places to stay, you could do pubs or motels all the way.

[Camper]

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Kuranda is in a loop of the Barron river and constricted by it.





There are a lot of Bed n Breakfast and private camp grounds around Kuranda but I wasn't feeling them, I got to town on Sunday afternoon with out having booked anywhere. I really wanted to be right in town but couldn't manage it.

I had scouted a camp ground (Speewah Conservation Reserve) as back up but decided against it, mainly because I hadn't had a proper wash in 4 days but also because I couldn't have a fire and there is no water/river there. Nice enough place though, secluded and sealed roads.

So I ended up in a cabin at the Kuranda Caravan Park, good to have a proper shower, if you come here ask for cabin 11, it's on the edge of the property and looks into the forest. I lucked out.












Shortish walk into town along an unused railway, under a bridge and along the Barron River.















There is a lot to do in Kuranda, more than 1 days worth which is why I wanted to stay in town. Cable cars, a Steam Train, Boat rides, Butterfly house the works.

The Skyway cable cars were down for maintenance which ruined my main plan of catching the cable car down and train back up the range.
So I drove the range road... down and back 3 times before I realised there is average speed cameras at each end.
Might have a fine waiting for me at home, might be OK, they take your Rego at each end and record the time taken, if you are too quick you get fined. I stopped at lookouts a couple of times but can't recall if I did one trip straight through or not.

I remember Kuranda from when we went there when I was a kid, probably with rose coloured glasses. The markets were wonderful, a maze of haphazard tiny wooden stalls, real, actual hippy's that had hand made stuff trying to flog it to tourists to subsist in the forest. I have a folding/sliding castle hand carved out of Camphour Laurel that still blows my mind, so intricate. I can still taste the sausage roll bought in the main street. The Butterfly house was huge, they landed on me, I made friends with a butterfly. We were a happy family.

So take it with a grain of salt when I say the town seems tired, more tourist trap than commune.





Having said that I met some locals in the pub who were great, classic bar fly types. You can still find local produce, the forest around the town is beautiful and a butterfly did land on me at the butterfly exhibit.
I had a lovely time on the boat cruise, and spent a few hours wandering along the river walk, truly worth the trip.