Across the Gulf to Cooktown

Gulf Savvannah to Cooktown

Total km: around the 18000 mark - further than driving to london from Sydney

Stops 52 – 57 Crossing the Savvannah Gulf

From Katherine we had decided to take the more direct but much less well travelled Savvannah Way which would take us all the way across to the East Coast and Cairns. We had a quick burger and milkshake break in Mataranka where the 'village' roadhouse also bred Thumbelina horses before starting down the single lane Roper Way, somewhat unnerving when a 50 metre long road train is bearing down on you, and then onto the Nathan River Road which was closed to vehicles except 4WDs.






















Above - scenes from the gulf road, including a willy-willy similar to one that attacked us at a rest stop along the way. the one that attacked us was actually about 10m high and a couple of metres wide and had us sheltering behind our car!




For the most part we bush camped by rivers or creeks on route with Simon still trying his hand at fishing and me staying by the truck biting my nails dreading that I'd hear a yell and a splash and have to go and wrestle a crocodile to save him. (Kate: I tried to stop him but you know what it's like stopping Simon doing anything when he has his mind set on it). Due to my paranoia about a hunger crazed psycho croc unzipping the tent in the night and having us as a midnight snack we slept in the car those nights and made a point of being at least a little way away from the water's edge.







Bush camping by the lagoon



















rough tracks

























Beware - mutant cattle


















For most of the Savvannah way we were driving through, surprisingly, savvanah land and cattle stations with a few small towns on route. Burketown (named after the explorer) was one of these and a local guy, running the town visitor centre in the converted old post office, was able to tell some first hand stories of crocodile encounters on his fishing trips and a decidedly gruesome story about a German tourist who had been snuck up on from behind by a far too cunning croc.







no chrome wheels and booming stereo's for this crowd - it's big spotlights and UHF arials to be in with these guys




















mini horses - cool

























lifesize model of croc captured in Normanton - 8.63m














The town was pretty and relaxed as were Normanton and Croydon. We enjoyed a drink in the local pub in Croydon - the only one left from the original 36 that had serviced the town when it had over 6000 people prospecting for gold in its heyday. Now a mixed population of closer to 200 remains in this beautifully restored and maintained town.






The "Lost City"
























"Bush Bashing" , the art of following little used tracks
















We also wandered through the 'Southern Lost City' – similar to the sandstone formations we'd seen at Keep River – and had a good chat with the lady at the Hells Gate Roadhouse, no longer a roadhouse but still running a cattle station and heard a more rural perspective on the current rising fuel costs in Australia. We're not sure what's happening in the rest of the world but it seems to be coming to a head here – isolated stations like this use diesel for their ute's and trucks and their only electricity comes from diesel generators so the rising fuel costs are hitting hard – then of course the city folk moan when it hits them as a rise in beef prices. Not quite sure where this is going to end but it's not looking pretty.








Gulf road roadhouse similar to "Hells Gate"















This road is actually a causeway across a river - gives an idea of the difference in wet season



















Bush Campsite













From Croydon we continued eastwards with an overnight at Innot Hot Springs where we hit grey nomad territory with a sausage sizzle around the pool and a round the campfire sing song with such hits as 'She'll be coming round the mountain when she comes” and “How much is that doggy in the window (woof woof)”. Priceless. We didn't partake but observed these strange creatures from the safety of the camp kitchen.

After the hot springs we had an evening date to make and so set off on the 200 or so km eastwards towards the coast and glamorous Port Douglas.

We really noticed the change of scenery on this leg. Before the hot springs we'd just started coming into more hilly countryside, more forested, less Savvannah like but from this point on we really started to notice the tropics encroaching. We drove through the beautiful Atherton tablelands which we would love a little longer in – perhaps on the way back down – through the highest town in Queensland (920m), and the misty mountains were truly misty!. The road then wound down perhaps the longest and a most twisting road we've ever driven on down to the coast where we passed through sugar cane country before hitting Port Douglas.





















Above - scenes from the trip to port douglas


Stop 58 Port Douglas
Resorts aplenty, Port Douglas is not for the budget conscious but a good diversion for us all the same which was made more than worthwhile just by the look of delight on Alex's face when we snuck up on her and Steve having sunset drinks and prawns at the marina.




Good to see some mates at last !























Port Douglas at sunset


















Steve had miraculously kept it a secret that we might make it there whilst they were holidaying from Sydney. It has to be said it's good to see some mates after a few months on the road. One thing we certainly are though is out of practice with drinking so having exceeded our daily two stubbies allowance we then suffered our first real hangover for almost three months.

Good spot for a holiday Port Douglas, chocka with nice accommodation and easy access to the rainforests and great barrier reef. After a long spell in the relative wilderness we were also back in backpacker country as the number of wicked campers etc... testified

Stop 59 Cape Kimberly Beach, Nr Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation
After saying our farewells to Steve and Alex we hit the road again up into the Daintree National Park, famous as being one of the few spots where the rainforest comes all the way down to meet the sea and the fringing reefs.

It felt like being back in Borneo with it's dense rainforest and windy roads. Unfortunately this is a well known spot and crowds were evident at most of the scenic area's. After all the remote spots we've been to any gathering of about more than five people is a crowd in our book and we've become suitably snobbish about it.































Above - crossing the daintree to Cape Trib. Have to keep your eyes out for Cassowaries (the world's most dangerous bird)


We stayed at the Koala resort on Cape Kimberley, camped up underneath rainforest tree's but only about 50m from the beach -it was pretty cool. Si tried his hand at fishing again but as you've probably guessed from previous posts didn't catch anything – this time though neither did the locals either, they all agreed it was the wrong state of tide or some technical fishing thing like that.





















Above - Cape Kimberley



The next day we took the well known 4wd trek – the Bloomfield track – up the coast to Cooktown. Whilst all the 2wd's had to detour for miles inland we took the windy, steep and occasionally water covered trek through the fringing rainforest and through some of the best kept aboriginal communities we've seen. In all fairness it's not a difficult trek and none of the creeks were high, however it does sport some monster hills and after getting ourselves in a couple of flusters with wrong gears we hoisted the white flag and took to crawling up in first.





The Bloomfield track




















Stop 60 Cooktown
Gateway to Cape York, Cooktown is the farthest north one can get in Queensland on the tarmac. What a cool little place, fantastic year round climate (low of about 25 in July I think), wide streets with wallabies roaming about and a general chilled out, “what's the rush” type feel about it.



Cooktown













Whilst there we managed to witness a local fisherman have a mackerel snatched off his line by a giant groper (that was pretty cool) and find an honest mechanic who actually put the right amount of reasonably priced oil in and carry out a couple of minor repairs to the electrics and reserve fuel tank.