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Cape York 2022
  • Bec Taylor
Aug – Sep 2022

Cape York 2022

A 45-day adventure by Bec Read more
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  • Trip start
    August 1, 2022
  • Bec TaylorTravelerCape York 2022

    Home to Mungindi

    August 1, 2022 in Australia ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    The biggest, planned driving day of our trip today. We put air in the tyres and left just before 9am. It was a bit drizzly but cleared the further we got. A quick maccas stop for breakfast at Muswellbrook and back on the road. It's only day 1 and I've already given up on putting shoes on and off, socks and slides it is. Stopped at Gunnedah hotel for a drink and lunch, got a nice spot by the fire. There was a heap of white stuff either side of the road on the way in and out of Boggabri, at first I thought a poor cockatoo, but then it just kept going! We think it was cotton, pretty cool. When we got into Narrabri we ended up in the wrong lane and got pulled over by a cop, all good, he had a laugh about not being from around here and the confusing roads. Also, turns out we've been saying Mungindi wrong, whoops. Stretched our legs at the Moree visitor information centre then we were on our way. We got to Mundingi on sunset and met Lyn, who invited us to sit by the fire and talk shit with the other travellers. Amazing choice, absolute legends. They cooked us dinner and we had a few drinks. We did have a good laugh with Steve, he's an AFL fan, supporting Carlton while the rest were NRL fans, he was glad there were finally some 'educated people' around, he had to get a photo with us so he wouldn't forgetRead more

  • Bec TaylorTravelerCape York 2022

    Mungindi to Thallon

    August 2, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We started the day driving the Mungindi sculpture trail as suggested by Lyn and Larry, then popped into Flock cafe for breakfast. Next we headed to the One Ton post and stood in two states at once. Thallon was next, I climbed William the wombat and we found the Silo artwork, which was partially blocked by grain and the busload of people who pulled up just before us.Read more

  • Bec TaylorTravelerCape York 2022

    St George, Surat and Roma

    August 2, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We stopped at the unique egg in St George, where there is a collection of carved emu eggs. Another hour and a bit down the road to Surat to visit the Cobb and Co museum, another suggestion from last night. It was very impressive and not at all what we were expecting. Roma was our last stop, we had a look at the Big Rig and the largest bottle tree, grabbed a few bits from woolies and headed to Injune for our second night.Read more

  • Bec TaylorTravelerCape York 2022

    Injune to Carnarvon Gorge

    August 3, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    We had a much quieter night last night, set up, cooked dinner and watched TV. Hockey for me and netflix for Ben. We had a bit of a chat with the bloke camped next to us, he said Thursday Island up north is well worth the visit and that once we're at the Cape, we should just follow our maps/hema. Apparently the local Injunes and Bamagas like to play silly buggers and spin the signs around for fun. Pack up this morning was pretty quick, we fueled up and grabbed the truckers breakfast at Injune Roadhouse. We had a quick look at the old Injune railway station and train, before going on a search for the dog fence. The longest man made structure at over 2500km, we think we saw it? I mean, there were a lot of fences, a sign would have helped, but one of them had mesh and chicken wire along it, so we assume that was it. Only 150km on the road today to Carnarvon Gorge. Day 3 and we've already had to dig a hole on the side of the road and seen number plates from every state except NT. On the way into the gorge we made a quick stop at a plane crash memorial then continued on our way. Made it to Carnarvon Gorge, popped into the visitor centre then did the Nature walk, just over a km, and we SAW A FREAKING PLATYPUS! There were signs everywhere saying they could be around but you never actually expect to see one! We went and checked out the Rock Pool before parking to do the Mickey Creek walk, about 3km return, it was nice, mostly flat. We're chatting to so many nomads, it's really sweet, they have a lot of suggestions and are so friendly. We checked into our new accommodation, Breeze Big4, we're here for 2 nights. Bumped into the couple we were set up next to last night at Injune and had a good chat. Set up was quick and easy as always. We want for a wander along the creek, the lady at reception noted 3 spots on park map where platypus sometimes are. We saw another one at the spot closest to us! I was startled by seeing it so clearly, having a swim and paddling about. A bunch of noisy oldies were coming down to the creek having a laugh and the platypus disappeared. Poor buggers missed it. We lapped around the creek but didn't see another. We're now sitting at the Taka Bushbar near reception, having a drink and usins the limited wifi, they're only open for 2 hours and we're about to watch a presentation about.. well we're assuming it's about Carnarvon gorge. Only annoying this is, the gorge is about 4kms away and they don't have shuttle, which means we have to pack the tent up to do our big walk tomorrow, then set up again in the arvo at the same spot. Ah well, you live and learn, or something like that.Read more

  • Bec TaylorTravelerCape York 2022

    Carnarvon Gorge

    August 4, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    The presentation was about the Gorge, we haven't joined a cult. We cooked dinner at the busy camp kitchen and had another early night.
    Up early today, packed up, bought some sandwiches and headed to Carnarvon Gorge. A lot of advice we've seen suggested we go to the furthest location, then pop in and out of the sites on the way back, so we did just that. It was a relatively easy walk, just long. 15kms in 5 hours, including stops to eat, take photos and just enjoy it. We stopped first at the Art Gallery where there was some spectacularly preserved aboriginal artworks, using ochre in a variety of colours. Next was Ward's Canyon. It was very cool in there, but beautiful and quite peaceful. The steps up into the Canyon hurt my soul, but it was well worth it. A bit of a walk before we reached the Amphitheatre. We had to climb up into it, we were stuck behind a tour group so there was a bit of a delay here. It was stunning. Last stop was Moss Garden, which is exactly as you'd imagine. Very cool. We were talking on the way back that they should probably include that the paths to each site are up or down stairs/ladders, as there were a lot of oldies who were smashing it, but I hope they knew, we sure didn't and based on the groans, I'm not sure they did either. It was a great way to spend the day, but my feet are killing me now. So of course, Ben suggests we go upto the lookout off our accommodation when we got back, gahhh, we did and it was nice, but damn. Another few sneaky drinks and snacks at the Taka Bush bar, then a proper shower. We're just chilling in the tent at the moment and will head to the camp kitchen to organise dinner soon. Off to Emerald tomorrow.Read more

  • Bec TaylorTravelerCape York 2022

    Carnarvon Gorge - Emerald

    August 5, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Another day, another pack up. It's a relatively quick process at least, minus the bat shit all over everything the last 2 nights, which Ben has cleaned up before folding the tent down. I was conveniently still in bed both mornings when he was climbing on the car cleaning it off. Hopefully no more bat clean ups from now on. We wandered down to the creek to try our luck once last time to see the platypus, no luck today. The bar man did say on Wednesday that often people will stay for a week and not see one, so we've been very lucky. On the road to Emerald, we had a quick stop at Rolleston and Springsure. We arrived at the Emerald visitor info centre and big easel, took our photos, collected brochures and decided on an impromptu visit to the gemfields. We made ham and cheese wraps on the side of the road, before heading towards Sapphire and Rubyvale. Emerald is the first stop where we've realised another night would have been good since there was more to do than we realised. All good though, we'll be back again one day. We've also had our first 30 degree day, weird but good. We cruised through the gemfields, stopping at the walk in Sapphire mine, the next tour was a bit of a wait, so we decided to keep moving. We found the thong tree, tellembuggerum and stopped at the The New Royal Hotel for a drink. Turns out Gemfest starts tomorrow and they were gearing up for a massive week ahead. Back to Emerald where we popped into the shopping centre to grab a few bits then checked into our accommodation for the night, Emerald tourist park. We've just set up and are having a drink while planning ahead some tours and ferry tickets we need to book in. There are meant to be showers overnight, not looking forward to a packup in the wet, see how we go.Read more

  • Bec TaylorTravelerCape York 2022

    Emerald to Charters Towers

    August 6, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    We had a fair bit of rain last night, we kept dry and bloody glad we decided on the rooftop tent instead of going with the swag like originally planned, massive puddles everywhere. The rain slowed down briefly so we quickly packed up and were on our way. Stopped off at the Sensory Cafe in Emerald, but weren't feeling the menu afterall so I grabbed a coffee and off we went. A boring, wet day on the road. We stopped off briefly at Clermont to see the piano in the tree, a replica of the one that got caught in the 1916 floods. Back on the road, I was singing and doing puzzles, very entertaining for Ben I'm sure. We stopped at Belyando crossing, the only sign of civilisation, if you can call it that, for quite some time. We shared a burger and chips then back on the road to Charters Towers. After what felt like a lifetime, we arrived and took a wrong turn to the Towers lookout, thanks google. Tracked it down and it was much more established than we expected, we thought we'd be standing on a dirt hill like most lookouts, but it had an Amphitheatre and proper seats for whenever they show whatever they show. We went for a walk to the Pyrites works ruins before jumping back in the car. Checked out the visitor info centre and had a chat to Mac, the fella working there. We popped into woolies then found our next stop, set up and aired out the tent, it's bloody hot here so it dried out pretty quickly. Went for a wander not long ago to grab the new maxibon to try, now we're just relaxing in the shade until we're ready for dinner.Read more

  • Bec TaylorTravelerCape York 2022

    Charters towers to Undara

    August 7, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    I woke up early this morning, usually I wouldn't be thrilled but it meant I could watch the last quarter of the Kookaburras beating England. We moved pretty quickly again this morning, packed up and on our way. Not much on the roads to Undara, so we grabbed mcdonalds for breakfast, fueled up and headed off. We got caught by some roadwork stop signs, one for roughly 10 minutes. That doesn't sound long, but it was! Had a quick stop at Greenvale to use the bathroom and have a snack then back on the road. We arrived at Undara around 1:30, checked in and decided to duck back out to walk the Kalkani crater rim circuit. A nice 2.5km walk, the photos don't truly show the depth of the crater. We headed back for a quick set up and had a look around. We decided on a quick swim, of course the sun disappeared just as we arrived at the pool, then to the bar while we wait for dinner service to start at 6. Absolutely gorgeous spot here! Cameron would love all of the train carriages.Read more

  • Bec TaylorTravelerCape York 2022

    Undara Archway Lava Tube tour

    August 8, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    A bit of a sleep in today, although we were both stirring before our alarm at 8am. A much slower morning than usual as our tour wasn't until 10:30. We packed up, had a feed and waited by the wifi in the main area until our Archway tour started. Only small groups which is good, with a max of 20. A few waitlisted people were hoping for no shows with no luck. A few people we've spoken to at various campsites were hoping to do Undara or Cobbold (where we're headed today), but said they were both booked out by the time they looked into it. Lucky I enjoying planning haha. Sonya was our tour guide, this is her first season here, she was lovely and very knowledgeable. The lava tubes are over 190000 years old and there are 72 volcanoes within this national park, with even more in the general area. Undara has the longest lava tube in the world at around 160kms. First we walked into the Stephenson cave, it was huge and very impressive. Next we headed out to see the Archway, where the tube roof had collapsed thousands of years ago, creating the 'arch'. The next cave was the Ewamian, named after the local Indigenous people. Sonya asked if anyone could sing as the acoustics are great in this cave and as turns out! One of the ladies from South Australia could, after being dobbed in by her travelling partner. We turned the lights off and she sung a beautiful Irish song for everyone, it was unreal! We headed back to the mini bus not long later, made ham and cheese wraps before heading to our next stop.Read more

  • Bec TaylorTravelerCape York 2022

    Undara to Cobbold Gorge

    August 8, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    We cruised through Mount Surprise, not a lot there. Then stopped at Georgetown for fuel and a look through their visitor info centre, it's recently been done up, very fancy. Not long down the road and we hit Forsayth. We stopped at Goldfields Hotel for a quick drink before back in the car and onto the wrong road. Damn you hema! Luckily we didn't get too far in before we had to turn around and we did see an albino wallaroo, which we wouldn't have seen otherwise. The road to Cobbold Gorge was mostly dirt. It was solid, but we flew past quite a few caravans. We checked in and set up. We decided to set everything up this time since we are within walking distance to the tour departures tomorrow, which means no pack up tomorrow as we are here for two nights. Bonus! We went for a wander past the dam where you can kayak or hit floating golf balls into and retrieve later. Lots of options here. We relaxed for a bit before headed upto the MacDonalds bar and Bistro for dinner. The communal fire had been lit and some people were enjoying the infinity pool. It's a lovely spot. For dinner Ben had the veal parma and I had the lamb shanks. Just sitting around our camp at the moment, procrastinating going to shower. The wifi here is bloody terrible and no service. We have two tours booked tomorrow. Until then.. or whenever we get service/decent wifi.Read more

  • Bec TaylorTravelerCape York 2022

    Cobbold Gorge

    August 9, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Another weirdly slow morning waiting for our tour. Not having to pack up is good, don't get me wrong, it's just weird haha. The Gorge tour started at 10am and there were sooo many people around. We saw a fair few faces we toured with at Undara, including the 2 girls from South Australia. The groups split up and we got Graham as our tour guide. What an absolute legend. He was incredibly knowledgeable and I could listen to him talk all day. We started our tour with the walk through the bush, learning about all of the bush tucker around and what to avoid. The Licorice bush was pretty cool. He told us about the local history, geologically and the land ownership over the years. We walked up the escarpment to Australia's first fully glass bridge, with panels 42mm thick. We had to put little shower caps on our feet to help protect the bridge from scratches. Ben was the first one out on the bridge, surprisingly, it was a bit off-putting but the views were amazing. We made our way back down to the water with more stories from Graham along the way. We finished our 3 hour tour with a boat ride to the end of the accessible part of the gorge and back. At points it was only just wide enough to fit the boat. It's roughly 20m deep along most parts and we saw a little crocodile not far in. Apparently it's not unusual for them to sit out all day, not moving, just opening and closing their mouths to regular their temperature. Such a different and beautiful perspective of the gorge, I would do this tour over and over again. A short bus ride back and we stopped at the restaurant for lunch. Most people had the same idea so we were there a while, but chatted away with other travellers. We shared a burger and chicken Caesar salad for lunch then headed to camp to relax. I had my first short nap of the trip and ben watched netflix for half an hour. We then watched a poor couple battle with their camper for about an hour, they did so many laps, lots of arms flailing about and you could tell they were frustrated the poor buggers. At times they were pushing their camper by hand around to different spots, to then drag it back to its original spot. It was a tad amusing though, Ben was having a great time haha. We eventually got changed and headed up for our stand up paddle board tour. Just 7 of us and Hanjo the tour guide. The SA girls, a lady who has been taking turns with her husband to do tours as they have their dog travelling with them, and 2 of the young pommy workers. We haven't done it before so I was a little nervous, the crocodiles were a factor too but as long as we didn't fall in, we'd be right, surely haha. It was great! The pommy girls were freaking out at times and one half fell in, otherwise we kept nice and dry. Hanjo did say it was strange that the little croc from before was still sitting in the same spot, he said they've usually headed back into the water by now. He also suggested that we don't take our phones as there are many at the bottom of the water from previous tours, but he offered to take them in his kayak to get a few photos, so grateful for that! After an hour on the boards, we headed back and grabbed a drink by the pool. Currently cooking dinner, we'll pack up as much as we can before bed afterwards so we can make an early start tomorrow with a big drive ahead of us to Atherton, lots of stops along the way though. Today will be a tough day to beat.

    Gorge walk photos    Read more

  • Bec TaylorTravelerCape York 2022

    Talaroo Hot Springs

    August 10, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We had an early night last night, ready for our 6am start today. We finished packing up and headed up for breakfast at 7, then hit the road. The glare from the sun made the dirt road so much harder to navigate on the way out. As road trains would pass, they'd kick up dust and we couldn't see anything. We had a quick stop at Georgetown for fuel before heading to Talaroo Hot Springs. This one wasn't on our list, but Mac at the Charters Towers info centre suggested it and we've decided where possible, we'll do people's suggestions. The limited wifi meant we couldn't book, but we could see that there was a 10am tour with lots of availability, which we were aiming for. We arrived around 9:40 and were able to book on arrival. Levina was our tour guide today and we only had 2 other guests with us, who were on the Gorge tour with us yesterday morning. We were welcomed onto the Ewamian country and learned about the history of the area. The Ewamian's got the Talaroo land back in 2011 and only opened officially to the public last year for a short 8 week season (which is probably why it wasn't on our radar originally). They have built boardwalks around the Hot Springs, to preserve the springs and protect visitors. Levina was very entertaining and incredibly knowledgeable. She shared local stories, including those about a massacre location not far from where we stood, they are hoping to open it as a memorial reserve where people can reflect and have picnics and bbqs later down the track. The 'wallaby' is the hottest and deepest hot spring at 5km deep, before the camera the CSIRO sent down melted. The temperatures of each hotspring are measured each morning, today this one was 63°. We stopped at the 'foot spa', which measured at roughly 42°, guests are encouraged to immerse their feet, then after roughly 30 seconds, if you don't move, it doesn't feel as hot. It felt a bit like one of my showers. We finished the tour with a half an hour soak in a bathing pool at roughly 37°. It was lovely, especially as it's quite a fresh day at the moment.Read more

  • Bec TaylorTravelerCape York 2022

    On the road to Atherton

    August 10, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Back on the road, we headed to Innot Hot Springs where we've had our first casualty, a caravan flew past and we've now got a decent sized chip in the windscreen. We've looked up O'Brien in Cairns so can hopefully get it sorted tomorrow. Innot was a bit odd, it's an actual suburb with a hot creek system, we went for a little wander but nothing compared to Talaroo. We headed to Ravenshoe hotel for a quick drink at the highest pub in Queensland. Back on the road to Windy Hill to see the Wind farm, they weren't wrong about the windy part! Next was Millaa Millaa lookout, then a lap through the Waterfall Circuit. We stopped off at Ellinjaa, Zillie and Millaa Millaa waterfalls, all very different. We're staying at Atherton travellers park tonight, just a quick stopover then on to Cairns tomorrow. It's bloody cold here, back to oodie weather. We cooked dinner and are having a quiet night between loads of washing.Read more

  • Bec TaylorTravelerCape York 2022

    Atherton to Cairns

    August 11, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Not much to report on today. We had to wait around for a load in the dryer, one go through wasn't quite enough for the towels. First up we stopped at the giant curtain fig tree, then off towards Yungaburra to the platypus viewing platform, no luck today. We did the Petersons Creek bushwalk and suspension bridge, looking out for the tree kangaroos, haven't seen one yet, but hopefully soon. Next was Lake Eacham in the Crater Lakes national park. We did the 3km walk around the lake, lots of signs to be casso'wary' which was a bit of a worry, but all good! Heading through to Cairns via the Gillies Ranges, we got stuck behind a lot of slow drivers and someone.. was getting pretty annoyed with them. I'm pretty sure if I was driving I'd have been just as slow, reminded me of the road through Kangaroo Valley I think it is? Long, windy roads. It's so strange to go from essentially dessert to wet and cold rainforest yesterday, then today lush farmland, sugar cane, back to rainforest and now we're on the coast. Cairns is much bigger than we expected and reminds us a bit of Waikiki. We stopped at the pier pub for lunch, then attempted to get the chip in the windscreen sealed up. They said it was a bit too big and in an awkward spot that they suggested we wait until after the Cape since there will be plenty more bumps and possibly more chips, so not worth replacing the windscreen just yet, gah. A quick stop at BCF then to our airbnb. It's a lovely little apartment, pretty close to everything and damn it was cheap, lucked out I think! We relaxed for a bit and charged our phones up before walking to the shopping centre for some late night shopping. Wandered back to the apartment, cooked up dinner and had a proper shower. Still working out what the plan is for tomorrow, but we're doing Kuranda on Saturday.

    Happy Birthday Nan!    Read more

  • Bec TaylorTravelerCape York 2022

    Cairns

    August 12, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    We headed to DFO this morning for a bit of retail therapy, the shops weren't too bad. Dropped into Dans to stock up and into Earleville shops for a bit. We headed back to the apartment to charge up, sunscreen and get ready to walk to lunch. We'd already decided on Dundee's, the name drew us in and the menu was so bloody good. We treated ourselves to the seafood tower with a few extras. Justifying it because we'll be roughing it soon. Continued down the promenade to Hemingway's brewery, I feel like this is how Hope estate will look when they finally finish it in honeysuckle. We decided to happy hour hop our way back home, first was Ollie's for a cocktail or 2, the Boatshed for a ginger beer, Salt house for an aperol spritz or 2 then finished at Howlin for an apple Vodka, some WAP shots for us both (don't ask), some chicken and mac & cheese. We wandered back home and the pool felt really nice, so we went in for a dip. Turns out it wasn't as warm as we first thought and it was pretty darn cold. Back up to the room to warm up, relax and an early night.Read more

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