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Cape York 2022

August - September 2022
A 45-day adventure by Bec Read more
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  • TravelerCape York 2022
    Day 10

    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

  • TravelerCape York 2022
    Day 10

    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

  • TravelerCape York 2022
    Day 11

    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

  • TravelerCape York 2022
    Day 12

    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

  • TravelerCape York 2022
    Day 13

    Kuranda

    August 13, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Up early to get ready for the Kuranda Scenic railway today. We weren't able to get gold class, even booking a few days ago, but the seats were surprisingly comfortable considering. Lovely views at certain points along the way. We had a quick stop to see and take photos of Barron Falls, before getting into Kuranda. We headed straight for Frogs restaurant for lunch, regular burger for Ben, steak burger for me. We had a wander through Kuranda, lots of shops, gave me Nimbin vibes minus the drug deals in the middle of the street haha. Markets/that style of shop aren't really our jam (unless it's food markets), so we cruised through pretty quickly, decided against the koala house too as we'll see some later in the trip. We stopped off at Kuranda Hotel briefly then onto the Skyrail. I absolutely loved it! The views were unreal! We hopped off at both stops along the way to check out the lookouts, a much better viewpoint from here. I'm glad we did the railway, it's one of those bucket list things, but we both agreed that the skyrail is more our thing. We got in around 15:30 but our shuttle wasn't leaving until 16:15 so we just decided to uber back. Did a quick woolies shop for the next little while, we're expecting to eat at most roadhouses for dinner but there's a bunch of bush camping between them so needed to make sure we had plenty of supplies. We've just been for a wander down the promenade, it's absolutely chockers! There's a Japanese festival on and further down on the pier there's a food and wine festival. You can tell that it started early with the flocks of drunken and staggering people about, it's pretty amusing. We settled on Hemingways for dinner, will head back afterwards to get organised and packed. We're expecting to lose service/data from tomorrow, but will use the wifi if it's available along the way.Read more

  • TravelerCape York 2022
    Day 14

    Cairns to the Lions Den

    August 14, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Up and moving this morning, fueled up the car and our tums, then off towards Daintree village. The road was absolutely stunning, again reminding us of Hawaii as we had rainforest on the left and the ocean on the right. Less than 2 hours and we got to the start of the CREB track, about an 80km 4wd track. We watched a Hema tag along group tackle the first river crossing, before we went across and overtook them. The track was surprisingly easy considering the stories we've heard, but no doubt even a bit of rain would make a real mess of it. We stopped after the 'hard' part of the track, roughly 2 hours, and made ham and cheese wraps, then back on the trail. It was easier again from there, gravel at points and much less slippery. The winch is so far, unused. Towards the back end, even I did a river crossing! It was good fun and such a pretty track as a whole. We headed for the Lions den pub where were staying for the night. It had a good feel to it. We had dinner, a few drinks and listened to the live music before heading to our campsite for a few downloaded episodes on netflix and bed.Read more

  • TravelerCape York 2022
    Day 15

    Cooktown

    August 15, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    This morning we headed for Archer point lighthouse. It was absolutely beautiful, windy too! We waded through some croc infested waters which Ben assured me was fine, despite the many warning signs. He argued that the sandbar, crystal clear and shallow water meant that we'd be right. We were, but it didn't make me any less paranoid. Next we headed into Cooktown, stopping at the botanic gardens and doing a walk to Finch Bay, another lovely spot. We walked back via the granite quarry, then drove to the Grassy Hill lookout. We ventured down to the esplanade to see the captain cook statue before our bigger drive of the day.Read more

  • TravelerCape York 2022
    Day 15

    Cooktown and onwards

    August 15, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    A few hours to Hann river roadhouse, our original plan for tonight, we had an ice cream and wandered around, but we weren't feeling it and it was only around 14:30. Ben remembered that Musgrave has a roadhouse and Google told us it was only another hour on the road, so off we went. Turned out to be a much better spot to spend the night I reckon. We did enjoy watching 2 children play with their version of a football (an inflated goon sack). We watched the freshwater crocodiles get a feed at 5pm then met Ellen and Peter, a couple from Forster that we're planning on convoying with tomorrow. Just ordered dinner and sitting in the bar with our limited wifi, we did look up optus coverage, and since Cooktown we won't have service again until we get back to Port douglas by the sounds of it, see how we go.Read more

  • TravelerCape York 2022
    Day 16

    Musgrave to Bramwell

    August 16, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Psych! We have wifi at Bramwell ha!
    The usual packup to start the day, not a lot on, just aiming for Bramwell station tonight before we start the old telegraph 4wd track tomorrow morning and a few nights of bush camping. We headed off towards Coen with our convoy buddies for a toilet break and look through the general store. Back in the car and an hour on the road to Archer river roadhouse for a quick bite to eat and to suss out accommodation options for our return, it's likely we'll stay here on the way back. Another few hours to Bramwell on surprisingly a lot of bitumen, plenty of red dirt too, but definitely more sealed roads than we were expecting. Corrugations aren't too bad so far, that's a bonus, although I'm not sure that much could compete with the track to the glow worm caves out the back of Lithgow that we did on our minimoon, they actually do some road maintenance out here though. We got in at 2, and have had a weird amount of time to kill. Ben has checked over the car, tightened bits, I've relearned how to use the winch (which I'll no doubt forget tomorrow) and we're having our first cheese platter of the trip. 16 days later, I'm disappointed in myself. Happy hour is at 5:30 and we have a dinner booking at 6:30, not sure what it is, but we prepaid for it ages ago, so we'll see! Early start tomorrow to hit the OTT.Read more

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