18 June, 2015 by Explorers

Day 12: Cooktown to Old Laura

18th June, 2015

Took a drive up Grassy Knoll for fantastic views over Cooktown and surrounds, then re provisioned, refuelled and we headed towards Laura. We’re planning on attending the Laura dance Festival on Friday afternoon and Saturday.

Panorama of Cooktown from Cooks Lookout. Cooktown is to the left, Mt Cook in the distance.
Click on this photo to see it full size – it’s worth it.

The small aboriginal township of Laura is in Quinkan Country which is nationally and internationally significant for its ancient rock art, particularly their depiction of “Quinkans”. Quinkans are spirits from aboriginal legend. There are two types of quinkan, the Imjim (bad) and the Timara (good). The Imjin were small and fat-bellied, with large ugly heads, long teeth and claws. They stole children and took them to their caves. They travel in giant leaps across the land. The Timara were amusing, unusual spirits who like to play tricks on people. The Timara were very tall with big ears and so skinny they could live in the cracks in the rocks. At Split Rock we did a self-guided tour of the rock before before going to the Quinkan Centre in Laura to book our tour for tomorrow.

Rock art at Split Rock depicting Quinkans

The Quinkan Centre is an information centre illustrating the area, its geographical, aboriginal and white history. A great educational resource which we really enjoyed wandering around and learning so much.
Then it was off to Old Laura to camp at the old Homestead. The Homestead had been pivotal in the pastoral industry supplying meat for the goldfields. There were other campers there but we couldn’t see them or hear them. Our campsite was huge, amongst shady trees – no facilities. Ahh peaceful bliss.

Ric and Gill were a bit worried their vehicle might not make it to the Cape and back. They may have had a point! At Old Laura Homestead.

For more photos from our adventure today CLICK HERE.

17 June, 2015 by Explorers

Day 11: Cooktown

17th June, 2015

The weather is finally clearing. Strong gusts of wind at night that sound like a freight train inside the tent, but no rain.
James Cook came ashore here in June 1770 (245 years ago this month!), spending 7 weeks repairing his ship, the Endeavour after it was holed running into the Great Barrier Reef. It was where he saw his first gangurru, which he misinterpreted as kangaroo.

The man himself!

Cooktown was a small settlement until gold was discovered in the Palmer River in 1872. Cooktown was established as the port for the goldfields and became the second largest town in Queensland. The legacy of that was many beautiful old buildings.

Tourist Information Centre, Cooktown.

A walk around town has lots of interesting history points and the botanical gardens are a lovely cool retreat.

Loved our lunch on the Verandah Cafe. What a great spot!

The boys went to the Cooktown Pub to watch the football State of Origin and Gill and I read our books.

To see photos from Cooktown CLICK HERE.

16 June, 2015 by Explorers

Day 10: Lions Den to Cooktown

16th June, 2015

Rained again last night!
Today’s destination is Cooktown where we’ll spend a couple of nights.
On the way we stopped to view Black Mountain (Kalkajaka). This very intimidating mountain of huge black granite boulders, some the size of a car, is geologically unique, formed as the soil covering of a lava deposit eroded. The absence of soil between the boulders has created a maze of gaps, passages and chasms. Black Mountain has a creepy reputation due to people and animals, sometimes whole mobs of cattle, going missing in the mountain, never to be seen again. It’s thought they probably fell through chasms. It’s also a place of Dreamtime stories for the local aboriginal people. Algae give it its black colour.

A trip up to Archer Point Lighthouse, an active lighthouse, gave a fantastic view of the coast in all directions – spotted some lovely beachside campsites – next time.

Great location for posing. Steve at Archers Point Lighthouse.

Great location for posing. Steve at Archer Point Lighthouse.

Just short of Cooktown is Mulbabidgee Keatings Lagoon which is fringed with paperbarks and mangroves and covered in waterlilies – very beautiful. A boardwalk and good walking track lead to a picnic spot at the far end which was inviting, but we had to move on. A bird hide has been incorporated, however though it’s reputed to be a haven for many birds, we were here at the wrong time of the year to see them.

Keatings Lagoon

At Cooktown we set up camp in the caravan park in town (beside the free camp – for self-contained vehicles – next time).

For more photos from our journey today CLICK HERE.

15 June, 2015 by Explorers

Day 9: Noahs Beach to The Lions Den

15th June, 2015

It rained last night, at times quite heavily. We were snug and dry in the rooftop tent, but it meant we had a wet tent to pack up – and the ground was muddy! Anyway after brekkie we packed up, went for another walk along the beach, then drove back a couple of K to do the Marrja Botanical walk.

When you’re up this way be sure you do this excellent walk.

Sheltered from above by the fan palm. Excellent boardwalk with lots of informational signage.

This was truly fascinating as it took us from rainforest, across Oliver Creek and immediately we were in mangroves. I didn’t realise there were so many different types of mangrove. The explanatory signs along the boardwalk made it a very interesting walk. Well done National Parks!

On to Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest meets the sea – stunning scenery.
The Bloomfield Track begins just north of Cape Trib. The road follows an ancient aboriginal walking track and has quite a chequered history as environmentalists fought to have its construction stopped for fear of the effect it would have on the coral reef just off the coast. Nevertheless it went ahead and became infamous as a slippery dirt road with very steep ascents, descents and creek crossings – a challenge for 4WD enthusiasts. So it was with some trepidation that we began this section.

The beginning of the Bloomfield Track is the beginning of many kilometers of dirt roads over the next few weeks.

It wasn’t long before the tyre pressures were reduced and the car put into low lock. We’d timed the creek crossing for low tide when the creek would be lowest but with a firm rocky bottom it wasn’t too much of a challenge. No argument, the ascents and descents were very steep, but the worst ones had been concreted which helped. It took some expertise to drive it, but I reckon we’ve been on worse.

It wasn’t long before we came to our first river crossing; the first of many.

The bitumen began at Wujal Wujal where we stopped to look in the community art gallery and to have some lunch. A diversion to the Bloomfield Falls was well worth it – thunderous falls into a big, wide river – very picturesque.

The Bloomfield Falls – breathtaking! I can’t imagine what they’d be like in the wet season.

Not much further on we arrived at our destination for the night – The Lions Den Hotel – an historic and quite quirky hotel that has camping behind it. Dinner of barramundi and chips in the pub tonight.

Enjoying a well-earnt drink at The Lions Den bar.

To see other photos from our lovely drive today CLICK HERE.

14 June, 2015 by Explorers

Day 8: Port Douglas to Noahs Beach

14th June, 2015

Organisation at it’s best!

After packing up the cars with the last minute shopping – oh if only we could tell how much food we’d need, we finally got away about 10am. I was pretty industrious before leaving home and froze quite a few cooked meals in readiness, to Ric’s great amusement.

Leaving wasn’t that easy – the Cairns Ironman competition was on and the main road out of town was closed. We weren’t delayed too long.

First stop Mossman, for fuel, and we were off. Lots of sugarcane!

Gill outside the Mossman Gorge Centre. Lots of aboriginal art and sculptures on display.

From here we went to Mossman Gorge. Mossman Gorge forms a part of the World Heritage Listed Daintree Rainforest and contains the oldest, continuously surviving rainforest on earth being over 135 million years old. This spectacular gorge and river is now under the care of the local aboriginal group. An excellent information centre at the beginning has lovely art to purchase and of course, the tickets. You have to catch the bus up to the gorge and from there you do the walks. Magnificent, fast-flowing river, crystal clear water, with perch easily seen swimming in the quieter parts. Swimming is sometimes permitted, but not this time – the river is flowing too fast. The rainforest walk was delightful – magnificent trees and that lovely feeling of life all around you.

A fine looking couple at Mossman Gorge.

Apparently there’s over 3,000 species of plants in this rainforest. And look how beautiful they can be!

Crossing the Daintree on the car ferry.

On to the Daintree Ferry to cross the Daintree River. We stopped at the Daintree Discovery Centre but didn’t go into it ($68/person). There was another walk nearby that we enjoyed – free.

Our destination was the campsite at Noah’s Beach, a National Parks campsite. Once more they didn’t let us down – basic facilities, just a loo, but right on the beach. Went for a long walk along the beach with Ric, Gill and Steve, photographed the wonderful patterns made by the ghost crabs on the beach, back to camp for dinner, a few vinos, some fun and laughter with our friends and off to bed. Early night getting prepared for the famous Bloomfield Track tomorrow.

Noahs Beach

Wine o’clock on Noahs Beach.

To see all our photos from today CLICK HERE.

13 June, 2015 by Explorers

Days 1 – 7: Home to Port Douglas

7th – 13th June, 2015

Our next adventure, exploring Cape York, began with a long, fast ‘transfer’. A ‘transfer’ is driving just to get somewhere else. It took us 4 days to cover the 1833K from home to Port Douglas where we met our friends Gill and Ric. From home we went up the Burnett Hwy to meet the Bruce Highway just north of Maryborough. Stopping at Biggenden we were surprised to meet Keiran and Alan in their Jabiru – small world. Lunch turned out to be coffee and cake – public holiday and only the pub was open. That night we spent at Alan and Cheree’s home in Gladstone. A very pleasant evening.

Next day on to and past Mackay to camp beside the Leap Hotel. The Leap was named after the story of a young aboriginal mother who was being pursued by the police (conflict between aboriginals and white settlers in the early days of white settlement was frequent). Rather than be captured, the mother, carrying her infant, climbed Mt Mandurana (now commonly known as ‘The Leap’) and jumped to her death. Her baby girl survived the fall.

This very well patronised, free campsite is well grassed and pleasant and the Hotel amenities are available to campers. We had an average dinner there before settling down for the night. Not a good night’s sleep though. Getting used to a different bed is always unsettling, but the traffic was just a bit much – after all we were right beside the Bruce Highway!

Early morning at The Leap – bit chilly!

Off to Townsville next day, but first a stop at Whitsunday Gold just outside Proserpine – a coffee plantation and cafe we discovered on our last trip here. The coffee was just as delicious as ever, and the savoury muffins were to die for. Don’t miss this little gem when you’re up this way.

Enjoying morning tea at Whitsunday Gold.

Arriving in the afternoon at Townsville we booked into the Rowes Bay Caravan Park. It’s fair enough – very clean amenities and a grassy place to set up camp. Because it wasn’t such a long day today we went for a walk along the coastal walk from there to The Strand and back, stopping for a meal on the way. The council has done a lot of work on this part of Townsville. The walk follows the coast all the way, with a very impressive boardwalk to take you around Kissing Point. Also the area that had been army land on Kissing Point has now been redeveloped and is excellent – lots of sculptures, information about the indigenous and white history, a layout of the Battle of the Coral Sea and first hand reports of being in Townsville during WWII when it was being bombed. Excellent work Council.

Interesting sculptures along the coastal walk in Townsville.

Next morning off to Port Douglas, via Cairns where we stopped for lunch at the Paleo Cafe. Arrived in Port Douglas about 3.30pm relieved we’d be having a rest for a few days. Here Ric and Gill had very conveniently arrived a few days earlier and booked into a two-bedroom apartment. We’ve spent the last 3 days here relaxing, soaking up the tropical, tourist atmosphere, doing an anti-rain dance (it’s rained heavily every night – not good for our 4WD tracks) and eating way too much. This is a beautiful place. It’s great to be in the tropics this winter, and Port Douglas just shouts of tropical paradise.
This afternoon Gill and I re-provisioned and now we’re prepared for every eventuality, we hope!

To see more photos from this part of the trip CLICK HERE.

Beautiful Port Douglas, from the lookout.

16 May, 2015 by Explorers

Days 7&8: Ulmarra to Grafton to Home

Our last day on the river dawned a little cloudy and a little windy – but nothing I could complain about. Grafton is just around the bend and won’t take us long to get there. A bit of wind again, but once more coming from the wrong direction.

The Clarence River has flooded 74 times in the last 150 years. This was problematic for the agricultural interests around the river as it would take weeks, sometimes months, for the waters to recede. A series of drains and floodgate structures have been constructed which now allows the water to drain off within a couple of days. Levee banks have also been constructed around the urban areas. These are all visible from the river as you travel along.

Flood mitigation.

There’s no pontoon at Grafton! Quite surprising considering the fabulous pontoons we’ve been on all the way until now. We tied up to the jetty at Corcoran Park – ropes around poles and figuring how much to leave to allow for changes of tide. Have I been spoilt?

The jetty at Corcoran Park, Grafton. Quite disappointing after the excellent pontoons we’ve had everywhere else on the river.

Anyway here we met up with our friends Derrick and Gwen who have been travelling Australia for the last three years in their motorhome towing their Farr trailer sailer. We first met them at Hervey Bay. After a morning tea catch-up we returned to Top Shelf for lunch and general fluffing around before walking to the caravan park where Derrick and Gwen are staying. They sailed the Clarence a month or so ago, taking 3 weeks to do it – much better idea than our quick trip. Before we left the boat a lovely gentleman and his little dog Minnie dropped by to say hello – a keen sailor for many years. Lives near Brushgrove and we chatted for quite a while about boats, as one does.

It’s ALL MINE! at the Village Green Tavern, Grafton.

Off to dinner with Derrick and Gwen at the Grafton Village Green tavern. Between us we bought enough raffle tickets in their meat trays to support the local sporting clubs for the rest of the year (no wins), had the most enormous meals you’ve ever seen and generally had a good time.

Day 8: Grafton to home

Steve was up early to catch the 7.30am bus back to Yamba to collect the car and trailer. I stayed with the boat – chatted with the (?) Commodore of the Clarence River Yacht Club who came over to welcome us. He tells me we could use their showers, toilets and park the vehicle and trailer there if we wanted – must remember that for next time. The Clarence Classic, a combination of racing and social sailing to Yamba and return, is on in the next few weeks. We can’t make it unfortunately, but I’m sure it would be fun.
Also watched the crew training in their dragon boat. And I believe they often exercise the horses in the river from this ramp too, though I didn’t see them this morning.

The Dragon boat crew out for early morning practice.

Steve got back around 10.30 – unfortunately the trailer was missing a rear wobbler. The local chandlery came to the rescue. We retrieved the boat, packed her up and were on the road by 1.30pm and home by 7.30pm. I write that so glibly, but as anyone who has a trailer sailer knows there’s a fair bit of work involved in the retrieval.

Nearly finished packing her up – just the mast to go.

On reflection it was an excellent trip. If we were to do it again I’d take more notice of the tides and the wind direction – we left in the mornings most of the time which coincided with the river flow being against us, and the winds were only useful to us once. I’d also take at least 2 weeks so we can have a few days off at some of these delightful villages. And I’d choose a time that wasn’t soon after heavy rains upstream – would be nice to see the river clean.

The track we took, as recorded by the software iSailor. 39nm in 6 legs.

14 May, 2015 by Explorers

Day 6: Brushgrove to Ulmarra

Today we went to Ulmarra. As we poked our bow out of the little tributary we were in we faced 7 – 10kn winds on the nose. That was a surprise as we’d spent a perfectly still night onboard. Not fancying tacking despite at last having wind we motored on. The river banks continued their lovely green interest for us, with sugar cane fields, lovely fat cattle and homes varying from old farm houses to very flash homes.

Riverside homes.

There was a dredge working the river – quite near to another cross-river ferry. These ferries look like fun – I’d like to return in a vehicle to get the experience from all angles.

The Ulmarra pontoon (another excellent facility) would hold maybe 3 vessels. The wind was still being a problem and the water was quite choppy. We took great care securing Top Shelf in view of this. Once more we were the only ones on the pontoon, though anchored off Ulmarra were 5 yachts. A couple of the sailors from these yachts stopped to chat to us on their way to or from Ulmarra. One told us that last night was really rough on the river with winds up to 25kn – what a surprise when we didn’t experience more than a ripple on the pontoon at Brushgrove. Such interesting stories everyone has, and so friendly. Made me start to hanker for a life on a keel yacht sailing the coastlines and oceans … but no, not for me. Love my little trailer sailer, and have a campervan too – so the best of both worlds.

Looking upriver from the public boat ramp in Ulmarra.

The morning was spent reading and catching up on emails, etc sitting in the cafe that adjoins the Ulmarra pub – just at the top of the jetty, as usual. Sometime around midday the breeze dropped completely and the river once more assumed the glassy surface we’ve come to expect.

The Ulmarra Hotel also has a very good cafe with lovely lawn area to sit facing the river. The pontoon is just a very short walk down the riverbank between those two trees.

The Ulmarra Hotel also has a very good cafe with lovely lawn area to sit on the river side. The pontoon is just a very short walk down the riverbank between those two trees.

I took a walk around the village – the whole town of Ulmarra has been classified by the National Trust and it’s definitely worth a few days exploring and enjoying this piece of well-preserved history. I found several arts and crafts shops, which were unfortunately closed at 4pm on my rounds, several ‘bed and breakfasts’ and renovated apartments, and a well-tended park with BBQ facilities and play equipment for the children. The hotel has quite remarkably intricate wrought iron lacework – pity it didn’t show up better in my photograph. The public boat ramp – hmmm, definitely not designed for trailer sailers to launch – has a power line going right across the ramp descent to the river. I didn’t see a grocery store – the petrol station looks like it might carry some commodities.

Another BBQ onboard for dinner, a pleasant night sitting out in the cockpit (granted we were wrapped up) and the anticipation of a quiet, restful night. We definitely have to plan longer trips. I’m finally beginning to relax into the lifestyle and our trip is over tomorrow.
If you’d like to see more photos from this leg of the trip click HERE.

Another magic sunset.

13 May, 2015 by Explorers

Day 5: Maclean to Brushgrove

Despite the concerns expressed by our previous pontoon neighbours there was not a sound from the park beside us last night. We slept well, though woke to find logs and branches caught up around us – all coming down from the flooding experienced last week. We’ve got a longer day today and wanted to maximise use of the tide so left Maclean as soon as we were dressed.

There are 100 charted islands on the Clarence River. Harwood is on Harwood Island and today we are heading for Brushgrove which is on Woodford Island. Woodford Is is the largest inland island in the world, it even has its own mountain range – good to remember for your next trivia night.

There’s no wind, perfectly blue skies and the river is glassy. So idyllic, if not that great for sailing! After about an hour we decided to stop the engine and drift while we ate our breakfast and had a coffee. I can tell you it was very nice.

These gantries were used to load the cut cane onto river barges once upon a time. The birds have now taken them over- see the sea eagles nest on top.

Not far up the river we passed the little township of Lawrence. There’s a jetty there that you could tie up to I assume, but we didn’t stop. There was a very unusual round house though that took my fancy.

Unusual house at Lawrence. Looks like it has the machinery underneath it to turn it as they wish.

We motored on (no wind) to Brushgrove. The pontoon is just off the main Clarence, on the South Arm. On one side is Cowper, which is where the pontoon is, and Brushgrove is on the other side – a bridge joins them (too low for us with our mast up). We tied up at the pontoon, had our lunch and went for a walk around Cowper. It’s a quiet little place – no shops, just a couple of churches and the school. One of the churches has been taken over by a very talented craftsman. We wandered in to have a look – couldn’t find anyone there – the dining chairs on display are exactly what I want! If you’re around here make sure you drop in for a look. On our walk we found the Cowper Bus Crash memorial. On 20th October 1989 about 4am a semitrailer crossed to the wrong side of the road and hit a long-distance bus, killing 20 people on the bus and the semi driver. It was found that the semi driver had 80 times the normal levels of ephedrine in his blood stream (an upper, commonly used by long haul drivers back then). As a result of the investigation into this crash these drugs were banned, rest periods mandated and a divided highway between Sydney and Brisbane was begun.

We crossed the bridge and enquired at the hotel if we could have a shower here – yes, $5 for both of us. So just before dinner we returned and enjoyed a lovely hot shower. Until now we’d been having cockpit showers, which are good, but just not the same. Dinner at the pub was very good – I had garlic prawns, Steve the chicken parma.

At the beginning of the 19th century Brushgrove was a thriving town due to its location on the Clarence when the river was the chief form of transport Red cedar, sugar and other agricultural goods were transported to southern ports and even New Zealand in the late 50s the bridge was built, truck transport increased and Brushgrove declined. Today sugar and beef cattle are the major industries – and I guess, tourism. The Brushgrove Hotel, built as a single story in 1868 was raised and renovated in the early 20th century.

The Cowper-Brushgrove bridge from the lawns of the Brushgrove hotel, with Top Shelf on the pontoon on the far side.

Back home to bed and a very peaceful night.

Top Shelf all prepared for a very peaceful night.

For more photos from our trip today click HERE.

12 May, 2015 by Explorers

Day 4: Harwood to Maclean

Despite our proximity to the bridge, and the noise the semi’s make as they cross it, we slept very well – maybe the traffic decreased after about 10pm.

Today is a short trip, just around the bend really. Maclean is known as the ‘Scottish Town in Australia’ due to the large number of Scottish immigrants that settled in the area. It’s taken its theme to heart and with tartans and bag pipe music around every corner. Many street signs carry the Gaelic translations and 200 of the power poles have been decorated with the tartan of specific clans. The old buildings are well-preserved and the town has plenty of cafes, restaurants and bars to while away the hours.

One of 200 tartan painted poles in Maclean.

Maclean, the Scottish town, streetscape.

There’s also a self-guided walking tour which we’d thought we might do, but indolence overcame us and after our lunch we remained aboard. Though Steve did pop up to the fishmongers for prawns (and oysters) for our wine o’clock.

A cabin cruiser pulled up on the pontoon just before we arrived. They’d motored down from Surfers Paradise yesterday, then Yamba to here today. Nope, I don’t envy them – they missed so much along the way that we saw. Anyway after talking to one of the locals who said the park beside the pontoon can become ‘noisy’ at night they moved on to Brushgrove. Oh well, we’re staying. The pontoon is excellent, like all we’ve been on so far. It’s only 50m to the Spar for groceries and even closer to the nearest cafe. There’s free power and water on the pontoon should you need it.

A lovely man from the Cruising Yacht Club came down to welcome us and asked us to sign the Visitors’ Book and gave us some local publications. Had a chat with him. People are so friendly.

Sundowners on the Clarence at Maclean. Local prawns – from the many trawlers we’ve seen on the river.

Top Shelf on the pontoon at Maclean. This one has free power and water too.

For more photos from this leg of our trip click HERE.