8 - 2023 - May - Cooktown to Atherton Tablelands, Queensland.

Entry 8 – 2023 – May – Cooktown to Atherton Tablelands, Queensland.

After leaving Elim Beach, we set camp for a couple of nights at the Cooktown race course, a free camp location. It was a nice quiet location where we enjoyed some chill out time. Ironically, we had good phone/internet reception at the race course. It had been rather frustrating during the previous week when this good reception was missing whilst staying in the caravan park about a kilometre up the road, closer to town. It was good, catching up with all our required internet transactions.

We spent time wondering around Cooktown’s botanical gardens enjoying its setting and viewed the nearby Finch Bay.

We left Cooktown early stopping near it’s outskirts for a walk through Keatings Lagoon Conservation Park.

We ambled along, heading south enjoying the scenery. One of the constant sights during our last three weeks had been mountain peaks shrouded by clouds. 

 Our camp for the night at around 200 kilometres down the road was at “Mary’s Farm Creek Campground”. It was a lovely setting.

We found a track with a displayed 4-wheel drive sign. It led to a quiet spot away from other campers. The track started with a bit of a steep drop and the bush was encroaching along the track’s edges. We thought, we have a 4-wheel drive and we had a “Bushtracker Caravan.” It was time to go bush.

The nearby creek was flowing with enticing clear waters and a soft pebbly base. It felt good cooling off in the fresh water.

Late afternoon some other campers arrived, many seemed lacking in good camp etiquette. Grrr. There was a lady, sorry that should be a female with a kid who parked about 6 metres from us. The kid was running about shouting non-stop. Then this female set up their swag at the water’s edge making it difficult for other people to gain access to the water. It wasn’t long before a caravan half the size of ours came reversing down the track we had driven in. There was lots of loud engine revving with constant stopping, driving forward before reversing again. The camp ground manager showed up directing them to drive back out, turn around and to drive straight in. Then the manager had to assist them with parking up just to our rear.

Gone was the feeling of a divine setting. It suddenly felt safer to be in the confines of our caravan. We went to sleep hoping it was just one of those rare days with a feeling of being invaded by bogans. We decided to verify what day of the week it was and discovered it was a Friday with the start of the weekend activities. We thought the “special,” people might be with us for a couple more days and decided to move on the following day.

The people parked behind us were blocking access to the inbound track. We selected another track, for our out bound route, thankfully not quite as steep as our inbound route.

We were heading down a dirt track through the farm towards the main road when we were in need to stop for a Bustard Bird crossing the road. Our second experience of a Bustard Bird in about 5 weeks. We couldn’t remember any incidents of this type with a Bustard Bird during our 10 years of travel. It was a pleasurable experience, providing a bit of excitement.

Down the road a bit there had been some progress on the bridge works that had held us up when heading towards Cooktown.

We returned to Lake Tinaroo setting camp just around the bend from Michael & Sue’s home whom we had stayed with a couple of weeks prior.

We had been offered the use of Meg & Norton’s holiday home. We had last stayed here in 2019. It had another one of those grand settings where you were surrounded by rain forest. We had a majestic view of the lake from the confines of our caravan.

We spent plenty of time tucked away on the house veranda soaking in a most magnificent setting. We had a constant flow of visitors, all were giving us a good look over, checking us out. 

 We remembered enjoying this special location previously. Within an hour of our arrival all of our feel-good senses were bubbling away. It was a very delightful, most acceptable setting.