2014 - CAIRNS, COOKTOWN, CAPE TRIB ROAD TRIP







This 7 day adventure was arranged by my good mate Dorrise who lives in Cairns. 

 Dorrise loves living life to the full including plenty of good belly laughs, often involving the consumption of fine red wine. 
 
Dorrise's best friend Colleen, also a local near Cairns joined us and another VT member Allison from the Sunshine Coast hired a car and tagged along.

So us 4 fun loving birds hit the road on another great adventure into the unknown.

This 7 day road trip from Cairns would see us heading inland to Mareeba, up to the far top end at Cooktown and then across to the Daintree and Cape Tribulation and back down to Cairns through Port Douglas.

Some of the places that we went to and things we did were mixed together with funny scarecrows, having lunch with a town mayor, fantastic coffee tastings, awesome mango wine tastings, coming face to face with unique rock wallabies, devouring fresh prawns straight off the trawler, viewing sunset from the top end with a glass or 3 of fine red, wandering through lush rainforest, visiting stunning deserted beaches, staying in cabins in the bush and sharing drinks with the locals.

So, if you are planning to do a car trip to Cape Tribulation, then I would urge you to spend 7 days and do the same as us.
So, first things first.

CAIRNS


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FITZROY ISLAND

Before leaving on our adventure, we did a day trip to Fitzroy Island.

This is a good cheap option for those that don’t want to spend a ton of money doing an island day trip with a travel company.  We just booked the ferry return trip which was cheap.



The island offers a good bar overlooking a pretty beach.  The only problem was that the Beach was a shell beach which is a little hard on your feet, but once in the water it was gorgeous.














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VA's.   You'll get used to these as you read through my travel stories. Virtual Attendees.


VA's are people from all around the world that could not be with us so the next best thing is to print out a pic of them, laminate and take them along for the ride.


Here are our VA's hanging around ready for 
the big trip.


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DAY 1 - CAIRNS TO MAREEBA


First pit stop - the Mareeba scarecrows for a photoshoot including our  VA's.


The scarecrows are on the left hand side of the road on the way to Mareeba. 
You can't miss them.





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Coffee time!

JAQUES COFFEE

Jaques Coffee is a family owned successful business.   I take my hat off to them.   This family have survived considerable obstacles since their business inception in the 1980's. 

  When you visit, take the tour.






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MAREEBA
Stay at the Mareeba Lodge - the green building - can't miss it.

Mareeba lodge has a bbq area that we used to cook our sausages for a cheap dinner.




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DAY 2 - OUT AND ABOUT IN MAREEBA

THE HERITAGE MUSEUM


Dorrise’s good friend Colleen arranged for us to have lunch with the Mareeba Mayor at the Heritage Museum and we had some fun with our VA's.









Girls just want to have fun



Spot the Boozer

We had planned to visit the Mareeba markets but they were not on so we took a drive around the back streets
and discovered Basalt Creek.

Here we soon learnt that our friend Dorrise was indeed the true 'chook whisperer' .


On a previous road trip we caught Dorrise in action - whispering to llamas and birds.

She tells me that animals are attracted to her.   Haha pfft!   But so true!!!!








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THE GOLDEN DROP WINERY


On our back street tour we saw a sign - Mango Wine!!!

Wine?!! What girl can resist that?!!!
 
The Golden Drop winery.  Tasty mango liqueurs and a divine mango bubbly to die for!!

No trip to Mareeba is fulfilled without a bit of 'the golden drop'.
😍 🍷











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GRANITE GORGE 
 HOME OF THE ROCK WALLABY


We just loved it here and I would totally recommend it.

Rock Wallabies are so cute.  Of course us Aussies are used to our wildlife.  It was a lot of fun checking out how the overseas tourists were enjoying their day here interacting with our lovely native animals.
😀

And Shhhh, I secretly thought that Dorrise had just become the Rock Wallaby whisperer.
😉















Doesn't get any better than this hey.  

Wonder what the rich people are doing?  

A late afternoon picnic with wine and cheese! 

And of course some of that gorgeous Mango 

bubbly.

😎





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DAY 3 - MAREEBA TO COOKTOWN


The drive to Cooktown is long so we headed out early.  There's not much to see along this stretch.

LIONS DEN


Feeling thirsty?  Look out for the sign to the Lions Den just before Cooktown and hang a swift right.

Not a big detour, but most certainly worth it for a refreshing ale and nice Pub lunch.

We added our names to the wall of fame here.







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ANNON RIVER


Just before Cooktown, Annan River is a nice pit stop for a photo shoot.






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COOKTOWN


Harbour view luxury apartments was plan B.

 Plan A didn't go so well. 

That accommodation was dirty and smelly.


All of us chipped in and the price was 

just right.  Oh and the view over the harbour 
was simply gorgeous!

We even saw Captain Cook walking past!!
😏 






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DAY 4 - OUT AND ABOUT IN COOKTOWN

We followed the path along the harbour reading all the placards dedicated to the arrival of cook and the early settlers here.  
Just past the kiosk and home of loads of 
seagulls, we watched a trawler come in.


Ahhhh.... Fresh seafood!! We were their first customers for the day.








There's nothing like fresh prawns straight off the trawler!  😁

The other 2 were getting plates and wine glasses out and making a salad.  
Allison and I couldn't wait.  
We just hooked in!!

Who needs plates and stuff when there's fresh prawns to be had.








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SUNSET UP THE TOP END


The sun was dropping fast.  No time to clean

 up. We just grabbed our half full wine glasses

 and jumped in the car.  


Driven by Colleen's hubby who had come to
 
join us for the night,  we headed up to the lookout.











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TO DORRISE 💕


😆


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DAY 5 - OFF TO CAPE TRIBULATION

ULATTEN AND DAINTREE
Back the way we had come in - because there is no shortcut to the Daintree, and turn off at Julatten.

JULATTEN TAVERN


This is the perfect place for a hearty pub lunch on the shady verandah with a beautiful view.








This part of the journey got a little better.
We had left the dry and dusty outback and were heading towards the north QLD tropics.
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DAINTREE


Daintree Village is small but has a lot of 

things to see and do.


Last time hubby and I were here we did a

 Daintree river cruise and croc spotting.


This time we wandered around town and

 checked out the quaint gift shops and lovely

 flowers.









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CAPE TRIBULATION


Daintree rainforest bungalows is the place to 

stay!  Ed the owner made us feel very 

welcome.

Evenings were spent in the bbq area with Ed 
and other guests.

I cannot recommend this place highly enough.




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DAY 6 - OUT AND ABOUT AT CAPE TRIBULATION


The rainforest walk is a must do.













Bumpy Satinash.
Funny name hey. 😄 





Cape Trib beaches are absolutely stunning.
Too bad you can't swim there due to the crocks. 

















We were sad to leave our new friend Ed. 

Hopefully be back one day mate.


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DAY 7 - BACK TO CAIRNS


Don't forget to stop at the Daintree lookout.









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PT DOUGLAS



Lunch at Salsa Bar and Grill Pt Douglas hit 

the spot.

Topped off with a celebratory cocktail.






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CAIRNS


Back in Cairns we had our last lunch together 

at the Salt House on the water front.

Food here was delicious.  I ordered oysters 

for entree and Al and I had a share plate.











Dedicated to Dorrise our organiser and good friend.  Love ya mate! Xx

We all put in something and gave Dorrise this lovely gift.  😘



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