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COOKTOWN
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We finally reached the top end of our lap of Australia here in Cooktown.
Well, not quite. More about that later.
Cooktown is named after Captain Cook who limped into this estury and stayed for a while to repair the Endeavour, thus Cooktown technically was the first settlement of europeans in Australia.
We came into town early so that I could take some slow-shutter shots of the river. I like how they turned out. 😀
I previously visited in 2014 with my good friend Dorrise. We did all the usual stuff that you do in Cooktown including the lookout at Grassy Hill for sunset. You can read all about this here.
This time, with hubby, we both like to do off the beaten path stuff and so we were more interested in driving to a few interesting places, including Aboriginal owned communities and waterfalls. As such, our fuel budget got blown out of the water. We'll have to work hard to make that up in the following weeks.
To celebrate our Australian Big Lap finish, we had a couple of cocktails in town at the Balcony Restaurant. We ended up waiting for the second cocktail for an extra half an hour due to change over in staff and them forgetting to make them. That left a sour taste in my mouth and consequently a poor star rating on Google.
Lastly, a quick snapshot of the Big Fish, an Australian Big Thing in Cooktown. And I took a photo of expensive meat here in Cooktown. Who is going to pay $55 for meat? Especially here in Cooktown? I hope it rots on the shelf.
COOKTOWN CARAVAN PARK
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We both loved our stay here. Cooktown Caravan Park is located about 3 minutes just before the town centre.
We were surrounded by rainforest trees which was nice. If you choose to stay here, ask for the drive through site. It's the easiest and best spot on the park. We loved the pool after our big days of sightseeing.
The staff are amazing and super friendly. We were greeted by a local bush turkey every day along with plenty of bird life. Totally recommend.
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ISABELLA FALLS
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We took a drive to Elim Beach Coloured Sands. Along the way we did a quick detour to Isabella Falls.
If you do this, keep in mind that the falls are located to the left of a washout. If you drive over the washout and the bitumen changes to dirt, you have gone too far. So we turned around and came back to the washout. There was a place to park both sides of the washout.
This was a nice picture perfect spot. Do check out my video below of us driving across the washout.
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ELIM BEACH COLOURED SANDS
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Not worth it. Before visiting, we had to drive to the camp ground to register. They charge $10 per vehicle. Mind you, it did look like a nice and quiet spot for camping. We had our picnic and drove back to the coloured sands.
The tides here can be deceiving and you can get bogged if driving on the beach. There was a sign at the camp ground saying that if you needed to be rescued, they require payment of $200 CASH up front to get you out. Mmmmm.
Yes, they are coloured sands, but to pay $10 to see them? Yeh?.....No!
Driving here, we went through an Aboriginal Community at Hope Vale. It was scary. We saw just 3 kids walking up the street and nothing else except for a few wild brumbies around the Police Station. I wasn't quick enough to get a shot.
However we did see more wild brumbies on the road to Elim Beach pictured below, along with some random road scenery along the way. The road gets rather skinny before you get to Elim Beach which again is scary as you wouldn't want to break down here.
WUJAL WUJAL FALLS
Wujal Wujal is another Aboriginal owned community. The name means 'many falls'. The Aboriginal people that live here are aptly called 'the rainforest people'.
Wujal Wujal Falls is not really sign posted. To get here, drive straight ahead at the new bridge over the Bloomfield River. You will hear the falls as you park at the end of the track.
Just a short walk to the falls and you come across this glorious sceney. It was nice just to sit on a rock and watch that water tumbling down the rock face with great force. I wondered where it all came from.
I took the opportunity to also take a couple of pictures through my little crystal ball. I like how they turned out.
Do not swim here. There are salties.
ROAD TO WUJAL WUJAL
The road to Wujal Wujal is a lovely experience in itself. We enjoyed our drive through rainforest and along the river front, in amongst little running creek crossings.
In at Wujal Wujal, we drove over the new bridge and headed towards the infamous Bloomfield track. It is a well known 4x4 only track and quick way to get from Cooktown to Cape Tribulation. Of course we could not go that way as we were towing a caravan, so we had to go all the way back to Mount Molloy and take the twisty road past Julatten and Mossman instead. You can see the difference in k's in Map 3 and Map 4 below.
LIONS DEN HOTEL
My second time here, hubby's first.
This unique Australian Icon Pub was just as good this time as the first time I was here in 2014.
Aparently it had to be restored after being flooded to nearly the roof, but you would never know. It looked just the same as last time, only this time there were more art muriels.
We sat outside on the shady verandah and enjoyed our fresh and delicious lunch. It was a nice way to end our day trip to Wujal Wujal falls.
PALMER RIVER ROADHOUSE
This is a great stop on the way into Cooktown to break up your journey. We stopped both going in and out.
The food is freshly made and good value. Staff are super friendly and informative. They also have an interesting little museum of the history in the area. I was amazed to learn that our iconic Australian road trains have been around for such a long time.
They have a pool table if you like playing pool and a little fountain inside which is nice to listen to whilst eating lunch. There are plenty of cool gifts to purchase too. Highly recommended.
SCENERY ON THE ROAD TO COOKTOWN
The scenery on the way to Cooktown is nice. Suprisingly the road takes you over a couple of ranges and there are lookouts with cool views.
Somehow, both times I have done this journey, it didn't seem as long as it was. I do not know why.
MAPS
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VIDEOS
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