Rants and Feral Pigs on the way to Port Douglas

As previously noted, trying to camp in Queensland National Parks is a pain in the backside as all camping has to be pre-booked. This can be done on-line, by phone or by using one of the touch screen terminals handily placed several hundred kilometres apart. Some of our problems (and the problems of many unhappy fellow travellers) were : limited internet access, the system is incompatible with i-Pads, we couldn't get phone reception to phone a booking and the touch screen terminals were not functioning. Stopping at the Ranger Station in Coen I had a bit of a rant at the Ranger (I suspect I was not the first – it was like water off a duck's back) however as is her wont, Sandra was a lot more conciliatory, not to mention productive, as she borrowed the Ranger's land-line phone to make a phone booking.

The other problem of course was that you had no idea exactly where the campsites were located, how long it would take to get there, whether the road was going to be accessible for your vehicle – and of course you had to pay up front before even seeing the place. You were in fact buying a Pig in a Poke – and that is exactly, in a very literal sense, what we did.

Leaving Musgrave Roadhouse we headed south for Lakefield National Park and were some way down the track before we realised that we should have been heading east – the sign posting in this part of the world is not always the best. A quick U-turn, back up the track and we were good again – or at least we were going in the right direction.

We decided to take things easy and to explore some of the many campsites scattered throughout the park. (Warning - another rant coming up!) First stop was at Annie River and one of the first things to strike us was the disregard many campers in Australia have for the environment – if toilets are not provided they crap anywhere and leave toilet paper scattered all over the place. Each campsite we visited was the same and the idea of either digging a hole and burying ones waste or even bagging it and taking it away doesn't seem to have sunk in. It was pretty disgusting and I know we are not the only ones to have been offended by the practice.

Some of the campsites were up pretty rough roads and those with deep wheel ruts required a much higher clearance than that provided by the Honda. On several occasions we had to turn around before we lost our exhaust. We were worried in case the track into Six Mile Waterhole, our chosen camp for the night, proved to be difficult and decided to get there early in case we had to find an alternative. With only room for a single camping party and us being the only people booked in, if things went wrong we knew help was unlikely to arrive perhaps for several days. The road turned out not to be too bad and the deep rut problem was solved by my driving with one wheel on the raised bit in the centre of the track and the other on the verge – a combination of accurate steering and good luck got us through.

View from our campsite at Six Mile Waterhole

Six Mile Waterhole turned out to be a beautiful lagoon surrounded by trees and with abundant birdlife and actually turned out to have two camping areas. Choosing the one with the least amount of toilet paper lying around we set up camp and spent a very pleasant afternoon communing with nature - whilst taking care not to sit too near to the water's edge in case nature decided to commune with us! Despite all the warnings there didn't appear to be much evidence of crocodiles. However, as dusk started to fall, we became aware of movement around the edge of the waterhole as a number of dark shapes emerged accompanied by splashing noises and grunting. Wild pigs - and lots of them.

Our camp at Six Mile Waterhole

We counted nineteen of the large, black shapes rootling about in the mud at the edge of the waterhole. I was encouraged by this and suggested to Sandra that, with such easy pickings about, there probably weren't any crocodiles in the lagoon for us to worry about. Not one to have her fears placated that easily she countered with that she had read that feral pigs are more dangerous than crocs – and then retreated into the tent with a glass of wine. Ironically we ate pork sausages for dinner as we watched the feral pigs getting ever nearer until they were very, very close.
 

Our companions at Six Mile Waterhole

After a thankfully uneventful night we got back on the road and visited the Old Laura Homestead where the house and out buildings, mainly constructed of corrugated iron, are still standing. I was particularly taken by a photograph of the family taking delivery of a new truck in 1947 and to find its rusting remains still there 67 years later.
 

The Old Laura Homestead

A new truck in 1947

The same truck 67 years later

 

We then headed for Cooktown where we replenished our supplies, had a mosey round the town (much developed since our last visit) and then went up to the Lookout. It was here that Captain (then Lieutenant) Cook looked out over the reef to plot an escape route for his ship which was being repaired below in what would eventually be known as Cooktown.

Cooktown from Cook's Lookout

Another view from the Lookout

The original lighthouse

Sandra above Cooktown

From Cooktown our plan was to head for Port Douglas from where we hoped to take a trip to the outer Barrier Reef to do a bit of snorkelling – we had after all lugged all our snorkelling equipment half way round the world from Eskbank and then half way round Australia – it would be a pity not to use it! The journey took us over the Bloomfield Track which started off well enough with many tarred sections and then deteriorated into a 4WD track, not because it was particularly rough but I wouldn't have like to have tried towing a caravan up some of the steeper sections. On one river crossing a group of motorcyclists were having difficulty and indeed one had fallen off their bike. Remembering my recent “Girl on a Motorcycle” encounter I got ready to help but then noticed under all the leathers a very masculine grey moustache and thought “You're on your own, pal!”

We found ourselves at a very low key and surprisingly under-populated campsite at Cape Kimberley about 50 or 60k north of Port Douglas. Set just behind yet another perfect beach -  it was pretty busy near to the sea. In Australia campers tend to congregate as near to the water as possible, but about 100 metres back it was virtually deserted despite there being plenty of shady, grassy sites and much less wind that the seaward sites. We initially booked in for one night but, after a trip to Port Douglas where we saw the over-crowded and over-priced alternatives, we decided to base ourselves at Cape Kimberley for a few more days.

We have also booked our trip to the Outer Reef for a bit of snorkelling. With the weather, and particularly the wind, not playing ball we have delayed our trip until next Monday by which time the winds will have dropped – hopefully. So we intend spending a few days exploring the Daintree area then moving on to somewhere nearer Port Douglas a few days before our trip. With a bit of luck we will find somewhere other than a crowded caravan park!

The Cape Kimberley campsite has been rather strange. We think it had been a good going site at one time but had suffered cyclone damage plus old age and had been closed - then recently been bought over by another company who are running it with minimal staff and advertising before doing it up (it needs it!) and re-launching it as yet another Wilderness Retreat next year. We have been here for six nights and there have been very few people using the place which suited us down to the ground. We realised that things were probably not going too well when Sandra noticed that several of the staff, who earlier this morning had been cleaning the ladies showers, had packed their bags and were hitching south.

We are moving on tomorrow to be a bit nearer to our snorkelling trip on Monday. We have arranged to stay at a bird watching retreat at Julatten on the tableland above Port Douglas. This has already cost us money as Sandra, who left her Australian bird book in Scotland, has felt compelled to spend another $32 on exactly the same book, but she feels she needs it as she expects to be seeing over 240 birds in the next few days.