Cairns to Cairns 15 July to 9 August 2012

Cairns, Undara and Cooktown 

Cairns.  We only spent a few days here as Bert flew down to Melbourne to work. However, we did manage some sightseeing, and did a fair amount of Geocaching which took us to some lovely spots and views.

Lake Morris (or Copperlode Dam), a fresh water reservoir servicing the city of Cairns. We drove along a steep narrow road which was pretty much only made up of twists and turns. It was good to reach the lake, and the view was great.

 The Cascades

After Cobbold Gorge we had to go directly to Cairns due to Bert working and needing to catch a flight again.  We desperately wanted to see the Undara lava tubes so, on his return, we travelled 300km back along the Savannah Highway.  It was worth the effort.

En route we stopped of at Innot Hot Springs. The water bubbles out into a creek.  The 78C water from the spring immediately heats up the cold water creek to the point where you cannot put your toes into the water.  One couple visiting was boiling eggs for their lunch in the water!  There was a caravan park next to the river which pumps water from this spring to provide 3 spa pools of varying temperatures so Kenau enjoyed about an hour in the pools before continuing on our journey.

Undara Experience  http://undara.com.au/

The highlight of our trip at Undara was the lava tubes.  In days gone by 166 volcanoes erupted in the area one of which was Undara.  As the fast flowing molten lava cooled, it formed a crust while continuing to flow outwards along ancient river beds creating a series of tubes for 160km north west.





Once the Undara eruption ceased, the lava drained away through the tubes, leaving a 100km long pipeline, the longest in the world.  Over time, sections of the crust have collapsed allowing birds, animals and bats to enter, and now tourists get to see some of them.  







The tour we went on took us into 3 sections and what a great experience it was.  What struck us was the size of the caves although this is not uniform. The variety of the colours of the walls was also amazing - black, grey, white, green, pink, red.  (The photos don’t do them justice). 

A number of interesting geological things were also pointed out to us.  At times the tubes split and split again so we found ourselves walking in the darkness from one tube to another sometimes on very uneven ground. Torches were necessary.  Nature is so amazing.

We also walked around the rim of the Kalkani Volcanic Crater which spewed gases and rocks, when it was active a long time ago.  From the top we could see many of the other craters.

From there we could also see the Undara Crater as well as the path along which the lava flowed.  Because of the rich fertile soil, it has created a dry rain forest. You can see the green line running left to right. So interesting.

COOKTOWN

This is the furtherest north we have travelled.  In 1770 when Captain Cook was sailing around the top of Australia, he ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef damaging the hull of his sailing ship.  They managed to float the ship a few days later and limped into the nearest safe harbor suitable for repairs.  He called the river Endeavour after his ship and claimed the honour of being the first settlers in Australia even though it was just for 47 days.  It was more than 100 years, in 1873, before another white settlement was established in Cooktown. This happened because gold was discovered on the Palmer River (85km south) making Cooktown a bustling port. By 1876, 35000 people had passed through the port to or from the goldfileds.  

Things we did in and around Cooktown.

A statue of Captain Cook stands near the place he first landed in Australia

We walked along the waterfront where Cook beached his ship.

Kenau mimicking Queen Liz, on the very steps she came down to open the Captain Cook Museum

We visited Grassy Hill which Cook climbed to survey the surrounding countryside and establish the best route to sea avoiding the reefs. It was on this hill that Cook's party first saw a kangaroo. The aborigines called it a 'Gangaru'.

We took a drive to the Bloomfield Falls near Cape Tribulation.

 .... and visited Weary Bay (we wonder whether Cook named this bay too as he passed it after days and nights of bucketing water from the Endeavour).  A beautiful beach.  Pity about the salt-water crocodiles that inhabit the area.

The Lions Den Hotel
It's a landmark iron and timber hotel with great character which goes back to 1875.  Over the years 100's of people have signed their signatures on the walls. 

Food was great. T-shirts, caps and ties were hanging from the ceiling.  There is also a great little caravan park on the property, one to remember for next time.  http://www.lionsdenhotel.com.au/ 

  Endeavour Falls

and Isabella Falls. These falls cross a road and then cascade down 2 falls downstream

 Archer's Point

The mysterious Black Mountains

While driving to Cooktown we came across some mountains fully composed of just black rocks. The outstanding feature of this extraordinary ocurance is the entire absence of soil on the surface. The mountain is composed of  boulders perched one on top of another, starting at a point 400ft above sea level and continuing to the summit at 1400ft.  Many strange happenings have taken place on the mountain. For an interesting read go to   http://www.castleofspirits.com/blackmount.html

And so ended our amazing experiences in the Queensland Outback. It was now on to the coast and Port Douglas.l

Road Much Travelled

A Cairns
B Mt. Surprise
C Undara Experience
D Mt. Carbine
E. Cooktown
F. Mount Molloy
G. Cairns



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Savannah Highway - Karumba to Cairns 11-14th July 2012

We left bright and early from Karumba to get to Cobbold Gorge. The journey was pretty much uneventful. We stopped off briefly at Croydon to refuel and have lunch.

CROYDON boasts the oldest shop in Australia, and the décor inside is like the old days. Not much has changed.  Because of time pressure, we weren’t able to spend time in the town but it is definitely worth a good few hours or a night stop over.  They have restored many of their old buildings and done a great job at attracting tourists to their Outback town.

We had almost arrived at Cobbold Gorge when we saw this snake on the road. We think it was a Wip snake. Unfortunately, it would appear that it raised its head as we or the car in front passed over it and a loose stone hit it in the throat. Sadly, it was bleeding and dying. We’re not lovers of snakes (far be it) but it really was a very attractive snake. 

As we arrived at COBBOLD GORGE, we were blown away by the whole set up.  They have a magnificent reception/shop, open air restaurant, chalets and a very modern 3-week old swimming pool where the water cascades over the edge and gives the appearance of being part of the lake which it overlooks.  The caravan park was smallish but very well set out with excellent facilities.  Once again, we left our caravan at Georgetown as rain had fallen in the area the day before and we had heard that the road in was very slippery. Not a good idea to take a caravan in.

The resort is situated on the massive cattle station, How Long, 70km south of Georgetown and was another 'must see' place for us.  Their main attraction is the gorge itself.  One can also do tours of the cattle station and go fishing for barramundi, hiking, fossicking for gems and bird watching.  
The trip through the gorge was amazing.  Using custom-made electric powered boats, we glided silently through the gorge with its majestic 30-metre walls spectacularly sculpted.  The water is crystal clear.  The only downfall was trying to take photos over other peoples heads. It would be absolute magic to go through alone. The gorge is about 6km long but only about 1km is accessible due to a rock fall. It is very narrow in parts and we could only just pass through with some clever manoeuvring by the tour guide and some of the guests assisting by pushing against the rocks.  The beauty of the gorge lay not only in the shapes of the rocks but in the colours as well.  The photos just don't do justice to what we experienced.

Because of the silence,  the fresh water crocodiles sunning themselves on the rocks are not disturbed neither is the bird life. We saw turtles and very young little baby crocs as well.  

Preceding the boat trip, we were taken on a 2 hour bush walk which was most interesting.  Our guide showed us the various medicinal and nutritional uses of plants and those that were harmful (poisonous). We also learnt about the rock formations on the cattle station.

We had wonderful weather and the air was so still that the reflections on the lake were perfect.

We were advised to watch the sunset from Quartz Blow,  a small hill made up of large quartz rocks.  We managed to climb up and over these rocks with glasses and snacks in hand then perched ourselves on an uncomfortable rock each.  We were all alone, and the 360-degree view was wonderful.  Except for the birds which were coming in to roost for the night, there was absolute silence. Another wonderful experience.

The following day we tried our hand at fossicking for agate at Agate Creek gem fields.  Having bought a fossicking license 2 days previously, we left with great anticipation of finding some agates.  After all, the web says, “Agate Creek is a world class collecting site that offers agate of exceptional colour, clarity and pattern. Located in Queensland, Australia, Agate Creek is remarkable for the quality and diversity of agate to be found. No other location offers such variety “. We surely would be successful so shovel and a hammer in hand and with plastic bags, off we set.  On arriving there, we found the ground scattered with stones.  Great….but we had NO idea how to identify an agate from any other stone or rock. What were we looking for???  Our enthusiasm kept us going and we picked up all sorts of stones including some clearly worthless agate chips which looked pretty.  We met a fossicker, got chatting and he gave us some tips then took a look at our collection. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! He threw almost everything out!!! Undeterred we started again as now we knew what we were looking for….or did we? Only time will tell when we finally get to finding someone who will look at them.  Just maybe in that bag there is one piece which can be used. Here’s hoping but we had a great day. Another new experience!

Two keen fossickers laid to rest here.

All too soon on the Saturday we had to leave Cobbold Gorge. The journey started well.  We reached Georgetown, filled up with fuel, collected our caravan and set off for Cairns as Bert had 2-days work coming up leaving Monday.  80 km later while waiting at the lights at a roadworks site, the car died on us. What now?  We were out of phone reception and didn't know how far we were from the nearest town?  

Four hours later we were back on the road after an interesting experience! Not permitted to enter a work site,  one of the road works staff collected Kenau and took her to the top of the hill where she was able to get 1 bar mobile reception and phoned RACQ. Back at the caravan, there was no time for boredom. While waiting at the red lights, the Grey Nomads, stopping at the roadworks stop lights, with their caravans, would ask if they could help. We always had lots of people to chat to. 

Then we saw a person walking down the hill carrying a back pack and pushing a 2-wheeled basket loaded to capacity. Needless to say, we invited her in for a drink and then enjoyed lunch together.  Sarah, a writer and explorer is such an interesting and inspirational person. We so enjoyed our time with her as we heard about some of her adventures. She started her journey in Siberia, walked through the Gobi Desert and down to Thailand where she boarded a cargo vessel.  Arriving in Brisbane, she caught a flight to Cairns and was on her way to Broome another 3000km away!!!!!  Some years ago she had walked 14 000km around Australia.  Check out her website - it makes a really interesting read!

www.sarahmarquis.ch

By this time the RACQ had arrived, discovered Bert (now very embarrassed) had inadvertantly put petrol into his diesel tank. Fortunately and amazingly no damage had occurred to the engine. After draining the fuel tank and refilling it with diesel this time, the mechanic, appropriately named 'Bushy' had us on our way again!  We stopped over at Mt Surprise, the next town, for the night and pressed on event free to Cairns the following day.

Less than 24 hours later Bert was on his way to work.... in Melbourne!

THE MAP OF THE JOURNEY TO CAIRNS
A: Karumba
B: Normanton
C: Croydon
D: Georgetown (Camped 5km before here)
E: Forsayth (Nearest town near Cobbold Gorge - a further 40kms south)
F: Mt. Surprise
G: Cairns


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