Cape York Adventure - Part 3

We left Seisia on the 19^th of August and over the next few days retraced our steps back down the road to Bramwell Junction then straight on down as far as Musgrave Roadhouse where we turned east into Lakefield National Park.

Nifold Plain termite mounds

We stopped at an open grassland area called Nifold Plains where there are hundreds of big Cathedral termite mounds and also the flat magnetic termite mounds which all align N – S and look like rows of tombstones.

Hann River

Two days were spent at a lovely camp spot beside the river at Hann River Crossing in the National Park and we saw our first crocodile (luckily on the other side of the river). The camp spot was protected by a rocky drop off of about 7 feet where the river has cut down through an old lava flow. The rest day was spent relaxing, bird watching and looking for crocs.

Magpie geese and waterlilies

As we moved through the park we stopped at several lagoons and billabongs covered in waterlilies and populated with native water birds and we saw brolgas and even a jabiru.

Fresh water crocodile (approx 3 metres)

One overnight stop was at Kalpowar, another camp area by a causeway crossing the Normanby River where a fresh water crocodile posed for pictures, and another stop was near the Old Laura Homestead, an old pioneer property established to supply gold miners in 1879 and was last inhabited in the 1960’s. It is now restored and protected within the national park.

Fording the Laura River

From here we travelled through hill country over the Battlecamp Range, fording several shallow river crossings until we finally reached the coast at Cooktown and the first continuous sealed road for 22 days.
Cooktown is famous as the place where Cook beached the Endeavour to make repairs in 1770 and made contact with local aboriginals. They also saw kangaroos and were at a loss to try and describe them in a way anyone in England would understand.

Inside The Lions Den Hotel

Our last day of this adventure took us to The Lion’s Den Hotel and camp area on the road to the Blomfield Track. The old pub was built in 1870 and hasn’t changed much over the years, retaining its pioneering outback character – uneven floors, corrugated iron walls covered in signatures and surrounded by huge mango trees. The wall signatures started when miners used to leave their money with the landlord and record the amounts beside their names.
Next day we said goodbye to our fellow travellers and headed back up to Lakeland where we collected the fuel filler cap left there four weeks and a couple of thousand kilometres ago.