The Bloomfield Track and Cooktown

The Bloomfield Track...

We had decided to tackle the bloomfield track up to Cooktown, not really realising that it could be pretty aweful if it got a little rainy, it wasnt until we were leaving Cape Tribulation that anyone said anything and they said stuff like..."youre going up Bloomfield... towing a trailer...in that car?!?" "mmmm....." "just stick in low range, first gear and you will be fine.."
So off we go...needless to mention that it had been raining the whole time...

really confidence boosting sign on the last of the bitumen..

looked OK after the rain...just a few little creek crossings...

some creek crossings were dry, all the better to see the horrific giant rocks we were driving over!

And then, we came out of a creek crossing to our first hill...literally the first hill! I should also mention that we have worked out that the hills were around 20-25% gradient! So steep and all dirt...anyway, we come out of the crossing, kicked Magnum back to first and slowly make our way up, up , up, round a tight hairpin, up up and then BANG...rattle rattle... Finally find somewhere to pull over and see what has happened...

Sheared a shockie mount right off and the poor bugger was dragging behind us... Oh P.I. what had we done to you?

So George whipped it off and we continued....up, up, up....I seriously didnt think we could go any steeper and on tight uphill corners the tyres were starting to slip a little and then...we came across 2 cyclists and a car coming the other way...after some careful negotiation we snaked around them all (thank you to whoever that other driver was that stopped as we could not have passed any other way) and Im not sure we would have been able to keep up the slow speed to stay behind the cyclists...

so a few more steep decents and acents and small water crossings and the road got a little wider and less steep, through a few small communities and then we saw the beacon that is....

The Famous Lions Den Hotel

We stopped for drinks and lunch and to check out the 1000s of names on the wall from years and years ago all the way up to recent ones...we asked if we could write our names but they have so little space now that you can only write on the wall if you stay at the hotel as a guest...oh well...another time...

We worked out that we did an average of 36km/hr across the Bloomfield track, but this did include the last section were we did 70km for 10kms or so...so pretty much it took us about an hour to do 30KMS!

So we hit the bitumen to Cooktown

 

Black Mountain - Looks like the rocks are all black doesnt it??? Hence the name...but they are actually light grey and covered in microscopic black moss/fungi stuff...

Cooktown...

The Peninsula Caravan Park, was marketed as "woodland setting" ...and that it was!

Really sweet park, and the lady that runs it, a real character!



Stop 14 - 255km

 

There were gorgeous little wallabies everywhere

 We had to sort out our shockie issue and thought we would have to hang around Cooktown for a while to fix it...I was onto the trailer company ASAP and giving them my 'mind' about an offroad trailer that cant be taken offroad without braking! They happily said they will fix it but it is not a necessary component and it will have no trouble tackling the Cape York...or we could wait a few more days for them to express post the part up...They were very easy to deal with and I felt a little bit of a 'bitch' for my demeaner but we were pretty disappointed! We decided to take off to the Cape and sort it out when we got back... So we planned a day out and about in Cooktown...

The Botanic Gardens has a lovely pet snake!

One of the nice beaches that you cant swim in...

the whole beach was covered in these really creepy starfish...I didnt like them at all...they had 1000s of legs that writhed around underneath and they buried themselves in the sand at the low tide, many were black and burnt from the sun, not sure if they come back from that...but I can say...Ive seen starfish before but these were sort of gross...and George wouldnt touch them...

Heading to Trevethan Falls

We were given some pretty rough instructions as the falls are on a private property, we followed a dirt track for ages and ages and then up in a tree....

drive another few kms and another sign....
there were another few odd signs and then a really rough 4x4 track to the 'carpark'

once at the carpark, walk up a hill and then down this pretty steep track
-there were almost hands and knees from me, to get back up :-)

but it was so worth it on a stinking hot day...

the big pool at the bottom was full of VERY inquisitive fish, swimming back to the rocks
both George and I got a few little nibbles that was a little freaky when you are swimming in a VERY deep swimming hole...
 (you can see them swimming towards George here)

We had a great time at the falls and we were just going to leave when I found.... A LEECH It wasnt on any of us but was were I was sitting...mmm..maybe thats what the fish were nipping at??

Heading to Archer Point, another one of those tracks that says, 2WD accessable....
but I wouldnt have even tried! That being said there was a full sized bus perched on the edge camping. They had been there for months/years...set up fences and all...

Magnum and I at the top, at the lighthouse!

 Around Cooktown...

They have an awesome musical ship...lots of different things to play including a thong-a-phone which you play with your thongs!

Cheekly little chinaman!



360 Degree View from the top of the hill!



Looking back down to town

little did we know...that this would be as clean as Magnum would get for weeks and weeks...
Sorry mate...

And off to the Cape!