Cape York - Lakefield

We spent a few nights in Cooktown (see previous posts) and then decided to head off to the top of Cape York with a couple we met in Cairns - Simone and Greg. They were leaving their van in Cooktown and tenting in just the same way that were plan to go.

The morning we left I spotted a few shafts of sunlight beaming through the trees and couldn't resist taking a photo or two.

This one has a wallaby sitting in the middle of a clearing - pretty eh?

On the other side of the van park were a stand of melaleucas (paperbark trees) and I tok a pic of those as well.

We headed north down the Battle Camp track and into Lakefield National Park. It is a beautiful place and we were amazed at how the vegetation could change within a few metres depending upon the soil .

We also started to come across the first of the river crossings we would see on this part of the trip.

This one was important because not only was it the first, but because it is the Laura River and our daughter is Laura it made us think a bit.

Well the actual crossing was not exactly difficult as you can see below, but all these crossings demand some respect as you never know how soft that sand might be!

Yeah - I couldn't resist taking a photo of Karen at the river's edge.

We camped the night at the Kalpowar river crossing and came across the injustices of the new QLD e-booking system in action for the first time.People not knowing about the new system and other people occupying booked sites etc - the whole thing is a joke.

We drove on the next day and checked in at the old Laura Homestead. The place is well preserved and worth a look to see how people lived then.

Check out the old Chevy Blitz truck!

As you see, the building was functional rather than pretty.

Moving on we came a cross the White Lily Lagoon. Well, the lillies could have been more in bloom, but this gives you an idea of how it looks.

In the distance you may be able to spot the Magpie Geese and the white crane we saw too.

After White Lily we came across Red Lily Lagoon - the water depth is much less and is suitable only for the red lillies.

We hit our first almost difficult river crossing at the Morehead River (yes, that is the correct spelling - there is probably a tale to be told there!) although it was not the water that caused us the fun but the deep soft sand on the approach.

This pic is of G&S getting down through the sand in their Hilux.

Driving on we came across the Nifold Plain which is a wide and generally boring grassy plain relieved only by the termite mounds that were everywhere.

At the end of the plain we hit the Saltwater Creek. This was a deeper and wider crossing than any before, but nothing too difficult.  Pretty place though.

We left the Lakefield NP and drove out onto the Peninsular Developmental Road (PDR) at Musgrave where we stopped at the roadhouse for a coffee and a tea - instant coffee and a tea bag  for $4 each.

Fuel prices were going up too with diesel costing $1.83 a litre.

They don't use this old pump any more though!