Daniel and Marysia around Australia: Cooktown, QLD.

The thrashed Alternator belt

Another night of strong winds in Cooktown. Les and Stewart were lucky to make good use of their earplugs for a soundless night's sleep. Morning cleared, gear, cars packed we started to make our way out of Cooktown. Suddenly as Daniel accelerates taking a turn a screeching noise from under the bonnet sounds out. I pose the question "fanbelt?" Daniel pulls to the side of the road, Stew and Les turn round park beside us check out the noise to discover it's the alternator belts.

Our first croc sighting on Daintree River...yeah!

Lucky for us Daniel's forward thinking came prepared having purchased spare belts when we were in Port Hedland in Western Australia. I mean you never know when you're doing a big trip when what will come in handy!! Bonus points for Daniel. Anyway we still had to go to the Cooktown mechanics for replacement. Twenty minutes later, forty dollars less we hit the Mulligan Highway before turning off for Brooklands Track through the northern end to the southern end of Cape Tribulation, Daintree Forest.

Second croc sighting in one day!

The drive was a 4 wheel drive track in most places with some tarred roads along the stretch. It wasn't too bad in fact it was quite lovely as we weaved into hilltops of lush green tropical rainforest. Sometimes you could see the treed hills pop their thick green peaks ascegending behind blankets of white clouds. Scenery was stunning yet somehow the four of us still perhaps a little disappointed in not having seen a crocodile in the wild then as we approached a bend in the road with the river wide and flowing alongside of us we all spotted him lying on a bank as we pulled over to the side of the road. Excited we were as cameras clicked away watching him sunbake cooling himself off with his jaw gaping towards the sun. Yes! a croc at last.

On we drove to Waljum Waljum Falls. Parked, we made our way along the river's edge towards
the thundering sound of water spilling over. Then again, another siting of a croc perched on
a bank in the water just lying there basking in the morning sun. Not camera shy at all as
our walk brought us closer to the falls. At our destination the view was majestic with thousands
of litres of water cascading down the mountain slope beneath us.

Wuljam Wuljam Falls

Our drive continued on through winding road up one side of mountains to come down again the other with the Great Barrier reef to the left of us. We pulled over at a camping area, selecting a spot large enogh to accomodate the two tents and dining areas. Dining table set up all ready for a bite of lunch, now we were on the tinned stuff, soup of course! and a piece of bread to go with it. Daniel thought the better and decided to ring to make sure we could stay the night. Lucky for him as the place was booked and there was only one site left which he booked. On return from the phone box at Mason's point he moved us on to the allocated site.

Campsite pitched, we headed back to Mason's Point to buy some liquid beverage for the night. The laws up here stated that limited quantities of alcohol was purchasable. Stocks in the car we headed back for our final night under our beloved tents in the Daintree Forest under a rainforest canopy with homemade turkey bush burgers on lettuce, tomato and barbecue sauce! Music to accompany some dance, jokes and lots of laughs was par for the course of the evening.