2macstracks

Ten days ago we were at Mt Molloy and enjoyed the environment, our site backed onto the river, a keen photographer and his wife were camped next to us. Although the Free Camp became busy at night there seemed to be enough space for everyone. This time it felt different, we did arrive later which meant there was less choice of site but it also seemed clear that some people hadn’t moved for quite a while despite the 48 hr limit. I’m not sure who would be responsible for enforcing that, I can’t imagine any town resident volunteering for the job.

When we were in the car and ready to go the Prado Pilot did his regular check to see he had everything,

“Phone, keys, wallet, dog, yourself”

That tells you his priorities!

Driving into Mareeba a sign says, “Mareeba, 300 sunny days a year” but the Weather Gods were toying with us, instead of beautiful sunny weather it was dreich again.

We passed “The Cape Gateway Hotel” so we’re now no longer on Cape York. The only RV parks were on the very edge of town so we kept driving. About 20 kms out of town we saw what we thought might be a Peanut crop and I think we were right because later we drove into “Tolga – Peanut Town”.

Our intention today was to drive to Ravenshoe and stay maybe a couple of nights but setting up camp in the drizzle didn’t appeal. I was already cold so after having something to eat at the Bakery we decided to try and leave the miserable weather behind us. Mt Surprise sounded good, Fergus needs a bath, we know there’s a Dogwash in Karumba the road through Mt Surprise will take us there. The clincher might just have been the idea of buckets of prawns and Threadfin Salmon from Ash’s Diner!

On the outskirts of Ravenshoe there was a Petrol Station that looked as if the owners took real pride in their property, it was called, “Tall Trees” and it was easy to see why.

Mt Surprise has a pub, shop, Petrol Station and three Caravan Parks, it’s proximity to the Undarra Lava Tubes and being on the line for the Gulflander tourist train is the reason it still exists. We’ve booked into the Bedrock Village Caravan Park for two nights. Yabba Dabba Doo!

As soon as we started packing up today it was clear we had a problem with Green Ants, we’ve been brushing them off ourselves for a couple of days but couldn’t see any trail so had no idea where they were coming from. If only we’d looked up we might have found the answer.

I didn’t want to packing the ants up in the camper so I sprayed them, not environmentally friendly I know. We’d almost finished packing it up when we had a visit from one of the “expeditionists” who was very keen to know all about our Pioneer, Mitchell. I think we would be entitled to a commission on sales, if they were still being made! The problem I see with “expedition vehicles” is that an expedition requires a lot of stuff and it all has to be packed away into the vehicle. We left while packing was still going on.

The Bloomfield Track between Ayton and Cape Tribulation seemed to be a lot quieter than a couple of days ago, we didn’t meet any caravan convoys at all. There was also far less water on the road.

We took a diversion to Cow Bay, about 5 kms off the road, it was a relaxing break from the concentration needed to negotiate the twisting and undulating road. Prior to the Cow Bay turnoff there was nowhere safe to park with the car and camper which was frustrating because there were other points of interest.

After Cow Bay we passed Daintree Rainforest Village which didn’t entice us to stop despite all the advertising for adventure activities. It’s all National Park so we couldn’t let Fergus out of the car anyway, apart from at Cow Bay. It was interesting to see the Daintree Tea plantation.

Our Ferry crossing was free thanks to the voucher Anne gave us when we were at Hilltop Farm. The Boat Ramp at Daintree Village was clearly visible from the Ferry.

Temptations Cafe and Bar lured us in again before we called into Woolies for Flyspray since we’d used what we had on Green Ants. After Mossman it was back up into the hills winding our way to Mt Molloy. It was after 2:00 when we arrived and there were at least 20 lots of campers already set up, our special little spot in front of Banana Palms was taken by someone with a very big tent. This time we’re down near the Hippy van, we’re not sure if it’s ever left despite the 48 hour limit of stay.

Tonight there are at least 50 different lots of campers here, I hope many have their own toilets because there are only 2 each for males and females.

I’m back using my phone as a Hotspot despite getting a warning about my data use, it’s the only way I can get a stable internet connection.

Bloomfield Cabins and Camping is a wonderful spot with plenty of space for everyone, the facilities are great so it was puzzling us that today there were only about seven campers and two people in cabins. Why wasn’t the place really busy? After hearing a conversation between drivers on the UHF radio we now have a better idea. Three kitted out utes came off the Creb Track onto the Bloomfield Track and all they were looking for was a Pub, one sounded devastated when he discovered the nearest pub was The Lion’s Den 40 kms away. He had to drive another 40 kms, no question about it!

At the end of the season this park will be really busy when everyone is heading back from the tip of Cape York, the “hard core macho men” stop at The Lions Den then come on here for some comfort.

Tonight there were about 21 people dining in and probably another six ordered pizzas to take away. There were another six booked in but they didn’t make the 7:30 deadline for ordering, we know they were 3 hours away when they booked in. The wet weather had a big impact yesterday.

Fergus warned us about a visitor.

All last night we could hear waves breaking in Weary Bay, the Campground is part of the town of Ayton which is on Weary Bay. We went down to check out the waves and see what had washed up on the beach. We didn’t find much at all, I think the waves washed the beach clean.

Coming to Ayton we passed through a little place called, Rossville we didn’t see any shops at all but I did see several clever mailboxes. I convinced the Prado Pilot to go back there today so I could get some photos. Finding places to stop was tricky but he managed.

Another place we visited today was Bloomfield Falls. On the way we passed a sign outside the school promoting attendance, it’s good to see positive methods being used.

This sign was outside Wujal Wujal it’s a strong statement that the locals are not to be targeted by unscrupulous salespeople.

When we were staying at Daintree Village we checked out the start of the Creb Track, (Cairns Regional Electricity Board) today we did the same for the end of the track at Wajul Wajul. We don’t feel the need to check out the whole Powerline, that’s now Ergon Energy’s job.

Tomorrow we pack up and unless it rains heavily overnight we’ll go down the Bloomfield Track and over the ferry at Daintree. We were given a voucher by Anne, who was staying at Hilltop Farm. We might make it back to Mt Molloy tomorrow for another overnight stop.