Cooktown - Karumba

We set a new record in packing up, to the kids' delight, and left our Cooktown campsite at 7:57 a.m. We drove back in to town to see the spot where Cook beached the Endeavour, as the fishermen missed it the day before. We also spent some time playing another musical installation in the shape of the Endeavour. As we drove south we stopped to see Black Mountain - a hill of fractured granite covered in black lichen. The mountains are a place of cultural significance for the Kuku Yalanji people, who call them Kalkajaka, or 'place of the spear'.It was a spooky and strange place - apparently the local tribe have 4 sacred sites here, but they also have many taboo areas where no-one enters. You can feel why! The granite sometimes explodes after rainfall, and there are stories of men, horses and mobs of cattle disappearing in the black labyrinth.

Black Mountain

We were surprised to see pawpaws and bananas growing around Lakeland as the burnt, barren savannah continued to be the main scenery. Worried about the grocery prices for the next part of the trip, we decided to stock up in Mareeba.
We pulled in to Rocky Creek Memorial Park between Mareeba and Atherton to free camp for the night.  The Memorial Park is situated where the laundry block of a 3000 bed WW2 hospital once was. Over 60 000 patients from all theatres of war in the South-west Pacific were treated here, and the complex was the largest in the southern hemisphere during the war. In fact, this whole area was the largest military base in Australia, with up to 100 000 troops stationed across the Atherton Tablelands at 160 sites. We were very happy to make a donation to help preserve the area and continue erecting the monuments to honour those involved in the war.

After our history lesson, Jackson and I spent about an hour and a half trying to find homes for the $400 of groceries. As we were stashing things away, we heard something that sounded like karaoke. Well, it turned out we had parked next to a travelling karaoke devotee - set up with her laptop, microphone and speaker! Her reasonably tuneful warblings were OK for the first hour, but after that we were starting to plan an operation to knock out her generator. We were just applying the vegemite to our faces for the sortie when she decided that she was karaoke-d out and mercifully unplugged!

I'm not sure spies advertise!

We had no trouble getting up early the next morning - the kids were super excited to go to Herberton and visit the Spy & Camera Museum. It was set up by a guy who was in the Special Forces in Korea and he had used and collected some of the spy stuff (technical term!) on display. The boys were in heaven, and Marcus loved it so much that he had to have a Spy & Camera Museum Tshirt. We had a personal guided tour there for an hour and a half, then reluctantly agreed to move on.

Kitty cats ...

and peeping Toms!

We had decided not to visit the Herberton Historical Village (having seen the one in Miles recently) but it just looked so good as we drove past! We are all suckers for history, so we paid up and went in. Wow! We spent 4 absorbing hours there, with even the kids' excitement and interest levels remaining high for all that time. Harry Skennar, a Herberton local, started the collection when he was 6, continuing his passion until 75. Most of the collection came from the Herberton tip, where he would cry "You can't throw that away! That is history!" Time has proven him correct, and he fortuitously sold the village to Craig Kimberley (founder of Just Jeans) who has obviously pumped a lot of his fortune into the village. It was outstanding - go there if you ever get the chance! We had hoped to get a little further along the road, so although it was already 3 p.m. we drove to Millaa Millaa to see the falls. After a reviving coffee there we thought we would keep going so as not to miss another spectacular waterfall just out of Ravenshoe. (Thanks for the tip, Bob and Yvonne!)

The gorgeous Millaa Millaa Falls

Part of Australia's widest falls, Millstream Falls

Millstream Falls were also spectacular, but the light was fading fast so we skedaddled to our next free camp spot along a creek bank, arriving just on dusk. 

It was a cold night but we were up and moving in World Record Time - 7:38 a.m. I believe we may have awoken some of the other campers with our victory cheer as we left. Perhaps the Karaoke Lady was there! We drove through the last of the forest before hitting savannah country again, making it to Undara Lodge too early to even check in, so we booked a lava tube tour and had morning tea while waiting to get into our camp spot.

The Undara (meaning a long way) Lava Tubes are renowned in the geological world as the best and longest example of lava tubes anywhere in the world. They are not well known in Australia, and have only been open to the public since 1990. That explains why they are still in such pristine condition. That, and the fact that you can only view them on a tour as they are a protected part of the Undara National Park. The Undara eruption occurred 190 000 years ago, and the lava flows extended more than 160kms! There are 8 tubes you can visit - conditions permitting - and we opted for the tour where you could wade through the flooded tube. We saw plenty of wallabies, wallaroos and kangaroos driving to the tubes. First stop was a partially collapsed tube, where the remnant rainforest covering it made it completely distinct from the surrounding savannah. The tunnel was huge - 25m across and 19m high. The second tunnel we visited was flooded, but we all chose to wade through the water further into the tunnel. It was an amazing experience. One other guy came with us, but the rest of the party stayed behind! Expecting to get wet and muddy, I didn't take our good camera in, but we took a few shots with the compact camera. The last tunnel we visited was dark and long, and we needed torches (to Lachie's delight!) to get to the end. Inside we saw cave coral and a colony of microbats.

The flooded tube - not the one we swam in!
This one was full of dissolved guano.

A cool 19 degrees - wading in the lava tubes

After returning to camp, we had a swim in the pool to cool down (where Jackson patted a Pretty-faced Wallaby) and then played some music before bed.

The Lava Tubes are located under the green line
of remnant rainforest

Our guide told us the Kalkani Crater walk was well worth the effort, so next morning we stopped to climb the crater as we drove out of the park. Dave's leg was still sore (from the croc attack!) so I took the kids up to the crater rim, where we circumnavigated the ancient volcano. There were spectacular views from the top - you could see a number of the 164 volcanoes that had erupted here around the time of Undara. You could also clearly see the remnant rainforest (or semi-evergreen vine thicket) marking the lava tubes in the surrounding savannah. Ella made us all laugh as she put her car into first gear and drove carefully back down the steep slope to the bottom, complete with steering actions and very realistic car noises!

This is a good section!

Dave got into the back with the kids for a music session while I drove to Georgetown. The roads were appalling! One lane of bitumen in awful condition and soft shoulders on either side was not fun to drive on, particularly not when a huge road train was approaching! Jackson took a few photos to show what it was like. I was pleased to make it to Georgetown for lunch, and pleased to hand over the wheel for the next stint!

The roads improved (of course!) as we travelled further on to Croydon, where we got a couple of things at the local supermarket, including some iceblocks which were enjoyed on the slide! Milk was $6.50 for 3L, so we didn't include that in our order. We decided to travel on to Leichhardt Lagoon, just outside Normanton, to camp for the night so we could reach our booked site at Karumba early the next day.

Cold iceblocks much needed after
 a long, hot day! 

We pushed on with everyone on high alert for wallabies and kangaroos on the verge (and we saw lots!) and made it to Leichhardt's Lagoon late in the afternoon. Lots of free camps allow fires, so Lachie and Marcus had a "Bear Grylls Firestick Challenge" to light our fire. We toasted a few marshmallows after dinner, and Dave played guitar for a while, but were all too tired to sit staring into the fire for too long!

Deodorant partly overcomes this problem!

The birdlife here at the lagoon is staggering, so I got up early to take some photos before the last leg of our journey to Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria. Our bird identification book is getting a serious workout!

Imagine this for 360 degrees

We trundled on towards Normanton, and were surprised at how small it is, given that it is the service centre for the Gulf! Milk hit a new high here at $7 for 3L. We were all really excited to see our first brolgas just outside Normanton, and saw about 20 from there to Karumba. We drove through mostly savannah until just outside Karumba where the vista suddenly unfolded in front of us, and we could see why this area's catchphrase is "Where the Outback meets the sea". Photos don't do the view justice.

We arrived in Karumba (pop. 600) mid-morning and set up camp to maximise our time here. The boys are already chatting to the fishermen in the neighbouring camp spots getting tips for the next expedition!

Stay tuned ...