Before I start anything I want to say that I’m going to be using Australian data. In other words the metric system and their way of expressing stuff like dates. The main reason for this is that I’ve got to acquaint myself with the way things are done here. For the first bit I kept getting dates wrong and having to scratch out things I’d filled in on forms. Instead of the American date (10/12/2024) for the 12th of October I’ll be using 12/10/2024. You can figure out the rest of it.
I am finally driving on a route that is more like what I’d planned and thought about. I spent 2 nights on a farm outside of Cooktown. I’m not going to write much about Cooktown but I found it pretty interesting. It’s a small town and I guess it’s where Cook first landed in Australia and they had to repair their ship…the Endeavor. So everything around there is named after Cook or the Endeavor. It’s the first place the Europeans saw a kangaroo and there’s a reproduction of Cook’s journal in one of the downtown museums where he describes it. Pretty interesting. They describe it as mouse colored and about like a greyhound but walking like a hare. They got the name, kangaroo, from the word that the native people used.
I’d hoped to leave town by about 11:00. A trip to the hardware store, local Saturday market, grocery store, and petrol station took longer than I’d hoped so I didn’t get out until just after noon. The planned drive was to a campground (Hann Crossing) in Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park. These kinds of campgrounds are cheap to free but often require advance booking online. No booking at the location. I’d made a booking for two nights, not knowing how good it would be or whether I’d want to stay. The online information said that a lot of the road is dirt and four wheel drive. Google told me about 3 hours drive time. So, I was prepared to finally start in on the overlanding.
The first 50 km or so was all tarmac and a good road heading up to Hope Vale. Then I turned off heading into the park. It was tarmac for a ways but soon turned to red dirt. There were water crossings but none of them were too deep or tricky.
At one point I was getting a little rattled around by the corrugations so I decided to stop and drop the tire pressures. I just dropped them by 10 psi and things got a lot better. I’ll have to do a quick blog one of these days about tire pressures and how I manage it.
My first stop was the Old Laura ruins. There are several old abandoned homesteads on this road. This one was finally closed down in the 40’s, I think.
There’s a bunch of interesting stuff still hanging around but the only denizen was a lone kangaroo.
Some of the homesteads had significant planting that was left and continues. There were a few remaining mango trees at Old Laura. BTW there is a New Laura and on the main PDR (Peninsula Development Road) there’s a just plain Laura, where there’s supposed to be some great rock art. I might make it over there on the way back down from the tip.
Next real stop was the Lakefield Ranger Base. This too is an old homestead but there are also some newer buildings and a Park Ranger station.
When I drove up there was a flock of birds pecking at the ground. If you were in NYC, you’d have said pigeons. But here in Oz it was a bunch of parrots. There are more different parrots down here than I’d ever imagined.
The drive was pretty interesting. Along the way I saw several really pretty billabongs with floating lilies and water fowl around the edges. I couldn’t get close enough to get good pictures of the birds.
This is pretty serious crocodile country. Both estuarine and fresh water. Where I camped is a little up river from the tidal flow but I’m being more than careful when I get close to any water. So far I haven’t seen any. Here’s what the Ranger Station had to say about it.
Finally got to my campsite at the Hann River Crossing. It’s actually on the Kennedy River but it’s where Hann set up a crossing in a shallow section about a hundred and fifty years ago.
Finally, I’m trying to get caught up on writing blogs and it’s taking me a shitload more time than I’d anticipated. I need to figure out how to be more efficient.
I don’t really like the way some of this blog looks. Don’t ask me why and I don’t like the flexibility of adding pictures and text so I’m thinking of switching to a different blogging provider. Stay with me but you may see something sending you to a different link in the future.
