I enjoyed my time in Cooktown more than I expected, it’s uber relaxed, super friendly and obviously very proud of its history.

Leaving Cooktown on the Mulligan Highway I crossed the Anan river which is now infamous for it’s “crocodile bend”. Previously this had become a tourist attraction due to the prevalence of large wild crocs which were attracted to this part of the river by daily feedings. Very sadly a young Newcastle doctor lost his life here earlier this year when he slipped down the bank and was fatally attacked by a resident crocodile. Not surprisingly feeding wild crocodiles and accessing this part of the river is now banned.

Further to the south I took the turnoff to Archer Point to visit this lighthouse which is located on Yuku-baja-Muliku tribal lands. This unspoilt stretch of coast extends from just south of Cooktown all the way down to the Daintree NP. You can see my story on Archer Point light in the Grassy Hill “Lighthouse Story”.

Heading further south you enter the Kalkajaka NP which is famed for it’s black mountains, these striking natural features seem completely at odds with the surrounding landscape and have a dark aura in both traditional culture and with early european settlers with stories of people disappearing into the labyrinth of rocks, falling into chasms or entering caves never to be see again.

The turnoff the highway to the Bloomfield track is a few kilometers further on, and only four k’s up the road is another dangerous place, the famous Lions Den Hotel, an out of the way pub with a big reputation that not even 3.5m of flood water could wash away. The Lions Den is well know throughout FNQ as a great place to go for a long Sunday lunch and a beer or three. Notwithstanding the fact the whole pub was submerged last December it is back trading as if nothing happened, with it’s tin shed decore, roast lunch and a schooner for $20 deal, live music and eclectic group of patrons (some of whom seem to have taken root) it a great place to while away a hot Sunday afternoon which is exactly what I did. One of the other features that makes it so convivial is that there’s no mobile coverage and people actually talk to each other, as the sign at the entrance says “talk to each other like it’s 1993”!

After an enjoyable couple of hours kicking back at the Lions Den I decided it was time to hit the Bloomfield which is another legend up this way. The Bloomfield track is a gravel road that runs between Bloomfield and Cape Tribulation crossing the Donovan and Cowie ranges and cutting a sathe through the World Heritage listed Daintree rainforest. This road was very controversial when it was built in the early 80’s and encountered fierce resistance from environmentalists at the time, and since it was opened in 1984 it’s become a mecca for hard core 4X4 enthuiasts, very different agendas and never the twain shall meet. The Bloomfield is notoriously hard on vehicles and under normal circumstances I probably wouldn’t have attempted it in Max but ironically since it was badly damaged in the major cyclone that pounded North Queensland in December ’23 it has been repaired and is now in better shape ever.

It was a spectacular drive through virgin rainforest and I can well understand the objections from those wanting to protect this pristine environment, but speaking personally it was an uplifting experience to feel this close to nature and this far away from civilisation, and in the two hours it took to drive the track I saw two other vehicles which added to the sense of timelessness and being in a very special place. To appease my conscience and hopefully maintain friendships with some of my more sensitive friends I have pledged to make a donation to AWC in exchange for the privilege of driving the Bloomfield.

After a final nerve racking river crossing just before Cape Tribulation it was a shock to hit the blacktop again after the 2,000 k’s of gravel and dust I’d traversed over the past couple of weeks and as a reward for a job well done I decided to give Max a rest and overnight at PK’s at Cape Tribulation. This was obviously a hot spot for backpackers back in the day as the disco dance floor and jungle bar seemed to testify, however the intervening 20 or 30 years have taken their toll with a distinct lack of young people and the only sign of life being Percy the peacock waiting for the office to open and breakfast the next morning!

All this, or rather a lack of that and being surrounded by rainforest made for a great nights sleep, the best I’d had in weeks, refreshed and with a sense that we’d conquered some of the worst roads Australia could throw at us we felt we’d arrived in Nirvana! The Daintree’s claim that it’s “where the rainforest meets the reef” might be a but corny but it really is a special place and I took my time to enjoy it by driving slowly I should have had a grey cardie on, and stopping often to walk through the forest, listen to the birds and hope to see a feathered dinosaur – the elusive cassowary! This was not to be but I did get the sense they were looking me and laughing.

Finally it was time to take the ferry across the Daintree river and reenter the modern World, it came as a bit of a shock to see the first traffic light I’d see in several week at Mossman, and a much greater shock to arrive in the very synthetic Port Douglas, slightly faded tourist magnet of the last millenium!