The new tailshaft arrived at the Mitsubishi dealer on the next day as we had hoped, but we didn't expect it to arrive on the spare parts counter damaged... and of course, no-one knows how or where in transit that it got damaged, but some monkey has dropped it and obviously damaged it, and some other monkey has accepted it off the truck to sell to us. Grr... Anyway... after a few deep breaths and some discussion with the parts manager, he made a few calls and got another tailshaft air freighted from Sydney, and we fitted it and were ready to roll by Friday. We decided to hang around Cairns for a couple more days because one of Paul's old workmates, Scott, was flying to Cairns on Saturday to visit friends. We caught up with him and his wife on Sunday and had a barbie for lunch with some excellent crocodile kebabs. Very tasty. By this time the weather had cleared nicely and it was predicted to stay nice for a few more days, so we changed our minds for the 16th time and decided (again...) that we would go to Cooktown.

We drove out of Cairns on the Monday morning with clear blue skies and sunshine. You wouldn't hear about it (well, not on this blog), sunshine on the coast!! We took the coast road through to Mossman, stopping once for a look at the beach and to soak up a bit of that sun. After Mossman we continued into the Daintree Rainforest Area. We detoured to the Daintree Village for a look, it's a village... in the Daintree... no more to say, really... Back onto the main drag and we took the car ferry across the Daintree River before heading into the rainforest. We stopped at a lookout on the way which overlooks the mouth of the Daintree River. It is a great view. Also, as we overheard from a tourguide speaking to his bus-load of tourists, on a very clear day, if you look straight out to sea for about 15 km, you can see the reef where Steve Irwin died. A morbid piece of information, but free information all the same. We have actually developed a knack for this over the past few months.... we find ourselves at a particular spot on our travels, and if there is a tour group there, we hang back a bit and listen to what the guide has to say. Sometimes I'll even ask a question, and they answer!! How's that for cheapskate travelling?

After the lookout we stopped for lunch at Thornton Beach, which is basically only a locality, and went for another stroll on the beach. A short drive up the road is Cape Tribulation, another short walk and some photos, then back into the car to head onto the Bloomfield Track. This is a "4WD only" road that goes through to Cooktown. It has it's share of rough patches, a few creek crossings and a couple of quite steep sections, but it's not a difficult track. In fact, we were plodding along the road when we suddenly had a Mitsubishi Outlander pass us. So, not a hardcore 4WD track at all. That said, the steep sections are a bit of a struggle when towing a camper, one hill requiring the Pajero to be in low-range 4WD to get up the hill. Funny thing was, I attempted to climb the hill in high-range, which turns out to be an error in judgement, because over half way up it got steeper and the Pajero was struggling and loosing speed quick. So, we stopped with the brakes barely holding us on this hill while I selected low-range, then the clutch earned it's keep to get us going up again. Once we were rolling again it was easy, the stopping and starting on such a hill was a bit exciting though...

We camped near Ayton for the night in a great little campground tucked in the bush. The next day we finished the Bloomfield track and made it to Cooktown. Having very few expectations of Cooktown was probably a good thing, because we were pleasently surprised with the town. It is a nice little town, with a great laid-back feel to it. There are enough shops in town, but without the Harvey Norman or Sam's Warehouse crap. The town is surrounded by fantastic scenery. There are a few nice beaches nearby and the lookout at the lighthouse is amazing, 360 degree view over the town, the river and surrounding coast and mountains. We spent a couple of days taking it in and then drove north to a small spot called Elim Beach.

Elim Beach is on aboriginal owned land. It is 40-odd km from the aboriginal community of Hope Vale. Elim Beach is run by an aboriginal elder, Eddie, who lives there on his own. We camped right on the beach under the palm trees, overlooking the mangroves and the tidal flats. It is a crime that these beaches can't be swam in. When asked about the possibilty of crocs, Eddie says, "Yeah, there's a little bloke who hang around here. He grow up in dat creek just there, he's alright though, just a little fella, bout 4 or 5 feet long". Eddie says the "big fellas don't come here no more, they know what they get if they hangen round here". Then he goes on to tell us about a feed of croc that they had at Hope Vale one day.... He's a great character, living alone in a shack with 3 walls, 40 km of rough dirt road from the nearest town, and looking after the campground at the young age of 86!! The next day we went for a drive across the point to another beach that Eddie told us about, Bedford Beach at Cape Bedford. He says, "Just drive outa ear, stay right and follow dem road all the way". Well, the "road" was a soft, sandy track that was very overgrown. We idled along, cleared a few branches and widened the track by sacrificing some paint on the Pajero's flanks, but we ended up on a remote beach in the middle of nowhere. It was a great feeling to be there, miles of beach to ourselves, miles from anywhere. We parked the Pajero on the beach and walked up the beach to a wreck of a yacht, and looked for Nautilus shells that Eddie said might be there. Kathy found one, but it had been there a while and was quite damaged. There is a heap of washed up rubbish on this beach as well, a pity, but it would take a fair effort to get equipment out there to clean it up. On the return journey we stopped at a couple of shacks that we saw near another beach along the way. These abandoned shacks are right on the most beautiful white sandy beaches. When we asked Eddie about them, he told us that some of the aboriginals from Hope Vale had built them, lived there for a while and moved back to town, leaving them to rot. What a waste! We had two great days at Elim Beach. It is a nice spot with very basic camping at Eddies place, no power, toilets and cold showers. The shower shack is home to the biggest frogs we've seen so far, the size of your hand!! The weather was starting to change back to what we have all too commonly encountered on the coast, so we decide to leave.

The plan was to head west from Elim Beach along Battlecamp Road to Laura, and then maybe re-think about Cape York. Unfortunately, the road is still closed and wont be open for a few weeks to come, same goes for the Peninsula Developmental Road, which is not open until after the first week of May at this stage... not to worry, Cape York can wait, there's plenty of other country to explore. So, we left Eddie and Elim Beach, and headed back through Cooktown and down to Marreba. We arrived here on Friday arvo and camped at the rodeo grounds, which are surprisingly nice and very quiet. At $9 a night with good hot showers we are not complaining. We can sit at the back of our camper and look out an open grassy area strewn with kangaroos, kites circling overhead, great sunsets and Cerlews screaching all night. All for 9 bucks, bargain!

We are still in Mareeba as I write this. We have stocked up on food, water and diesel, and tomorrow we head for Chilligo and then out into the Savannah Country, across the Burke Developmental Road to Normanton. The BDR is open "to 4WD vehicles only, with caution due to rough and slippery road surface" according to QLD Main Roads. It may be a slow trip across to Normanton, but we are in no hurry. Hopefully we can find a nice spot somewhere along the way to prop and camp for a couple of days in the middle of nowhere.

We'll let you know how we go! Until next time....