G’day from Cooktown,

I awoke this morning at 5:30, to the sounds of birds in the trees singing, and jet planes in the sky screaming (there seems to be quite a lot of flights in and out of Cairns). As the sun rose, it was overcast, and a light rain was falling. I was away from the motel at 7:45, and after filling up the Zuke again, I headed north along the Captain Cook Highway. By then the rain had stopped, but it was still overcast and misty. For about 30km from Palm Cove onwards, the road hugs the coast, literally metres from the water; I reckon it’s better than the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. I stopped in Mossman around 9, to pick up some supplies at the bakery, at which point the rain started to get heavier. By the time I reached the Daintree River ferry crossing the rain was quite heavy. When I reached Cape Tribulation, there was no point in stopping as there wouldn’t have been much of a view in the rain and fog.

I had morning coffee around 10:30, shortly after leaving Cape Tribulation. From the Cape north, there’s 80km of unsealed road, which was quite muddy, steep, and rough in places. Despite the rain, the trip through the Daintree rainforest was very enjoyable, apart from having to contend with wankers in their tank-sized Toyota Landcruisers and Nissan Patrols, crawling along at half the speed possible in the road conditions.

The rain cleared around 11:30. I had lunch adjacent to Black Mountain about 12:30. I arrived at the “Sovereign Resort” in Cooktown at about 1pm. When I opened up the doors from my room onto the patio, I found an unexpected guest sitting on one of the chairs.

I’ve spent the afternoon looking around town; I’m staying at least another night here, heading off tomorrow for a drive inland that includes some 4WD tracks.

Cheers,
Julian