Bloomfield Track

We have passed the test and managed to negotiate the Bloomfield track and Dennis now has his 4wheel driving ticket! We certainly beat the dust problem and our cars were dust proof. A bit of rain took care of any dust! However, we didn't know that we were going to have to deal with wet slippery conditions - so this trip then was a muddy one! The track goes through some beautiful rainforest country although we probably didn't appreciate it much as the men were too busy concentrating on staying on the road and Tops and I were too busy hanging on!! 

          

I'd say the track is similar to the Wannangatta one as we took a while to travel not very far and we had the odd river crossing. The Pajero with its big tyres negotiated the conditions easily but Dennis had a bit of trouble getting up one hill!

  

        

The trip wasn't without incident however as one driver in front of us jackknifed on a corner and held us all up for a while. Luckily there were some workmen nearby who could winch him out of trouble. The cars lined up waiting for the road to be cleared show how many people are doing exactly what we are doing! 

      

                      

  

At Bloomfield, the road became bitumen and we enjoyed lunch by the beautiful waterfall. The track has a brand new bridge at Bloomfield and they are putting another one in further back so we can see the day coming when the Bloomfield track will be a highway - well a long way off being a 4WD challenge. Already the road wouldn't be anything like it used to be!

          

Last night was a pretty windy night and we were warned that it was gale like in Cooktown so we camped at a place called Lions Den behind this iconic hotel. Tops and I were pretty slack and hadn't taken anything out for tea and as the conditions were windy and cool, we ate out again!! We shared pizzas and they were delicious. Then we had a nightcap in our camper before heading to bed and listening to the wind! 

         

     

Today we only travelled  to Cooktown and have found this lovely campsite called Endeavour River Escape a few kms out of Cooktown. We have large shady grassed sites and it's beautiful! 

The solar units are out (that's Dennis's in the photo - Darryl's is similar but bigger!) and sun is shining for the first time for a few days. It's still windy but it's pretty sheltered here. We are off to Cooktown to have a look there and I can post this blog as no service out here. We like it so much here we are staying 2 nights - there are some lovely walks and as long as crocodiles or taipans don't get us, it should be a nice walk! 

We send birthday wishes to Erin, Celeste, Marg and Charlie xxxx

Next leg is more off road traveling - pretty rough conditions we believe but nothing the Pajero can't handle!  We are not sure where we 'll get to but eventually Wiepa then it's not far to the top. Hope all is good in the southern states,

Love from the travellers xxxxx

     

PS this is a close up of the whiskers!!