Qld - Cape York

During the last two weeks we have driven over 1,300 klms from Cairns to the tip of Cape York and down to Cooktown over some good roads, some shocking roads, water crossings and everything else in between. We have dust in every part of our car, inside and out and thank goodness for plastic containers or we would have dust in our clothes and food as well. For two days Mike had a tinge of red in his hair from all the dust, (Quite a look!) My feet have been covered in dirt all the time except for the three nights that we camped where there was grass. Every other night we camped on either sand or dust. But, the experience was worth all the discomfort. We have stood on the northern most tip of Australia and it felt mighty good.
There were some roads that we didn’t tackle as people were getting winched out of the water, and smashing the sides of their vehicles when they hit submerged rocks while crossing some of the creeks. We have a long way to go around Australia yet, so babysat our car a little. In the six weeks that the road has been open this season, they have shipped 100 damaged 4 wheel drives back to Cairns and we didn’t want to be anotherstatistic.
The most frustrating thing for us was that the beaches are beautiful with fine white sand but, because of the crocodiles you can’t swim. We did find some fabulous waterfalls to swim at - The Saucepan, Eliot falls and Fruit Bat Falls. We swam and camped at these places both on the way up to the tip and back down.
Mike and I would consider going again but next time we would hire a vehicle that we wouldn’t have to worry about damaging that was more suitable for the rough going. It will have to be a while off as we are still remembering the kilometre after kilometre of corrigation where it was so bad that we could only go about 20 klms per hour. But, I figure it is just like childbirth really, after a while you forget all the bad stuff and decide to have another go.