So
what's the best way to take from Cairns to Cooktown?
There are two roads - the coastal, and the inland road.
The coastal road
is green and
tropical, goes through some touristy and quite busy places like
Daintree and Cape Tribulation, and is all fine until there.
After Cape Tribulation it is only partly sealed, steep in places, and you need high clearance
to drive through Bloomfield River in case the waters are high.
If it wasn't for that, the coastal road would be better, it is less
remote and even about 50km shorter than the inland way.
But as it is,
the inland
road,
although longer, and with longer distances between the few roadhouses
and small outback towns, is after all sealed all the way, and the road
is good for any two wheel drive.
So in that sense the
inland road really is better. It goes inland from Cairns
over Kuranda range and continues north after Mareeba.
Cairns
Cairns
is a lovely city, and if you are not coming back to this part of
Australia, I really recommend to spend a few days in Cairns.
It's
tropical, colourful and relaxed, and at the very least you should use
it as a base for a trip to the Great Barrier Reef, and try some local
seafood restaurants.
The Inland Cairns Cooktown Road
Kuranda
To get inland from Cairns, you cross the Great Dividing Range on a road
through rainforests
that winds up to the mountains and then back
down in the other end.
Up in the middle of it is the Rainforestation
Wildlife Park, and the lovely small rainforest village Kuranda,
which is
worth a stop.
Mareeba
Not long after Kuranda the mountain range and the rainforest end, and
you drive past the small township of Speewah
towards Mareeba
- the
centre of the surrounding mango, coffee and dairy farms - all open for
visitors.
The free and excellent Mareeba museum is also worth a stop.
After that you are off
the Kennedy Highway and driving the Mulligan
Highway to
Cooktown.
The Coastal Cairns Cooktown
Road
Cairns
to Daintree
First you pass by the Cairns northern beaches and then the beautiful
coastal road between Wangetti and Craiglie, southern Port Douglas.
Then
you have some sugar cane fields around Mossman, and later a few
beaches. And then you enter the Daintree rainforests, Daintree Village
and Cape Tribulation.
Cape
Tribulation to Bloomfield
From Cape Tribulation to Bloomfield is the so-called 'hardest' bit,
although not
as hard as it's been made to sound. There
are steep bits, there are creek crossings, and yes it's the first bit
you have unsealed. But it's still a road, not a four wheel
drive
track like the neighbouring CREB
Track that starts in Daintree Village.
Bloomfield
to Helenvale
After Wujal Wujal and Bloomfield, the road gets better and is now
(2014) almost completely sealed. You first drive through the small
community Ayton with some
beaches, bays and the mouth of Bloomfield
River. Then you drive through Cedar Bay National Park, and later the
small communities Rossville and Helenvale.
Helenvale
to Cooktown
Helenvale has the famous pub Lions Den Hotel, and also the Mungumby
Lodge.
After that you come out to Mulligan Highway south
of Cooktown,
and drive past the Black Mountain National Park, then the turnoffs to
Archer Point and Trevethan Falls, and then Annan River and
national park before you come to Cooktown.
Ayton
Just
north of Bloomfield is the small town of Ayton - named after
the town in England where Captain James Cook grew up.
Today there is not a lot, except a few historical markers
and signs, but once upon a time there was more.
It was all Kuku Yalanji
country, more exactly the Yalanji, the Jalunji and the
Kuku Nyungkul subgroups.
In 1819, the river was named after a British Lieutenant, Bloomfield. Then
there was some history of trepangers and blackbirding..
In
1882, a south Queensland sugar cane farmer Fredrich George Bauer bought
some land in the area of Weary Bay, and started a large sugar cane farm
- Vilele.
After
hundreds of workres building a mill, a railway and all the rest needed
for the Bloomfield Sugar
Co to operate, Ayton became and lasted as a
thriving town for 15 years before it was understood that the sugar was
not bringing in enough for its operation.
In
the late 1890s, the sugar mill was sold, and moved to Bundaberg, and
other agriculture
was practiced, including tobacco, coffee, tea and
tropical fruits.
There
was also a lot of red
cedar growing in the area, so during the days of
the red gold rush
lots of timber was moved down to Townsville to build
Charters Towers.
Later,
the sons of Fredrich George Bauer established the Bloomfield Mission,
which since 1964 is the Wujal
Wujal Aboriginal community.
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You get to make early-stages desicions such as when to go, how long time you
should take, how to get
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will it cost..
and a short insight to what is there to see and do in Cape York.
This complete 300 pages
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at least 30 guaranteed FREE
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the Cape), at least 40 best
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from fuel, roads, wireless internet and mobile phone reception,
how to deal with the national
parks booking rules; and Aboriginal land entrance and camping permits
and alcohol restrictions - to vehicle preparation and accessories and necessary recovery
gear by my vehicle-recovery-guy partner).
Not to mention locals'
tips on how to spot that croc and palm cockatoo ;-)
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This site uses British
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Disclaimer:
Although
best efforts have been made to ensure that all the information on this
website is correct, this site is not to be blamed should there be a
mistake.
This is the ORIGINAL Cape York Travel Guide run Locally on the Peninsula.