Steve and I left early prepared for a long drive along a dirt road with a few river crossings on the Battlecamp Road into the Lakefield NP. We had our first crossing at Isabella Falls.
Another beautiful waterfall that was flowing well after the wet season.
We continued up Battle Camp Rd but unfortunately the road was closed due to the Normanby River swelling again.
There must have been some rain overnight to close it again as it was open. So we had to turn around and go back via Cooktown and out to the highway.
We drove through Lakeland which had crops of bananas growing forever.
We stopped in at a very small town called Laura for petrol and lunch.
Then headed along a red, dusty road to Lakefield National Park.
When we arrived some idiot day visitor had parked in our site!! We were not happy!! The idiot eventually arrived back after his leisurely walk and laughed that he’d parked in our site!! He was smart to get in his car quickly!!
We started to set up and some people arrived at the site next to us and said that it wasn’t our site it was their friends site. Steve was sure it was our site but the guy thought it would be best if we waited for their friends. It was a definite no from Steve and we continued to set up. Their friends arrived and were on 16!!
The camping area was called Kalpower Crossing, beside the Normanby River. It was well maintained, with toilets and cold showers. We checked out the river once set up, it was beautiful and in full flood. It looked very inviting for a swim but also had a very clear sign about recent croc sightings.
Soon after the ranger and some friends turn up and drove their truck out to the middle of the crossing and fished from the back!! Everyone was amazed!!
The following day we went on a recommended walking track. Unfortunately it was pretty ordinary. Lots of insects. The only real highlight was a lagoon full of lillies and lily pads.
When we returned from the walk there was a sign saying the track was closed! It wasn’t there when started the walk! 😳😳😳. The ranger must have come in the meantime. We wondered what was in there!! No it wasn’t a rogue croc! They were about to back burn.
It was bloody hot! And nowhere to swim unless you wanted to brave the crocs! 😳 So it was cold showers.
Once they started the back burning we then had ash dropping on us. 😩 It stuck to us because we were sweating so much and were covered in fly spray! The camper also got covered. It rained overnight but not enough to rinse off the ash.
The next morning we were packed up and found we had 3 frogs on the camper. There were also little frogs that lived in the taps. You had to let the tap run a bit or they’d drop into your hand and give you a bit of fright. Once packed we hit the dust again and started heading toward the Tip not quite sure where we were stopping next.