In the morning before we left, we went for a walk to look at the river mouth where one of our fellow campers caught a barramundi, and seen a croc. If was raining a bit and we had to walk over rocky mangroves to get to the creek, one of the staff at the park said we wouldn't see the croc at this time of day because it was feeding time not resting time (I mentioned to Hutchy that I didn't think feeding time was the best time to be looking for a croc but we went anyway)....
Anyway, the same staff member had mentioned to Hutchy some falls which were a bit off the beaten track but not too far away and said we would get there with 4WD and van no worries, so we set off to first tackle the Bloomfield Track which is the coast road out of Daintree north of Cape Tribulation, 32kms of 4WD only track and then a further 30 odd kms of unsealed road, find these falls and on the way to visit the Lions Den which is a famous pub at the end of the Bloomfield Track.
The Bloomfield Track was a great experience, the first creek crossing we came to was at the door level on the car and caravan, but that was about the deepest. The steepest hill presented a bit of a problem as we approached it in high 4WD not realising how steep it was going to be, got a few car lengths up and realised we weren't going to make it, backed down, shifted into low 4WD and tried again. We eventually made it up, amidst concerns about the extra engine noises we could hear being the gearbox. We saw our first croc sunning itself on the bank of the Bloomfield River just out of the Wujal Wujal community. It took us just over 2 hours to travel 32kms and then almost another hour for the next 30kms. We left our campsite at 10:30am and got to the Lions Den 60kms away at 1:30pm just in time for a beer and lunch. Great pub, stickers and writing all over the walls, and most everyone is just passing through on their way to or from the Bloomfield Track so there is an amazing sense of adventure and freedom.
Warning sign for the Bloomfield Track
Now we're getting serious. A proper 4WD track at last!
Our first croc! Bloomfield River
From the Lions Den you can see Black Mountain, this is an incredible pile of black granite rocks, it actually looks like a giant dump truck has just dropped the rocks in the middle of nowhere, and is said to be a sacred area for the local indigenous people, amazingly though, the brochure that I read said that the lighter coloured areas on the mountain are from when the rocks get so hot that they explode!!!
Base of Black Mountain
Lions Den Hotel
So we continued on our way to the Trevethan Falls, which the staff at the Cape Tribulation Camping Ground had told us about. He told us it was a good road, well it was for the first 7-8 kms but then you turn off the main gravel road and head up what can only be generously described as a goat track, we passed a group coming back from the falls who told us we wouldn't get much further with the van but there was a bit of a clearing where we could turn around. We kept going. We eventually came to halt at a reasonably tight corner which had pretty much half of the road washed away in a gully about 2 foot deep. That's when Hutchy got out of the car to see what the rest of the road was like and if there was anywhere for us to turn around. But we pretty much had no choice but to keep going as there was no way he could have backed the van down the 2-3 kms of road. He came back and said there was a clearing but pretty rough track up ahead. We kept going. The track in some parts was covered with exposed rocks and tree roots, some that had been cut off so Hutchy was worried about them ripping the sides of the tyres on the van, also trees hanging over the road which to go in on the angles needed to avoid the rocks and tree roots made it a bit tricky to bring the van around withougt hitting the trees. All in all Hutchy did a fantastic job driving, and the van held up extremely well as did the car, we love our Landcruiser! I reckon we could get into just about anywhere
This was the good part of the track....
Trevethan Falls
This is the life!
The beautiful Trevethan Falls again....
We really had no option but to stay the night here as there was no way we could get back out before dark. We had a good night relaxing under the stars with our little campfire and this beautiful spot all to ourselves!
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