Cooktown to Townsville

After Cape York we still had one more night in the tent before we picked up our van from Cooktown we stayed at the Lions Den Hotel.

We were also in time for lunch, prices are good, the steak sandwich, not so good.

It's a great old pub to walk around and check out all the quirky memorabilia.

The camp ground was nice and shady as well.

We even had a little friend wandering around, a giant goanna.

Spot the goanna.

The next day we were up early, picked up our van and then headed to our next destination, Mossman.

Having another look at Black Mountain.

It was a really nice drive to Mossman but it's a bit hairy towards the end, very steep, winding roads, not great when towing a caravan but we made it to Mossman unscathed.

Mossman is such a nice town, and only 6 kms for the town centre is Mossman gorge.

Definitely worth a look, but get there early as parking is limited, we got there about 10:00am and when we came out a few hours later there were cars everywhere, lots trying to stalk people for spots.

It's part of the Daintree national park and very humid amongst the trees!

The water was freezing!

So clear you could see all the fish swimming around.

The full circuit walk takes about an hour and a half.

The trees are huge!

The day after Mossman Gorge we headed to to Cape Tribulation, you can only get there by crossing the ferry, a whole lot cheaper than the Cape York ferry only $21.00.

We were lucky to have another lovely day.

Myall beach.

Tourism Australia needs me! 

This is where the Daintree meets the Great Barrier Reef.

This is part of the great barrier reef.

The water temperature was so nice, but no swimming allowed because of crocs!

I loved these trees.

After a nice stroll along the beach we went for a walk along the Myall boardwalk.

A new race look?

More vines.

We then went into Daintree village and some lunch at the Big Barra restaurant.

Eating Barra and chips, very tasty!

Daintree village is nice but blink and you will miss it.

There were lots of blue butterflies around and you can almost see one in this shot, if you look hard enough.

We were sad to leave Mossman it was a great spot, we stayed at the Mossman Aquatic centre caravan park and you get full use of the olympic size swimming pool.

Another fun drive to Cairns.

We stayed at a different caravan park back in Cairns this time, the other one was a bit pricey and this one was heaps closer to town, there is a shopping centre in walking distance and also a Sizzlers, it's called the First City Caravilla, highly recommended. 

We did some things this time around that we missed last time including a visit to Barron Gorge.

Beware of falling rocks...

This rock might have done a bit of damage.

Tarzan.

Surprise creek waterfalls.

There aren't really any set walks to do but it's worth coming for the view.

Lake Placid.

There was a triathlon on that we went and had a look at on the way back.

After relaxing in Cairns for a week it was back on the road and heading south, first stopover Townsville.

Townsville was overcast and even rained for a few hours,the first bad weather we have had in ages! Although it was still warm!

There are amazing views of Townsville from the castle hill lookout.

We were going to head across to Magnetic Island for a day to snorkel but the weather was not really permitting so once again we headed south to chase the sun, an unusual concept but it worked, next stop sunny Airlie Beach!