Nele & Andrew Around Oz: Peninsula Caravan Park, Cooktown, QLD

Day 211 – 15^th September 2011

Peninsula Caravan Park, Cooktown, QLD

After brekky we backtracked slightly on the Bloomfields Track to take the road to Shipton’s Flat in search of tree kangaroos – no luck but it was still a nice drive. Next we returned to The Lions Den Hotel and very soon after we left the dirt road behind and were back on the highway. We travelled west to have a look at Little Annan River Gorge and Falls, before turning east towards Cooktown. At the Black Mountain Lookout a grey nomad couple informed us about the Trevethan Falls, so we followed their directions taking us via a 4WD track to a 200m walk to the falls. Next turn off from the highway lead us to Archer Point where it was very windy – Nele almost got blown away - but offering a beautiful view of the coastline and the hills beyond. Late afternoon we arrived in Cooktown where we first visited the Nature’s Powerhouse aka the visitor information centre to book some accommodation offering unpowered camping for us and a cabin for Andrew’s parents. After a drive through town and a coffee stop at the Sovereign Hill Resort Pub/Café we drove to the caravan park to set up our little tent in the middle of the campground - the only spot where no trees were towering above us as a sign pointed out that “limbs can fall without warning” and Cooktown is known to be windy. We had dinner out at The Italian Restaurant where we all enjoyed a fabulous pasta and live music from the local entertainment duo – very nice so highly recommended going there on a Thursday night. In the middle of the night we decided to take up Sue’s offer to sleep on the floor of their cabin as the wind was raging through the trees and we weren’t feeling too safe with the sound of branches fallen down. This was at the same time another camper decided to move his tent from wherever he was camping under the trees to a spot nearby us – guess he wasn’t feeling too safe either.