“Everything’s wild up here, mate”

When we started this trip I wanted to make it to Cooktown. I really wanted to make it to the tip of Australia but it’s a long way and Sarah’s goals were not the same as mine. Since we made it to Cooktown a little faster than anticipated I was able to convince Sarah that Lakefield National Park (just a little further north) would be a nice place to go. Lakefield has several draws: 1. The Termite mounds are taller than Matt Scudder. 2. It’s remote….I mean remote, 100 miles from Cooktown and literally NOTHING in between. 3. It’s only accessible during the dry season (now). In the wet it’s flooded, becoming a bog (with crocs) and the river crossing are impassable. In looking at the difference between the dry and wet, I viewed a picture on the internet that was of a bridge with a truck on it. The truck was stopped on the bridge, a sign 30’ above in a tree said “we were here in the wet, in a boat”. One other draw for me was to see what the roads on Cape York were really like.
We left Cooktown and within 20kms, just after an emu dashed across the road we turned toward Lakefield NP. The road started off just fine but quickly deteriorated to a washed out or washboard surface like I have rarely seen. I have never seen it for that distance. Also, very quickly after turning on to the road we hit our first water crossing. As I was inspecting it a truck drove through! He had no problem and neither did we but you always want to make sure when the croc signs are before the river you are crossing.
On a side note, I have Old Man EMU suspension on my 4runner at home these shocks are made in Australia and are very well built. When I was looking at a catalogue here I was appalled to learn that the warranty on those shocks in Australia was 2 years and about 20,000 miles. I thought if those shocks don’t last 100k I am going to be mad. WELL, I now know why! I can’t believe they can last that long! For the first time in my life I learned what shock fade is. Shocks fade because they heat up so much from use that they basically quit working. Our heavy truck felt like a boat, we had to stop and give it a rest a couple of times or hope for a water crossing.
We made it to Lakefield, the road deteriorated even more to the point where my ear drums were ringing…the only solution for washboard was to go faster...it was GREAT!
The termite mounds are unexplainable, I cannot convey how many there are, they amount of termites in the area is enough to change the landscape from dense forest to savannah. Those buggers eat a lot. They go on for as far as you can see and are enormous!
Sarah and I drove to one of the watering holes in the park, where most people camp. We wanted to check out the wildlife and see if it would be a good place to stay for the night. We drove a couple of miles to down a sand track and crossed a tricky hole (limiting our quick escape) and came to a camping spot with a few trucks in it. I parked to “check out the scene” and Sarah knowingly stayed in the car. I was no sooner out of the car looking at the locals than I realized that I was not worried about the wildlife. I looked at the locals, very glad that I had taken off my collared polo shirt (not all of them were wearing shirts) and said “hello” as I walked over to check out the watering hole. On the walk back to the car could tell that the locals were interested to see what I was doing so I went over to say hello. This group looked rougher than the Red Hot Chili Peppers although they were likely younger than me-definitely decendents of pirates (or maybe they were). Tattoos, dreads, piercings, missing teeth, a lazy eye and techno music pumping…I was slightly nervous.
Me : what are you guys catching
Them: nothing yet mate
Me: what’s in there
Them: why don’t you put on a snorkel and have a look (from the guy with the eye with wings tattoo on his chest)
The conversation improved from here and the guys were very nice once we talked a little more.
Me: wow, what a place, it’s wild up here!
Them: everything’s wild up here Mate! (said the guy with the lazy eye)
After ending our conversation on a good note including some suggestions for where to go I walked back to the car….Sarah wasn’t interested in spending the evening with the boys so we headed back out.
It is truly wild up in Lakefield national park. I only wish we had more time to head further north!
We went a little further north in Lakefield and then decided to turn back to the south for the night. On the way back we again heated the shocks to a point where the truck was nearly hard to control at speed and crossed the deepest water hole of the trip, not bad but lots of fun. We stopped briefly in the town of Laura, population 80 and drove on the Cape York development road. This is the only road up Cape York, it’s badly corrugated and has water crossings.
We stopped to see some aboriginal rock paintings and continued back to the Cooktown area. We tried a 4wd road that went to Archer Point. This point was unbelievable, rolling hills coming right out of the sea and free camping anywhere you wanted to park. Sarah and I picked the middle of three hills the tallest having a lighthouse on it. We spent a very nice but breezy night on the point and enjoyed the sunset.