The Friendly Campsite

For the first time since we’ve been camping we decided to stay in the same place for a second night. We were wiped out after our day on the water so returned to the campground where we had met our motorcycle friends. This night we met additional interesting people – a young German couple who was completing a similar trip to ours (Sydney north) and a British guy who was mountain biking Cape York. We had heard about the Brit earlier on our trip – a couple we chatted with mentioned meeting him and that he had biked the Rockies last year. We had quite a long chat with him and it was interesting to hear his impressions of England, America and Australia, and how they compared to ours. Later that evening, we chatted with the German couple (Anke & Eicher) and compared on our trip. They were quite friendly and by the end of the night we were Facebook friends and had a place to stay in Germany should we ever visit.

Adventures of a different kind

Leaving Archer point we took the Bloomfield Track back and spotted another large croc sunning itself on the bank of the river. We also stopped and took a long hike out to the reef to do a little exploration. The tide was out which meant that it was about a 10 min walk to the ocean. On the way we saw some tiny sand crabs with brilliant blue shells. We stopped for a bit in Cape Tribulation for some wattleseed flavored ice cream (local produce tastes like coffee!) but seeing as Sarah was carsick (and a little cranky) we soon continued to Port Douglas with hopes of booking a reef tour the next day. We stopped in at the local tourist information agent and booked a trip to the inner reef on the Low Isles for the following day. We decided to stay at the local Big4 campground. We have stayed at a few of them so far this trip and they are all very nice. Upon arriving at our camping spot I quickly realized two things 1. three motorcycle campers were directly across from us and 2. For the second time in 24 hours our cooler was a mess. The first time the terrible roads (and my driving) vibrated the lid off the jam and mustard. Also, something shattered the eggs or they were vibrated to their death (my bet). This time the roads vibrated the cap off a beer. After cleaning the cooler I introduced myself to the motorcycle group (dirt bikes) and as it turned out we spent the entire night talking with them. Sarah and I had such fun that we decided to forgo dinner that night! The trio was from Perth on the western coast. Two were native Australians, (one 6th generation – is that even possible?) and the third was from South Africa and had immigrated to Australia. They were all in the mining business. They spoke very highly about the west coast, minimal people beautiful coastline and vast resources. They were on a trip that I would love to try. 3500 miles, Cairns to the tip then on to Darwin and finishing in Broome…WOW. Last year they crossed the central desert which is about the same mileage and as we heard several times that night, “Jonathan, it was very tough”. We learned Australian slang, how to decipher the Aussie accent and at one point in the night all were forced to say “park the car in the garage” just to laugh at 5 different ways of saying it. We learned about Aussie pay, cars and amazing things like how an unskilled laborer can make 160K+ USD working at the Aussie mines. We had so much fun that the campground manager needed to come tell us to quiet down! We also had too many VB’s (Victoria Bitter) and closed the night with 20 year old Scotch that you can’t get in the states! Motorcycle Friends Sarah after being subjected to too much 4WD Early formation of brain coral (when tide is out)

Video of Jonathan crossing one of the rivers in Lakefield NP

Video of camping at Archer Point - Far North Queensland