The Daintree - 21 - 29 September
We stayed in Cooktown for a few days to restock, wash and shop after being away from town conveniences for a while. From Cooktown we did a day trip down the Bloomfield Track to Cape Tribulation. While the Bloomfield Track has some steep grades and is still mainly gravel it is not what I would call a challenge. This section of coast has become easily accessible and is very much part of the mainstream tourist trail. Notwithstanding, it remains spectacularly beautiful "where the forest meets the sea" country.
We had read of the Wallaby Creek Festival and were lucky enough to have the dates align with our time in the region. Wallaby Creek is a beautiful area at the northern end of the Daintree. The Festival is an annual event that has run for the past thirteen years. It attracts a left of centre crowd (to be polite) from north Queensland. Dreadlocks, dirty bare feet, happy pants and not a lot of soap was the order of the day. There is music, drama and arts workshops and performances over three days including everything from genuine swag men reciting poetry to circus performers, sustainability lectures, storytellers and of course many musicians. Ali learnt some aerial circus tricks, Harry some drum beats, Jada some tree change ideas and I practised some self control.
In the southern end of the Daintree we stayed at Wonga Beach. Daintree Village had the best coffee since the Atherton Tablelands; Floraville Icecream was the best ice-cream since Margaret River WA and Cows Beach was our favourite beautiful spot in the Daintree.