All good things . . .

It rained through the night but the morning broke bright and sunny – so bright that the white boats out on the Endeavour River were almost too white to look at! We showered and packed and handed our keys back to Reception before driving up the road a short way to the Kiosk where we had eaten breakfast the day before.

The food and the location could not be bettered so we chose it for breakfast on our last day in Cooktown.

I think that we had managed to see and photograph just about everything there was to see and photograph without getting onto a boat, so we slammed the doors shut on the little white hire car and drove off into the sunset – well maybe not – but in that direction!

WE passed a few signs to scenic lookouts – but we had called in to most of them on the way north so did not stop this time around. High on a hill we did let the wheel turn us onto a tiny track up a rise. There were two other vehicles up there when we arrived and the view, although magnificent, was directly east so we were looking straight into the sun. 

Fortunately there was a spindly tree offering a bit of shade so I stood under that to take my photograph. Sunlight on the lens makes a very disappointing job of a great picture! I recommend that when you are faced with a similar situation that you either get someone to hold their hat to put shade on the lens or else look for a shady spot as I did. Since there was nothing else to see except for rolling hills and dazzling sunshine, our stop at the James Earl lookout was very short (I have no idea who James Earl was! Maybe a local councilor?)

After a couple of hours of driving I felt in need of a pick-me-up so we drove into the roadhouse at Mt Carbine and bought coffees (once I had established that there was indeed a coffee machine! I don’t like instant coffee!)

Colin chose to take a photo of his very weary wife – it really shows!

I did feel a lot brighter after the coffee though. The drive changed at Mr Molloy where we had to drive down a steep and very windy road through amazing rainforest. It was so beautiful that I felt very wide awake! What a great road! I asked Colin to take lots of photos as we drove down but his style of shooting is not mine and unfortunately none of them are good enough to share. The sun was dappling through the canopy all the time and the brightness on the windscreen seemed to have coincided with each of his shutter snaps. But they are a memory for us of how beautiful it was.

Then we were driving along the coast. WE stopped for a couple of shots. Its funny but we both felt that we had “stopped here before” and wanted to keep driving. When I did stop the view that was so tantalizing from the moving car did not seem to be as lovely as expected!

Yes, the sea was gorgeous, the rocks gave character and the vegetation along the beach was green and bright – but somehow it looked even more special from the moving car! Crazy!

But I did find one spot where the beach looked even better from out of the car.

If I had driven past I would not have seen the palm tree leaning over the sands, somehow that one palm gives a very tropical look!

As we drove closer to Cairns I realized that it was lunch time so rather than go directly to our motel I turned the car to Trinity Beach, picked up food for lunch and took it down to a park near the sands. Although it was quite a hot day we found a lovely shady spot in a little garden on the Esplanade. A few people wandered past us as we sat there. It was a relaxed and very pleasant ambience.

We were using the cups that we had purchased on the train tour and I remembered the challenge that had been issued by the train driver to take photographs of the mugs in different locations, so I set my mug on a fence with the sands of Trinity Beach behind and here it is.

Our travels in North Queensland are over. Tomorrow all I have to do is take the car back to the hire car firm and fly back home to the Gold Coast. All good things must come to an end!

AJ

Don't forget! Click on one of the pictures and you will be able to see each of them much larger and clearer - its worth doing! Also, to contact me send an email to joanren AT gmail.com