Monday 4th July 2011

We are home safe and sound from our Cape York experience.  We had a fantastic holiday & one that I would recommend to anyone wishing to visit the Cape but do not want to drive the distance.  We were well looked after with good accommodation, food, transport & information in all the areas we visited.  I will be putting  a detailed report of the holiday on my travel blog as soon as time allows.  I have some great photos & all the details of the trip will be on my travel blog.

Friday 24th June 2011 we travelled on the train with George, Tosca & Lynne to the airport arriving in plenty of time for our flight to Cairns.  It was a good flight & we arrived at the Bay Village (our Cairns accommodation) in time to check in & freshen up before dinner.  We met up with Jan Willem & Carla who were staying there also.   We had dinner at the Bay Village & an early night as we needed to be ready early in the morning for our "Wilderness Challenge" experience.

Saturday 25th June 2011 our tour guide Dean Nulty picked us up at the Bay Village to commence our 7 day Cape York experience.  Fellow travellers Roger, Heather-Jean, Joan & Pauline were on the bus making up eleven of us as a tour group in a 14 seater 4 wheel drive bus which made it comfortable.

We travelled through the Daintree Rainforest, the Bloomfield track, The Bloomfield River on our way to Cooktown where we stayed overnight .

Sunday 26th June 2011 we travelled to Lakelands, split rock to view aboriginal art, Lakefield National Park, lunch at Laura, travelling to "Musgrave" a century old Telegraph Station now a working cattle station where we stayed overnight. 

Monday 27th June 2011 We travelled over the Great Dividing Range stopping at Coen, crossed the Archer river, travelling to Weipa where we stayed overnight.

Tuesday 28th June 2011 we visited the waterfront of Weipa and Red Beach where the boys did some fishing and we sighted our first crocodiles - at a distance thank heavens.  We visited the old Weipa cemetery on our way out of Weipa where we saw some very historical grave sites.  We travelled via Batavia Downs to the Wenlock River  which is the site of the old Moreton Telegrah Office which is now a camping site.  We had our first experience in Safari Tents which are permanent tents with two single beds.  They were quite comfortable & very neat & clean.  The boys went fishing before dinner with the big one getting away. 

 After dinner we all sat around a campfire, had a few drinks , sang a few songs, toasted the marshmallows.

Wednesday 29th June 2011 we travelled the renowned Telegraph Track on the parts that we were able to.

We saw plenty of termite mounds, visited Fruit Bat Flats for a swim, and made our way to Siesia where we stayed for two nights.

Thursday 30th June 2011 we walked the traditional track  to the very top of Australia - Cape York.  It was not a difficult climb but it was dangerous because of all of the uneven and slippery rocks.  We did have a couple of slips in the group but nobody was injured.  It was a great experience.

Friday 1st July 2011 we left Siesia by ferry to Thursday Island. At this point we said goodbye to our guide Dean as our outback experience was finished.  Dean was an excellent guide & definitely made our trip special,  Thursday Island was an interesting experience as the 1st of July is their annual celebration and re-enactment of when the aboriginals saw their first white man.  That was a bonus.  We were taken on a bus tour of Thursday Island which included the Museum and the old fort at the lookout which had fantastic views.

We caught another ferry to Horn Island where we caught our plane back to Cairns.  The ferry was late & so was the plane.  It was a good flight and we arrived back at the Bay Village, Cairns just in time for dinner.

Saturday 2nd July 2011 we had a walk to the shopping Centre at Cairns which was bigger than Erina Fair. Our plane to Sydney left an hour late but it was a good flight with no problems.  We travelled home by train and managed to get one leaving Central as we arrived getting us home by 7,00pm.

Sunday 3rd July 2011 we went to MacDonalds for breakfast as we had no fresh food in the house & then went on to Rod & Anne's to spend the morning with them and Joel & Emily who is now 3 weeks old.  That night we went to the Golf Club to catch up with the golf news & to cover presentation for the Golf Blog. We had dinner there with some of our friends & caught up with all the latest.  Apparently we had a lot of rain on the coast while we were away,

Monday 4th July 2011 we were back at F-Troop with  a lot to catch up with there.  We stayed a bit later than usual as there was a junior classic on at the Gosford Course so I covered the presentation for the golf blog. 

It is hard to get back to reality after such a wonderful trip especially when I have 150 roses waiting to be pruned.