Category: Australia

The next morning we all headed back to Cairns together. The plan was to stay in the Atherton Tablelands but we realized that we needed to stock up on some more supplies and it was actually going to be quicker to make it to where we wanted to go by going through Cairns. The roads are funny in this part of the country.

Our next stop was around Millaa Millaa, the area I went with Scott a month before. Alex had never been and he wanted to check out this waterfall because it was one of the nicer ones. I had no problem going back because it’s a beautiful spot for a swim.

The other waterfalls around the town weren’t that spectacular so we decided to drive down the road a bit to a few waterfalls that I hadn’t seen before.

In order to get to these waterfalls, we had to take a walking track that ended up being around eight kilometers round trip. Alex was struggling a bit, on account of his accident the day before. But I have to give him credit for powering through the entire walk.

It was definitely worth it because there were a variety of waterfalls along the track. Some small and some hidden behind the trees but the main waterfall, Nandroya Falls, was really a stunner. I felt like I was in paradise. When I think of a tropical waterfall this is what I imagine. It wasn’t the best to swim in but it sure was nice to look at.

By the time we got back to the car, it was getting a bit late and we had to start thinking about finding a campsite for the night. But first, we had a few more waterfalls.

Just a bit down the road there two of them and they weren’t that far from the road. Maybe a half-kilometer. A kilometer at most. First up was Wallicher Falls which was pretty stunning. We couldn’t get very close to it but it was nice to hang out there and talk about how the huge logs near the waterfall got there in the first place.

Next up was Tchupala Falls which was also a pretty nice waterfall. Nothing too crazy but as we walked closer to the falls we found this decrepit and worn down looking stair case. We thought it was going to take us down to the base of the waterfall so we immediately decided to climb down.

The staircase continued way past the base of the first waterfall and took us to a totally different waterfall that we didn’t even know was there. It must have been a tourist attraction a long time ago and it just fell into disrepair. It’s always fun to explore something that most people don’t know even exists.

I knew I had to get back down to Brisbane at some point. My original plan was to rent a car just like I did on my way up to Cairns. But it was way more expensive renting a car this time around so I figured I would have to fly down there.

After a few days of hanging out at the hostel, I was ready to move along. It wasn’t exactly my scene, to be honest with you. Just a lot of partying and I wasn’t in the mood to party that much. Especially after our big night out with the gang when we first got back to Cairns.

Alex had teased the idea of driving back to Brisbane because he wanted to spend Christmas down in Byron Bay. And he finally made a decision to do it. So I told him I would go with him.

He really wanted to explore the Atherton Tablelands and we decided that we would make one last trip as a group together. There were a couple of waterfalls northwest of the city that we wanted to hit. Off we went.

The first stop was Davies Creek but it wasn’t all that impressive. The campground towards the bottom of the falls was quite nice. Spots nestled up right near a few pools that you can swim in. I honestly wish we had booked a campsite there.

Towards the top, there were a few pools but they weren’t very full. It was a hot day so of course, we took a swim but we weren’t really able to submerge ourselves in the water fully. It wasn’t nearly as refreshing as we were hoping it would be.

We were able to walk to a lookout point but the waterfall wasn’t all too impressive. I honestly forgot to take a picture of it.

The next stop was Emerald Falls and this one was way more impressive. We took the walk all the way to the top. Roughly two kilometres one way. The view from the summit was great and we were all eager to get a closer look. So we skipped and hopped along the rocks to get closer to the edge of the waterfall.

Alex got a little bit too close. His first mistake was standing on one of the rocks that was wet and had a consistent flow of water moving across it. He posed for a picture and then just like that he was gone. Slipping and sliding along the waterfall.

From where I was standing he disappeared after ten or so meters down the falls. My mind instantly started thinking about the worst case scenario. Did he fall all the way down the waterfall? Was he still falling? Is he dead or seriously injured? How was I supposed to get back to Brisbane now?

Joking aside he ended up being okay. He bounced off a few rocks and then landed on one that was positioned perpendicularly to the way he was falling. So it ended up stopping him in his tracks. No serious injuries. Just a fucked up shoulder and a gnarly bruise on his hip.

I think we were in shock, the whole lot of us, for a few minutes there. How he ended up escaping that without anything serious happening is beyond me. He must have a guardian angel looking out for him or something.

We moved down towards the bottom of the waterfall to take a swim and it was quite lovely down there. I met someone that I had crossed paths with earlier on my trip but for the life of me I couldn’t remember where I met her.

Anyway, we ended up camping there for the night. Alex was in no condition to drive for very long and the rest of us couldn’t be fucked to find a campsite so close to sunset.

It was our last night together and we just stayed up late and reminisced about the journey we had just been on. We stayed up late and we just talked. I played some ukulele and Ty played some songs on guitar. Scott challenged us to talk about what we learned about ourselves on the trip.

I had two things. First, I was proud of myself for being open-minded to the experience. To jump in a car with someone you just met and drive 2,000 kilometers takes a lot of courage. I was proud of myself.

At the same time I was lacking in confidence at some points on the trip. So I need to remember that I had a lot to offer as a person.

It was quite an adventure but all good things must come to end. We only had a handful of things to see before getting back to Cairns. And our first stop was Mossman Gorge.

Mossman is a small town just south of the Daintree Rainforest and the gorge there is quite famous. A gorge is basically a canyon or a narrow valley between a mountain range. When we arrived it looked like it was going to rain. But thankfully the rain held off and we got to explore the park without any troubles.

We decided to take the nature walk first before getting into the river and swimming. The trees in the park were absolutely beautiful. Especially the fig trees. They wrap themselves around older, dying trees and use them as a base to grow around. They look like pieces of art, the way they bind themselves around the other trees.

The walk wasn’t very difficult. We saw a variety of different plants and each had a small plaque that described them and their usefulness to the Aboriginal communities that use to live in the rain forest. Even small bits of Aboriginal history and folk lore were included.

The river itself was quite large and everyone was excited to take a swim. I didn’t feel like getting in the water so I found a nice rock to sit on and I meditated. I just observed my friends. I’m extremely grateful to have shared this experience with them and I wanted to be present in some of the last moments we were going to share together.

We stopped off at Port Douglas after Mossman but we didn’t really do much while we were there. It’s a small town. A good place to escape to for a few days. A lot of people use it as a base to take day trips from. We went to the lookout and they had a compass there that showed the different distances to large cities around the world. New York was on there. It was tough to believe that I was over 15,000 kilometres from home!

Our friends from the trip to Cape York tipped us off about a vacant piece of land just off the highway and we camped there for the night. Not the greatest campsite but it was right by the ocean and it put us within shouting distance of Cairns. It rained like a motherfucker that night but my tent held up surprisingly well. I think that was the only time it rained on the entire trip to be fair.

The next day we stopped off in Kuranda, a small town in the hills just outside of Cairns. We made the usual stops at the variety of lookout points along the way and then we stopped in town for a quick bite to eat.

The main point of interest here is Barron Falls, one of the largest waterfalls close to Cairns. We pulled up to the car park only to find a bunch of construction equipment. The walkway to the falls was closed due to repairs.

Scott, having a friend that lives close by, knew a different way to get to the look out point. We made our way to the railway tracks and walked along them for 15 minutes until we got to a high point on one of the cliffs overlooking the falls.

The surrounding area itself is quite beautiful. The falls were not running so heavy because there hadn’t been a lot of rainfall up to that point, it being towards the end of the dry season here. The falls gush water during the wet season.

We didn’t stay all that long because technically we were trespassing. And Scott works for the railway system so he was a bit worried about being caught and having his working license suspended. Ty flew the drone around a bit and we headed back towards the car.

An hour or so later we were back in Cairns. The trip was finally complete! I felt relieved to have completed the journey. I had so much fun with all the guys but I won’t lie, it was tough at times. I’ve written this before but I’ll write it again. I was proud of myself for putting myself out there and giving myself the opportunity to have this amazing experience.

I’ve learned so much, not only about the people I traveled with but also about myself. What I’m comfortable with and areas that I need to work on. It definitely has given me the desire to take more camping trips in the future, back at home and abroad.

We decided to rent an AirBnB when we got back to Cairns, just for a few days. It was nice to have a bed to sleep in and a washing machine to wash all my clothes. It had been way too long. The boys needed space to clean out their cars. It honestly looked like we were moving in permanently. There were boxes and pieces of luggage everywhere throughout the house.

Our mates got in a day or two after us and we had a big night out on the town. A last hooray of sorts. To be honest, it’s extremely unlikely that we will all be in the same place at the same time ever again.

To be honest, at this point I was about ready to crawl into my bed and not move for a few days but I didn’t want to be anti-social and stay in while everyone was frolicking about town with beers in hand. I must say that I had a good time but I was exhausted the next day. The second game of the State of Origin rugby series was on and everyone was pretty excited to get after it.

After a few days, we were back living in the hostel. To be fair I could have used a few more days in the AirBnB with my own space but money doesn’t grow on trees.

Everyone was a bit hungover from watching the rugby match the night before so we didn’t get a very early start. We stopped off to get some supplies in town and after we were done we hit the road and drove back towards Daintree National Park.

The CREB Track took us through the northern part of the forest the first time we were there. We missed a few of the main spots because of this. The plan was to spend a few more days in the Daintree so we could get to everything.

We arrived at Cape Tribulation an hour or so before sunset. We didn’t have a lot of time so we just chilled on the beach and went to the lookout to take some pictures. Cape Tribulation is one of the main attractions and some consider it the most beautiful part of the park.

Our next task was finding somewhere to camp for the night. The area around Cape Tribulation and the Daintree is pretty touristy. There is essentially a small town built there. So it wasn’t like we could just free camp like we were used to doing north of Cooktown.

We stopped off at Cape Trib Camping but it was very crowded and more expensive than what our friends had said it was going to cost. It was already after sunset by this point and we weren’t sure what to do. So we made the decision to leave that spot and move on towads another one fifteen minutes down the road.

It ended up being a good choice for us. The campsite was in really good shape and it even had a proper outdoor kitchen which is something we hadn’t seen for a long time.

We got to talking to the owner and found out that he runs an animal sanctuary on the land. He agreed to give our group and a few others a tour of what he had on site the next morning. 

He had these really large pythons just hanging out in the front of the main building. They are mostly harmless from what he said. They rarely bite and even if they do they aren’t venomous. These are the types of snakes that like to bind around their prey and strangle them.

He also rehabilitates crocodiles and he had this really large female. Originally this crocodile was kept as a pet and it was in really terrible shape when he received it. The crocodile is quite large at this point. And even after roughly eight years the crocodile still makes attempts to attack him. Crocodiles don’t become attached or affectionate towards their caretakers. It sees everything in its territory as a potential meal.

He also had some dingos, which he takes on a walk nearly every day around the park. There are only a few pure breed dingos in the wild and people like the owner of the campsite keep these dingos in captivity in an effort to protect the gene pool. There are a huge number of stray dogs in the Australian bush and they eventually mate with the dingos. In this way the dingo gene pool gets corrupted. 

We did a couple of walks after we left the campsite. There is a botanic garden right on the water and it was a really cool place to see all the different plants that grow in the area. The park is a rainforest as you enter but as you get closer to the water’s edge it turns into a mangrove forest. The trees that thrive in the rainforest can’t grow near the water because the salt content in the soil won’t allow them to.

Afterward, we went to a watering hole that was out the back of this restaurant for a swim. A really cool place with tons of rock sculptures that people set up. It’s much cooler in the rainforest (thankfully) but it was still super hot out and it was nice to take a swim and grab some food. Too many days making lunch and dinner without the proper tools can get frustrating.

We really didn’t do much else that first full day. We tried to check out the Blue Hole, which is a very famous swimming spot in the forest. But when we got in there it was all dried up. Unlucky really because it looks beautiful in the pictures I’ve seen. I guess you can’t win them all.

We ended up meeting these two girls and this one Colombian girl had an amazing van set up. She’d been in the country for some time (at least over ten years) and her story was pretty incredible. She started her own business and evenutally was able to sponsor herself for Australian citizenship. Then she saved up the money and built this apartment on wheels.

I’m telling you it looked like this girl had a studio in a van. You could rent something similar in New York City for a good chunk of change. And everything was brand new and customized to her liking.

All in all, she said it cost here about 30,000 Aussie dollars. Meaning the van itself and the work done to it. Not a bad deal in my opinion. I mean you have a home on wheels in a country that is set up for that kind of thing.

That night we slept in the park next to Myall Beach. Not the most pleasant experience. We got woken up in the morning by an angry local who wasn’t all that happy that we had pitched our tents there. So much for our free camping idea.

We got an early start anyway because our plan was to hike up Mount Sorrow. Probably the longest hike in the Daintree. We got out there at 7:30 or 8 o’clock because we wanted to beat the heat. But hiking in the rainforest is quite enjoyable because there is so much tree cover that the sun barely ever hits you. 

The hike wasn’t super long but around the midway point, the trail becomes pretty fucking steep. The sun might not be hitting you but it’s still hot and climbing up this part was super tough. It’s so humid in the forest that you sweat like crazy. So we were sure to drink extra water.

It took us an hour and a half or two hours to get to the top I would say. There is a platform up there but we were told to go past the platform and hike a little further on until we got to the “danger” sign. The summit gave us a view of the beach and the surrounding area but it was only a 180 degree view. We weren’t on the tippy top so we didn’t have the 360 degree view of the forest that we craved. Still worth it though.

It had been a while since I climbed a mountain so it felt good to get back out there and tackle a trail. The boys felt that the hike was extremely difficult but I thought it average or a little above average. Compared to the hikes I did in New Zealand this was nothing!

We booked a campsite at Ocean Safari which was across the street from the park we camped at the night earlier. Simon and Kris, my friends from Byron Bay, were staying there for a few nights and we were happy to stay there too so we could meet up with them and hang out.

That night there was a small beach party just across the way. Not too many people to be honest but they got together these large speakers so there was plenty of music.

It was pretty funny actually. It looked like some sort of science project. There was this little motherboard and it was attached to various gadgets by what looked like thin copper wire. The whole system was being run on those small batteries that you might put into a power tool. It didn’t look pretty but it worked. Anything for a party, right?

We were out there until sunrise. That wasn’t my original intention because I was so exhausted from the hike earlier in the day but it kind of just happened like that. There was a huge fire and people were climbing the trees and getting the coconuts down from them so there seemed to be an endless supply of coconut water. We danced and we just talked. It got to a point where not staying up for the sunrise would have been a major let down. We were so close to making it.

The next day I was so exhausted I basically just slept in the hammock for the entire day. I was thankful to be in the rainforest due to the coolness and the shade provided by the trees. Kind of a recovery day for me.

The next day it was time to pack up shop and move on back towards Cairns. We stopped off at Alexandria Lookout and then a quick pit stop for some ice cream before making moves south towards Mossman Gorge.

The next day we popped into Captain Billy Landing, this camp spot right on the ocean. At low tide, you can walk along the beach and there are a ton of caves that you can peek into. We had heard there was Aboriginal rock art here but unfortunately, we didn’t see any.

At the camp spot, there was this small shelter and people had written down their names and the dates they had passed through. The whole thing was completely covered. We left our mark like all the others before us.

The next day we really got some driving in and arrived at Musgrave Station. This is one of the first roadhouses you come across when you are driving north from Cooktown. Jonno and Phoebe knew of a free camp just down the road from the station and we stayed there for the night.

The alcohol gets insanely expensive the further you move north. We’re talking an extra thirty or forty dollars for a case of beer. So that really kept us away from drinking. Which I didn’t mind at all.

Musgrave had the first fairly priced beer we had seen in over a week. So we grabbed some beer with an intention of having a party that night. And that is exactly what happened. The night turned into a pretty sweet dance session. Just the ten of us getting our boogey on out in the middle of the bush.

Fuck. We even played limbo with a didgeridoo. I did not win by the way.

There was a small creek not too far away from the camp so after sweating it up on the dance floor we marched down there, beers in hand, and just enjoyed being in the water and hanging out under the stars.

The next night we stayed in Lakefield National Park at the Hanna River crossing. Nothing really to note here but it did put us close to Lakeland. This is a special place because close by there is Aboriginal rock art that is more than 13,000 years old.

Basically these things are just cave drawings but I must say for something so old they are in incredibly good shape. The drawings were mostly of animals like kangaroos, turtles, and flying foxes. Some people too and even some spirit entities. Out of respect for the Aboriginal culture I was unable to take pictures.

From there it was just a quick ride back to Cooktown. The journey was finally (well mostly) complete! It was good to be back at the original starting point. I had some of the best fish and chips of my life that night. I was a happy camper.

That night there was a big rugby game called the State of Origin. The best players from Queensland play the best players from NSW in a best of three series. A rugby All-Star game if you will.

The Aussies in the group were pretty pumped up about it. I had never watched a rugby game to completion but I definitely enjoyed it. It was fun learning about the rules from Scott and Ty. I like it because the ball is constantly moving and there are barely any stoppages of play. 

Queensland won the game but it came down to the final play. Most everyone was happy except for the few of us from NSW. Good thing it is a best of three series!

After two days at Somerset, we were ready to move on. There wasn’t all too much to explore at the tip at that point. We did pretty much everything we could do with our time. It was time to head south.

We had spoken to a few people and heard that this one spot called Mutee Head was a good place to stop off at. It’s where the Jardine River meets the ocean and the fishing was supposed to be very good there. The boys didn’t have much success fishing at the tip and they were dying to catch something.

We pulled up in the early afternoon and got after it right away. We didn’t catch anything until the sun was about to set. But for the next hour after that everyone was getting nibbles. Before we were done everybody caught a fish. I caught a catfish but unfortunately, it was not edible so I had to throw it back.

All in all, we had eight fish and we cooked them straight on the fire. Phoebe put together a vegetable stew as a side and it was just brilliant. Another fantastic meal cooked right there on the fire. We were joking that Phoebe and Jonno should start a restaurant. Right out in the bush with customers catching fish and having an authentic Aussie camping experience. It would be unique and I think people would be interested.

The next day it was time to cross the Jardine River again. That really was the close to our adventure to the tip of Australia. Now it was all about making our way back to Cairns.

We stopped off at Elliot Falls for the second time because it was just too nice to pass up. After taking a swim at the falls we set up camp right there at the campground. That night was Halloween and our German friend Phil was pretty keen to celebrate. He bought a pumpkin and a bunch of candy and that created a good festive vibe in the group.

We had a lot of musicians with us and we realized we had enough instruments for everybody. So we got them all out and everyone started playing. A drum circle of sorts. It probably sounded like shit but it was cool to be a part of it.

Things did get a little strange towards the end there. We had this huge tree stump and the boys put it facing upright in the fire and then put the pumpkin on top of it. Then they gathered leaves and started a small fire inside the pumpkin. It was like a fire within a fire. Fire-ception if you will.

After playing with it for a bit they got it to stand upright. We were in a bit of a frenzy to be fair. At this point in time, it seemed like the best thing that could have happened. They do say a full moon makes everybody a little loose and that might have been the case with us.

I couldn’t help but laugh because to an outsider it must have looked like we were a satanic cult or something. Dancing and yelling at this huge fire with a pumpkin in it. But we had our very own Halloween tree and a few memories to boot. Who cares if you look crazy if you’re having a good time, right?

Later that day we finally reached one of the landmarks of the trip – Fruit Bat Falls. It’d been a few days since that last time we found water that we could swim in. And I will tell you, by this point on the trip I was probably the dirtiest I’ve ever been in my life.

Part of me felt happy with the situation. I was proud of myself for roughing it, really roughing it. Sleeping on the ground and not caring how dirty I was. I really had no choice. Because if I cared too much I would have driven myself crazy. But yeah, finding somewhere cool to swim got us all excited, not only myself.

From Cooktown the drive was just dirt roads with a lot of corrugation. Which makes for a bumpy ride. And lots and lots of eucalyptus trees. It honestly felt that we were driving in a simulator, with the road in the distance updating the further and further we drove. It all looked the same. It’s at this point on the drive that we finally reached something that resembled a rainforest. We knew we were getting close.

Fruit Bat Falls was a nice little spot. A really small waterfall but it was perfect for swimming in. And at this point, I couldn’t complain one bit. The water was nice and warm, like a bath. We hung out there until our fingers were pruned. Or until we got hungry for lunch. Whichever came first.

Elliott Falls was, in my opinion, the nicer of the two. It was just so different than anything I had seen before. The way the earth had changed over time created such a dramatic scene for a waterfall. We could jump off the upper part down into the pools and the water temperature was just perfect to swim in.

There were a ton of camping spots by Elliott Falls so we decided to stay there for the night. That way we would have access to the falls in the morning too.

The next day we crossed the Jardine River. Another milestone on our quest towards the tip. We were talking with one of the guys who worked there and he said that in 2019 close to 100K cars crossed the river. In 2020 only 20K cars crossed. So we were able to have all the spots to ourselves which was really cool. Literally every campsite up to this point we’ve had to ourselves. So this start explained a lot because we were getting a bit worried about not seeing anyone on the road.

Most of the communities north of the Jardine River are Aboriginal communities. Some are off-limits to outsiders. You just have to drive through them without stopping. But we did pass through a few. The major spot to stop for supplies up there is Bamaga and it’s mostly Aboriginal up there. You can tell that there isn’t a lot of resources up there.

The feeling of reaching the tip was pretty special. For me, a backpacker without a car, to make it to that point was, if anything, pretty strange. I’m proud of myself for keeping an open mind and meeting the people that ultimately helped me get there. You always need a little bit of help.

It turned out great because two of the people we met on the way up, Lara and Bronson, were there sitting on the beach waiting for us. When we met them in Cooktown they were planning on heading south. They drive a Toyota Hiace (one of those big campervans) and they didn’t think they could make it all the way up to the tip.

But I guess they changed their minds. They even passed us on the way up even though we left a few days before them. Or we were just moving slow. Either way, our group grew by two.

After settling in we went over to the actual tip. Just a small hike across a rock face. A small sign marks the northernmost point here. The currents in this area were coming from all different directions and it was creating a type of whirlpool which was really cool to see.

That night on the beach was just so peaceful. Because there was no one else around but us we were able to camp right on the beach. Under normal circumstances that’s not even close to possible. But we live in strange times.

There was a moment around the fire when everyone fell silent. Not purposefully but you could feel that everyone was just listening to the sounds of nature and appreciating the moment. The cicadas in the trees were almost playing a song for us. They were super loud.

It turned into a group meditation for a while. It was special because not too long into it everyone must have realized what was happening. I knew I did. But everyone made a conscious choice to continue because everyone knew that something special was happening.

We spent the next day in Putsand on the western side of the cape. They have this little beach camp resort with a restaurant and a pool and all of that. It was great to have some proper facilities. And I even got enough service to sort out my visa situation which definitely took a monkey off my back. It was getting close to the end of the month a part of me was worried that I was going to run out of time.

Bronson’s friends, Phoebe and Jonno, joined us there. Legends really. They had this amazing Land Cruiser and it had everything you could possibly need if you were out and about in the bush.

When we moved on to the other side of the cape the next day we found two more friends. KB and Elina. Twelve people and six cars in the convoy. We really got into our camping groove at this point.

Phoebe and Jonno had everything we needed to make dinner using the campfire. Phoebe cooked curry and Jonno baked fresh bread using the flames from the fire. It was just the most natural way to cook food and it felt amazing. Not to mention that it was delicious. A very memorable night.

We spent two days at Somerset and for part of the time, there was just a crocodile hanging out maybe 50 meters away from the shore. It was our first time seeing a crocodile in the wild. Trust me, we were looking around for these things the entire trip up.

It was really cool to see. Ty had a drone and got some really awesome footage of it. But it just goes to show you how careful you have to be up here. They can be hanging out anywhere.

We met the boys on the road at Old Laura Station, a good hour drive west of Cooktown. We didn’t get much of an early start and started off north at about 1 o’clock. The first stretch of the trip was through Lakefield National Park and the boys were keen to explore it and find some watering holes.

We stopped off at a few creeks but the park was very dry and there wasn’t all that much water about. It was the end of the dry season at this point so I’m sure once the rain comes in it gets nice and lush in there.

We stopped off at this watering hole called Ole Faithful and we met these three men who were camped out there for a few weeks. They just really wanted to fish so what they would do is rent out all the campsites in the area so there were no other people competing with them for a catch. Since we weren’t looking to fish they let us stay at one of the campsites for the night.

Not long after setting up camp, we heard some shouts from the river bank. The guys had just caught a large barramundi and wanted us to have it for dinner. Barramundi is a sort of bass like fish and it is extremely popular in northern Australia.

So we just threw it on the fire and it cooked all the way through. No pan or grill or anything. It was delicious – so juicy and fresh. Our first camp fire cooking experience of many.

The next day we made it to Coen, which is just a small town that is good to refuel and resupply at. Nothing special here. We drove down a bit further and about an hour into the driver Alex had to pull over and work on his car. His brakes were acting up and we needed to get to a mechanic to resolve the issue.

We had two choices at this point. One – head back the way we came towards Cooktown. We knew there would be a mechanic there and the spare parts we needed. Or two – continue on to the nearest town and hope they had the parts. We couldn’t really come to a conclusion so we flipped a coin. And the coin told us to continue on and that’s exactly what we did.

The next day we got up early and made it into Weipa, a really small fishing town. But that’s about as big as it gets up there. Lucky for us they had the part that we needed. And it was the last one too. All hail the decision making coin!

We really didn’t get into all that much in the afternoon. Alex had to fix his car so we just hung out in town by the main shopping center.

That night we made it as far as Bramwell Junction. Just a roadhouse and a camping area with these gigantic termite mounds. I can’t believe they get this big. Apparently, they are made from the waste that the termites produce when they are eating through all the trees. Or at least that’s what I’ve been told but I’m not really certain of it.

We met these two Aussie girls and just made a fire and chilled with them for the night. They had a very eventful trip north and were moving back down south again. They wrecked their car on the way up and had to spend a month in Weipa. Which sounds like a bit of a nightmare to me. They also found a dog that had been attacked by a crocodile. They were bringing it back to Weipa to get checked on and one of the girls was going to adopt it.

Bramwell Station is very famous because it marks the official start of the Old Telegraph Track. A super gnarly 4WD track, the “Tele” as the locals call it, was originally built for the telegraph wires that connected this part of the country with the rest of Australia.

Alex and Ty were really keen to give it a shot. But this track is no joke. Not only does your car need to be in the right condition. You need all the necessary equipment and a bit of luck to make it through.

We surely had the luck. Just not the equipment.

Just for shits and giggles, we went down the track to the first river crossing (there are multiple crossings on the track). One look and we knew it wasn’t for us. The climb out of this river to the other side of the road looked impossible to me. The detour down the main road would have to do.

We spent our morning at CJ’s house (the Aboriginal man we met the day before) just talking about the land and Aboriginal culture and all of that. He is a shaman and the elder of his Aboriginal community in the Daintree. He shared some of his stories with us and some of the things he told us were pretty out there.

I am not sure I believe everything that he was talking about but it’s difficult to refute something that someone has experienced. That’s their reality. I really haven’t had any supernatural experiences so therefore, I am a bit skeptical when I hear stories like this.

He wrote a book about his life which I ended up reading on the way up to Cape York. It was quite interesting and the structure of the book reminded me of an ‘Autobiography Of A Yogi’ by Paramahansa Yogananda. Not nearly as good but still a decent read.

We got on the road about noon with the intention of heading towards Cooktown, the last “real” town north of Daintree National Park. We made a couple of stops along the way but the highlight was Archer Point. Just south of Cooktown, it gave incredible views of the bay north of the Daintree.

A little history lesson for you. Captain Cook stopped here on his 1770 trip to Australia and repaired his boat close to the spot that hosts the town. If you haven’t noticed already, Captain Cook (who wasn’t even a captain before his trip to Oz) is a pretty big deal Down Under.

After a few days without toilets and showers, it was nice to get into town and reset. We did a little food shopping, found some free showers, and then tried to find a place to camp for the night. We chatted with some locals and they told us Quarantine Bay, just south of town, was our best bet.

Unfortunately for me, it was a rock beach. And rock beaches and sleeping in a tent don’t really mix well. I was really roughing it out there. But I survived.

It was this night, after dinner, that we came to the conclusion that we were going to continue on towards Cape York, the tip of Australia. Everyone in the group, besides Emma, had no commitments or anywhere to be in the following weeks. And we were getting along so great that it felt like the right move to make.

It was an easy choice for me. I had no car to begin with and here I was being offered a golden opportunity to reach one of the remote places in Australia. Sign me up, please.

We decided that Alex would drop Emma off in Cairns and pick up some equipment the next day. We would meet up around Cooktown the day after that and continue north together.

Trevathan Falls was the first stop the next morning. It was a really nice waterfall. We had to drive through a small bush fire to get there which was pretty cool and sad at the same time. I think all of us were dying for a swim and there was almost a natural shower which was amazing.

In northern Queensland, I would say starting at Airlie Beach, there are crocodiles in the water. So you can’t just roll up to a beach and jump into the ocean. You have to find specific waterfalls or rivers to take a swim in. So that’s why we were going days without swimming. The next waterfall or swimming hole was always on our mind and kind of dictated our plans.

Alex, Emma, and Zach left after we were done at the waterfall and the rest of us just chilled in Cooktown for a bit. We made camp at this small beach near Archer Point that night and saw this really cool looking bird. We weren’t sure if it was an owl or a falcon but it did shit on my tent. So that was a bit upsetting.

After my day in the Tablelands I took a few more days to recharge the batteries in Cairns. My friends Simon, Kris, and Freddie arrived in town from Magnetic Island and I spent most of my time hanging out with them. They rented an AirBnB and it was a good spot to chill and get away from the hostel. For some reason, at that point in time, I wasn’t feeling comfortable in the hostel environment.

Anyway, I figured that my time in Cairns was coming to an end. I started thinking about taking a trip up to Daintree National Park. It’s the oldest rain forest in the world and one of the main reasons I wanted to come to Cairns in the first place.

I floated the idea to several friends but I didn’t find a situation that I felt totally comfortable with. Simon and the gang had a car and were keen to go. But they only wanted to take day trips into the forest, basing themselves in Port Douglas, a small town two hours north of the city. I was pretty dead set on camping but they weren’t really about it. Especially Freddie.

My German friends were excited to camp but after our trip to Windin Falls and our encounter with the cassowary, things got a bit weird between us. I won’t go into detail here. I just figured out that they weren’t the type of people I wanted to share this experience with anymore. And sometimes figuring that out earlier rather than later is a blessing.

My other friend Scott wanted to take a trip up there too but wasn’t exactly sure when he was going to go. He is a bit of a free spirit and he doesn’t really like to make detailed plans ahead of time.

I didn’t want to hang around Cairns for longer than I had to so at this point I was ready to rent a car and go by myself. It was an experience I really wanted to have and I didn’t feel like missing out on camping in the Daintree because I had no one else to go with.

Scott eventually came around to the idea of making a trip up there and I couldn’t have been happier about it. At that point in time, that was my number one option and I was stoked that it worked out. He met this other American girl while camping and she had some friends that also wanted to join in so we had a group of five of us. The more the merrier. Especially on a trip like this.

The drive up the coast was beautiful. Along the ocean most of the way. Literally all you can see is rainforest, beach, or the sea. We got a late start so we didn’t really have a chance to stop off at any particular place (or really talk to each other, to be honest). Just seeing the amazing views from the car got me excited about what was to come.

Before too long we were in Daintree, a small town on the appropriately named Daintree River. Alex, one of the French guys that joined the group, was pretty pumped to complete the CREB Track, which is a 4WD track through the Upper Daintree Forest. You could see why. His car was an absolute beast. A 2001 Toyota Hilux with everything you needed to take on a track like that. Emma was also pretty keen but Scott was on the fence.

We chatted up the lady behind the counter at the information center and she told us to go talk to her husband who was down on the dock. He drove the track consistently and would help us figure out if we were crazy or not.

He took a quick look over the car and said that we’d have no problem at all. Music to our ears. Being that it was the end of the dry season, the roads were as firm as they were ever going to be. He even pushed us to make a trip up to Cape York, the northernmost point of Australia. But we didn’t take him too seriously at the time. We said our goodbyes and made our way towards the start of the track.

So we’re driving up the road and we come across this Aussie guy (Ty) driving down the opposite way as we were. We figured he was finishing up the track so we flagged him down because we were curious to get another opinion on the conditions. Turns out he hadn’t even started yet. He had drove a half kilometre in to check it out for himself. But he was on his own so he was a bit wary of taking it on without any help.

We were a group of random people who didn’t know much about each other anyway. So we invited him to join and without hesitation, he accepted the invitation. The group grew to six just like that. Too easy.

To be honest, it felt like we were in Jurassic Park or Jumanji or something. The rainforest is so thick in this part of the country. And every so often you could see mountains poking through the tree line just totally covered in green vegetation. I was almost expecting a velociraptor to jump out at us.

The track was tough but not overly difficult. I felt that the roads on Fraser Island were a lot tougher. The first day all we did was drive. A car tour of the forest basically. There weren’t any places to swim along the track so we just tried to tackle as much of it as we could the first day.

A few hours into the drive we stumbled on a nice alcove in the forest. A great place to set up camp for the night. Especially because there wasn’t much daylight left. Not long after we set up camp a few other people pulled on in. Eventually, the campsite grew by a few more cars and in total there were twelve of us.

We were all pretty exhausted from a long day of driving so nothing much happened that night. We just enjoyed each other’s company and the warmth of the fire. I got to play some ukulele for my new friends. And yeah, it was just really cool to be camping in the oldest rainforest in the world.

The next day we didn’t have a long distance to drive. We covered about 75% of the track the first day. Which was unintentional. We just didn’t know how long the track really was to be fair. So we drove most of it the first day. Within an hour or an hour and a half, we were officially done with the track. We did pull off onto a really nice lookout point before we finished it up. But besides that just driving like the day before.

At this point, we were pretty desperate to find some water to swim in. And right on cue, a few kilometers down from the end of the trail, we saw the sign for The Roaring Meg. We turned right in, hoping to find somewhere to swim and wash ourselves.

We found the spot to be more than acceptable and decided to camp there for the day even though we hadn’t done much driving.

Soon after we arrived this guy drove by in his truck and starts chatting to us. He was an Aboriginal man and the caretaker of the land. He told us we could stay but asked us to keep out of the water at the waterfall. It was a holy site for women in the area and sacred to his culture. The beach up the river was fair game which we were relieved to hear. He told us to come around his place the next morning for some coffee and a chat.

The waterfall itself was fairly impressive but it was the view of the forest that was really the showstopper. We just stayed up there for a while taking everything in. Just wondering how things had changed since the Aboriginal people were taken off the land.

When we finally got to the beach I was pleasantly surprised. I thought I was hallucinating because it was this pure white sand beach, like something you would see in the Caribbean or the Whitsunday Islands, but next to a river. I think everyone was just so happy to be able to swim. Everyone just stripped down to nothing and jumped in there. It was quite liberating.

Again a pretty uneventful night. Had some dinner and relaxed. We did have an unexpected visitor. A black and white snake just slithered on up to us when we were hanging out around the fire. Zach, the other American in the group, is super interested in wildlife and he was trying to play with it and pick it up. We found out later that it was not venomous. But Zach getting a little too close to wild animals and freaking us out would become a consistent theme on this trip!