Day 62: Sun 26 Jun - Cooktown to Mareeba

Day 62: Sun 26 Jun - Cooktown to Mareeba

Towed 275km

21° overnight with light drizzle and strong gusting winds in Cooktown, to 24°deg, windy and clear sky in Mareeba in the afternoon, with wind clearing by 6pm. The wind was horrible again overnight, and therefore another night of broken sleep. Goodbye Cooktown - you've been a great place to visit, but I'm glad to see the back of you (only for the winds). Eager to get away, we drove away from Cooktown in light drizzle a little after 7:30am. The wind was strong and pushed the van around a little on the road, and because it was mostly a head wind resulted in increased fuel usage too.  Having said that, I towed from Port Douglas up Mount Molloy, and two other ranges to Cooktown and back to Mareeba  into a strong headwind, and I averaged a surprising 16.3lt/100km - I was very happy with the fuel economy again. The drive back along the Mulligan Highway is a pleasant drive, along one of the best highways we've driven along this trip. We did experience a lot more traffic heading south in the same direction - there appeared to be a lot of return traveler's from the cape and many others who were probably returning from the Laura Races just north of Cooktown yesterday. We had our routine coffee stop at a gravel pit along the highway, then we stopped again in the township of Mt Molloy for a leg stretch and wander around town. We arrived at the caravan park in Mareeba where we had booked a 4 night stay, only to find our booking was written down, and there were no sites available for us. A little research, and we turned around and headed back to the other side of Mareeba to another park - The Kerribee Park (Mareeba Rodeo) Campground. Some times things are just meant to be - we had no problem getting for four nights without a booking, and it's a great park with plenty of sites, no trees, and a lot of open grassy space, and it's very quiet too. At $25 per night, I'm much happier to be staying here than at the park we thought we had booked. After we finished setting up about 1.30pm, we had a bite to eat and a rest, then Greg and I set off on our bikes for a ride into town to the information centre to get some info to plan our next three days around Mareeba. Back at the van, we had pre dinner drinks followed by a gourmet State of Origin dinner - Chiko Rolls and Potato Gems cooked in the Air Fryer - (dare I say it actually tasted alright). I set up the TV outside under the annex and then we watched the first half of the game before we all called it the night and retired to our respective homes for the night.


Driving towards the Black Mountains just south of Cooktown - great road

Coming over Mt Lewis with great views

Mt Lewis descent - a bit windy but not too steep


Mt Molloy Memorial Hall

Interesting shopfront in Mt Molloy

Greg and Wendy had a chance meeting in Mt Molloy with friends from Howard who run Nth QLD Trail Bike Adventures as they were passing through town heading north on another supported bike tour to the Cape

Old Sawmill in Mt Molloy

Old Sawmill in Mt Molloy


Old Sawmill in Mt Molloy


Old Sawmill in Mt Molloy


Old Sawmill in Mt Molloy



Leg stretch and rest stop in Mt Molloy

Lovely colours in Mareeba

Our Gourmet Dinner - yes the Chiko Rolls even came with the Chiko Roll bags


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