Submitted: Wednesday, Aug 05, 1998 at 15:38

(Iris & Donald)

Today began another day of new adventures on our Cape York trip. We broke camp late at 11am so the morning started off slow. Donald and I went for a walk and found a private beach so he could have a swim. Water was roaring over the rocks but Donald went in. He gave out a big scream saying it was cold, but refreshing.

At 9.30am Jeff and Thelma went for a walk to the falls. All the while we could hear Jeff speeding along and yelling back for Thelma to hurry up. At 9.35am we sighted a strange creature skipping past our camp with paper and shovel in hand – it was only Collyn our leader going for a poo stop and letting the world know he was proud of it. By 10.30 most of the group had their sites cleaned and so went in different directions for either a swim at the beach or last look at the falls. By 11am the group attempted to reassemble into convoy positions to move on to Helensvale and The Lion’s Den. Bill and Neil were to be tail-end-charlie but didn’t show for anoher 5 minutes while Bill topped up his water. Not more than 5 minutes later David Martin called in to say he needed to stop because there was something hitting his gas bottle.

The scenery was ever-changing from rainforest to dry tracks. At 12 noon we turned right onto the main road to Cooktown passing a small Aboriginal community called Wujal Wujal. Although Wayne Back’s trip notes told Collyn to take a left turn we continued on to visit the Bloomfield Falls which was well worth the detour. After a short walk we stopped for lunch by the very peaceful Bloomfield River.

By 1.30pm we were on our way again. The drive was dusty and our truck did not have any air conditioning but the long driveway-like roads made up for it. We pulled in to Lion’s Den at 2.45pm. It is an unbelievable pub and is very busy with almost every passer-by stopping in for a drink or a look about at this historic pub. We all set up camp quite fast so that we could all go and enjoy some cold ones. Donald tried my little 5cm TV so I could watch my Y& R (Young and the Restless) but it didn’t work. So the pub was the next best thing.

I heard along the grapevine that two of our wonderful ladies were in the shower when some men walked in. We could hear the screams down at the camp!

Before tea at the pub most of the group held their own "happy hour" on the pub’s balcony and the barman yelled out that it wasn’t even happy hour yet! Everyone sounded very happy which is great because it showed that everyone is comfortable together.

After tea at the pub everyone sat around the campfire happily telling dirty jokes and the night wasn’t complete until Jeff blew his bottom trumpet with no shame at all!

Tags: Travel Journal
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