Day 174
Tuesday
20 June 2017
Cooktown – Quinkan Rock Art Site - Laura
I was awake and it was still dark. I had had a dream I was
being given the music role and moved to a new school! No going back to sleep
after that nightmare. I was happy to read and slip into someone else's
nightmare. This Dean Koontz book will keep me up at night.
At 8.15am we were happy to get up and have breakfast. Paul
was pleased to note that the noisy kids across the way were moving on and their
two hour quest to repack their 3d jigsaw puzzle they call a camper trailer had
begun. I can’t see how it is worth the effort to set up for not even 48 hours,
but hey.
After getting ourselves all sorted, we grabbed our things
and were off to the small Queensland town of Laura, about 80min away. This
required us to return to the Mulligan Hwy and head back to the town of
Lakelands, that doesn’t have lakes and then head inland.
Along the way we stopped at Split Rock. This is a top ten
UNESCO listed rock art site. We parked the car and then made our way along the
path and up the hill about 500m, before finding the first site. The rock
overhang provides a sheltered area where many paintings have been preserved,
including the Quinkan. The long thin ones are usually friendly but these ones,
painted with bent arms and legs are meant to be spiteful.
We checked out two other spots, one the Flying Fox and the
other Tall Spirits. Both had paintings to match the descriptions. We then made
our way back down the rocky and steep path back to the car. You are meant to
pay $5pp to visit here, placing your money in the honesty box, but we had
nothing small so we just passed through.
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| The Tall Spirits |
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| Cute how they drew the flying fox upside down |
We then continued on to the town of Laura. This was a
construction site and a stop on the Cooktown train line. It became the last
stop when the construction ceased and the site was made into a permanent town.
We did a walk around the pub, general store and the town
hall. The store had the original Austin 7 that was the first car to make it to
the tip of Cape York, in its grounds, it also had an old ural motorcycle.
We then checked out the town hall area, there was an info
board about the town as well as a well painted toilet block, an old traction
train and an old lock up that Paul attempted to lock me in.
We were going to have a drink in the pub, but the selection
of beers didn’t appeal to Paul so we made tracks, stopping just outside of town
to take a photo of the town sign before continuing on back towards Lakelands.
When Paul joined me, we dropped off the roadside and began
clambering over large black rocks, smoothed by constant rushing water during
the wet, but now exposed and providing a fairly easy path to navigate beside
the rushing water of the river.
A small gorge had been cut through and a raging torrent of
water was passing over a waterfall. It was really quite beautiful and I was so
glad that we made the effort to walk from the roadside and along the rocks.
We returned to the car and drove on towards Cooktown
stopping again at the Annan River. We had noticed a number of vans parked in a
gully to the side where a no camping sign was posted, but we had seen them over
the past few days so I guess it is not policed. We parked nearby and then
walked out onto the old bridge that is fenced off and a sign says no pedestrian
access.
When I made my way out onto it I could see why it was
fenced, there were holes, rot and burnt out sections across the whole expanse.
You had to watch where you put your feet to ensure you were still on a plank.
Paul was happy to wander the length, but I was happier staying closer to our
bank and taking photos of the patterns and lines in the wood and the old nails,
the small details far more interesting.
I was however, keeping a close eye on the water and banks
below and beyond us, certain this was a perfect croc habitat. I didn’t see any
but they had to be there just lurking and waiting for prey to pass by their
nose.
It was now 2pm and we were starving, but figured it was
easier to return to the van and have lunch. The park was a lot quieter, with
many moving on this morning. We hung out for a while before zipping into town
for groceries. Paul rang Linley to find out how she was fairing, after a stint in hospital with a serious bowel condition and was glad to hear she was being discharged, but was far from recovered.
Paul was keen to try fishing at the wharf, so he packed up
the car and headed out I continued working on the latest photos and then closed
up and walked into town, happy to stretch the legs.
I stopped and bought a couple of post cards to send home to
Bec and myself so we could admire the postmark and then I walked on. Passing
the monument placed in remembrance of those who came during the gold rush of
the Palmer district. I particularly liked the inscription on one of the cut-outs.
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| A person without a smiling face should not open a shop. |
I joined Paul on the wharf shortly after. He hadn’t caught
anything, but had plenty of nibbles. There were plenty of people also trying
their luck to no avail. Was happy to
just sit and enjoy the warmth of the fading sun and the peacefulness of the water. Paul spoke to Jaden to let us know the car had been fixed, a new starter motor in place for $650, damn it!
Paul did end up with a couple of angel fish that he threw
back and then he packed up his gear and we returned to the van to have wine and
cheese before we began our dinner
As usual we spent the evening reading and working on the computer. Paul spoke to Ballsy
teeing up the gardening at home before we finally retired for the night.
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