Cooktown

 4 - 5 August 2025

Our plan was to drive from Daintree towards Elim Beach which is north of Cooktown. The shortest way to travel is via the Bloomfield Track, but towing is not recommended at the moment. The road suffered significant damage from Cyclone Jasper and the intense rainfall that followed. Even though this was in December 2023/January 2024 the road is still undergoing repairs. We know that some people ignore the "no towing" request but we aren't those people, so we went the long way.

We travelled back up the Rex Range Road, with another stop at Abattoir Swamp and then a lunch stop at Rifle Creek near Mount Molloy. From there we headed north along Mulligan Highway. We decided that we would make up our minds how much further we would go, once we reached Lakeland.

Because we'd had a late start, and Elim Beach was still a fair way off, we decided to have a night in Cooktown. You can't make a booking for Elim Beach and we didn't want to arrive late in the day and end up with a less than ideal camp spot, so we continued on to Cooktown and the caravan park we have stayed in a couple of times before. It was quite crowded but we did get a good spot where we could stay hitched up for the night. 

A small history lesson for those not aware.

In the morning we drove to Mulbabidgee Keatings Lagoon for a walk to the bird hide and then returned to town for a walk along the foreshore. We left Cooktown and drove through Hope Vale and then on to Elim Beach, where we planned to spend a couple of nights.