The Run Down South to Lakefield NP

With Jess well and truely on the mend, we finally drove out of Weipa.  It was great to get back on the road again - something we had nearly forgotten how to do.  A round of ‘Old Man Emu’ soon sorted us out, as well as apricot pieces and fruit bars.....  arrr, that’s right, now we remember.

The road back down was fairly uneventful.  We were expecting the corrugations to be a lot worse given the amount of traffic, but it was generally quite fine.  We had a lovely burger at Archer River Roadhouse, given how good we had heard they were (which they definitely WERE good).  We stayed that night at Musgrave Station, a quick overnighter.

From there, we drove into Lakefield National Park, apparently the 2^nd largest National Park in Qld, behind Simpson Desert.  It has some pretty spectacular bush, again, dry bushland scrub.  We had booked into a campsite at Hahn Crossing to spend a couple of nights.  Qld parks have now implemented a process where you have to PRE-book specific sites before arriving, either online or on the phone.  This means that you have to do it sight-unseen.  Very annoying.

The site we had booked for 2 nights (guessed at) was well set back from the croc infested river, was fairly open, and, worst of all, was MEGA BUGVILLE.  We were warned by the previous family who were staying there, (we interrupted their packup when we turned up), and sure enough, late afternoon, not only the mozzies, but other mega bugs turned up.

Glenn trying to shave in peace

Jess at Lakefield NP

Savannah at Lakefield NP

It was also particularly hot, as in, quite hot, as in, let’s sit around, and pretend that we are loving this because we know how cold it is in Melbourne, but GEEEZ, we are sweating a bit.  Night-time was somewhat of a relief, but still warm. 

In the morning, we debated for a little while (not too long) and decided to BUG OUT (excuse the pun) of there.  It was good to be doing bush camping, as we were by ourselves, but still, not really that enjoyable.  From there, we ended up driving back to Cooktown through the National Park. 

A lagoon at Lakefield NP