Bloomfield Track & a Spot of Luxury
See how the journey continues for David Cook on his Cape York Adventure. Make sure you check out Blog 1, Blog 2, Blog 3, Blog 4, Blog 5, Blog 6, Blog 7, Blog 8, Blog 9, Blog 10, Blog 11, Blog 12 & Blog 13.
We pulled out of our campground at Laura with mixed emotions. Happiness, at being on the road for yet another day and the prospect of a touch of luxury at the other end and sadness, because this essentially marked the end of our off road adventures for the trip. From Laura, the road East toward Cooktown and the Coast is sealed highway, we hightailed our way through the Battle Camp Ranges & then turned South, retracing our steps past the Lion’s Den Hotel and through to Bloomfield, the small community situated at the Northern end of the Bloomfield Track. We stopped for a short bushwalk into the base of the Bloomfield Falls, the largest of the waterfalls we had seen to date, before continuing south onto the Bloomfield Track itself.
Bloomfield Waterfalls
While not nearly as arduous as its inland cousin, the CREB Track, the Bloomfield Track has some of the steepest gravel inclines and declines that I have ever experienced outside of the Victorian High Country. Even the High Country hills don’t go on for such long unbroken stretches without at least a wash away mound being cut into the hill.
While the graded gravel surface offered plenty of traction, the sheer gradient forced us to run the big Nissan in either first gear high range, or second and third gear low range with the front hubs unlocked to avoid binding the drivetrain up to the high traction surface. The experience of having so much traction, and yet so little ability to make headway was surreal.
The Rainforest on this stretch of coast reaches right down to the high tide mark with absolutely no break. The result for travellers is that one minute you’re winding between ancient trees, and the next your bordering white sandy postcard style north QLD beaches. The Bloomfield Track merges seamlessly into Cape Tribulation Road, which is back to Tarmac, and is the absolute end to our need for 4WD capability for this trip.
After three weeks solid in the bush, its always nice to finish the holiday off with a splash of luxury. We therefore checked ourselves in to QT Resort and completed our trip with a day-trip to the Great Barrier Reef, another of the must-do activities if you’ve made the effort to come this far north.
Cape Tribulation Beach Front
We’ll be submitting a complete trip summary as well as information on exactly how the Mickey Thompson MTZ tyres have fared over the 5,000 odd kilometres since leaving Sydney. To see how they performed, follow us on our Facebook page.