North Queensland - 12 Sep 2021

One of the beautiful orchids at Cobbold Gorge Resort

Melaleuca spp flowers

The original tourist bus

Infinity pool between the bar and the dam, with its own heron

Cobbold Gorge Bar and dining area

We returned to Forsayth, and caught up with Graham again before heading out to Forsayth lake for morning tea. 

The dam will be nice when its finished, but there was no shade or toilets and we had to sit on branches and rocks.

At Georgetown we were thinking of going to the mineral display but it cost so we just got info on the road we wanted to take. There are about four roads to Chillagoe but we were warned the shortest road was VERY rough towards the end, and we decided to go to Mt Garnet tourist information to ask their advice. We stopped briefly at Mt Surprise.

Old Post Office & Telegraph Station - a major link from Brisbane to the Kokoda Track during WWII

One of the few headstones

When we asked at the tourist info we were given a map for a 4x4 track to Lappa. Due to a miscommunication we took the road to Irvinebank instead and went the way I had planned (latest RACQ map showed it as the better road), but it turned into a very small unused track so we turned around and went to Irvinebank through Coolgarra Station. Although unplanned this was very exciting for me as my 'handle' is Coolgarra. It is a gazetted road but as the track took us over several dam walls we felt uneasy. 

(Dell's photo)

One of several dams on the property where the track took us over the dam wall (Dell's photo)

We saw some evidence of mining and the now abandoned township of Coolgarra on the GPS, but being private property didn't want to stop. The narrow, winding, dirt road took us up to a height 1100m-ish and we had spectacular views of the Great Dividing Range and cloud around Bartle Frere.

A ground-covering Grevillea spp

The gates at the end of 'Coolgarra' shows the condition of the track

We arrived at Irvinebank just before dark and set up at the free campground. 

A quirky fence in the back streets of Irvinebank (Dell's photo)

We had been hoping to get a meal at the pub but it was, unfortunately, closed. Despite this it was a really nice camping spot, with warm showers at the hall across a creek.