Coen – 208 km

Last evening we were entertained by the tour group having a campfire singalong with the tour guide playing the guitar and doing most of the singing – songs including from Bob Dylan, Rolf Harris and Slim Dusty (the latter two are Aussie blokes). They shut it down early so all was quiet by 9:30, except for the very loud snoring from one of the lady’s tents!

Rainforest Camp

Once their noise ended we were able to hear all the cricket and frog noises. You would swear we were in Bermuda listening to the tree frogs. After turning off the lights we also were hearing coyote/hyena noises but know neither are here in the rainforest so guess it must be one of the many bird species. In the middle of the night there was a scratching noise on the camper. We can only guess it was either one of the ubiquitous wild turkeys as they are great at digging up things or some little lizard type creature. Whatever it was it went away when we put the light on.

Before heading off this morning we went for a nice walk in the rainforest looking for more bird species but the forest is so thick we could only hear them and occasionally see a fly by. We did stop to check out some of the many vines hanging from the trees and a really interesting tree trunk. There are also good displays of bromeliads (air plants) in many of the trees.

 

Bromeliads

The way back out was just as enjoyable as the one in with the water ways to traverse and the mud holes to get through. We did stop in the croc infested (we sure haven’t seen any) Pascoe River where Doug took off his sandals and waded into the water to rinse off the mirrors as they were so coated with mud they were pretty much useless. Norma kept safely inside with both eyes peeled watching for croc activity. Actually yesterday when we were heading in we saw numerous people wading in the waters here and they did not appear to be missing any limbs.

Not sure if it is fuel control or to encourage the growth of new grass but we are seeing many controlled burn areas. We do know the grass is very nice looking in some of these areas we have seen.

Occasionally we have seen POISON BAIT warnings. Apparently it is for the feral pigs.

There is a sort of brotherhood up here with all the camper vans, trailers, etc. much like when we are on the motorcycle. Everyone waves!

As we were driving along we came across a huge monitor lizard sunbathing on the side of the road. Norma got out to get a close picture and he didn’t run away but sure hissed a lot. We also stopped for a snack break beside one of the billabongs. This is very typical of the many water filled ditches we have needed to cross on all of the roads we have taken here in the north.

 

We have made an early stop today as we were anxious to have a powered site and warm showers after the two nights of bush camping. The computer and readers are nearly out of power. Unfortunately again there is no internet but we do know where to find it tomorrow so will be posting several days of editions. We hope to also go back and edit the last two and add pictures as the last connection was a freebee at the BP petro station and the signal was only strong enough to do a written post. So . . . have a look back at the past five days for the latest stories and pictures!