The Bloomfield Track

The first three months (January – March) are super busy times for us on the farm and our adventures are pretty much non-existent during this period, so I’m going to take the opportunity to catch up on some long overdue blog posts!  First up – to finish off our trip in June/July last year exploring the Daintree, Cooktown etc.  The last post I did was a wrap up of Cape Tribulation – so now to share the awesome day we had exploring The Bloomfield Track.

I’ll start by saying that the Bloomfield Track is probably one of the most scenic and interesting 4wd trips we have done to date.  It had everything from creek crossings, terrific views, great places to stop and explore, steep climbs, winding ranges, a narrow track and scary descents – it was fantastic and if you get a chance – might sure you do this drive!

The track is open to 4wd’s only and is follows the coast between Cooktown and Cape Tribulation.  It is generally recommended that you make the journey from Cooktown south to Cape Tribulation to take advantage of the views, but we did it the opposite way and still found we had plenty to look at.  I’ll talk you through the photos ………..

The start of the Bloomfield Track – leaving Cape Tribulation

First stop only a few minutes out of Cape Tribulation to check out this big fig tree. There was just a pullover spot with a track leading into the bush so we had to check it out!

Next stop the beautiful but very windy beach – just a short walk through the bush again following a well used track – we had to check out what it lead to!

First creek crossing

Second creek crossing

First steep climb and we were rewarded with this great view!

Matt stood on top of the car to get this shot!

We did not pass too many cars during our day on the Bloomfield Track which was really nice as we felt like we were exploring it all by ourselves!  This next spot we stopped at was truly spectacular!  Again it was just a pullover spot beside the road with a track leading into the bush – this spots are absolutely worth stopping the car to get out and have a look – the Bloomfield Track is only short so you have plenty of time to explore!  This spot was spectacular – we could really see the whole ‘rainforest meets the sea’ here.  We could have spent hours at this spot as the tide was out and the kids loved splashing in the shallow pools and watching the millions of soldier crabs!  I was just nervous about crocodiles but the tide was a long way out and the pools of water crystal clear and very shallow.

We eventually dragged ourselves away and stopped at Wajul Wajul to visit the Bloomfield Falls and have lunch.  It is such a small world as we ran into Clint Nelson and his family in the car park here – one of the guys I had gone to primary school with way back in the Butcher’s Creek days – such a funny place to run into each other after 20 something years!

Bloomfield Falls

Fealy Family at Bloomfield Falls

The Bloomfield River is very beautiful and it is very scenic driving along it and crossing via the brand new bridge.  There is a terrific Aboriginal Art centre at Wajul Wajul too which is definitely worth a look!  We had originally planned to camp at Home Rule Campground (just outside Rossville) for a few nights, but upon arriving there mid-afternoon, we found that it was still very full of campers who had been there the previous week for a festival and too crowded and muddy for our liking, so much to our disappointment we decided to push on to the Lions Den Hotel and camp there instead.

We arrived at the Lions Den at about 3pm and were very happy to find that there were plenty of campsites available down by the river (Little Annan River) and it was not crowded at all – yay!  However, by 6pm that night – the campground was bursting at the seams with campers!!  It rained again here and things got very muddy in the campground.  We ended up staying three nights at the Lions Den and using it as our base to explore Cooktown which was only about a twenty minute drive away. We had thought we would like to camp at Archer’s Point but decided against it due to the large number of crocodiles around Archer’s Point and the fact that it would be really difficult to keep the kids out of the water and keep a close eye on Kipp.  The Lion’s Den is a great place for a beer – lots of history in the pub and the campground is lovely, but it does get very crowded in peak season.  We could hear every word our neighbours said each night (and the card games they played late into the night!) and I’m sure they were not happy to hear our screaming baby each night as Kipp slept terribly here – I spent most of each night sitting with him in my camp chair outside the camper – aaaaargh – not fun!

Fealy Family at the Lions Den!

Our campsite at the Lions Den Hotel – before all the other campers arrived!

Little Annan River – Lions Den Hotel

Kids having fun in the sand on the banks for the Little Annan River – it was too cold to swim while we were there.

We loved the Bloomfield Track and will definitely do it again with camping a few nights at Home Rule next time!

In our next blog post we’ll share our pics from Cooktown where we really enjoyed visiting the sights and letting the kids experience a bit of Australian history.

Definitely add the Bloomfield Track to your list of ‘must do’ drives if you are up in Far North Qld!

Love The Fealy Family xoxoxox