Day 17 Lakefield NP to Coen

This day was National Park day: from Lakeland to Coen we were taking the detour via the Lakefield National Park (Rinyirru National Park) for some worthwhile stops.

On the way in the morning no fast driving as at any corner cows could be on the street, about to walk on the street, near the street etc. They see you approaching, but take their time to leave the street as it pleases them...

First stop was Old Laura homestead for cattle station back in the days of the 'gold fever', where we walked around the old cottages etc left over.

Next stop on the way was New Laura, which is a ranger base to organise your camp booking. Surroundings looked like there had be some fire lately. Also good stop to come close to one of the very many massive termite mounds you can find all over Cape York.

Going further north on the gravel road we saw some wildlife: at first some wallabies, very shy and by far too fast for photo, but then also a dingo appeared and was posing for some pics.

With a little detour on a not so good gravel road we drove to Catfish lagoon to look out for a salties sitting in the car, as the gravel road was just at the edge of the water. Almost at the end of the gravel we finally discovered our first saltie lying in the sun.

At Lakefield ranger base was just the camping office, but we were able to take a photo of Galah = pink and grey cockatoos, which you can frequently see flying around while driving.

Next stop was white lily lagoon for a short photo stop. As we drove further to visit the red lily lagoon we were surprised that all streets on the left had 'road closed' signs, although there are supposed to be many turnoffs to camping sites & sights. The red lily lagoon turnoff was also closed but by that time we could smell why: smoke was in the air, so there was probably some fire and therefore all roads to the east were closed.

So without further stops we drove on through pretty dry land with many termite mounds interrupted by river/lake crossings with sometimes only a little and sometimes lot´s of water & uneven surface to our accommodation for the night in Coen.

We were very happy our car made it through all the holes, water crossings, gravel etc in one piece to Coen, but unfortunately we didn´t leave the national park undamaged, as some metal stuff was now clanging on the front left tyre. So for the next day, we needed to find a solution to this problem, so our adventure driving to the Tip of Cape York could go on...