We camped up at the Lakelands Caravan Park and got the car packed and ready to go. Man it was a tight squeeze, we seemed to have so much stuff for such a short trip. Lakelands is a tiny blip on the map, a roadhouse, caravan park, pub and coffeeshop. Lots of crops are grown out this way, pawpaw, sunflower, teak, sandalwood, watermelon, African Mahogany, passionfruit, watermelon and 3 large banana farms. All or most requiring farmhands (mostly backpackers, there were 24 at our caravan park alone, plus many farms have onsite accommodation). The start of our journey takes us to Laura, 60km of bitumen up ahead. So far so good. Love that bitumen road. Nearby is Lakefield Nat. Park which we were told was quite beautiful but we didnt visit this time around. Just out of Laura is Quinkan, world famous aboriginal rock art sites. We pulled in to do a self guided walk, saw it was all uphill and gave it a miss. Just out of Laura, the dirt road begins and this is I guess what we came for. Dust, dust and more dust. Every time a car passed us our windscreen was obliterated and there were times when we just didnt know where the road was. We got stuck behind a few trucks as well that made it even worse. Too unsafe to pass and just had to wait for them to give us a signal to do so. The friendly emu was at one of the roadhouses we stopped for coffee. The biscuit tin was buried who knows where in the car, so we shared a Cadbury Chocolate Boost bar with it. Not sure it was a healthy choice but the emu didnt object. Rick had chosen to drive on this dirt road with his window DOWN. Big Big mistake. By the time we got to our overnite camp spot, we were both red with dust. Clothes, my hair, his beard, inside of the car and most of our belongings. We didnt realise how dirty we were, happily chatting to our fellow campers before we actually had a good look at each other. Couldnt help but laugh. What they must have thought. Rick couldnt understand why!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we were so dirty. Anyway we pulled up by the river at Coen. We hade come around 300km I think by this stage and I could see that Rick was pretty much stuffed. Wouldnt admit it though. Out came the tent and the challenge was to remember how to put it together. There were a few choice words spoken, at one stage the tent was going to be pitched in the river, but we calmed down, got our act together and got our camp set up. Yay. The water looked tempting for a paddle as we were thick with dust and our feet were putrid, but a fellow camper had almost trodden on a snake at the river, so we gave that a miss. Had a nice happy hour, cooked dinner and went to bed at 7.30 !!!!!!!!!Yikes. Woke up the next morning to rain. Great. What a start. It was only 5.45 and we were wide awake. We cooked brekkie in the tent, toasted sandwiches and coffee and then had to pack it all up in the rain. Well we were already dirty from the day before so now we were wet, muddy, sandy and over it. Lets hit the road and get to Weipa. We were going into a caravan park and a long hot shower would be the reward.
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