Our journal tells me that drove north from Lakefield, “with all its’ amazing birds lagoons of water lilies that flower in the morning and fall in the afternoon, we drove through a lot of nothing.” It must have been pretty well nothing as I can’t remember anything of significance except Musgrave Telegraph Station Roadhouse, a green oasis with frangipani trees, sprinklers for the children to run through on the grass….petrol and toilets. Destination Coen travelling along the Peninsula Development Road.
Coen, where we camped for two nights, was quite a cultural experience. The larger part of the population are Indigenous. There were many local folk swimming at the Bend campsite and they were very friendly towards us and our children.
It was in Coen that Hannah, our second child, managed to shove a small pebble up her nose resulting in several hours at the Coen clinic attempting various methods of extracting the foreign object. After a few failed attempts the nurse rang a doctor way down in the channel country of southern Queensland. Between them they came up with a plan and extracted it with forceps….A nice epilogue was that the doctor said he was inspired by our travelling exploits to go on an adventure with his own children!
Well, we were almost at the top of Cape York Peninsula but with the best bit yet to come!
