There's only one route north from Cape Tribulation, and that's along the Bloomfield Track, a 4WD only route through the rainforest that was only quite recently cleared, and it was created despite vigorous protests from environmental groups, who opposed any further disruption to the delicate ecosystem.
Start of Bloomfield Track
It's renowned as being a very challenging route to drive, owing to several very steep sections, and also river crossings which can become impassable very suddenly following the heavy rains which so often occur here. So I was expecting it to be tough going, and this certainly proved to be the case. The ascents are incredibly steep, indeed the climb seemed almost vertical at times. Fortunately it remained dry throughout most of the day, otherwise the descents would have been lethal.
Emmagen Creek was the first water crossing I reached, and it wasn't too deep, I managed to cycle through it without getting the luggage panniers wet:
There wasn't much traffic on the route, a few holidaymakers in 4WDs and the occasional tour bus:
Woobadda Creek was knee deep and I had to take all the luggage off the bike and carry it across one piece at a time. I really didn't want to risk getting my computer, camera, Kindle, phone etc wet.
After about 30kms I reached Wujal Wujal, an aboriginal community. On the way into the village there were great views across the Bloomfield River:
After lunch there I went to take a look at the nearby Bloomfield falls which were quite impressive:
After this there wasn't much of interest, just a lot of climbing and descending along a very rough dirt road. Progress was slow, and by the time I reached the next camping spot, at the Lions Den Hotel, evening was fast approaching and I was glad of a place to stay the night.
The Lions Den is a famous historic pub, founded in 1875 to cater for the nearby mining community. The mines closed long ago but it's still a busy place, the décor is typical of that found in many outback pubs:
Distance today 78kms, total so far 239kms.
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