Travelling north from Port Douglas and you find yourself heading towards the mighty Cape York Peninsula (not to be confused with the Yorke Peninsula we visited in SA around seven months ago). A trip up to Cape York is an adventure in itself and something we could probably spend a whole month doing. The trouble is, we don’t have a month… not this time anyway! So rather than rush a drive to the northern tip of QLD, we decided to give ourself the gift of time to explore the area around Cooktown. Such a good decision as there is so much to do and see around here!

Thanks to a little research, we had discovered Archer Point as a local spot for kite surfing. Luckily there was also a free camp nestled in behind the sand dunes – winner! The surrounding scenery is just breathtaking and worth the hike up to the lighthouse to check it out.

The following day we made our way north to Elim Beach, about 80km north of Cooktown. Set on Aboriginal land, the beaches and surrounding areas are only accessible by permit from the Traditional Owners of the Land. It really is an amazing place to visit and the camp found had a really nice feel, set behind the mangroves with a pretty amazing view for a sunset fishing session.

The area around Elim Beach is known for its coloured sands. The owner of the campground was pretty relaxed on his description of the ‘walk’ and noting we were walking on sand, we set off barefoot. Pretty soon into the walk we realised that was a mistake – the sand was so hot! We managed to hope between shady spots and quickly worked out which colour of sand was the coolest. Either way, the temperature of the sand kept us loving pretty fast up the dunes.

The view from the top and the slide down the sand hills at the end made it all worth it.

Thankfully there was a nice lagoon as the tide was going out – a safe spot for a swim to cool off the feet! Andy and I visited this beach and stayed here in 2010 for a kite surfari. The kiting company are still based here and have really upgraded their camp since we visited. It was nice to check out the place again.

Our next day of adventuring took us to South Bedford Beach. A fun 4WD adventure in soft sand to get there and then a really steep drive up the ‘road to nowhere’. The road literally just stops and we had to hike the rest of the way. Thankfully we had just enough room for a several point turn to get back down.

The view from the top was just amazing

South Bedford was a fun beach to explore but sadly the stand line is littered with so much plastic debris. Apparently 2 tonnes of waste is washed up per kilometre of Beach around the area – most of which comes from southern parts of Australia or the broader pacific and is washed in with the ocean currents. There is also a healthy collection of driftwood – perfect for building a shelter.

We spent four nights at Elim Beach. Sadly it never got windy enough for us to kite but Fin got to fly his little kite and Kiera had fun on the hoverboard so we all still came away smiling.

After leaving Elim Beach, we set our sights on a camp site just south of Cooktown called Home Rule. The last few days have been filled with kite surfing fun…

Hikes up to incredible waterfalls….

And even a pub lunch….

Taking time to slow down and really explore this area has been a great call and I am pleased we didn’t rush through just to get to the tip. We have just checked in to Bloomfield and next stop will be Cape Tribulation. After that, it’s time to start making our way south… hopefully following the windy season for our kiting family!

Thank you Far North Queensland for a pretty epic few days… we will be back for sure!