We were quite looking forward to revisiting Lakeland, if for no other reason than to again be in touch with the world at large. Our two days of electronic isolation at the Lions Den served to highlight for us the importance of being able to 'keep in touch' whilst roaming far and wide.
There were also new things to see and do as we set off from the Den. Given that we had booked the same site at the Lakeland Caravan Park as that we had occupied almost a fortnight previously, we travelled the 150 kms or so to that destination in the knowledge that our set up would be both easy and practical. And so it was.
In the general scheme of things Lakeland is a quaint little spot. It is little more than a roadhouse, service station/café, hotel/motel and caravan park, all of which sit astride the junction of the Mulligan Highway and the Weipa/ Cape York Tip road (?...track)
As I noted in a previous offering, its name presents a trap for the unwary. Despite the fact that the town sits on a tableland surrounded by mountains, an ideal spot for a large lake, I was doomed to disappointment in my quest for such a body of water (in fact I felt somewhat like our early explorers who set off in search of the 'inland sea'!) At the risk of repetition, Lakeland owes its name to William Lakeland, an early and energetic Cape York prospector, who, amongst other achievements, discovered the goldfields at Coen.
For a man who came to know the Cape country so well over many years, Lakeland died a sad and lonely death whilst travelling on horseback between Coen and Mount Carter in 1920. He ran out of supplies, became lost in his attempt to return to Coen, and perished in the wilderness where his saddle and other bits and pieces of his equipment were found many years later.
But back to the present. Lakeland is one of several spots in this area where one can see many a weary traveller finally reach relative civilisation after endless kilometres of dirt bashing south from Weipa and beyond. Fuel is available not only at the roadhouse pictured in the previous shot but also at the café adjacent to the caravan park.
The near-by hotel/motel sits low and potentially unnoticed behind a lovely little park dominated by huge carob trees. We spent several convivial hours in this very well maintained watering hole which has recently been taken over by a couple who previously worked on local cattle stations. If their energy and ambition is matched by a commercial result they should do very well.
As I noted in a previous offering, its name presents a trap for the unwary. Despite the fact that the town sits on a tableland surrounded by mountains, an ideal spot for a large lake, I was doomed to disappointment in my quest for such a body of water (in fact I felt somewhat like our early explorers who set off in search of the 'inland sea'!) At the risk of repetition, Lakeland owes its name to William Lakeland, an early and energetic Cape York prospector, who, amongst other achievements, discovered the goldfields at Coen.
For a man who came to know the Cape country so well over many years, Lakeland died a sad and lonely death whilst travelling on horseback between Coen and Mount Carter in 1920. He ran out of supplies, became lost in his attempt to return to Coen, and perished in the wilderness where his saddle and other bits and pieces of his equipment were found many years later.
But back to the present. Lakeland is one of several spots in this area where one can see many a weary traveller finally reach relative civilisation after endless kilometres of dirt bashing south from Weipa and beyond. Fuel is available not only at the roadhouse pictured in the previous shot but also at the café adjacent to the caravan park.
The near-by hotel/motel sits low and potentially unnoticed behind a lovely little park dominated by huge carob trees. We spent several convivial hours in this very well maintained watering hole which has recently been taken over by a couple who previously worked on local cattle stations. If their energy and ambition is matched by a commercial result they should do very well.
Mind you, looking down Lakeland's main domestic thoroughfare (which also runs past the caravan park), there is not a huge local population to provide for the pub's welfare.
If ever there were any doubt about the fact that many arriving at Lakeland are liberally covered with either dust or mud, this is quickly dispelled when visiting the roadhouse. This public washdown facility was built to spray the underside of the road trains which traverse these roads to prevent weed spread into the grazing lands around Lakeland, but on the day of our initial arrival we watched a steady stream of 4WD's and camper trailers availing themselves of its benefits. It looks for all the world like a normal car wash upside down.
The tablelands around Lakeland are similar to the Atherton geographically, the real difference being that these are the 'dry' tropics where the (comparatively) limited rainfall nurtures wide expanses of red earth grazing lands.
Cattle of varying breeds munch away amongst the termite mounds in a landscape which reminded us a great deal of the Normanton region.
The real surprise for us in this area was the variety of other agriculture and forestry which abounds. Two very large banana plantations can be found on both the Weipa Road and the Mulligan Highway.
These provide employment for a large number of both local and itinerant workers. Some of these are housed on site whilst the domestic needs of others provides a good source of
income to the caravan park owners who accommodate them in on-site vans and cabins.
On our drive to Laura for the day, in addition to passing the banana plantations, we were interested to see newly planted pumpkin fields
and a large number of bee hives standing in the grazing paddocks along the highway. The presence of so many hives (this is but one small section of them) did arouse our interest until we thought about the pollination needs of not only the pumpkins, but also the quite extensive passion fruit plantations which thrive in the area.
In addition to bananas, pumpkins and passion fruit, the Lakeland tablelands support the production of sorghum, maize and peanuts, all of which seemed pretty unremarkable. The one local product which did come out of left field (pun intended...it has been a while) for us was teak, a number of forests of which we had passed without knowing what it was we were looking at. The mystery was eventually solved by our park host who was highly enthused about the potential this industry held for the area.
Well, that about covers our impressions of Lakeland and its environs. In my next offering we visit nearby Laura, a real outback town on the Weipa road, and its world renowned aboriginal rock paintings.
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