We explore a couple of small lagoons on the way out of Dingo Waterhole but, apart from seeing a dead pig with a collection of kites waiting for it to be sufficiently rotten to devour, we simply admired the landscape.

Having realised the extent of the catchment that drains into the Normanby River, the source is some 150km to our south east with many tributaries. As far south as Lakeland, west of the coastal ranges south of Cooktown. We sought to see how much water was flowing at this time of year. We have already observed its a wide flowing river but its difficult for us to know which is the main channel. River crossings tend to be at the easiest, and narrowest, part.

We are due to visit a rock art site on Friday, today is Wednesday. The most convenient campsites are booked. We decide on Welcome Waterhole, for no apparent reason apart from its a single site and within early morning driving distance of Laura.

We think the tree in front of the house is the largest frangipani we have ever seen, and wonder what it looks ike in flower.

This is where it encounters Cabbage Tree Creek.

We assume they are the cabbage trees for which the creek is named. They are like the strange "tree on top of a palm" we saw at the edge of Nifold Plain.

We think this one is in flower.

Once the seeds have fallen the bare branches that supported the flower remain. And perhaps slowly decay and fall off.

We ponder what then happens. Whether the flower structure falls away and new leaves form, whether the plant stops, or some other process.

We haven't seen infinitely tall specimens, nor have we seen dead trunks still standing.

We will have to ask.

Edit:- Corypha Utan (Cabbage Palm) is hapaxanthic, it flowers once, with up to one million flowers, fruits, then dies. Its also a bit disproportionate, a big trunk with few branches. In the Philippines the buri palm is considered a "tree of life", providing fibres, edible fruit, materials for shoes, even temporary aquaducts.

Which limits access for pigs.

A Yellow-Spotted Honeyeater. The small birds are very adept at hiding in the foliage.

Also very busy, stopped for only very brief moments.

The low early morning light makes catching pics a bit difficult.

But first to negotiate Cabbage Tree Swamp and cross Cabbage Tree Creek.

Neither difficult, just that the swamp was a large lagoon, unfenced but with grass. The two cattle grazing when I arrived decided they ought to be elsewhere and lumbered off.

Progressively the birds followed them.

One of the park noticeboards refer to them as Pacific Black Ducks, although they are common this is the first we are aware of having seen.

Most times we are moving and stationary wildlife sees us and moves. Time to reverse the process. I was stationary when these three wallabies (also agile wallabies) came casually hopping along the track towards me.

Apparently not a care in the world ...... until after a few minutes I moved .....

A very rocky bottom, the same sort of rock we have seen exposed throughout the park.

Mustering at Lakefield was apparently timed for the end of the wet season. During the wet the cattle move to the high ground at the edge of the water that forms a huge lake. As the land dries the cattle disperse. They were mustered before they dispersed.

The gateposts are concrete, and the gate steel. A termite mound has grown around the hinge. Just guessing it hasn't been closed in a long time....

I walked another km past this, thought about walking north to find the main branch of the river, but turned round. In total I walked about 14km by the time I returned to the truck. Enough for one day.

Perhaps its an Agave - maybe a sisal hemp, which is South American though they are also grown in Aus. It doesn't look like it belongs.

There are lots of subtle differences in vegetation between here and just a few km nearer the coast. This particular plant is too obviously different for even me to ignore.

Ali suggested there's probably a mathematical formula for the spiral ...... of course there is!

Shortly after my return to the truck three Laura Rangers arrived. A day off from Quinkan Country, looking for fish. Their fellow rangers are on holiday in Kakadu. Nothing to do with Lakefield national park. A magical conversation, one of them was born before WWII at Lakefield, in the days when it was a station, and before everyone had birth certificates. Time for fascinating stories about the area. A better sense of what its like in the wet. The stories that don't appear on notice boards.

We asked about the orange fruit we picked at Dingo Waterhole but alas these rangers seemed to not recognise it.

We asked about the cabbage trees but were also unlucky. And no fish were caught. Though, no connection, I later saw an odd looking leaf in a tree that turned out to be a lure.