Re: Cooktown here I come!
Great photos and more interesting stops. Did you try your hand at searching for opals? Lush looking campground. Temperatures comfortable?
I expect you will need a car wash after a few hundred miles on those iron oxide dirt roads. Are they well-graded?
Your kids seem to be thriving and having as much fun as you are with their travels and work. I happen to be traveling to Hawai'i next week for some time, but will primarily be on the Big Island and Maui. He will undoubtedly see the vog being expelled by Kilauea.
I believe your son will be entering Pearl Harbor on O'ahu, right past my old house that backed up to the western lock. It was damaged in the Pearl Harbor attack and still bears some of the shrapnel in the stucco.
Happy travels to Canberra.