Cape York 2010- Townsville to Kalpower

Day one saw us heading west out of Townsville to Thornton's Gap. We made a quick visit to our friends at the old Eureka before continuing on to Undara, dodging 53 meter ore trucks along the way. We had a great camp site at Undara with an excellent camp kitchen.

On the second day the troops did a 2 hour tour of the Lava tubes before we set off again to Mount Garnet and then along one of my favorite tracks along a disused railway line. We had a short stopover at Australia's only BYO pub, where we enjoyed a cool softdrink before continuing through the Devonian epoch limestone cliffs to Chillagoe.







Our plan was to then travel via the Palmerville - Maytown road that was newly acquired by the Cook Shire Council. On arrival at the gate of Palmerville Station, we had an altercation with the property owner. He is well known by many people including the local police for repelling people from his property. He claimed (incorrectly) that we could not travel on the road. Given his reputation, I elected not to expose participants to the possibility of physical harm from this fellow and instead called the Laura Police who set him straight about the legalities of travel on the road. We have now advised as many people as possible that the road is open and available for travel, and that if you have any trouble with the Mr Struba to call the police at Laura.




Once away from Palmervile, we located a very attractive camp site for the night. Phil got slightly bogged in the sand requiring a winch out, but after that all went well.

From there it was on to Laura. We normally get to Laura via the Old Coach road. Since this was not possible now, we made plans to change the itinerary and do it on the return trip.

Kalpower Crossing on the Normanby River was our next planned stop. The road from Laura, via Old Laura to Kalpower is lined with huge trees and is very dusty. We often have to stretch the convoy out here to avoid dust. This requires a bit of careful management to ensure everyone stays in contact.

Kalpower is a great site, spoiled only by the bollarded camp sites. Why do we need the bollards???? The waterhole on the river is home to a very large Estuarine crocodile, which keeps the fishermen on their toes. We did not see the big one, but saw one smaller crocodile. The camp site at Kalpower was a great place to get the camp ovens out and do some baking. I made a damper using my secret recipe, and got the thumbs up from all.