Cairns Offroad Training & Tours replied:

I see many cars get swept away in our rivers up here each year, some lost never to be seen again.
I saw an 80 series cruiser get swept off the concrete causway at Bloomfield crossing early this year and a Prado was swept off a bitumen road at Freshwater about 10 klms from Cairns. Drivers tend to underestimate current flow. Once water gets much more than axle deep cars displace water and begin to float and the current pushes them away.
Cheers Rob

ExplorOz Team replied:

Hi Rod,
We receive lots of reports from our network and the comment regarding conditions on Gunshot Creek crossing in the Cape York Road Conditions report was received a few weeks ago from a tour operator. This operator has been there numerous times this year and they kindly provided the information to advise our readers that the conditions this year on Gunshot creek crossing was pretty bad and that many accidents happened there this year - "people have lost cars and trailers or sustained severe damage to their vehicles" means that some vehicles did in fact roll over and get "written off" in attempting to go down the more difficult sections of the Gunshot. FYI there are 3 main drops into the creek plus a diversion (that is generally no problem). The 3 drops are pretty much impassable due to the severe incline - each of the 3 drops are a sheer drop about 2x height of a a 4WD. There is no way for the wheels to maintain traction on a 90degree slope and so vehicles end up on their bull bars or worse, on their roofs. Due to seasonal variances, the Gunshots vary from year to year. But to my knowledge, since about 1997 all but the diversion drop have been impassable. The comment is purely a warning that this is not an obstacle to be taken lightly. Unfortunatley, it is hard to stop the yahoos that think they are invincible. But note - you can still go to Gunshot and see it for yourself and take the detour - it is a gentler slope that will still take you into the river and then up the other side same as if you went down one of the steep drops. Hope this clarifies!