Joel & De’s Big Loop – 7. Cape York Peninsula

9th May 2012 – 23rd May 2012Heading out from Cooktown we head towards Laura via the Battle Camp Rd. We had to stop to avoid hitting a dusty longneck turtle crossing the road. We stopped in at Horseshoe Lagoon at Lakefield NP for a break, very nice. From Laura we headed to Coen. We re-fuelled at Musgrave Station (Diesel = $1.86) and stay at ‘Charlies Mine’, which is a lovely little campground. Next day we continue to Weipa. So far all the gravel roads have been fine, though there is a section just before you hit Weipa that gets a bit bumpy with lots of pot holes. On the drive today we saw 2 lace monitors, a wild pig, a wedge-tailed eagle (picking at a kangaroo road kill) and also a road kill dingo. We got to Weipa about lunch time and book in to the campground for 2 nights, which is right near the bay. Joel set the crab pots in the mangroves right near the campsite. Fingers crossed!The next day we drove out to the ‘2nd bridge’ at Weipa for a fish. Joel was on something big as a train was going over but the line snapped. As today is Saturday we stock up on a few things at Woolies and the bakery (closed on Sundays). We check the crap pots and ‘yay’ dinner! Caught 3 in total but 2 were too small & thrown back.Leaving Weipa we re-fuel again ($1.75) and headed Bramwell Junction. We took the ‘short cut’ through Batavia Downs (which can be closed during mustering). At Bramwell we got some info about the Old Telegraph Track (OTT). The guy said that just this morning he had to pull a car at Palm Creek 4km into it and he couldn’t pull it out backwards so he had to drive up the Southern Bypass Rd and back down the track(2 hours) to pull him out. He also said if we went that way and got stuck he would charge as double since he told us. Fair enough!Our car isn’t set up for extreme 4WD’ing, we have a fair bit on the roof, no winch and are travelling on our own. So we take the Southern Bypass Rd until the Gunshot Bypass Rd (Ranger Station) and get back on the OTT and head south till we hit Bertie Creek and camp there for the night. The next day we continue north up the OTT, we wanted to check out Gunshot Creek Crossing. We have been told it’s impassable but just want a look. Well, we didn’t make it. The track to Gunshot, in places, was very eroded and with the Troopy being very top heavy we didn’t want to risk it. We head back out on the bypass and head to Fruit Bat Falls for lunch. This place is just awesome! Great swimming, so pretty. We continue on to Elliot Falls and Twins Falls for a swim, also nice, and stop at Canal Creek for the night. There is a tin shelter just before the creek crossing where people have left ‘their mark’ about their trip, so we added ours. Next day we head up the Northern Bypass Rd and head to Seisia. We jump on the Jardine River Barge and enter ‘alcohol restriction areas’, oh no! At Seisia we head for Loyalty Beach Campground and make camp for 3 nights, other camp right near the water. While there we took a drive to Pajinka – ‘The Tip’. From the carpark you follow the track over the rocky hill and pass odd piles of rocks. Once there we took a photo with the sign and Joel had a quick flick of the fishing rod (no luck).After ‘The Tip’ we head out to Somerset Beach for lunch. A guy that was staying here told us, ‘If you walk to the right of the beach you come across an old well used by the Jardine family (back in the 1890’s) and to the left you come across a few graves from around that time and a memorial for Jacky Jacky.’ So we went and checked them out. We also drove out near the airport to see a couple of WWII plane crashes. One morning we woke up with a horse right outside our tent. A lot of the locals here have horses but no fences they just go anywhere. Also, Bamaga has been the most expensive fuel so far at $2.20. Joel did a bit of fishing from the wharf at Seisia and came away with a queen fish and trevalley. Leaving Loyalty Beach we head back over the Jardine River barge and down the OTT to Cockatoo Creek for the night. From here we head to Moreton’s Station and straight out for a fish. I caught a sooty grunter, but us being novices thought it was a barra (it was a light coloured one) and we threw it back. But 20min later Joel caught an actual barra (42cm). Legal size is 58cm, so it was thrown back to. If only we caught the barra 1st we would have had sooty grunter for dinner!Next morning we had another quick fish and Joel caught another, bigger sooty grunter. We kept that one. We made our way to the Iron Range NP and set up camp at Chilli Beach. This place is lovely but very windy. Our camp site was surrounded by trees so it protected us from it. That night I got woken up by a huge wild pig walking around our camp.The next day we drove south along the beach to the creek inlet. We saw our 1st wild crocs! 2 of them were sitting on the sand bank but as soon as they saw us they were straight into the water. We spent the day here fishing. I caught a trevalley which became lunch and Joel caught a nice mangrove jack. Joel also got a lure caught up in a tree but we knew that in an hour or so the tide would be out enough for us to retrieve it, when we walked down to get it I said to Joel, ‘If you look across the creek on the bank there, there is a HUGE tree trunk which you could mistake for a croc.’ We were meant to go back and get the binoculars out to check it out but we forgot. An hour later we remember and had a look, the HUGE tree trunk was gone! A bit later another troopy came to where we were; they were staying at an Aboriginal camp and had been told by the locals that the biggest croc they have ever seen lives in this creek. We can only assume we saw it. The next day was Joel’s 25th birthday and unfortunately we spent most of it in the car driving to Mt Molloy, just north or Mareeba, where we stopped at Rifle Creek rest Stop. For Joel’s birthday dinner we baked the mangrove jack fillets in the hillbilly, they were delicious.Head to Mareeba the next day to restock – food, drinks, fuel & lures! Then continue south to get on the Savannah Way and start heading west!