Wednesday, Jul 21, 2004 at 21:22
Hello Pete, Lucky! I would like to head off again, to anywhere at present. Buy yourself a Hema map of
Cape York, about $8.25. It will be a real help. We went up through the
Bloomfield Track which had a few rocky crossing but not all that deep then Lakefield National Park. The first
River crossing there was a bit interesting, Normanby, but the base was sandy and OK. A couple of other creeks across the road needed you to slow down as they we short and deepish at 60 kmp. The crossings north of Musgrave should be dry by now but you should swing to the outside of them as the trucks have dug things up a bit. 20k north of Musgrave to 30 south of
Coen the corrugations are bloody terrible. South of
Coen they are working on the road. North of
Coen it’s like an expressway to the
quarantine station. From there to
Weipa is pretty good. You could give
Coen a miss but the
Archer River Roadhouse is a must.
Weipa was pretty sterile and a mining town. From
Weipa across to Batavia Downs has three crossings. The first one had a steep slippery entry but was no trouble. The second one was dull and the last one just before Batavia makes you realise what a 4WD will do if driven slowly on the exit. It’s chopped up but OK. Bramwell Station is a must stop. The meal is $15, beer $4 a can and wine $5 per glass. The company is good. Say hello to Wendy for me. I need her to send her email address to me. They have some interesting developments in the pipeline. The OTL starts 4 km past Bramwell at Pakm Creek. It’s worth the trouble to drive out and have a look before bedding down for the night. The creek entry is rough and the exit has tyre grooves so to will need a reasonable clearance. Most people were not even bothering with
Gunshot Creek. Cockatoo Creek has a rough entry and a pretty good exit. Heading north you need to swing left in the creek to miss the deeper potholes in the rocks. The
creek crossing beyond Cockatoo do not exist. There is a reasonable ford on the way out to Elliot Falls but you will not need a blind. The crossing beyond the falls is rocky and low gear stuff with not much water. The corrugations on the northern section of the Norther Bypass are shocking but there is not much you do about it. The sign to
Bamaga at the
Injinoo turn off has been vandalised to do not turn to the left on the good road but go straight ahead up the goat track to the tar from the airport. Hope this helps and have a good and safe trip Trev
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