Justine and I just finished another trip ( a smaller one) on "The Cape", but not to the top. We went from or home,
Townsville to Mt Molloy,
camping at Rifle
Creek, and on, via the Wheelbarrow Way to
Chillagoe, where we got some great pics, then to
Laura,
Cooktown,
Daintree via the
CREB track,
Mossman, Mt Molloy,
Cairns, Mt Garnet,
Blencoe Falls, Kennedy and home. We had a great time and hope to put some of the info into trek notes fo you all.
We had the most fortunate thing happen to us on the trip, our beloved Rangie broke down! Now before u all start with the Range Rover jokes, this one has done 10's of thousands of outback kilometres without a hitch - if you don't count disabling the central locking, and losing a mudflap.
Anyhow, I had warned my brother inlaw mechanic that I suspected a problem with t he mecahnical advance but he insisted all was OK. Turns out the mech advance was wacko and wore a hole in the distributor body, locking the dissy and stripping the gear on the dissy and the drive gear on the cam.
Three lessons came from this,
1. don't trust the mechanic if you believe there is something wrong and he says "she'll be right."
2. You can save a lot of money in retreavel if you can repair major stuff like this yourself in remote locations. I did have everything I needed except the distributor which British OffRoad efficiently dispatched and
cape York Air efficiently delivered.
3. The three day stop made us realise that even in a small place, or maybe especially in a small place like
Laura, you can have a great time if you slow down.
We stayed 3 days in
Laura, and checked out the great new Quinkan and Regional Cultural Center, spent some time talking to the locals in the pub ( Thanks John, and Bill for your help) and generally relaxed. Even though I had a vehicle to repair, I was totally relaxed.
My advice is plan your holiday to allow for disasters, and when they happen, life is a breeze. happy travels
David