A few people have asked me to put some notes down about our trip to
Cape York.
So at the risk of boring you all.....here goes:
We left Kadina at about 5pm on Friday 17/9. Drove northwards and camped beside the road in a
rest area about 10klm south of Parachilna. On saturday morning we packed the trailer and headed for Innaminka. Arrived late in the afternoon, but no
sign of the other 2 families who had arranged to meet us there. They (the Reids and the Bradfords, from Yass, NSW) had left home on Friday morning and camped at Ivanhoe on Friday night.
We set up
camp at the Innaminka town common and after tea I went over to the pub to see if they'd come in yet. A few beers later, they turned up about 9pm after having taken a "short cut" up the
Bore Track!!
Next day, we drove through to
Longreach via
Windorah and
Stonehenge, stayed in caravan
park for 2 nights. Visited the School of the Air and the Qantas museum (went on a tour of the 747). Others went to Hall of Fame, but we'd been there twice before.....
Our next
camp was in the bush, beside a track near
Lyndhurst Station, close to The Lynd
Junction, via
Hughenden. There was a small chopper buzzing about when we were setting up
camp and he must have been mustering stock, as an empty road train came rattling through during the evening and made his presence known for a short while as he manouvered around on the nearby property. The sound of nervous cattle could be heard in the distance most of the night.
On to
Cairns, via
Atherton the next day......this was the only time we saw any rain during the whole 4 week trip. However, by the time we'd decended the range into
Cairns, there was no
sign of any rain.
We had 2 nights in
Cairns and went on the train trip to
Karumba and back on the Skyrail. The first minor mechanical glitch occurred at
Cairns, with Lance's battery (2.7 Prado petrol) needing to be replaced. The mobile battery bloke was VERY quick and obliged us further by doing a free test on the batteries in Martin's and my Patrols.
Whilst on the subject of vehicles, it might be timely to say that Martin's 3.0L Patrol performed flawlessly during the whole trip. The only dramas he had was with the
suspension on his TrakShak trailer; he lost a bolt off the bottom mount of one of his shockies and the safety chain turned out to be one link too long and it allowed the coil spring to partially fall out.
My Patrol had a few problems with it's aftermarket PWR radiator. It's a great piece of kit, but I don't think the designer/s ever considered
Cape York's infamous corrogations when they worked out how tough the bottom mounting lugs needed to be. I also sufferred a broken bracket on my aftermarket 3" exhaust system.
The Prado had a weird thing happen to both of it's rear shockers......Both of them broke the stone guard that protects the piston from being pelted with stones. At Seisa, we had to get 2 new OME units flown in (great service). The shockers still seemed to be functioning okay......
well they were until we took them off anyway....cos we had to use vice grips on the pistons in order to be able to get the top mounting nuts off!!
Lance's Cameron Camper had a real drama in Lakefield NP......the 4 lugs that were welded onto the underside of the bed/camper unit came unstuck and the top was literally "sitting" on top of the box trailer. Luckily, Martin (aka "Pud") had brought his Honda 10i generator and an electric hammer drill along. We were able to dismantle the camper unit and drill 6 holes through it and the trailer and secure the 2 units back together again.
Now....back to
Cairns: Our last night there was a bit stressful, but we can laugh about it now.........Our youngest lad, Zak, had had a long day and by 9pm he was being a proper little shyte!!! He was grizzly and NEEDED to go to bed. I was just getting changed and had to go to the men's etc before I could lay down with him to pacify. As I was going to the loo, I heard an old woman's voice from a caravan over the track say "kill that kid". I ignored it and went about my "business" (so to speak). By the time I got back a few minutes later, the old duck had emerged from the van and was yelling almost uncontrollably. Her old man then came out in his jocks and backed her up, at the same time suggesting to her that she should go back into their van. I responded by asking them for their advice about what they would like me to do........she said "kill him". Nice people, eh? We were disappointed that they had SA number plates. Bear in mind it was only 9pm and once they'd retreated, I was able to lay down with Zak......his batteries went flat by 9.15.
Back to the trip notes......
We left
Cairns at 8.00am next day with a blst of the air horns for the neighbours benefit. Northwards to
Port Douglas (where you just about "smell" the money!!!) and then through to
Daintree, Cape Trib', up the
Bloomfield Track and set up
camp on the banks of a river just south of
Cooktown.
Next day we went into
Cooktown and bought more supplies and had a look around; dropped trailers off at the bottom of
Grassy Hill, before going up it to take in the vista. As usual it was as windy as blazers up there.
We continued on towards Lakefield NP. Road conditions here were the worst we'd encountered to that point and contributed to the broken welds on Lance's camper.
We camped in one of the
camping areas provided (the
sign said "Reserved for Commercial Operators") at North kennedy River.
Onwards and Upwards, as they say.......we left Lakefield and got onto the
Cape York road the next day. Made it into
Weipa that afternoon and spent 2 nights there. I got the bracket for my exhaust re-welded there and we went and saw the giant Haul Packs carting their spoil for processing. These articlated monsters carry 150 tonnes at a time!!!
From
Weipa we went via Batavia Downs to get back onto the North/South road. We had agreed to go up via the Old Telegraph Track......however, "Houston, we have a problem".....as they say.
Due to Zak being in the process of being
toilet trained, we often ended up being tail end charlie and sometimes several klicks behind the others. As they proceeded northwards, they missed the turn off & took the corrogated by-pass track. When we arrived at the turn off, we took the OTT and got to Palm
Creek with no
sign of the others. Repeated attempts to get them on the UHF proved fruitless. I could not have imagined them passing through Palm
Creek without waiting for us; but then again, maybe they thought nothing of the somewhat rutted crossing and simply went through it and onwards. Part of me was leaning towards them having missed the turn-off, the other part of me said, I'd better stop mucking around and keep going up the OTT and try to catch them. Eventually, the radio faintly crackled into life and we had to wait for them to catch up to us on the OTT.
The Dulhunty River was the
campsite that night. Those of you who know me, know that I'm a 2 pot screamer these days. However, the small
water hole and cool
running waters of the Dulhunty were just TOO inviting and I succumbed to the invitation from Pud and Lance to hop into this small pool, with stubby in hand. It was difficult to tell whether there was more beer flowing than
water, but after about about 8 stubblies of "super" (I usually only drink "unleaded") I was ready to just sleep in the
water hole!!!
Next day we drove to have a look at just how bad
Gunshot Creek approaches had actually become.......all the horror stories were true and there was no way any of us was prepared to risk our rigs; so we went back southwards and took the Heathlands
Park by-pass (very corrogated). This brought us back onto the OTT just north of
Gunshot Creek and in hindsight, we should not have bothered to go all the way to have a look at the
creek, as we could have more easily driven in from the other direction.
We had also heard too many stories about the nothern part of the OTT to risk taking that route, so opted for the By-Pass track to the Toyota-powered ferry over the
Jardine River. You'd reckon that at $99-00 a pop to cross on the ferry, they'd be able to save up a few bucks and get the donk fixed. But no, You and I dear fellow taxpayer, are providing Troopies-On-Demand at the top end.... so it is easier for them to put in a requisition for a couple of new tojos (one on the south bank/one on the north bank) and they pull the ferry back and forward with a great deal of wheel spin, dust and fanfair!!!
The sealed roads leading into
Bamaga were a welcome sight. A word to the wise might be in order at this point too......As you head northwards towards
Bamaga, there is a prominent
sign post advising that
Bamaga is Staright ahead (on what appears to be a goat track.....and it IS!), whilst the main track curves around to the left and is marked "INJINOO". Please do yourself a favour and stay on the main track and go via "Injinoo".....
We had 4 nights at Loyalty
Beach Camp Ground. The first day there 2 of the 3 vehicles drove up to
the TIP. Lance led the way in the Prado......he hit a huge bump that sent his 80 litre Waeco fridge flying through the air (it was DOA and meant that his beer got hot and he had to go back a different way to the rest of us so that he could get it fixed in
Cairns). We took the
Reid's 2 daughters with us to
the TIP but Pud's wife, Barb, was crook and ended up in hospital for 24 hours. She got out the next day and the 4 of them did the walk by themselves.
We took photos of us all at the
sign-post up there and walked along Frangipany Beach for a bit. Went and had a look at
Somerset Beach too. There was a large amount of rubbish left there by previous campers.....disgusting.
It was whilst in Seisa that I had to get my flash new aluminium radiator welded up. I always use Techtalloy 90+ coolant and had been topping the radiator up with plain
water during the period when it was leaking, as I am aware you must never mix different brands. Once the radiator was fixed I asked the mechanic and boss there whether they had any of this coolant. The bloke said......" we've usually got 2 types of coolant; red and green....but we haven't got any at all at the moment". I nearly fell over laughing....."red or green"....WHAT THE?????
I still had about 4 litres of coolant left that I'd brought with me and we'd tried to save as much as we could when we removed the radiator at the
camp ground. So we used what we had and filled the rest with
water. It got me back home with no more worries and I've emptied and re-filled the system.
We left Seisa/
Bamaga on 3/10 and again took the by-pass track. When we got to
the junction where the OTT joins the by-pass track, we turned northwards and headed up the OTT to check out FruitBat Falls and Twin/Elliot Falls.
A few of us paddled in Fruitbat Falls, but we moved on and had lunch and a great swim at
Twin Falls......we were there for about 2 hours. Great Spot!! There was a small
creek crossing we had to go through to get to these falls. Not being too sure how deep it was going to be, we (ie: the blokes) delegated 2 of the ladies to hoist their shorts up and wade through. They made a lovely sight; holding hands and walking "wheel-track-apart". There was a bit of a hole in the middle and we negotiated the
water hazard with all the more confidence, knowing that our better-halves had risked life and limb for us...hahaha
The
camp grounds at
Twin Falls were in the process of being updated.
We headed southwards for
Moreton Telegraph Station as our next overnight stop.
Next day we drove to Musgrave where we fuelled up and said good bye to Lance, Ros and their 2 kids.....they headed to
Cairns and we went westwards to Pormpuraaw on the Gulf Of Carpentaria. This wasn't the way we had planned to go, but the petrol-pump attendant assured us it would be a better road than the one we had planned to take, which was 20 klicks further south. We beach camped at this aboriginal settlement near the mouth of the Minkin River. Fish abounded, but we didn't catch any.
Next day it was southwards across some very interesting country.......large amounts of bulldust and station tracks heading in all directions. We were heading for Kowanyama and had to cross the
Mitchell River. Had lunch at Kowanyama before continuing onwards to
Karumba. Had a great seafood meal there that night and lucky we did too; that restaurant was closed for the season the next day. The sandflies were relentless in their attacks on us all and we still have the sores on our legs to prove it!! Apparently taking vitamin B before going to these regions has a beneficial effect for some people. Otherwise, metholated spirits on the sores is also recommended; dries them out quickly; vinegar is also suggested.
We had 2 nights there before going through
Normanton enroute to
Lawn Hill.
We stayed at Adele's Grove for 2 nights. The kids had a ball in the
swimming hole and we did the obligatory canoe trip up
the gorge. This is a great spot, but I believe we probably visited a little too late in the season as it was simply too bloody hot and the flies were a pain in the arze.
Heavily corrogated road was the order of the day from there to Mt Isa......we had to be there to vote on the saturday. Mt Isa was a one night stand for us. Next morning it was off to
Birdsville and we arrived there late on 10/10 to be greeted by Ian at the C/
Park.
Birdsville Hotel still has the best tucker for hundreds of klicks and we had tea there 2 nights in a row!!
Of course a trip to
Birdsville is not complete without "doing" BIG RED. We went there about 9am before it got too hot. Went down the western side and back up, just to prove to Ruth that Nissan's can really do a few things that Toyotas can...LOL We also went out and saw the
Dingo Caves and the Waddi trees north of the township.
The
Birdsville Track was beckoning us so we headed off ever southwards, seeking relief from the heat and flies. Along the way we came across a new house being moved in two halves. Tim, the owner of the house moving business, is known to me through Pesty (he used to live opposite Pesty in Blythe). I chatted to him on the radio for a few minutes and he told us there was a search and rescue going on at Mungerannie (spell???). By the time we got there, the 2 missing persons from the downed ultralight had been found safe and
well.
Before we left on this trip Pesty had implored us to stay at Clayton's
Bore, where he and Glenda had skinny-dipped on their stay there a few months earlier.
We pulled up there in mid afternoon. It was bloody hot and we set up a tarp as shelter over the
tank as we filled it with the refeshing
bore water. Stayed there with nibbles and drinks until the sun went down and then we cooked tea.
The morning came too quickly and the flies were there to greet us. Packing up
camp would have looked good on video........we were all going about our respective roles with T-shirts or Tea Towels etc over our heads in an effort to limit the attacks.
We drove the 50 odd klicks into Maree for fuel and drinks etc and then made our way to Parachilna where we bade farewell to Martin, Barb, Sarah and Sophie as they turned towards the east and headed to
Broken Hill and then on to Yass the following day.
We called in at Pt
Augusta for Subway.....a bit of rain along the way to welcome us back home.