Hi everyone,
Returned yesterday from the trip to the Cape in the Jackaroo towing the Camp/o/Matic camper trailer.
Vehicle mods/equipment:
Snorkel, Rancho Torsion bars, Rancho +40mm rear springs, Rancho RS5000 Shockers (done 40000k before the trip) Firestone Coil-Rite air bags in rear running 25psi, 265/75 LT Pirelli Scorpions running 40psi on bitumen and 30psi on the gravel/corrugated bits (a bit bigger than the standard 265/70 tyres), handheld CB
UHF radio, EVA-Kool Fridge 50litre, Tekonsha Prodigy brake controller, AGM battery in car, 100AH and 1000CCA rated, Redarc dual battery controller feeding the same spec battery in the camper via Anderson plug and 8mm cable.
Had a fantastic time away from the mobile phones and traffic lights!
Melbourne to
Cairns was fairly mundane travelling, but stayed in a few nice parks along the way.
Left
Cairns for
Cooktown via the
Daintree and the
Bloomfield track. There's a pretty steep
hill heading north which goes on for ever - the first time I've ever had the Jack flat to the floor wondering if I'd have to stop and use low range, but we made it in high range. Going down didn't seem as steep. Overnight at the Lion's Den was very pleasant.
Three days in
Cooktown was planned so we could see everything, but one day is enough! Couldn't fish because of the severe winds while we were there.
Thought we might stay overnight in Lakefield but the 6 mile
waterhole camp areas had had fire through some of them and it was far from lush and inviting, so we travelled through from
Cooktown to Musgrave for an overnight.
Here I discovered a flat left hand air bag so we decided to head for
Weipa next day for a mechanical check to see if the line had popped out or whatever. We heard from some other travellers that the road ahead was so bad it was almost impassable, so we set off with a little trepidation. The road to
Coen was under repair and had many dips, some of which will catch your attention if you are going a bit hot on the newly graded road, but from there to
Weipa it was a struggle to keep under 100k. The few corners occasionally saw the trailer misaligned with the car for a bit of a puckering experience - phew - slow down a bit !!!
A few days at
Weipa for a dust flush and a check of the air bag revealed the brass fitting in the top had un-vulcanised itself from the bag, rendering the device unrepairable. There seemed to be no ill effect on the handling of the car/trailer from only having one inflated, so the decision was to carry on with one still inflated.
Next stop was to be Bramwell
Homestead via the Batavia Downs road, and a dire warning that the first crossing on the shortcut road was impassable to anything but a bulldozer saw us head that way anyway. The crossing was easy, demonstrating again that perceptions of tough conditions vary dramatically. A great night at Bramwell, including spotting the first of the Cane Toad menace - I killed a whopper in the afternoon, and when chatting with Bob under the mango tree revealed that Dettol kills them we went on a hunt with torches and dettol sprayer and wiped out probably 100 of the
pests. They sure don't like Dettol!!
Next morning it was off to Bramwell Roadhouse for a fuel top-up and the start of the "business end" of the trip - the Old Telegraph Track, unimproved section. A
young Victorian worker at the roadhouse told us we would get through with the campers no problems (except maybe Gunshot) as the terrain was not going to phase us too much because we are used to the
Vic high country.
Next
camp was at Elliot Falls after having absolutely no problems with any of the track so far, and we checkened out of Gunshot. We helped a Prado with 3 people,no
snorkel, too much luggage, and a camper trailer through the worst crossings. They then bypassed the northern section of the track!
Elliot falls was fantastic but next day it was off to do the nothern track section. This was a bit tougher than the previous bit, but posed no problems for me until Nolan's Brook, where I got bogged in the sand on the exit. A quick tow and a bit (lot) of
water inside and I was on the northen exit with a dryout beginning. While I was drying stuff, an 80 serise with 4" lift, 35s, twin diff locks got bogged in the same place and had to be towed out, easing my embarrasment somewhat!
After an
overnight camp at the old
Jardine crossing site we headed for
Punsand Bay for our next
camp. We stayed here a week or so and had a great relaxing time, including some fishing time. Took all the carpets out of the Jack and hung them out to dry while here.
The trip back from here was basically non-sightseeing and a run to Bramwell, Musgrave, and
Cairns down the bypass roads.
For those doing the trip in a fuel injected petrol like the Jackaroo, take several spare fuel filters and at least 4 litres of metho, as somewhere (I suspect Bramwell Roadhouse,
Bamaga, and the
Jardine crossing fuel station) had contaminated petrol - I drained lots of
water and an oily reddish substance out of the
tank and filter and it wouldn't mix with metho. What it did do was block the in-
tank and external fuel filters repeatedly causing a misfire bad enough to stop the engine.
Nothing fell off or broke on the Jackaroo or the trailer, I had zero battery problems, the Fridge was fantastic - ran it for 4 days at Glasshouse mountains without starting the car and there was plenty of battery life left, the tyres were pretty good on all surfaces but lacked grip in wet sand.
We met many friendly people along the way and had a great time wherever we stopped.
As for the scenery, there are prettier
places in Aus but the Cape trip was always about the trip and not the destination.