G,day all,
Just back from our two yearly trip to
Bathurst Bay and here is the report.
Departed
Gladstone 01/09/08 at 6am along with two other vehicles. First minor set back at Bloomsbury when framing cracks noticed on boat rack on trailer. Purchased 4 ratchet straps at Proserpine to help with the bracing until welding could be done. Problem was that the frame was made to go over the top of a camper and was thus too high and too much movement.
Stayed the first night in
Townsville and headed off early to mates place at
Tully Heads to get the trailer frame welded. The other two vehicles headed straight for
Lakeland Downs. After welding repairs it was up the Palmerston to the Tablelands and arrived at
Lakeland Downs at 6pm.
Filled up all truck and boat tanks at the servo (diesel $1.72 l and unleaded $1.58 l) and headed out for the Bay next morning.
The road and track in was pretty good condition with some long bulldust stretches between
Kalpowar Crossing and the Marriot River. The sand patches just past Sandalwood
Creek were detoured and the sand patches near the Bay were fairly easy. One of our vehicles had to winch out of the sand patches near the Bay as his long range fuel
tank was bulldozing
the hump in the middle of the track.
On arrival on 03/09/08 we claimed our usual
camp spot despite the rubbish, old deep freeze and cut down green trees. Some people are grubs.
The fishing was nothing out of the ordinary in the estuaries although some of the boys landed good salmon out on the flats. Crabs were in short supply probably due to the number of pots in the
water. In all the years going to
Bathurst Bay I have never seen the amount of camps on the western end with boats. We never saw any bities but there were some fairly large tracks in the sand about 1 mile to the east. The bread maker failed to mix so we had damper and scones.
I had to check out the GPS mark of the motors out of a WW11 plane for a Airforce historian and these were S 14°12.404' E 144°28.507' and only visible at or near low tide.
We left for Ninian Bay on 14/09/08 to show the others around the place. The road in to Ninian Bay was like a highway compared to when I was last there 13 years ago. There is a corduroy
creek crossing just after the turn off that can prove a little bit rough. The overhanging vegetation is still there and you still get branches rubbing down the side of your vehicle. There are some soft sand patches nearer the bay but no one had any problem with them.When we arrived at Ninian Bay we were the only ones there and commandeered the roofless building/shed at the southern end. There was
water in
the lagoon further to the south but this can become low at times. Alongside the building there is a cement floored/iron sided shed that is ideal for showering. As we were only staying for the day and two nights we did not unpack the boats but one hardy soul fished
the beach and adjacent rocks for a couple of small grass sweetlip. Two more
camping groups arrived during the day. Feral pigs disturbed our
camp on the second night and caused the heart of one lad spending a penny in the dark to beat a bit faster. We left for home on 16/09/08 and experienced a trouble free journey, arriving in
Gladstone on 18/09/08.
Altogether a very relaxing and virtually trouble free trip with a good bunch of blokes.
My 1985 HJ75 cruiser used 613.29 litres of diesel for a cost of $875.85.
Cheers
Bros.