We headed off to the Cape via the coast and the
Bloomfield Track between
Cape Tribulation and
Cooktown. They said in the literature that there were steep hills.
Well they weren’t far wrong. With the Patrol 4.2 loaded up with dingy on top and the
Tambo on the back and half a ton of gen sets, outboards. toolboxes etc we had a bit of a battle with said hills. We have to be loaded as we are traveling around Aus and take every thing needed all the time. We stalled out in first gear on several hills and had to go back to first low range to get mobile. One of the hills we just got going again in low first. The first part of the track to
Wujal Wujal is really interesting but after that a bit dull and boring except for
the Lions Den pub. A must see.
From
Cooktown we did the very rough road through the Lakefield national
park through Old
Laura and up to the main developmental road at Musgrave. We followed that road up to Bramwell
junction where we had plans to stock up for the old telegraph track trip. We read somewhere not to carry too much as supplies were available all the way.
Well Bramwell was a roadhouse only and we could not get a thing there. We had planned to
camp along the track for a week or so but we had to go to plan B. We started on the old telegraph road here. The roadhouse told us that it was passable and good all the way. I had no idea the track was so tight and slow but we enjoyed it all the way. We came to Gunshot
Creek crossing and had a good look and decided not to risk almost certain damage. The entries into the
creek were at least 2 metre almost vertical drops. If we had have made that we would have still had to winch out of the mud holes at the bottom. We headed back and went round the bypass. We spent a couple of nights at the Cockatoo
Creek and then had a dip at
fruit Bat Falls and then on to Elliot and
Twin Falls where we cooled off again. What an awesome spot. One of the nicest areas I have seen so far. We proceeded along the track rattling through all the crossings. The hardest one I think was Canal
Creek just north of Elliot Falls. The crossing itself was not too bad but the banks were very rutted out. I would say people
camp at Elliot and then go up there and play so it gets a lot of use. We bottomed out several times and had to have a couple of goes at a few spots. There was another
creek called Nolans, from memory, which was pretty deep. We had
water up over the bonnet and running in around the gear lever. We got right up to the
Jardine River and couldn’t see a crossing anywhere and new it was not recommended anyway so we cut back to the development track and on to the ferry. It cost 99 bucks to go across being mainly for certain permits etc. We were not told or shown what we were paying for. It would be Ok if the money was put to good use but the areas North of here are so run down it’s not funny. We stayed 4 nights at
Seisia van
park. Lovely spot right on
the beach however it was very windy so the boat was not used. We cruised up to
the tip and had a look at
Somerset and
Punsand Bay.
The tip was interesting and we sat and had lunch and a bottle of wine on the rocks. As I said it is very rundown. The
signage is home made, if at all, and the board walk or board hop has half the boards missing and is falling to bits. Little disappointing.
I think the trip up was much more interesting than the destination but one of those things you just have to do. If we hadn’t done the Old Telegraph road I think it would have been somewhat disappointing. The prices up there are outrageous. I realize there are freight costs but 16 bucks for a kilo of black and gold cheese and 43 bucks for a 500 gram tin of coffee. Comeon! We headed back South and cut back into
Eliot falls and stayed 4 nights, as we were now stocked up, just swimming and enjoying the area. Too nice a spot not to. We then headed into
Weipa and stayed at the campground. The road down was generally very rough except for the bits that had just been graded. We intend to
camp at
Mapoon for a while and maybe do some fishing.
All in all a fantastic trip. We bent and broke a few things on the camper due to the rough, corrugated, roads and things coming into contact with the ground and rocks on the
creek entries and exits. All things on the list to improve for the next adventure.