Just returned to
Melbourne from a trip to
Cape York. It was a long journey but a great trek just the same. The
CREB track was open from
Daintree and it was a great way to go to
Cooktown. The CREB was bone dry and although steep in
places was no great challenge in my Landcruiser 80. We stayed at the Lions Den Hotel in Helenvale and its a great place so dont miss it and the
camping there is as good as the beer!
Its at the end of the dry season so it was dusty and we pushed on to Wiepa staying at
Merluna Station. Good experience and
the pool was welcome relief too
http://www.merlunastation.com/. Wiepa was OK with a
nice camp ground but went went north to Pennyfather River where the road in is rough as guts and a few kms of sand driving (very soft) to the mouth of Pennyfather River saw us at a top
camp spot.
Back to Wiepa and accross to Batavia Downs and then up the PDR to the mighty OTL. Fruitbat Falls and
Eliot Falls are bloody awesome and not to be missed. The swimming there is the best I have ever seen and a top place to
camp at
Eliot Falls. All of the
creek crossings on the OTL were good and relatively easy with Canal
Creek tricky as it was badly worn out. Campers (spectators) here said and one in four vehicles got knocked around and damaged by not checking the crossing carefully and charging in so be aware.
Gunshot Creek was really bad and we went the bypass road. There were no recent tyre tracks over Gunshot and it was too risky for us and I'm usually up for anything.
The PDR was fine up north although dusty and a bit corrugated. We stayed at Loyalty Beach. Great sunsets here but we went further north to
Punsand Bay and the campground there was brilliant. Did
the tip and the
beach drive around
Somerset and headed south accross the
Jardine and back to the
Eliot Falls (couldnt help ourselves, its that good). We decided to take the southern bypass road rather than do the southern end of the OTL and wish we had stayed on the OTL. Corrugations and road conditions were terrible until we reached the turnoff to
Captain Billy Landing and it improved from there.
Generally the roads were good with constatnt road works and given it was the end of the dry season we were happy with the roads. The OTL was great although the ampont of camper trailers damaged at the
creek crossong has to be seen to be believed. We saw a new Prado rolled many times on the PDR and it served as a reminder to take it easy and take your time on these dirt roads. There were many damaged vehicles we saw on the OTL from panel and bar damage to smashed windows from unsecured gear in the rear of some 4WD wagons (tie the fridge down properly). I recommend a full repack and check of all wheel bearings in particular along with a full vehicle check before doing the Cape, the roads here will test your maintenance schedule and you are a long way from home. I had a beer with the mechanic from
Seisia by chance and the stories he had of stranded vehicles that had no been maintained prior to leaving home were amazing. Remember that Road Trains here will drive right through you so pull over and stop if there is insufficient room. Shoulders on some roads are soft and off camber so dont roll your care and really be carefull.
All the best, do your maintenance then do the Cape and be safe.