90 Km
Considering we had the Weber out from the night before we decided to make pancakes for breakfast, nicely overlooking the creek.
The âhighwayâ that the guys constructed worked, well at least half of it, the other log portion wasnât driven on at all.
The crossing went off without a hitch and the road to Nolans Brook was not too bad in comparison to the previous day on the northern portion of the OTT.
My Toy-according to Christo- on old telegraph pole
We hit Nolans Brook with four options to enter and one to exit. They varied from vertical- no go, to shallow entry but deep long water, to steep entry with slightly shorter deep water- we took the most right option. We had a whole flock of people run to the banks with chairs in hand to watch us cross. They camped here that night.
The audience
Christo went in and made it out pretty quickly. Though he said his tyres locked a bit. He asked Johan if he should prepare his recovery gear. âNot requiredâ was the answer he received. Those words were the most regretted of the trip, probably.
Johan lined himself up on top and started driving down the steep bank when the trailer pushed him down into the water â the tyres didnât even turn.
Without tyre traction he didnât have enough momentum to pull they vehicle and trailer through the softer sand and so he got stuck. The car wouldnât move forward. All the guys that were watching jumped into the water to first help and try pull the car out, then it was quickly decided that it may be more successful to push it back , reverse the car and try again to gain some momentum . This worked better and loosened the vehicle from the sand. Then it could be driven out of the depths. However the water had started to flow into the vehicleâŚabout 10cm or so worthâŚso it drained quickly when the doors were opened. The sand mats were pulled out, all the electronic gear that was on the back seat and behind the passenger seat was attempted to be saved and the carpets were squeegeed using our arms.
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Glug…glug…glug Thanks so much boys!!!
Once the bulk of the water was out we needed to head back on the road to get to Seisia. It took us some going around in circles and amongst the campers but we finally found our way back out on the track.
We thanked all those we saw again, who helped push us out and were dripping wet.
The rest of the road- only some 16km until Bamaga Road. Was fairly uneventful bar for the discussions of what we should have and could have done differently.
1. Deflated the tyres further
2. Had all recovery gear ready and attached to both vehicles with Christo at the ready should any issue arise. We had this preparation done at the Pascoe River crossing but not at all here.
3. Complacency was key
Bamaga Road is very wide but pretty corrugated so the speed is higher than on the OTT but not very fast. We were happy to have reached it though as this signalled the end of the OTT for us , we were not planning to do the last few kilometres and turn back around.
We were headed for the Jardine River Ferry Crossing⌠I would estimate it to be no wider than 70m, at a return trip cost of $100 per vehicle plus an extra $30 for the trailer.

No diesel at the river crossing- only unleaded, which is a bit strange. We filled up at Injinoo at $1.90 , drove through Bamaga all on sealed bitumen roads and into Seisia. We were concerned about several reviews we read about the safety in caravan parks near villages as many people were broken into while they slept at night. We thus decided to only stay 2 nights. Luckily we didnât have issues but it was generally worried sleeping and waking cycles for most.
We unpacked everything out of the cars, strip chairs and carpets and seat covers and lay everything out where we could, in order for things to dry. However the weather didnât help us with several passing showers and us having to clear things off the groundsheets just to put it back several minutes later. Same deal with the washing⌠what a bummer!
Seats removed -everything out!
Matt made us some Pad Thai for dinner while we started to pack things back into the car as it was getting dark.