You will quickly be able o ell that i stopped blog writing here as i went into “organising my life” mode to see how I could get over to Western Australia. After much phoning and internet searches the plan is as follows: Fly Cairns to Darwin (NT). Northern Territory will accept me as long as i have not been to any hotspots -and I had not. Then I can fly to Perth (Western Australia) from a very low risk state (NT) and be allowed to enter and not have to quarantine. Plan made, ticket refunded, new ticket purchased.
We did a day of exploring around Cairns – which was good and also met up with Waldo (Lara’s brother) and his family for dinner. By fluke, the three unvaccinated young ones also managed to get our Pfizer shots as a clinic was running out of people to stab and so we got in :).
The highlight was probably Barron Falls and the great canopy walk that is there (free). We also did a short stop in Kuranda Village as well- where I really liked the metalwork as pr the photos.
Today was pretty much just focused on driving and to get us as close as we can get to Cairns to get the Hilux battery checked out the next day which is unfortunately a Saturday and shops would close quickly.
We went through Laura and stopped at Palmer River. Good facilities here -including a bar -so we did have a drink.
I had an early start up at 04h40 after a noisy- from wind and waves- night. I decided when coming in yesterday that I would walk out today. It is 28km and its unlikely that I will make it the whole way out before the rest catch up with me. I packed up, threw a few things in the back of the ute, packed the bag, water and hung on to my tent as the wind tried to steal it while I tried to pack it away.
I left camp at 05h15 and headed off into the night with my moderate strength head lamp. It would still be dark for another hour at least.
I head up the small hill and noted that it was really pretty warm, despite the wind.
My first ‘attack ‘of the night was a tawny frogmouth that was sitting in the road and not moving until I was very close and it was scared off, but then directed itself back at me and only just avoided me when a clapped my hands loudly.
This happened a few times with other frogmouths too…until I tried to take a photo of one as it was getting lighter and it flew away quickly!
I had bats diving for me as my headlamp attracted insects…not fun!
The scariest bit of the night was when my light reflected back from four sets of eyes in the road. I stopped dead in my tracks and thought what my options are… if these were wallabies then not to worry…but what if they were wild pigs…bigger worry for sure, especially if they decide to charge. I took out my metal water bottle and knocked it with the metal lid to make a noise in the hope of scaring whatever creatures these were. After a few minutes there were fewer and fewer eyes . I set off again hoping that they wouldn’t come back !! All clear!
The walking after sunrise was much less eventful. I did about 17km in 3.5 hours before Johan picked me up. Good walk though.
It was not far to Bramwell Junction Roadhouse from here , though the corrugations are shocking! We stopped by for 2 coffees each- only place on the peninsula that uses beans- and some toasted sandwiches.
Off again for the short ride to Bramwell Station, where we are booked in for dinner – yeah!!!
We got in real early so had time to do hand washing, cleaning shoes and good early shower and I also washed my tent.
The most exciting part of the day was awaiting us: dinner and live music! It was great fun- the music was all the classics and in essence became karaoke for everyone. Dinner was very good- all beef to my delight- steaks, cottage pie, veggies and salads and potato bake as well as dessert.
The road to Eliot Falls isn’t great, but neither is the Bamaga Road. It is very corrugated and we are fairly over it now! Parts of the cars keep loosening…but it’s the same with other cars…which caused us to do some side of the road shopping… 🙂 picked up a whole awning, a barely used water cooler and a single Max trax..unfortunately the other one didn’t seem to fall off around there.
We heard a new rattle, stopped and realised that our awning had lost some bolts and was coming lose, so strapped that up. We didnt want to particularly swap the picked up awning for our own!
Hitting the 28km road to Captain Billy’s was a pleasure in comparison. Very few corrugations and the landscape rapidly changed to rainforest.
There are two great lookouts on the track- one over the forest and one over the ocean and Captain Billy’s Landing itself.
The campsite is small and has no trees. Luckily there is a shelter with two tables and benches as well as a toilet.
There is another sign under the standard croc warning sign, stating that a croc had recently been spotted here. Mmmmm…Great! ?!?
As we headed done South, we will be going through some places that we have been before as there is, in essence, one way in and out.
Today our stop is Eliot Falls- so that we can soak the last few days worth of dirt off. We enjoyed our stop over a few days ago and returned.
Had a great long soak in the water and tan, then a bit of a break and another soak.
Woke up early (well, normal time for me) the next day and went out to take photos of all the falls without people. Was rewarded with our best sunrise of the trip! We also went back to Fruitbat Falls as Johan’s drone had issues with the SIM card and our footage from there was gone.
Today was just for absolute relaxation, no driving, no dirt roads, no corrugations!!
Johan went fishing in the morning. I woke up to my great sea view.
We noted that there were quiet a few turtle tracks from the night- one turtle actually laid her eggs a stone throws away from Christo’s tent!
I walked along the beach down to Jardine River Mouth. It was 2 hours return to camp. Luckily during low ride, so you can walk on the firmer sand and not be eater by crocs as the sea goes out quiet far. The river is not particularly mighty at the moment, though the mouth is very wide. During low tide you can basically walk across it…but I didn’t want to meet my fate as a crocs lunch …so didn’t bother.
After lunch we all sort of had a lie down as it was hot and even though the water was very tempting, we didn’t swim.
We were lucky to see a couple of dolphins in the bay and Johan spotted a shark too.
Dinner was a leg of lamb , cooked in the Weber with potatoes and coleslaw as a side. Living it up !!
During the night , when I got up to go and pee and did walk the beach to see if any turtles were up, but there were none.
The day started with a cooked breakfast as we were not in a hurry to go anywhere today.
Sunrise at Seisia Beach
We plan to free camp or camp in national parks without any facilities for the next few days, so we make sure to fill up with fuel and water. Only diesel available at Seisia at $1.80. Good price considering how far north we are.
First on the itinerary was a series of plane wrecks around the airport. They are quiet well preserved as they are aluminium. There are also hundreds of 200l fuel barrels from WWll strewn around the sites. Unfortunately there no really info boards at these wrecks, so we couldn’t get further info. Another thing we noticed is how badly these sites are marked- most with homemade signs and one with a piece of rag tied to the tree. A shame when you consider that travellers are interested in seeing these pieces of history.
After finding the three wrecks we headed to Umagico as they apparently have a great coffee shop. This is off our route but we figured it will be worth it. We didn’t see it as we drove through the little town and stopped by the supermarket to find out where it is and if it is open today. Unfortunately the lady in the supermarket said that the coffee shop had closed down and no longer operates. Sad news unfortunately.
We then had a 30min drive to Muttee Heads- our intended free camp for a couple of nights. There are only maybe 4 sites there. We stayed here while Christo checked for a nicer one down the way. He found a good spot in Turtle Bay, so we followed him there and set up camp. There is only space for a small group here and that is all. Its quiet, and pleasant and I have a view overlooking the sea from my tent.
My room with a view
We had a very late BBQ dinner , accompanied by champagne as Matt had seen on Facebook that it was my birthday- I hadn’t told anyone.
The roads are taking their toll on some equipment- fridge plug broke and needed soldering, the kitchen tap switch needed fixing and the car battery is not keeping charge well. All need fixes.
The day had finally arrived that we were going to get to the northern most tip of mainland Australia- Cape York!!! Our aim for the whole tripJ
What a great day to arrive here too- my birthday- yay!!!!
We got there at around 07h45, at low tide and walked around the peninsula on the beach around the mangroves. When I got to the tip there was no one else there…and we were very lucky to have it all to ourselves!!! We took photos and made our way back to the car via the rocky hill route that is the only way in and out during higher tides. The views from the top of this hill are also great- especially overlooking the bay. One can see how quickly the tide comes in too and the tumultuous currents in between the mainland and the islands nearby.
We checked the odometer when returning back to the car to see how many kilometers we did to get here…4,282km!!! One way as there is a whole return trip to be done still!! Well at least to Cairns for me, not all the way to Brisbane.
As the road to the tip is pretty bad- especially the first 5km of dirt- we decided to see everything we could today- and this was possible with our early start.
We headed to Somerset. This is a beach that also has many graves of the Jardine family and a few pearl divers. It is actually heritage listed.
The tide is too high to go around the rocky bend and check out the caves and rock art.
Grave of a pearl diver (I think)
Somerset Beach
From here we continued on the Five Beaches 4WD loop, though the weather was turning- windy and rainy. We admired most of the views from inside the car. It’s a rough basalt coastline with intermittent golden beaches before the loop is closed through the rain forest and hits the main road.
Tumultuous seas
Basalt cliffs
One of the 5 beaches
After our little adventure we stopped by The Croc Tent- a souvenir shop. Then headed to Punsand Bay for lunch at the restaurant and bar by the Caravan Park. We were hoping for woodfired pizza, but that was only 5-7pm. Had a couple of G&Ts to celebrate, great calamari and lemon cheesecake to share with Lara. Completely stuffed hereafter!!!
Back in camp we reviewed our plans and checked where we needed to make bookings while we had mobile reception.
As there is still no Optus signal – not since Cooktown I think- I hotspot off Christo and check messages as well as try and rearrange my trip to Western Australia to commence my Bibbulmun Track hike.
Currently, and subject to swift changes, I cannot enter WA as I have been in Queensland- a medium risk state- despite not being in any hotspots or near very many humans at all for the last 4 weeks.
New plan- I should be able to enter the Northern Territory – not need to quarantine- spend time travelling for 2 weeks- then fly to Perth without needing to quarantine there, as NT is consider very low risk.
Watch this space as this plan has had many variations!!! Bloody pain!!
Never mind that fact that I will be out bush in WA for 98% of my hike, only resupplying in small towns.
Considering we had the Weber out from the night before we decided to make pancakes for breakfast, nicely overlooking the creek.
The ‘highway’ that the guys constructed worked, well at least half of it, the other log portion wasn’t 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. “Not required” 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 – the tyres didn’t even turn.
Without tyre traction he didn’t have enough momentum to pull they vehicle and trailer through the softer sand and so he got stuck. The car wouldn’t 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 vehicle…about 10cm or so worth…so 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.
Jardine River Ferry -not very wide river at all for $100 plus 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 didn’t 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 didn’t 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.
Most people had a good sleep with the quiet night and hearing the river.
We inflated tyres to a higher psi then headed out at 08h00. The Creek crossing went well for both vehicles until the exit. It was a sharp 90 degree bend in very soft sea sand. Christo made it when he gave it proper gas but Johan couldn’t speed up enough to take the corner with the trailer. After trying a couple of times. We put on the deflators … half the psi we pumped to 15min ago…hahaha… but Johan got out after putting gas, in a couple of attempts.
After getting out we need to pump the tyres up again…all takes time. 45min later we were done …the first obstacle of the day only!!
There was excitement when we spotted some toilets but they had no stairs and was filthy inside when Christo got up there. This was disappointing.
Our next stop was a great place to relax- Fruitbat Falls. These are short waterfalls and swimming is allowed on the upper and lower levels. The water is pleasant and we swim and wash off the ever present dust and mozzie spray!
Turtles
Pitcher plants at Fruitbat Falls
Fruitbat Falls
Fruitbat Falls
We spent a fair bit of time here then headed to Eliot Falls. The road to get here is a bit rougher and we assume less tour groups make it out there.
These falls are a multiples series of falls and gorges that interconnect them. Lara, Johan and Christo were brave and jumped into the depths of the gorge then floated down River. I was somewhat concerned that I was going to lose my bikini top…we wouldn’t want that!!
We have lunch at Eliot falls and only leave again just after 13h00. Little did we know what would lie ahead of us for the afternoon!
Twin Falls
Eliot Falls
Eliot Falls
The track was relentless from the time we left the falls… our top speed would have been 40kmph and that would have been for less than 3min. The road was constantly rutted, narrow, corrugated and deeply eroded. Articulation was tested constantly, as were our nerves. Each crossing of creeks and fords was technical, need to be walked and planned for well as waters were often waist deep.
Going from South to North they are Sam; Mistake; Cannibal and Cypress Creeks. Cypress Creek is a whole other level – with the crossing over the Creek being a very bush engineered, rickety log bridge… or “bridge” as it is referred to on maps…it cannot quiet be called a bridge as much as an aid. The driver cannot see the logs and where their tyres line up and must thus trust the instructor entirely and make minute movements with the steering wheel. When this section is done then there is still a steep section out that is also holey from all the tyre spinning that has occurred there.
The camping around here didn’t look great and already had a few people set up, so we decided to keep going north to Nolans crossing or Bridge Creek as it is called.
However with a very rocky road we only made it 6km in 1.5 hours and decided to camp out at a Creek approximately 5km south of Nolans. It was 16h15 by then.
Johan decided that we would need to build a road out of the Creek for the next morning and thus him and Christo set off on a bush highway construction project with axes, showers, saws and machetes! Lara and I didn’t really see the need considering all the rough and difficult crossings we had done until now…just an excuse to keep busy we reckon!
As the kitchen was packed up the night before and we were headed to the roadhouse for breakfast, packing up didn’t take long this morning. We headed to the Bramwell Roadhouse to refuel one final time before the Old Telegraph Track and have some breakfast- which ranged between pies and toasted sandwiches between us. The roadhouse actually had a coffee machine that used ground coffee and thus actually made a pretty good cup. Most other places to date had really bad instant coffee for $4.5 a cup. This makes Lara so happy she has two cups … we tease her that she has a hangover from the night before. I originally didn’t want coffee…but I did get one with the second round.
The OTT starts right here at the roadhouse and many people refuel- diesel was $2.05 per liter. We saw many cars head out while we had breakfast.
Firstly however, we had to remove the towbar from Christo’s car as it was super stuck. There was a lot of hammering and spraying of WD40 but nothing budged. Option B was to strap a tree, attach to towbar and Christo drives forward to separate towbar and vehicle. This worked ! Success! He could then fit his recovery point to the back.
We were off to start the track at 08h45 after taking a group selfie by the sign.
The road is well travelled- clearly- and winds amongst various types of vegetation- but the huge anthill are ever present. Soon enough we noticed the old steel telegraph poles, but nearly all were bent , possible to recover porcelain as souvenirs by early tourists…but we don’t really know.
The first obstacle to cross is Palm Cove. There are 3 entry points- of varying steepness and depths- vertical 3m drop , 2m drop or ever so slightly more of a decline. Christo took the second option while we took the third. All the entry points lead into the river bed. The last option has the deepest water but the steadies decline for the trailer. Once in the creek all vehicles were needing to make their way down stream to the exit. There were a lot of people in the queue parked up as the next obstacle is the exit and needs reversing and realigning to get out. We have a young group of united nations ahead of us and they all park up their vehicles after exiting to record Johan on his way out with the trailer- he is now the entertainment :). It takes a few takes to back the trailer up for realignment but Johan is ready. I stayed in the car to see how this feels on the inside so to speak. I held on for dear life and am sure had my eyes closed for part of the trip… but the trailer didn’t tip and we made it out after a lot of bumping around…much to the delight of the United Nations youngsters and all else watching.
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We carried on to our next challenge –
Ducie Creek, South and North Alice Creek Creeks and Dulhunty River were all fairly non eventful.
Bertie Creek is shallow, fairly fast flowing with a firm rock base which is badly potholed. Lara drove us through it while Johan took some drone footage. We had lunch along this creek- where I got sprayed by mandarin splatter; when Lara completely missed the bushes ahead; and her rotten mandarin bounced on the back windscreen and splattered all over me!!! Great aim Lara – NOT!!!
Next was the most infamous of all Creek crossings – GUNSHOT CREEK!! For those not familiar with this Creek crossing, it is over 4m high , vertical cliff that you drive over, drop into the mud bath at the bottom and most often, need to be winched out of. This is the perfect way to ruin your car if I do say so myself !!!
There are multiple depths of gunshot Creeks. We took the chicken run though…not that it was easy by any means. The water is deep and there is a sharp turn and reverse to make the exit ramp which is rutted and steep- but Johan gets out.
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We met up with Jack and Henry who got there early and pitched their chairs to watch…but there were no takers of the actual Gunshot Creek while they were there.
We are here pretty late in the afternoon but decide to forge on to Cockatoo Creek and camp there. It still takes us a while to get to our camp. Luckily we found a nice spot and had it to ourselves for the night. Once we set up camp we headed off to the Creek to sort out a path for driving the next day and to wash off the dust. The water was a bit chilly , but good to get a little cleaner.
We watched a Sahara do the crossing and thought we would take a similar line the next morning.
We met up with Jack and Henry again as they were looking for their mates- the rest of the United Nations . We tried to get hold of them on the radio but no luck.
We spent the evening by the fire after eating prawn and chicken curry.
We set off for the track fairly early and stopped by the water tank to max fill but it took forever! We hit the track at approximately 08h45. The track is narrow and follows the higher hills overlooking heathland, its like beach sand and is corrugated.
We did the track from west to east.
Eroded gullies and angle driving with very careful maneuvering of ute and trailer were the order of the morning.
It took us over an hour to get the 11km off the so called main road and to the Pascoe River. The plan was that if we decided that the Pascoe was too difficult, that we would turn around and take Portland Road South and the back North. That was a crap plan as there was absolutely no space to turn around. It was one hell of a jagged, steep, slippery clay slope down and a boulder ridden , steep section out. Ooops!!!! We were going through whether we wanted to or not!
There were four cars in front of us that were preparing for the crossing. The drivers had walked the river, waist deep, checked where the boulders sat in the river and reeled out their winches in prep for recovery.
It was daunting just watching them! The photos don’t do the adrenalin and stress levels any justice !!
The cars struggled through but all made it, the out track is also hairy with all the large boulders.
Christo was first of us in line. Johan guided him by radio. He was told to go slow and in 1st gear low range. This is what he did…but it was too slow and water came into the car.
Johan took the Hilux, trailer and Matt through. He got everything through at a faster pace than Christo and didn’t get any water in trailer or ute. He paused at the base of the exit , out of the deep water and picked the line out. It went pretty well and the steady speed got the ute and trailer out on the first go. Impressive work!
There were cars waiting to do the crossing from the other side. All of us took about 1 hour of waiting for others, watching them and doing the crossing ourselves.
The track had many more kilometers of slow going , very corrugated and washed out ruts.
The next mini adventure was a couple of vertical descents. They are carved into white clay and the clear water creek running through it, makes the water appear a light turquoise blue hue. The 2m or so drop is not one we particularly wanted to go through, so we opted for the chicken run- should be a simpler bypass. There was another obstacle at the end of the chicken run- a large diameter cement pipe that had its top soil and rock covering eroded.
Getting the ute and trailer to this point was easy, but the turn could have been taken a little wider. Ultimately what happened was the combination of trees, the sharp turn and the eroded pipe caused the trailer to become stuck on the tree and multiple recovery efforts began. First a log under the tyre of the trailer, but the trailer only moved a bit up it before sliding off and hitting the side on the tree as well as slipping a bit more off the trail. Next was to use the hilift jack to lift the trailer up and place large rocks in between the tyre and rut. When we started to do this the car handbrake no longer held everything and slowly the vehicles started to move back. So I jumped in to keep the foot brake on. This held things steady. With a few rocks in place Johan steered the vehicle far forward into the bush, missing a tree by millimetres but the trailer could be pulled out, just with a scratch.
We hit the Wenlock River mid afternoon. This is the second and last big obstacle on the track, not to say that the rest of it is easy. Hahahaha
Going down into and through the river was a normal descent, but coming out was steep and clayey. Especially the last 2 vertical meters. Johan engaged his lockers and went for it. All he saw was sky for a few seconds while putting foot to make it across the last couple of meters. The trailer moved side to side quickly but didn’t tip over…phew!!!… and he was over the top!!
I must mention that Christo remained in front to scout out the trail, pick the best route and then did the obstacles first so that he could winch Johan out when or if required.
He could through them all first time too … so the little Landcruiser can get it done too…hahahahaha!
The latter 12km or so of the track were a bit wetter and there were some mud holes to go through, but not bad!
All up the track took us 6 hours and we were so happy to hit a bit of bitumen again as we exited!!!
Well, the bitumen didn’t last too long…it never does up here… and we hit the red corrugated 60km or so worth of road to Brawell Station Tourist Park where we planned to spend the night. This is a working cattle farm that has a good side hustle as a campground. Warm showers and flushing toilets awaited…and those two things are always very welcome after a few days of bush camping! There was also a large bar area where dinner was served, but was unfortunately booked out. We set up tent, defrosted some boerwors, then headed to the bar for a few drinks, well actually just Lara and I had a few…the others just one. I headed off to shower. Live music started at 7pm and continued to 9pm, creating a great atmosphere with classics that many sung along to.
The campground is large with many people stopping over both before and after their adventures to The Tip- or Cape York as it is officially known.
Today we chilled at Chilli Beach… though the guys woke up a little early and went fishing off the beach.
I was there for sunrise… not too beautiful but on the walk back stopped by the guys. I wasn’t there for 5min when Johan pulled in his first Trevally. Then Matt held onto Christo’s rod while he was having rusks and coffee for breakfast and got a bite and reeled in another Travelly! She was very excited and kept saying… I caught a fish and Christo didn’t 🙂 With his manhood no longer intact, Christo tried for a while longer and didn’t get any more bites, while Johan reeled in a 3rd and final Trevally. These were filleted at camp and we had lemon, garlic, parsley butter sauce on our grilled fish before we even saw 11am.
It was low tide , so we grabbed the vehicles and drive down the beach to Chilli Creek. The people we bought fish from said that it’s good Barramundi fishing there. On our drive there we noticed how much plastic was strewn along the beach. So Lara and I decided that we would walk down the beach and collect plastic rubbish, while getting a tan.
The others wet their rods but didn’t catch anything. We did see our Atherton friends that I had asked the previous day if they did the Frenchmans Track recently. I did walk through the whole campground asking the people there, but no luck. The lady caught a small Barracuda while we were there. Must say, while it may have been small, it had some nasty teeth on it!
Upon returning to camp we drove to the dump to get rid of our rubbish, Christo got 3 coconuts down from the palm trees and Matt said she would make a coconut dessert. It took a great deal of effort to machete our way into them. Matt saved the coconut water for refrigeration and was hoping to scoop out the coconut- it should be soft. However it seems these Aussie coconuts are not like the Thai ones and are hard as hell. Matt proceeded to slow cook the coconut, seemed to use hours worth of gas and it still didn’t soften. We dumped it in the bush and not even the bush turkeys ate it… and they eat everything!!! Hahahahaha.
After all this excitement…or not…the guys started to get their cars ready for the Frenchmans Track, more specifically, the Pascoe River crossing. It was reportedly 1.1m deep.
Done with our holding pattern we were on our way to Chilli Beach. Luckily the night was not as wet and windy as the last one…which is a relief. As we are on the way early and know Chilli isn’t far we decide to head into Portlands Roads first. It is a very, very small, pleasant village. It has a little café and we look forward to some coffee and food or something sweet. The view is nice from the elevated location. We order some ice coffee…. Probably the most watery and least tasteful coffee that we have ever had!!! Despite it not being 11am yet we also order some fish and chips and fishermen’s platters to share. That food was good.
There were two large spiders spotted by us… neither of which had 8 legs…both were missing one???
After a couple of hours here we headed to the beach, got to our camping spot and set up.
After my tent was up and the kitchen done, I headed off for a long walk on the beach, keeping away from the water’s edge as there are crocs here, as there are all over Cape York Peninsula.
After a dinner of leftover bolognaise pasta, Johan and I went to the beach to watch the swarms of swallows move from the mainland onto Restoration Island.
Today was in essence a day off. Just went to Lockhart River to refuel, quick grocery shop and get signal to make some further bookings. No Internet signal to be found, but phone signal worked OK.
We were hoping to see the Art Centre, but it was Saturday and was closed. We called the number provided to see if we can get it opened – as per info we had- but got an answer bank and no call back.
We stopped by Quintel Beach. It has some impressive granite boulders in the sea. However bad rain chased us away. The foreshore was also very littered , actually in general the settlement is pretty dirty.
In getting back to camp was stopped by a lookout to call Christo’s friend to make a booking for us on normal internet in Brisbane as we couldn’t get through to Qld Parks.
The rest of the day was relaxing, playing Bananagrams, eating and right at the end of the afternoon Lara started to teach me to knit. Progress is slow …and there are some challenges …hahahaha… but its coming along !
Change of plans…we found a camp site that has showers and toilets along the road to Chilli Beach. So we decided if we need to stay somewhere let’s do it where we have some amenities.
We first past through Archer River Roadhouse. It was about 11am and so we thought it was time for brunch . We had egg and bacon… and man they did not skimp on the bacon!! I swear there were 4 large pieces each! As a note fuel is $2.00 per liter diesel. The roadhouse is also the last resting place of Toots. She was a pioneering woman that distributed supplies all over the peninsula in her truck that was loaded by hand for years before she and her husband got a forklift.
It was just outside Archer River that it start drizzling and then raining. The roads were getting more slippery.
By the time we got to the campsite- Chuulangun it was only midday. There is a toilet here as well as a rustic shower…but a shower at least . However Johan was keen to keep moving and actually stay at Lockhart River. The only problem here is that there is no camping. So we thought let’s go to the national park campsite, just beyond them there should be Telstra signal and we can book a campsite. Christo eventually got some signal and looked for availability in 3 camp sites, but there was just one for a car for one night. No cancellation of bookings at Chilli either, so we back tracked some 20km to a free camp spot at Brown Creek and found it empty still- very luck considering it was raining more and more and it was after 4pm.
It was raining hard in the ranges , which is a good tar road by the way, but very windy. The clouds were low and we couldn’t see much in terms of views. It was still raining as we started to set up camp. The rain lightened to a drizzle so we setup the free standing tents on groundsheets in the mud. Luckily the mud was not too bad here. Not the red, clay mud that we had now driven through twice in our efforts to find a spot to camp.
We set up wings off the kitchen area to help protect from the rain, but the tent seam on top is loose and thus drips water there as well as around the joins… so it was sitting in between drips.
We had a shower in the shower tent and used river water. Christo and Matt watched a movie in their tent , as per usual, and Lara and I played Bananarama as we call it. The actual name is Bananagrams.
The wind picked up a lot during the night, with kitchen tent wings flying around and it stoking the smouldering logs that we found at camp when we got here. So sleep was very disturbed !
The road between these two points is nearly all dirt…no surprise there, with patches of good quality tar road. Feels pretty awesome not to have yourself shaken silly on the short tar sections!!
The vegetation between this couple of hundred kilometers changes very often and dramatically. Just outside of Hann Crossing there are medium sized trees with what looks like an aloe type tree but with palm leaves…then that quickly changes to bare plains where all you see is termite mounds, then back to taller trees and larger vegetation , then plains again.
We refuelled at Musgrave Roadhouse, diesel costing $1.65 here.
We then hit the PDR- Peninsula Development Road. This is a dusty, yet wide dirt road that is the highway of the peninsula. It gets fairly corrugated and sandy in places.
There is loads of traffic on this road- 95% tourists towing vans, boats, camper trailers etc.
We stop in town to check out where we can do laundry and possibly have dinner- The Sexchange Hotel served both purposes. It was previously known as the Exchange Hotel…but someone (read tradies) added an “S” to the name and it stuck.
We are in Coen for 2 nights , not because there is so much to see really, but because we couldn’t get all 3 nights of camping booked at Chilli Beach. Thus we are slowing down a little, in a holding pattern.
As we spent two nights at this camp we had a day to explore.
Christo and I had originally hoped to get to Cape Melville. However on further reading, checking out maps, our amount of diesel and need or want for 4WD we decided against that. The track gets very technical, ultra slow and would take us many hours to complete and have no hours to enjoy the scenery.
We thus decided to head to Bathurst Heads…or more specifically… Princess Charlotte Bay. This was supposed to be half the distance and much easier drive. We all had out swim wear on and hoped for some beach time.
We had an exciting start to the day – Lara spotted 2 good sized pythons , sunning themselves on the road. The one python was nearly roadkill as we came around the corner and it just lay there… so we moved it along so that it could live!
We also saw more Brolga- Cranes.
The road conditions were actually pretty good and no traffic. Good sign this!! Until…we got to a locked gate and couldn’t go any further. This was disappointing as nowhere had we read that there was a permit required or that there would be a locked gate.
It was on the road in, near a large dam that Lara spotted a whole family of wild pigs!! Including some six or so piglets!
We thus decided to continue down the Cape Melville Track… but the track turn bad pretty quickly after reaching Wakooka. After approx. 30min and not much progress we decided to follow another short track along Wakooka Creek. This lead us to a river, where Johan and Christo did some fishing but caught nothing! What a shame!
We returned home and did some star watching after dinner…with nearly no moon and a cloudless night…this was indeed the perfect night for it.
Today is Matt’s birthday…we celebrate with pancakes for breakfast, which didn’t turn out great as the gas stove in the camp kitchen was a bit temperamental. As a matter of fact, I nearly lost my eyebrows and hair when trying to light the problematic gas BBQ!
We also gave Matt a present from us all, which we hope would come in useful- a towel which sand doesn’t stick to.
It was fairly close to our first destination, Isabella Falls. You literally drive over them, as a water crossing. They are not a big drop, but pleasant anyway.
Next stop after the waterfall was the Old Laura Homestead, which has changed and been added to and now stabilised for tourists to view.
With the ever changing landscapes, I was pleasantly surprised to come across both White & Red Lily Lagoons. These large bodies of water were covered in lilies and the birdlife is incredible: lots of egrets, darters, brolgas- large Australian cranes, jaribus or storks, shelducks, kites hunting in the grasses and many more! There are of course crocodile warnings by these water bodies.
Our campsite is close to the water but not on it. A fire would have passed through not too long before and in essence created a dustbowl around us…this combined with a strong wind meant loads of dust! Not much fun there.
I caught up with two older guys at the campsite next door, then we went for a drive to the furtherest most campsite- nr 20. It’s about 9.6km away, but slow going.
After dinner we had one final surprise- a strawberry cheesecake- one of the frozen ones from the supermarket – but everyone polished it off . It was a very big mission to try and light the candles in the wind that was still prevailing!
It’s a fair drive to Elim Beach, took us approx 1 hr. As we didn’t have mobile reception we couldn’t check tide times and happened to arrive on high tide.
Not much beach to drive on then, so we parked the cars and walked down the beach towards the coloured sands and first gorge.
The first thing you notice on the beach is a very rusty Toyota that fell victim to being caught out in a high tide several years ago.
Note, one can also go to Sleaford Bay but we didn’t have enough time or willingness to drop tyre pressure to go through the sea sand.
There is a 10 AUD per car fee to enter the beach and bay.
We headed back to town to resupply for next 2 weeks, unfortunately we couldn’t resupply our cask wine supply as the local laws mean none is for sale before 4pm.
We got to Cooktown in time for lunch and were hoping for something other than wraps…our general go to lunch menu item. However every place we went to kitchen was closed, if we wanted something it was sandwich and coffee.
We sat in a café to complete our online census, a little early as there will be no signal for a while.
Today we headed to Cooktown via the Bloomfield Track. This track doesn’t have the same nasty reputation as the CREB but there are three steep sections, the last of which is being cemented, to prevent loss of traction in the wet.
The rough track itself is only 32km long, with climbs between 21 and 33 percent!! The steepest of which is 1.5km long… let’s say, we could feel the trailer pulling us on that one!!
Besides these steep sections the trail is pretty good, though, being clay based, would be terrible in the wet, as with all these tracks up north here.
A few kilometers before Cooktown we entered Black Mountain National Park. It was one of the most interesting landscapes I have seen. The mountains, of which you can only see a small part- as per the noticeboard photo- are eroded magma chambers. The green bits are strangler figs, that have managed to get their roots down to some water.
Our campsite was 15km out of town, near the airstrip- Endeavour River Escape- on a station. Good facilities, no power and nice and quiet. Large campsites with treelines between them.
Christo and I took the opportunity to do some forward planning and see what we needed to book from town the next day, when we had signal. We got some tips from a couple who had been to the top 3 times already.
Our day started with a cruise of the upper Daintree River…about 10km upstream from yesterday. We were treated to a large 4m male croc swimming down the river to find a nice warm spot for the day. Birdspotting went pretty well too, with several heron species and many welcome swallows.
After our boat trip ended we walked to camp, and got things together quickly to commence the CREB ( Cairns Regional Electricity Board) track , which commences just outside of the village.
Upon arriving at the Daintree River… which we were now well aware, had a healthy crocodile population, we stopped on the banks to let out the tyre pressure and check the line we should take across the river.
There were several other vehicles that were doing the same and the joke was that everyone was working slowly so that the other party could go first.
The track goes through some farmland before hitting the rainforest proper. It’s here that the clay track is usually pretty wet as the rainforest cover doesn’t allow for proper evaporation of rainfall.
There were some sections that were wet but others were actually nice and dry.
Johan drove first and gave me some instructions, then after our 3rd water crossing, I took the 4WD wheel for the first time . We drove for approx 45min before we hit a traffic jam… we weren’t sure what happened but seems that a motorbike had slipped and possibly a car rolled in a very slippery , wet area. The car roll over was not confirmed though, but is not unusual for the track. Mind you, there are many opportunities to lose control on slippery clay and slide off the side of the mountain into the rainforest trees! As far as my first 4WD session goes, it wasn’t too bad, but neither was it too technical…the shitty bits we didn’t get to…like the 2 log bridge crossings.
As the time passed we decided to turn around, have lunch and head back into the village, having not even completed 1/3 of the track in 2.5 hours! We did go slowly and carefully though. Lara drove back and did a good job of all the hill starts she had gotten herself into! The car is a manual, so a quick refresher is required .
This whole day was set aside to explore the tourist area from Daintree to Cape Tribulation and slightly beyond.
First stop was Waluwurrigga Alexander Range lookout, which overlooks Cape Kimberley…which was our final stop for the day.
Floravilla Ice-cream factory was next… at 10am mind you…however non of us were impressed with our ice cream flavours . Oh well- you win some, you lose some.
At the end of the road that turns into the ice cream factory is Cow Bay where we walked on the beach. I keep in the middle of the beach as there are crocodiles here …and they are obviously great hunters and will see me before I see them!! A note is that there are approx. 30-40 thousand crocodiles in Queensland…most concentrated in Cape York area where we are headed.
Had a leg stretch by doing the Jindalba boardwalk, which is a short walk through the rainforest where one can admire the multitude of plant species.
We also popped into the Discovery Center but decided that we were not going to enter. We had done skywalks before and weren’t interested in the dinosaur section. Entry 37 AUD pp.
Next stop was Thornton Beach, a large expanse of sand and fairly calm waves. The water in this area is well known for being crystal clear and have the turquoise hue, however all the waters were pretty muddy …a good place for crocs to hide!
We had lunch at Cape Tribulation lookout parking and then did the short walk to a disappointing muddy lookout point…but imagined how nice it would be under ideal conditions.
Now I don’t remember which section of road this happened on, I think en route to Cape Kimberley, but as we were driving around a corner, a cassowarie ran across the road in front of us!! It was a big one with a bright blue skin…I need to find out what this skin flap is called?!?! It was very exciting as this was my first seeing a cassowarie in the wild! No photos unfortunately as it was in deeper bush pretty quick !!
Directly after departing the ferry crossing we went to the 15h30 Daintree River cruise to see what wildlife we can spot. Considering that we saw Scarface… a super large croc…on the banks of the river already, we were excited.
This part of the river is brackish as the tide brings in seawater. We saw a few crocodiles , some bird life and baby crocs too. The croc along the banks , that has 2 missing scutes- or scales- is Lizzie. The missing scutes were used to determine her age.
We spent the afternoon meandering around Port Douglas as we arrived during lunch time. It is a holiday town that has been considerably less busy due to the lockdowns that have taken place across the East coast. It is pretty similar to Noosa, which is north of Brisbane.
We arrived at our campsite in the mid afternoon in little Daintree Village. It only has a permanent population of 120 people. We were all happy that we were staying here 3 nights and do not have to take down camp for a while!
PS Now that we arrived in Cooktown, I definitely reckon that Port Douglas Coles is the place to restock and resupply for the trip up north!
Was great to have a quiet night!! Bush camping is much better than the side of a highway!! The day started with laundry… before the sun was even up and then full cooked breakfast at the café!!
We went back on ourselves, to Undara National Park. This park features volcanic landscapes, fairly rare to Australia, which is in essence a huge crayon. We were at first keen to do a tour of the lava tubes, but at over 60 AUD per adult, we opted not to and to do 2 walks instead.
The first walk was to Atkinson’s Lookout and the second was the Katani Crater Rim walk, looking into the now eroded and vegetated crater. Was good to stretch the legs rather than sit in the car for hours!
After packing away and Johan helping our neighbour with an injection fault in his car, we headed to Charters Towers to refuel and buy some food.
Took the opportunity to take some photos of the nicely restored old buildings in town.
Charters Towers, like most of the towns around here, have a very strong mining background as well as regional farming hubs.
After camp was set up we headed off for a short walk around the walking track of the station. The Dam track lead us around three dams and through the bush. We were joined by many of the caravan park campers , some with sundowners in hand 🙂
No doubt, a highlight of the trip thus far… the showers here… clean , hot water …what more can one ask for?? The name of said bathrooms is also great…The Wee Stables ! Hehehe
We left Bluff without having breakfast as we were heading to Emerald to pick up a good coffee and have good signal for Christo to be able to have a meeting. We walked around Emerald Botanical Gardens while Christo handed over. The botanical gardens are a bit patchy; but are a nice place to exercise around.
After the handover meeting we had a quick stop at the Big Easel…one of Australia’s many BIG things. It is a huge enlargement of Van Gogh’s Sunflower painting.
All these mining town roads are really bumpy with the heavy loads transported on them, including cattle.
Lunch was outside the closed Claremont Museum with mandatory photo of the group in front of a dragline bucket.
The road to Charters Towers is VERY long and boring! There is a warning sign saying that there is a high accident rate for 350km!!! Yes, kilometers!! That summarises it!
Our camp for the night was outside Charters Towers, again a free camp with toilets and cold water showers
Today we planned to reach beyond Emerald. However we diverted to Hurdle Gully Lookout, an unexpected 11km of dirt road followed to an unassuming view. We did have lunch here though.
The most exciting part of the day was driving through the coal mining town of Blackwater… yes… when you don’t stop anywhere and are off the beaten track…then this is excitement …hahahaha.
We ended up pitching camp at a very small pub backyard van park, in Bluff. Bluff has a shunting yard for coal trains, and is right along the highway. Thus its definitely not a quiet nights sleep!! It was too late to get to Emerald that day though.
All excited and packed we left Brisbane early on Saturday morning. Two vehicles: Toyota Hilux towing trailer and Toyota Land cruiser. Five members make up our travel party: me, the documenter of the trip, Lara and Johan, as well as Christo and Matt. Matt just recently arrived from Vietnam. I’m the 5th wheel and not a car owner , just lucky to be in for the ride J .
Several hours north of Brisbane we got signal and noticed that Brisbane is going into Covid lockdown from 4pm. We thought lucky we made it out way before the time! The instruction being lockdown if you can. We discussed our current situation , checked if any of us had been in hotspots, which we had not. Further, we decided to self isolate in the car, free camping, away from people and cancelled all our accommodation up the coast, as we went up a much less busy inland route.
Our camp for the night was approximately 20km down a dirt road, sponsored by a rural fire station. Was great: had toilets, picnic tables and BBQ. The best was that we had it all to ourselves!
Everyone had a pretty cold night! I’m in my hiking tent and sleeping on 2x foam pads. I used my buff as a beanie and had my warm jacket on. It was 7C.
