Mups and Stumpy do the Cape 2012

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We said goodbye to Elim after a relaxing 3 days and headed towards Battle Camp Road.Along the way we stopped off at Isabella Falls for morning tea when a cyclist pulled in. We recognized her as the cyclist we had seen in at Cook Town four days ago. When we got chatting to her we thought her story was pretty amazing. This girl was originally from The Netherlands (Appldorp). She had been cycling for the past five years. She had cycled through Europe, The Uk, The Philippines and now Australia. Her bike weighed a tonne! (not literally). None of us could believe her drive to keep riding this incredibly heavy bike all over the place. We all thought "gee while we have been relaxing on the beach for three days, she's been riding just to get here!" Not my idea of fun, but each to their own, good luck to her. We helped her put air in her tyre using our air compresser and said goodbye and good luck.

Isabella falls was really pretty. It was only a small waterfall compared to some of the others we have seen but just as pretty.

From here we travelled into Lakefield National Park. We stopped off at Old Laura to have a look at the Homestead. It is really amazing the life these early pioneers carved out for themselves so many years ago. We giggled at one board that quoted a description of the early family. It said " .....has several sons and daughters to be proud of. Boys that are fit and ready for any hard work that needs to be done and young girls ready to provide care and comfort in any mans home" (ha ha ha) Could you imagine saying that about someones daughters these days! Gav, being Gav, found this very amusing and started saying some smart comment like "yep, that's as it should be, see Jude, you should provide more care and comfort in my home" So I threatened to provide him with care and comfort that involves a fat lip!! (ha ha).

Someone then decided that a group photo was the order of the day, so I set the timer on the camera and ran over in time to be included in the photo. Nobody told me about the mass of ants where I ran to and the photo had to be taken again because the first photo has me jumping in the air trying to brush off all the ants!

Mum and Dad had fun playing silly buggers in the old meat store. Dad pretending to cut off mums head! The kids thought it was hilarious but they were abit grossed out when we told them how they use to slaughter and salt the meat.

We decided to stop over at Lakefield for at least one night. We found a great spot and you wouldn't believe it we pulled in next to a family camping in a Trak Shak (the same camper trailer as ours). They were a great couple from Bundaberg and we quickly got talking and swapping notes about each others camper trailers. They told us of a small water hole that was safe to swim in so we headed down there with the kids for a swim. Gav and the boys put out their yabby pots overnight and all the boys tried their luck at some fishing (with no sucess ofcourse) We spotted two crocodiles in the river and the boys also found a little black headed snake of some sort. We would have loved to have spent a couple of nights here but we were camping without a permit and we didn't want to push our luck so we only stayed one night. (it'd be just our luck the ranger would come past checking).

Lakefield National Park is really beautiful. We have noticed that the further north we travel the more, and bigger, termite mounds there are in the bush. Some of them are taller than us and look abit like castles.

The park is full of natural lakes and these are full of water lillies and loads of different bird varieties.

We continued through Lakefield and arrived at the Musgrave Roadhouse. This place is like an oasis of supplies at the end of a long dusty drive and they make the best hot chips I've had in a while! Musgrave also provide clean, grassy and flat camping that includes hot showers and toilets. A place good for an overnight stop or two.

After a short break we continued on to Coen where we would stop for a night or two or three. (We tend to make up our minds when we get there). On the way poor dad copped two rocks on the windscreen so he will have to replace it when he gets home. We've taped it for now, no point doing it until we get home.So far we have lost the antenna on our car, Dad had to have a slow leak in his tyre repaired at Cook Town and now his windscreen. We can't complain though, there are plenty of people up here missing their rear windscreens and worse. We have been told that so far 23 cars have been lost in Nolans Brook, so a cracked windscreen is nothing.

We found a great free camp spot at Coen right by the river. It is a shallow, clear river and a safe spot for the kids to have a swim. We put air in the tyres we bought with us and the kids spent the whole day floating on the rapids down the river.

Jack and Luke are very dedicated to catching a "big barra". Both boys are telling us constantly about the big fish they have nearly caught or seen. At one stage Luke claims to have seen a hammerhead shark! (it's amazing how early the fishing stories begin). They have even been fishing with pieces of apple for bait! Ohh well whatever keeps them happy! Gav and the boys have caught a few sherapin (fresh water yabbies) in the yabbie pot and that has created great excitement amongst the kids. Luke is funny, everytime he thinks he may have caught something he calls Jack "emergency, theres an emergency Jack, i have something" its providing us adults with great entertainment.At one stage Jack was heard to say "no mate all you have caught is grass, keep trying".

We stayed at Coen for two nights. it was a great spot to have a break before moving further north. We had after all, travelled the whole of 200ks in the last two days! Coen is an interesting spot. It is an aboriginal community and has a pub, general store and the usual facilities like schools etc. Mum and I bought some supplies of food here and the prices weren't too bad unless you wanted bakery bread. It was $10 a loaf! Abit steep considering it was frozen! Oh well, I guess they have to freight it all in. Petrol wasn't too bad either at $1.68/lt. However, this is the most expensive we have hit so far. We budgeted for up to $2 so we are still within budget.

Tomorrow we are heading up to Chilli Beach probably for 3 or 4 nights. from there we will go along the Frenchmans Track and across to Wiepa.

Just a foot note, mum in particular, is a little concerned as to whether the Hayes' are receiving this blog. So Chris or Mike, if you are would you mind leaving a comment to reassure mum. Thanks.

Until next time, we are traveling safely and having an absolute ball!

Don't forget - more photos at the bottom of the page!

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Photos

Goodbye Elim Beach
A place definitely worth a visit. You have to wonder what will happen when Eddie isn't around to run the place. :(

Sunset
Taken in Lakefield National Park.

Lakefield National Park
The boys enjoying abit of fishing in the Hann River at Lakefield.

Lakefield National Park
We had a great camp spot and would have loved to stay abit longer.

termite mounds
There are termite mounds everywhere! Some of them are huge!

Termite mounds
As we were driving through Lakefield, there was one spot with no trees but termite mounds as far as the eye could see.

Old Laura
This is the old homestead at Old Laura

Playing silly buggers
Mum and Dad in the old meat store playing silly buggers!

Old Laura
Group shot at Old Laura. (I was not being attacked by ants in this one!)

The pub at Coen
Notice the sign on top of the pub. It was the exchange hotel and some silly bugger has changed in to the sexchange hotel! Typical aussie humour!

Dad relaxing at Coen
We are now relaxing at a free camp spot at Coen for a couple of days by the river.

Comments

[Sylvia]

Looks like you're all having a wonderful time!

[anonymous]

Great blog keep it coming and more photos of the spunk with the beard please