Mups and Stumpy at Vriliya Point

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We left Seisia and made our way to Vriliya Beach. OMG what a beautiful place it is. We only intended to stay one night but we ended up staying three!

The drive in was about 60 k's of rough road with a log bridge crossing. Atleast this log bridge looked abit better than the one along the telegraph track! We got out to check it and found that some of the logs were spaced apart pretty wide so it was important to pick the correct line. We all made it over without too much trouble and continued on our way.

Vriliya provided some more great fishing and the boys again caught two good feeds of fish, a couple of queenies and a couple blue salmons. Luke was excited because he caught a reef shark. Gavin didn't realize it was on the end of the line and it was hilarious to see him try to walk on water to get away from it! (it was about one meter long), needless to say after abit of a struggle, it broke the line and took off.

We left Vrilya Point after three nights and headed in the direction of Fruit Bat falls. We decided to stop back in here for an overnight stop and a swim in the beautiful water. Dad was a little bumbed out that he didnt get to do the southern end of the Telegraph track, so we headed back down on the telegraph so he could have a look at and possibly do gunshot and a few of the other creek crossings. We never had any intention of doing the stupid gunshot, we did the chicken track around instead. Gav went through and had no problems - the front diff lockers really helped again. However, when dad came through he just didnt make it. He got stuck up on a tree root and as he tried to reverse to free himself the trailer just dug deeper into the mud bog beside the track. It ended up with dad needing to be winched out by Gavin and the end result was some minor damage to one of his side steps and maybe just a little bit of hurt pride! Lol But everyone still had very broad smiles on their faces and couldnt wait to get to the next challenge that the Telegraph track had to offer!

The next day we continued on to Coen. Along the way we passed through a small brushfire. We were abit reluctant to drive into it at first as it was very smokey, about 6 cars were stopped all not to sure if we should continue but when another car came through the other way like sheep, we all proceeded. It wasn't too bad, nothing to worry about really.

Coen saw us breaking out the map to look for the shortest route to Karumba. We like to go off the main road every chance we get and we noticed a track that crossed through a couple of stations and took about 500 k's off the trip (if we could get through that is!). The first bloke we spoke to about the track in Coen said "oh yeah you should be right. The Mitchell River might give you abit of trouble but you guys look pretty well prepared.)

We also spoke to the people at The musgrove roadhouse about the track and she said "that track only opened yesterday and if you are towing I wouldn't go that way if I was you, it is swampy and you have to get across the Mitchell River." So with all that advice it was with great excitement that we decided to go down the track and try our luck.

When we arrived at the start of the track there was a sign that said road closed local traffic only. So we ignored the sign and continued anyway! Lol

The first part of the track was awesome. It had just been freshly grated and the driving was great. However, as we passed this section the track started to deteriorate and at one stage we couldn't even find the track! After some navigational discussions we refound our way and came to a gate where we were quickly met by a ranger. We asked him for directions and the condition of the track up ahead. he told us where to go and said "ohh yeah you should be right to get across the Mitchell River." He didn't instill much confidence! Lol If we couldn't cross the river and had to come back we would be having real issues with petrol so we had everything crossed that we would make it across.

I have to admit when we pulled up to the Mitchell River I had a Minnie panic attack and was heard to say "sh#t, we can't get across that!" I'm not usually one to worry, perhaps it was the sign that said DO NOT try to cross this river, recovery $500! Or perhaps it was the fact that it is one of the widest rivers I have ever seen that got me a little jumpy but I was very quickly put back in my place by Gav who said "ohh my god, don't be so ridiculous!"

We got out of the car to check water depth and stuff like that and found that it wouldactually be really easy to cross. The truck had been through and laid a whole heap of plastic matting under the water to provide good grip and it was only about 0.4 of metre deep. So with "I told you so" from we crossed the mighty Mitchell River with no problem. Even though we had only travelled 250ks it had taken us nearly seven hours! But gee we were glad wecent down that track, it was heaps of fun and saved a lot of extra kilometers. It was late, we were all tired so we pulled over to the side of the track and and bush camped for the night. (thank god we had meatballs already made!)

That evening we enjoyed the usual amazing star displays that you get when you are away from the city and the next morning we continued on to Karumba. Karumba is where we are now. We are staying in a caravan park, with power and have booked in for 5 nights. Gav, Dad and the boys are doing a fishing charter, we are all going on the crab and croc tour and everyone is looking forward to just having a nice relaxing time for a while.

Ohh by the way, Gavin finally shaved!! Thank God he's back, now instead of travelling with Ned Kelly I can continue to enjoy travelling with my Gav!

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Photos

Casting for bait fish
Gavin caught heaps of bait fish at Vriliya Point

Log bridge crossing
We had to cross another log bridge to get to Vriliya Point

Preparing the fire
Gavin and Luke getting the fire ready

Road Train
The road trains out here are huge and boy do they leave a massive dust cloud behind.

Time for lunch
Lunch break on the side of the road.

Lost Track
Where did the track go. Gav and Dad went up ahead to look for it!

Comments

[sonia]

Fruit bat falls looks amazing!!! enjoy the rest xxx

[Amanda]

Jealous!
Looks like you guys are having a ball! Jealous!!!