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Published: October 3rd 2007
Endeavour River Escape - Lakelands - Musgrave Roadhouse - Coen Day 204
Friday, September14, 2007
Finally off to the Cape! Travelling via the Peninsular Developmental road (everything up here is a “something” Developmental Road - perhaps QLD needs to move on). The road initially has stretches of gravel of varying quality interspersed with brilliant sections of bitumen that are spaced at variable intervals and sometimes seem to be placed for no apparent reason. I’m sure there is some logic in there somewhere but its not immediately apparent to us. We were not too interested in this first section as we had covered it previously on our way back from Lakefield NP as far as Musgrave Roadhouse. We passed a reasonable amount of traffic heading south so hopefully we will cover what we need to see before the school holidays kick in and the people on too short a timeframe, covering way too much ground begin their idiotic dash to the tip.
Our trip was accompanied by another talking book - having now finished the second series of the Deltora Quest - this kept the kids reasonably amused on a drive which was not of a particularly interesting nature. The
Central Arnhem Road to Nhulunbuy was (so far) much more interesting. Hopefully this changes as we head into the northern reaches of the Peninsula.
Stopped briefly at Coen to fuel up - we also had some bloke in front of us who had a leaking fuel tank (petrol) and who was frantically trying to find the source of the leak. Not surprisingly w were keen to finish fuelling up and get away from someone whose car may well turn into a fireball at any moment. Having a whole swag of aboriginal experts with fags offering advice probably wasn’t the best way of limiting the potential to meet your maker sooner rather than later. We saw the same bloke pass us whilst at camp an hour or so later so he obviously got it fixed to some degree without blowing himself, or half the population of Coen, to oblivion.
We continued to just north of Coen where a free campsite on the banks of the Coen River was available - Coen itself not seeming to be overly inviting. This spot was quite good with shallow pools of water of a nice temperature and grassy and sandy sites for the
choosing. Several other people thought so too and it seems to be a pretty popular spot, albeit close to the road and hence subject to the noise of the midnight runner road train jockeys. One of these guys barrelled past at around 2:00am and scared the living bejesus out of me as it sounded like he had missed the slight bend in the road and was heading for our camp. Luckily this was just a figment of my imagination in my semi awake state being awoken by the joyous strains of his engine retarder being utilised to slow him down. My bet would be that this would be a favourite ploy of those truck drivers who, whilst old enough to hold a licenc,e are still yet to grow up mentally and think that waking up a whole swag of characters in a campground is an amusing thing to do at the wee hours of the morning….then again I could be wrong.
Brayden had a great time riding his bike in and out of the creek crossing - ostensibly to “wash his bike” - although this seemed to encompass at least 50 passes through the creek crossing and back again.
Fruit Bat Falls
Top spot for a swimCertainly kept him amused for a fair while. A good spray with the Inox / CRC afterwards would keep it from seizing up. Admittedly it did also wash his bike of the accumulated fine red dust we pick up on each leg so it wasn’t a bad thing.
Apparently the locals all swim around here and there are only the odd “freshies” every now and again. There were quite a few kids having a swim and I think the head count was the same at the start and end of the swim so it seems safe enough - at least today!
Another big day driving tomorrow - many kilometres of corrugations await us!
Coen - Archer R iver Roadhouse - Moreton Telegraph Station - Bramwell Station Day 205
Saturday, 15 September 2007
Only did 222 kms today but it felt like one of the longest days we have done to date. The drive from Coen to Bramwell Station is certainly not the most interesting drives Australia has to offer! This was a bit surprising as we expected it to be not unlike that of the drive up the Central Arnhem Rd - and whilst it has
some similarities its not as scenic. Admittedly we are getting towards the end of the dry season so perhaps not seeing the country at its best perhaps.
Before we left Coen we went for a ride / walk to the small waterfall further up the Coen River. This was quite nice (and more so if you have it to yourself such as we did) - although relatively small, but good enough for a quick swim before setting off further north. Also found a great little campsite which we may well come back to on the way back through dependent on our schedule / progress.
Again the drive was punctuated by little bits of bitumen seal - in the middle of nowhere and for no apparent reason or logic behind their placement. Various parts of the Peninisular Developmental Rd are in the process of being upgraded - no doubt due to the request/insistence of the Weipa mine and due in no small part probably to the dollars that they also throw at it, again which is fair enough too. We have heard that parts of the road into Weipa can be travelled at highway speeds - which for us
is still below 90kmh anyway so makes limited difference to our forward progress! Corrugations haven’t been too bad but as with most tracks there are good bits and shocking bits. Various people we have met and spoken to along the way have said that the road is in better nick than it has been for a long time.
Once turning off ‘PDR’ Weipa the road changes into a smaller maintained road akin to something more like what you would expect - although not quite the Overland Telegraph Track. We stopped at the Wenlock River for lunch and were disappointed to see that many other people had stopped here also, nothing wrong in that by any means, but their toileting habits were akin to Neanderthals. One wonders at the mentality of some people - obviously nonconformists to the Darwinian theory of evolution who have yet to remove themselves from the gene pool! It seems that being able to walk a full100m and dig a small hole and burning toilet paper is far too much effort for many people (people being used in the loosest sense only).
Pulled into Bramwell Station to camp for the night at $20.00/family pretty good value.
Twin Falls
Kids underwater at twin Falls Nice grassed areas and a bit of shade - albeit with the ever present station drone of the diesel genset in the not too distant background. It appeared that the station yards were fallen into disrepair from lack of use and that they had switched to tourism as the main source of income but they still seemed to have a few beasts around - maybe just for show! There was a solitary horse which obviously thought of itself as one of the bar staff as it seemed to be forever stuck in the doorway with its head near the bar fridge! A “FourX connoisseur” perhaps - a definition of an oxymoron if ever a definition existed.
Spoke to a few people a the bar in the evening ($4.50 ‘4x Gold’) - a couple of older gents who had been going out to the mouth of the Olive River (accessed from Bramwell and on the east coast of the peninsular) for many years on their annual weekly fishing trip ‘sans ball and chains’. They had a few interesting stories to tell including one of a hermit character who lived out at the river mouth and who only recently went missing.
Twin Falls
Magic place to camp Rumour has it (some good ol Cape York gossip) that some form of foul play is suspected but whether this be by crocodile or drug runner or quarantine smugglers is open to Cape York population speculation. Having said that, he was 70 odd - although a body has never been found and his shack and other belongings apparently looked as though he had just stepped out the door for a smoke. Ahhhh the intrigue of it all! Late to bed at around 10:00pm - probably one of our latest to date!!!
Bramwell Station - Bramwell Junction - The ‘OTL’ - Fruitbat Falls - Eliot Falls Day 206
Sunday, 16 September 2007
After winding our way through some large termite mounds on the outskirts / entrance track to Bramwell Station we passed through Bramwell Junction. Bramwell Junction is situated on the crossroads of the OTL (Overland Telegraph Line) and the southern bypass road. Having decided we were doing the OTL come what may we followed the one handpainted sign indicating the route to the OTL. Surprisingly, given the amount of traffic this track must get on a yearly basis, it is still just a two wheeled
Cannibal Creek
We found a bog hole and dropped the tojo's bum on the ground and the trailers nose hit the ground too. track along much of its length. Not long into it we were down a steep sided creek embankment , though a mudhole and exiting out the easier northern side. A good start for some decent 4wdriving.
There are many remnants of the OTL poles scattered along the track but most are bent over. I am not certain whether this occurred as part of a recovery of the wire or is simply just a wanton act of vandalism by some low lifes. It would seem to me to be difficult to bend these poles which are pretty strong and most seem to be bent in a similar fashion. Either way the majority of the poles are still there - all still galvanised - as a beacon of your progress and a pointer on where you’re headed.
Eliot Falls Day 207
Monday, 17 September 2007
With Eliot falls / Twin Falls / Saucepan Falls being such a nice place it was difficult not to spend a full day here - which is just what we did. Luckily we have that option of being able to alter our itinerary and stay as we wish without having to spend just
Cannibal Creek2
...and its steeper than it looks in the photo one evening there and carry on the next day…. although that style of travelling will very soon be upon us!
Spent some time schooling the kids with the reward being a number of swims throughout the day. To be able to swim without the threat of crocodiles eating you was a welcome return to ‘normality’ - with the added bonus of it being pristine, clear, clean fresh water of a perfect temperature. We swam at all three falls and even tried out our underwater pouch for the digital camera without teaching it to swim as well. So we now have the option of being able to take underwater photographs, albeit of a limited depth, but underwater photographs just the same. So we now have a whole swag of bubbly photos with funny strained looks on the kids faces. Its not a perfect underwater housing by any stretch of the imagination but it will do us @ $65.00 vs several hundred for the ‘real Mccoy’. We originally bought this in Cairns for our trip out to the Great Barrier Reef (which is still yet to occur) but we thought it would come in handy anyway.
A good day of
Mistake Creek1
Didnt make a mistake on this crossing though... swimming and schooling to try and get the kids back on track - we seem to be forever playing catchup, although we seem to be doing more than most other people we have met. Hopefully that pays off in the short term and long terms.
Eliot Falls -Sam Creek - Mistake Creek - Cannibal Creek - Cypress Creek - Bridge Creek (Nolans Brook) Day 208
Tuesday, 18 September 2007
The day of being stuck !!!
Having chickened out at Gunshot Creek (to my utter disgust - although probably a good decision) we couldn’t not attempt the log bridge crossing at Cypress Creek. So northwards along the OTL towards the numerous creek crossings. Most of these were pretty reasonable if you picked your route correctly but many have been chopped up and there are some pretty deep bog holes along the way. When we got to Bridge Creek / Nolans Brook our fortunes changed a little…….
The crossing is noted as being reasonably deep - at the time of our crossing the holes were just shy of waist high. As we have a snorkel and extended diff breathers getting a little wet wasn’t a problem but the
Mistake Creek2
..and out the other side. soft sand on the exit and the 1.2 tonne of sea anchor (aka camper trailer) out the back had designs on making it a little harder than it looked. I walked the crossing a couple of times to pick my route but with the sand being loosely packed it had no guts at all. As the car was exiting through the soft sand the trailer was going through the deepest part of the creek. All this added up to our losing forward progress and becoming laterally challenged! As the car was semi submerged and the trailer was above the mudguard the situation we found ourselves in had a reasonable degree of gravity so to speak. Not to worry I thought, unhitch the trailer drive out on to firm ground and run a strap back to the trailer and pull her out. As it happened this was easier said than done. The soft sand was now just fluff and was akin to a slurry more so than anything that would allow any form of tractive force and so even with diff locks on wheel rotation resulted in a sinking feeling. Hmmmm thought I - this could be interesting. With the tide
Cypress Creeeeeek
the old log bridge is about as dodgy as it looks and requires a bit of rebuilding before venturing out onto it with 2t of vehicle and 1t of trailer. line on the back door about 20cm above the bottom door sill and water above the level of the car doors access was now via the windows! Fortunately the front was higher and the important bits of the engine (and bellhousing/clutch thankfully) were predominately out of harms way. With the heart rate a tad elevated the recovery gear - previously only used to recover other peoples vehicles from sandy bogs - was now put into play for our own use. The hand winch that I have carried for many tens of thousands of kilometres over the course of 10 years and has never seen any used in earnest (other than practice runs at home) was now going to be put to the test. Tree protectors, load dispersing bridles, pulleys, winch extension strap, bow shackles and the necessary wire cable were all pulled out. Luckily our cable was able to reach and a straight line pull was able to occur. I’d decided on just pulling the vehicle out and once on solid ground using it to drag the trailer out with a strap.
The business end of the winching was pretty hard going - much harder than when I had
Cypress Crreeek2
Gently gently.... used the winch to pull a few tree stumps out at home! More importantly though the car was inching its way out of the sand - inching literally as this was about the distance that each throw on the winch lever would extend the jaws on the winch to grab the cable and inexorably pull our little Tojo to the safety of solid ground. With the safety thing being upmost in my mind, especially with a cable tensioned by a 2.5 tonne vehicle being pulled out of boggy sand we had the kids keep away from recovery operations by playing with our rubber groundsheet (which floats) in the river . they had a ball. In the meantime I was flogging my guts out on the end of a winch lever…but extremely happy at the end of it when one now cleanish (certainly on the underside!) Tojo was sitting on dry ground and it started and the clutch didn’t slip!!! All that remained was to drag our poor looking little trailer out of the creek as it looked so forlorn sitting in the creek all by itself up to its mudguards in clean, clear fresh water! Simply skulldragged the old trailer
with the strap out onto harder ground rehooked up and away!
Given the length of time we were in the water things got a little wet, obviously, as although the seals are dustproof they cant be guaranteed to keep out water for too long. Such was the case as water was running out of the back of the trailer. Luckily the north side of the creek had a good campsite so we decided to park up there and assess our gear. Our nose cone had about 2 inches of water in it and water had obviously got into the main part of the trailer so some towels and sleeping bags had got a little wet. The aftermath of our creek adventure was that most things came out and got hung up to dry. Still there were worse places to camp.
As it happened there was only one other bloke which presented to the crossing during all our time there and he was going south and made it through easily. Lucky we had all our own recovery gear and were self sufficient to get ourselves out otherwise we would have been sitting in the creek until late afternoon for
help…and even then we would have counted ourselves as lucky.
Travelling in solo, like with all modes of transport, has its pros and cons, and you need to be self sufficient and confident in your ability (although a healthy dose of realism also helps) to get through - or recognise that, without another vehicle to help out, turning back is the smartest thing to do. The rampant ego normally overrides what the head often says though and because you heard from a bloke who had a friend whos little old mother crossed there in a 2WD back in the 40’s ….
Campground stories get bandied around fairly liberally but one thing is for sure there are three sides to every story: yours, mine and the facts! With all tales of bogs, successful crossings etc there are always specific factors on that day, at that time, that all contribute to a successful crossing - or not as the case may be. So if someone were to cross the previous day its not necessarily the same set of circumstances as flowing creeks can change the exit / entry conditions. You just need to assess the situation as you find it
Gunshot Creek
Nope chickened out at this one as its a looonnnggg walk home.... and always look for yourself. ….“One mans hell is another mans heaven.”
Its all good fun and adds to the adventure - we certainly have a good story to tell!!!
Bridge Creek (Nolans Brook) - Jardine River (Sth) - Jardine River (Nth) - Injinoo - Umagico - Bamaga - Seisa - Punsand Bay. Day 209
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
With things all dried out (mostly) and packed back away we headed further north through what is known as the ‘wet desert’ - a swampy area with various bogholes and poison grass which played havoc with all the early explorers to this area. Different ballgame when food comes from the Engel in the back!!! With nothing overly challenging on the 4wd front we headed right up as far as possible along the OTL to where the original crossing across the Jardine River was situated. There used to be a bridge and also a river crossing - both of which are now in disrepair. The river crossing looks fairly innocuous but with about 80m of soft white sand before a drop offjust before the deep exit I’d reckon it caught a fair few people in its time….that and the
Gunshot Creek
Aftermath of those people who thought they would make it.... crocs that probably live in the camouflaged area just opposite the exit which you’d have to walk…..
A 35km odd detour via the ferry put us back to the same spot on the opposite side - after the payment of the $99 fee to get across. This fee ostensibly covers you for the return ferry trip and also for any bush camping north of the Jardine River. Some people complained about this but its not that bad really and your car stays dry and gets to the other side in one piece I guess. Continued through via Injinoo, Umagico, Seisa and Bamaga before finally reaching Punsand Bay relatively late in the piece.
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