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Published: July 23rd 2012
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Thursday 21st June
The plan was to make Musgrave Station on this day but again car trouble plagued us, thankfully we became aware of the trouble in Coen and we made repairs there but things could have been much worse if we had been on the track to Normanton as we had intended. We noticed oil coming out of the left hand front wheel hub and suspected a wheel bearing, we parked under a tree at the camp ground behind the Exchange Hotel to inspect the problem, unfortunately the bearing had collapsed completely and needed some serious equipment to effect a repair. The local mechanic was a nice guy who told us he could do the job the next day and was even kind enough to lend me some tools initially to see if I could do it myself. It meant overnighting in Coen but the camp site wasn’t too bad. As it turned out the wheel bearings front and rear were shot to pieces and needed replacing, as was the front stub axle. Again miraculously, he had a wrecked 80 series with an intact front hub assembly that we could rat parts off, so although
it was expensive it only took a day to fix! By 4pm on Friday we were on the road and determined to make up for some lost time by driving into the night and hopefully reaching Mareeba? It was certainly an experience driving along the gravel roads of the cape at night and it was a great relief when the gravel finally gave way to bitumen a few kilometres outside of Laura. We didn’t quite make Mareeba and overnighted in a seedy little hotel room at Lakelands, the only place we could find to stay.
Rising early the next day we headed into Mareeba for fuel and some supplies and to seek info on the back track to Mt Surprise and whether it was viable to head that way? It was and after a pleasant stop at the Coffee Works in Mareeba for refreshments we headed out towards Dimbulah and the back track to Mt Surprise. Just after Almaden the road turns gravel, as it turns out the first half of this road is the domain of road trains heading to Mt Garnet and we met a couple on the track. About 50 k’s from Mt Surprise
the road deviates from the road train route and becomes more of a track than a road and crosses a number of beautiful creeks. It was after 3pm and so we decided to stop at one of these creeks and do our first full bush camp for the trip. This was where the adventure started!
The creek was wide and sandy and not very deep and the best camp site appeared to be in a sandy area in the middle of the various arms of the creek. After walking it and deciding it was quite firm we decided to make that our camp site. Unfortunately it was not as firm as we thought and the car and trailer sank down into the wet sand. Undeterred I let down the tyre pressures and tried to extricate ourselves, this only dug us deeper into the sand. Then came the next stages of recovery, digging out the wheels, attaching the winch to a nearby tree and utilising my home made max traxs! None of this proved successful and with night approaching and the car and trailer firmly bogged to the eyeballs we were running out of options. Help came in
the form of Bruce and Lucinda who were camped nearby and heard our troubles, with lots of effort and digging we successfully got the trailer disconnected from the car, then used their vehicle to drag the trailer around so at least it was heading out of the creek rather than in. With the trailer disconnected the winch was able to pull the car to firmer ground and I was able to drive out, we then reconnected the trailer and drove out, the sun was setting so we chose a firm spot just off the track to set up for the night right next to the creek, tired and sore and sweaty but we had had a true 4wd adventure.
After dinner we wandered down to Bruce and Lucinda’s camp to share a drink and thank them for their help. They are cattle farmers from central Queensland, just south of Emerald; surprisingly as we talked we found out that Bruce was in the middle of riding his bike from Wilson’s Promontory in the South to the tip of Cape York in the North, an epic journey. Lucinda drove ahead and set up camp each day as he rode
on average 120 km per day. It had taken him just on five weeks so far. Even more surprising was the fact that in 2009 they had traversed the country from West to East along the Gunbarrel Highway, again Bruce on his bike and Lucinda with the camp trailer. What amazing and wonderful people you meet along the way! Thanks Bruce and Lucinda for your help.
Steve, Jen, Zan and Will
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