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Before we leave Coen we go to visit Charlies goldmine, which belongs to an old Maltese chap who has been running a gold mine since the 1960's. He has made his house from old bottles and scap metal and has some cool metalic sculptures in his yard. He has loads of stories to tell and we will definetly camp overnight here on the way back down and do some panning for gold. This would be a great tourist place to attract lots more people to Coen, but the Government wont let him set it up as a business so if you go he just points where the river is and you go off and do some gold panning. Such a shame as if it got more publiciity it would be a brilliant thing to do on the way to the tip.
Today we drive about 250kms to Bramwell junction past the Archer river. The roads are worse here and there are lots of creeks for me to wade through to see which is the best path for Tank to take, but no croc sightings. By the time we get to Bramwell at 4pm I am ready for a shower and
the car is now filled with red dust from the roads. The biker guys are here too for the night so we have a good chin wag and play some cards before heading off to bed. As we go back to the car we notice there are loads of cane toads everywhere.
In the morning the birds wake us up really early and we only have about another 200kms to get to Bamaga pretty much our final destination. The roads start out really easy and I am syaing how easy this is and I cant believe the stories people tell about this track etc etc when suddenly the road does turn into a really sandy track. Shenton has had loads of practice on Fraser Island driving in the sand so it is not a problem and he is finding it really fun. We are close to the track ending and the road starting again when we hear a loud pop and then a hissing sound.....crap we have burst a tyre.
We get out to start to fix it and then 2 cars appear and give us a hand. This is really lucky as we have not seen many
other cars since we left Coen and dont in fact see many more on our travels. So we get fixed up and head to Fruit Bat falls. This is fantastic, we have the place to ourselves and have a lovely swim and I record a couple of songs on the guitar with the falls behind. I would try to put this on the blog but I cant seem to get Video to upload so you will have to wait to hear that when I am back :-)
After fruit bat falls the rest of the way is pretty good in terms of the road condition, there are plenty of corrugations and pot holes but only a couple of creeks and most of this drive we do without even 4wd on. To get to Bamaga you have to cross the Jardine river using a ferry. The ferry ride is so short it is probably only 100meters across but it costs $88 return for the trip! We arrive at the crossing at 12.15 and noone seems to be around either in the shop or on the ferry. There is a car outside with its radio going and the door open but
noone around, very odd. We make some lunch and have a cup of tea and still noone is around. Eventually at 1pm two blokes come out of a room at the back and say they were on lunch break......
Only another 50km to Bamaga and the track is a little worse than before until we reach the outskirts of Bamaga when it is paved roads. We are staying at a place called loyalty beach which, as the name suggests, is on the beach but still no swimming here even though the sand is golden and the water crystal clear, as crocs are seen here everyday.
We plan to spend a couple of days here, Shenton is going fishing tomorrow with the bikers, then we will go to the actual tip and explore this area and go to Thursday Island before we head back down South.
I am really glad we decided to do this trip and not get put off by all the people telling us horror stories and that the roads were closed, which in fact had been open for a week so while we were in Cairnes they were open and information and RACQ told
us they were closed! The only part that was closed was the old telegraph trail but you dont have to go on that road to get to the tip anyway!
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roberta
non-member comment
Maltese
Hi Nic Fancy that a Maltese in the middle of nowhere owning a goldmine......typical. have a great time xx Rob