CAPE YORK TRIP - 2005

Goodbye to Cape York
Sunday 21 August to Sunday 28 August

We had a very quiet week spent relaxing in Seisia and we are almost part of the local scene. We had to wait a week for the parts for our van to arrive and had to endure long walks on the beach and beautiful sunsets with time to read and watch the boats coming in and out of Torres Straight. A most difficult time.

The van was finally fixed on Friday and was test driven on corrugated roads to see if everything worked. Mike came home a happy chappy on Friday night and we went to our 3rd and final Burgers and Beer night at the Seisia Fishing Club and spent a great night with John and Lou who had fixed our van and people that we have spent time with over the past 2 weeks in Seisia.

We set off excited and a little apprehensive early Saturday morning, and drove the 483km to Coen, some of which was on the worst roads we have travelled on so far. We stopped at Bramwell Station for lunch. A most beautiful spot. The grounds are well groomed and the day was grey and rainy, giving it a very mystic feel. As we arrived we were greeted with, “Well you finally made it and are all the problems fixed on your van!!” The bush telegraph works well.

On arrival at Coen, Mike inspected under the van only to discover that one of the shock absorbers had given way. Same basic problem of the badly designed suspension but as each repair holds strong a new problem is consequently generated.

People up in the Cape are fantastic. Mike rang the welder in Coen, Bob Mackay, on Saturday night and made arrangements to see him early Sunday morning. This could only happen in the country. Bob is amongst many other things a part time gold miner and a most interesting and eccentric character. He couldn’t help us in the end because the shock absorber itself was damaged beyond repair.

We had a very careful drive for the 308km still left on dirt roads.

The scenery is so beautiful and is ever changing. As difficult as it is to travel on the unsealed roads you get a sense of freedom that is lost on the bitumen. The massive dry river beds, the big and small dips and the beautiful trees are etched into our memories. It is hard to imagine ALL of the rivers in full flow in the wet. We had a most special time at Cape York.

As we drove through Mt Carbine and Mt Molloy the temperature outside was a lot colder than we have experienced for the last 5 weeks, there was some rain, the air smelt quite different. The vegetation was the bright green of cultivated areas, and there were banana plantations and sugarcane again, the cattle looked fat and healthy. We are now camped along the Barron River in Mareeba. A new place to explore.