CAPE YORK TRIP - 2005

Weipa to Seisia
Monday 8 August to Friday 12 August

We had a few days of repair work and phone calls between Bushtracker, the welder and Mike. The suspension on the caravan was eventually repaired by Craig the welder. It was a design fault and Bushtracker directed what needed to be done. Bushtracker had also sent a new Solar Regulator to replace the faulty one which Steve the auto-electrician fitted. We had the car checked to make sure that nothing had rattled loose in the corrugations so far. Nothing was needed to be done to the car and we now had peace of mind for the rest of the journey. We got to know the Weipa community pretty well!!

The caravan park was in such a lovely setting that we really enjoyed our stay in Weipa.

We took a bus tour of Weipa that included the Comalco Bauxite mine. Fantastic history and the BIG trucks and excavators are just like big Tonkas. We were able to get right next to the trucks. Comalco prefers women drivers because there are fewer repairs on vehicles that are driven by females!!

We left Weipa on Thursday morning, 3 of us in convoy, and headed back the 146km on the Peninsula Road. towards the Telegraph Road. What a fantastic drive it was. The fixed suspension made all the difference and the road was great.

After a brief lunch stop and gossip we drove to Moreton Telegraph Station, 72km north of the turnoff onto the Telegraph Rd.

All of these stations have a great history and dated flood levels. We stopped for a look, chat and an ice cream. As Mike started the car our tyre sensor started beeping at us letting us know that we had a flat tyre. A small thin piece of tree had gone right through the tyre. We managed to change it in about 20 minutes. We are getting quite good at all this stuff.

We continued north, the 40km, to Bramwell Junction. It was a big spread out caravan park, powered sites, hot showers, BBQ dinner. We even had time to repair our tyre with our repair kit. Who could ask for more? After gathering information from others at the campsite John & Rhonda decided to leave their van at Bramwell Junction and just take their 4WD to the Tip of Cape York.

Friday morning we set off early with John’s car in the lead and 2 caravans following in convoy. It was a fantastic day. The roads were not too bad, there were corrugations and sandy spots but it seemed to me that the road we had taken into Lakefield National Park was worse. We had decided to travel part of the way on the Old Telegraph Road, on the advice of others. We were told that there was only one section that may be a little difficult so we decided to try it with the plan of turning back if it was too hard.

The difficult spot was the Cockatoo Creek crossing. We looked at it, I walked the river to see the depth of the potholes and then we decided that it was safe to do. The pictures tell the story. There were at least 7 vehicles travelling north and 2 travelling south at the crossing.

It was nerve racking and exciting all at once. Mike drove across while I took pictures and helped direct him on the hand held UHF. The vegetation of the countryside changes dramatically from area to area depending on the soil and climate, as the road progresses north. Grasslands, lots of scrub, palms, gums, paperbarks. The bird life is varied and spectacular.

We arrived in Seisia which is a little township on the coast near Bamaga. (about 40km from the actual tip of Cape York) in the afternoon and are camped right on the beach on Endeavour Strait with the Torres Islands in view.

After such a fantastic day we all decided to go to the Burgers and Beer night at the Seisia Fishing Club which is only run on Friday nights. We were joined by other Bushtracker owners also staying in the caravan park. A most fun night. We are all looking forward to leaving our caravans behind and driving to the northern most Tip of Australia on Sunday.