Mike & Carol's Bushtracker Adventures Around Australia: August 2005

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.

Blurry, final sunset at Seisia

One of three entry gates on the 10km drive into the centre of Bramwell Station

Bramwell Station - Bar and Restaurant

That mystical feeling looking out at Bramwell Station from the restaurant under a huge mango tree

Oh Oh a DIP sign, what does this mean?

This is what you see after the DIP sign, a huge drop in the road to a creek or stream crossing - one of hundreds between the TIP and Cooktown

Bob Mackay checking out the busted shock absorber on our van - at his home / office / distillery

Bob Mackay, welder, gold miner, a most wonderful human being who also makes great rum

This is the Hahn River - no water

See the Jabiru (black bird) centre back of this photo at one of the many rivers we crossed

It is hell to drive on but just so very beautiful

...and then there was Bitumen

The Barron River behind our Caravan Park in Mareeba

CAPE YORK TRIP - 2005

The Northern Most Tip of Australia
Saturday 13 August to Saturday 20 August

Our caravan position at Seisia Caravan Park had the most fantastic view of the Endeavour Strait and the Torres Strait Islands. We spent some quiet time on Saturday just doing mundane housework and relaxing. We have really learnt how to relax. There is no rushing any more.
Sunday we took a day trip that included magnificent Punsand Bay, a beautiful beach and caravan park.

From there we headed further north to the Croc Tent, which is a compulsory shopping stop and of course we bought the compulsory T shirts but were not allowed to wear them until we had actually “made it to the TOP”.

We then took the short cut to the top after being told that the road was not too bad and the trees blocking the track had just been cleared.
Our time at the top was spectacular. From the car park it is a 15min walk through rainforest which leads to a white sand beach.

The tide was out, which enabled us to walk to the top on the sand and we walked up the cliff to get the view from the top, on our return journey. The pictures tell the story.
We opened and drank the bottle of Asti Spumante when we got there. Just a small glass each, sharing it between the 6 of us.

Then we put a piece of paper in the bottle saying where we were, who we were, the longitude and latitude and our satellite phone number, pushed the cork back in and threw the bottle into the Torres Strait.

We then took the sand beach road to a place called Somerset which was the site of the first Government station on the Cape established in 1864. Very little is left and these places are very poorly marked but we managed to find it.

Monday was spent on a day trip by ferry to Thursday Island. What a fantastic place. It is now the centre for many Australian Government Departments, quarantine, defence etc. A small community where everyone knows everything and everybody but VERY friendly and a lot of employment opportunities for the locals.

One of three guns protecting the shipping lanes at Green Hill Fort (built in 1891) on top of Thursday Island.

Monument to all divers lost off Thursday Island diving for mother of pearl shells.
The hospital and schools cater for all the islands in the region. We had a great day having lunch at the Federal Hotel.

Our next day trip was to a place called Muttee Heads, south west of Seisia, where the mighty Jardine River enters the Endeavour Strait. More fantastic beaches with white sand and beautiful blue water.

No swimming is possible anywhere because of the salt water crocodiles. Muttee Heads is where the military had a major radar tower and a couple of gun pits during WW2.
There is also the remains of an old WW2 wharf.

We then drove to the wreck of a DC3 aircraft, then to the wreck of a Beaufort Bomber near Bamaga Airport. We drove past old WW2 44 gallon fuel dumps. It was creepy.

By Thursday we packed up and said our farewells to the TOP and headed south. We got 110km along our journey when we struck suspension problems in our caravan and had to hobble back to Seisia Caravan Park. Our co travellers continued on their journey south. We are now here until parts arrive and the repairs are done. Seems like “Ground Hog Day” to me!!!

We are enjoying our fantastic spot on the beach and have almost become locals. Our second Friday night at the Seisia Fishing Club burgers and beer night and we spent a fantastic Saturday at the Bamaga Show, which is the event of the year. Everything runs on local time; it will happen when it is ready. The mud car races, the Bamaga Horse Race and Rodeo were great fun to watch.

Watching the locals with their kids was just as much fun for me. Sometimes you felt you were looking at a Pro Hart painting.

The local island children are just beautiful.

We were most pleased when Mark, the mechanic fixing our van won the mud races. We already knew many of the faces!!

Fellow Bushtracker friends that we had to leave behind in Coen while they waited for parts have now arrived in Seisia so there are still 3 Bushtracker caravans here and we seem to spend quite a lot of time together.

The caravan on the right is us at Seisia Caravan Park

Here we are at Punsand Bay

Beach at Punsand Bay - just so peaceful

The famous Croc Tent - friends of Rhonda and John own this - they Walked from Cairns to the Tip of Cape York then bought this business.

Shortcut road to the tip of Cape York

Rainforest on the way to the Tip from the car park

Walking onto the Beach at the Tip of Cape York

Looking towards York Island from the beach at the Tip

The beach at the top of Cape York

We did it - we made it to the northern most Tip of mainland Australia

Leith, Carol and Rhonda wearing that very important T-Shirt

Celebrating our arrival at the Tip of Cape York

Mike throwing Asti Message Bottle into Torres Strait looking towards York Island

Creek crossing on our way to Somerset

We drove across 5 beaches like this on the way to Somerset

Canon remains at Somerset

Thursday Island Ferry at Seisia Wharf

Welcome sign at Thursday Island Wharf

Thursday Island Warrior

View of Thurdsay Island from Green Hill Fort

Gun at Green Hill Fort built in 1891

Monument to Divers lost retrieving Mother of Pearl Shells

Federal Hotel on Thursday Island

Fantastic beaches at Muttee Heads looking towards mouth of Jardine River

Remains of Radar Tower at Muttee Heads

Remains of an old WW2 wharf at Muttee Heads

We then drove to the wreck of a DC3 aircraft

Wreck of a Beaufort Bomber near Bamaga Airport

Bamaga Mud Race for 4WD

Sam racing in the Bamaga Mud Race for 4WD

Bamaga Horse Race

These bulls are serious animals

Watching the Rodeo with the locals and Peter (another Bushtracker owner)

Bamaga Rodeo

Sometimes you felt you were looking at a Pro Hart painting.

Watching the locals with their kids was just as much fun for me.

The local island children are just beautiful.

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.

Gosh this is tough to take - tomorrow we will go to the tip

Even the washing is smiling

Seisia - this is our view to the left

Seisia - this is our view to the right

A Kyte flies overhead

Carol sitting in front of our van updating her electronic diary while the washing dries under our awning

Saturday morning, our vans are right on the beach, million dollar views, $20 per night cost - just fantastic

Sunset at Seisia - we made it

Such pretty views

We are on the ferry, Steve behind us waits for the ferry to drop us and return for him

The famous Jardine River - no wonder you need a ferry - couldn't cross this by car

The cost of the Jardine River Ferry is $99.00 both ways, and you can cross as many times as you like for one whole year - as if

We wanted to go to Fruit Bat Falls but could not get our caravans in and out so we just stopped here for lunch on the road

We did it - everyone's heart was racing

Nearly out but back of van slipped into a pot-hole

Our exhaust is now under water so we must keep going

Into Cockatoo Creek we go

Well, we made it down the decline, now for the creek

Slowly down this very steep decline - all 7 tonnes of us

Okay let's go

We were warned of very deep and dangerous pot-holes but Carol mapped a path which only went up to her knees

Carol walking across Cockatoo Creek to check depth levels before we drive across

We thought the Cockatoo puddle was the Cockatoo Creek - we were wrong - this is the dreaded Cockatoo Creek - oh oh!!!

But we are through - great. Leith is taking photos and John watches anxiously

Not much room

It's narrow and steep

We decide to go on and finally hit this - the Cockatoo puddle

How different and beautiful the land of the Ranger Station is

We agree to ask at the Ranger Station about the road ahead - Carol and Steve confirm its only 13km down the side track

Okay - Carol and I will wait here for the other Bushtrackers

Another part of the track - the road varies so often

We decided to take the Heathlands side track to avoid 40km of really badly corrugated road

Believe it or not this is the main Peninsula Road

Getting ready for a big day - Bramwell to Seisia and we are not sure if we can make it

Dawn at Bramwell Junction - high termite mounds everywhere

We finally arrived at Bramwell Junction after 260km of reasonable but corrugated track from Weipa

A twig no bigger than a long match flattened the the tyre on the right. It is the little dot you can see on the tyre wall just above my right heel

Moreton Telegraph Station

Looking East along saltwater croc infested Wenlock River

Famous Wenlock River, a real landmark just before you reach the Moreton Telegraph Station

We are on the road heading to the turn-off

Brahma cattle on the road from Weipa to Moreton Telegraph Station

Another beautiful sunset at Weipa

So she could dump her top soil load. A regeneration team then goes to work planting replacement trees and shrubs within weeks of the bauxite being removed

This woman driver was not going to stop - we had to move and fast

Then put back the top soil in smaller trucks capable of holding around 40 tonnes

Comalco cut down the trees, scrape the ground, dig up the top soil to reveal the bauxite seam, then mine that down to the iron base

This is Bauxite (aluminium) being loaded into a haul truck capable of holding over 130 tonnes of material - massive

Weipa Welding - Craig and Adam great guys that fixed our van in two days

The welding let go on two other shock absorbers - just bad welding!

Shock absorber tore away from the main chassis of the van - BIG Problem.

CAPE YORK TRIP - 2005

Lakefield National Park to Weipa

Sunday 31 July to Sunday 7 August

Four Bushtrackers left Cooktown and headed north to Lakefield National Park on our way to the tip. We looked quite spectacular heading off in convoy. We crossed our first couple of river crossings including the Normanby River, lunched at Lake Emma which was more like a marsh that the feral pigs had destroyed and headed towards Old Laura station. A fantastic old cattle station. I don’t know how the pioneers survived.

We hit our first bit of trouble when Phil and Helen announced over the UHF radio that the pin connecting the caravan to the car had broken and they had lost the caravan. After some temporary repairs we arrived at Kalpowar Crossing camping area which was home for the next 4 days while we waited for Phil’s spare part to arrive. Exploring the area, eating fresh Barramundi caught in the river, watching the many different birds, kangaroos next to the caravans, green frogs in the bathroom, cane toads, bright stars and the space shuttle go over at night filled in the time. Mike was chopping some wood for the BBQ and managed to chop into his leg. All is OK now, but it just added to the adventure of the day!!!! We cooked our first meal in the Dutch Oven buried in the coals. We had lots of time to sit around the campfire and wait.

We finally left Kalpowar Crossing and as we were hitching up to go John managed to drive his 4WD into a tree and just gently bend his bull bar and smash his headlight. We hadn’t gone very far when we got another call from Phil on the UHF radio that he had blown a tyre on his caravan. He was thinking “Why me”. It happened to bend the axle!!!

We crossed the Hahn River, Salt Water Creek and beautiful Lotus Pond with lots of Lilly pads and Magpie Geese. We arrived at Musgrave Roadhouse, an oasis in the bush and part of the original telegraph line, where petrol, an ice-cream or beer was needed before we headed north to Coen.

We stopped for the night at the caravan park in Coen only to be confronted with the smell of burning electricals and smoke coming from our cupboard just before we lost all 12V power. Once we disconnected everything and found the melted wire but an intact fuse we managed to save our food supplies in the fridge and freezer by plugging our car fridge into 240V which was the only thing working in the caravan. A bit more adventure than we wanted in one day but we still managed to see the funny side of it!!

The next morning we had to leave Phil and Helen in Coen who were now waiting for the new axle and we headed for Weipa as quickly as we could as it was Friday and we needed to have an auto electrician fix our electrical problem. The road was fantastic (relatively), the scenery and bush beautiful as always and when we got to the Archer River Roadhouse, another oasis in the bush and also part of the original telegraph line, we were given the name and phone number of an auto electrician in Weipa. We phoned him as we approached Weipa, he was about to close for the weekend, but waited for us to arrive and fixed our problem. Such a nice guy and he even lives in the caravan park in Weipa where we are staying. We are right on the beach, a beautiful spot. Weipa is a Comalco mining town.

Saturday was Open day at the Australian Air Force Base Scherger which gave us the opportunity to see F111’s close up and on manoeuvres and talk to some of the air force people . There were so many people there; we wondered where they all came from.

We spent Sunday on a fantastic daytrip north to a settlement called Mapoon. More beautiful coastline and on the way home we stopped at Pennefeather River. These huge sandy dry river beds must be frightening in the wet.

The day was not over yet as just before we left for dinner at the Golf Club we discovered that one of the shock absorbers on our caravan had torn away from the chassis. We won’t be going anywhere until we can get it fixed!! Mike’s mission tomorrow is to find a welder to fix the van.

Just another hiccup. Despite all these little hurdles we are having a great time, seeing spectacular scenery and meeting wonderful people.

Okay it's time to go back to Weipa - how do we get out of the 50cm deep soft white sand of the Pennefeather River

Looking from the beach towards the sand dunes to Pennefeather River - what a fabulous sky

Short walk to the beach on the Gulf of Carpentaria over sand dunes from the Pennefeather River

Believe it or not this is the Pennefeather River

Local Aboriginies catching heaps of bream on hand lines at Mapoon

Mapoon Beach - Mike, Rhonda, Leith, Steve and John

Huge Comalco rail cars also shunt bauxite around Weipa

This is one of those trucks moving bauxite on the special mining road from mine to harbour

Approach to mining road where massive trucks shunt bauxite at very high speed

We took a 4km detour to look at Red Beach - red because bauxite (the source of aluminium) is red

Very long one lane bridge over Mission River

This is the Mission River - we are doing a day trip up to Mapoon some 90km north - an Aboriginal Community

This morning ants moving their eggs to higher ground tells us its going to rain in the next 48 hours

Weipa at sunset - just beautiful

Sun setting at Weipa

The beach at dusk at our caravan park - Weipa

Amazing just how many people came from wherever to see two F111's here at Scherger Airforce Base where 550 airforce personel are conducting a training exercise this week