Across the north and up Cape York

I have been a bit lazy lately about updating the blog, although, to be fair, we have had very intermittent mobile coverage for the last month.  Bill left off at Top Springs in NT, basically a tiny spot in the middle of nowhere.  We moved on across the Buchanan Hwy, dodging suicidal cows who seem to decide at the last minute to cross the road just in front of the car.  The only other remarkable feature of this trip was the fields of termite mounds that changed colour from dark red to pale red, grey and almost white as the soil underneath them changed.

We spent a night at Long Reach Waterhole south of Newcastle Waters.  It is a pleasant campground on the edge of a large waterhole with lots of birdlife – Pelicans, Egrets, Darters, Herons and Jabiru.   We backtracked a bit the next day to visit Newcastle Waters, a historic township that was once the centre of cattle droving in NT.  In 1956/57, 97% of cattle movements in the NT were by droving.  By 1968/69, 95% of cattle were moved by truck.  As droving died, so did Newcastle Waters.

Long Reach Waterhole, NT

Jabiru Stork,  Long Reach Waterhole NT

Monument to Cattle Drovers,  Newcastle Waters NT

 We headed south to Tennant Creek, and spent a night in a caravan park. They had an interesting and amusing campfire entertainer “Little Jimmy”, a local aboriginal who was explaining some bush medicine and bush tucker, including a very nice native lemon grass tea, and some of the best damper I’ve ever tasted (similar to bannock for you Canadians reading this).

Old Telegraph Station, Tennant Creek NT

 The next day we headed across NT to the Queensland border, with fires burning along much of the highway.  We did little stopping, apart from Mt Isa for a couple of days, as we had travelled through this area twice before, and wanted to get up Cape York before the end of September.  We had mail forwarded to the Post Office in Mt Isa, but for some unknown reason it took from the 23^rd of July to the 30^th to get to Mount Isa. Our mail was then sent back as undeliverable on the 3^rd of August, well short of the 14 days they are supposed to hold it. Thanks for nothing, Australia Post.

One interesting and amusing thing we saw in Mt Isa was a lovely quilt show by the local  Quilters Guild.  All of the quilts but one were machine quilted.  When I asked about hand quilting, the ladies didn’t know anyone who still did it.  Quote “They used to teach it at TAFE, but not anymore”.

We headed north and east via Hughenden (the dinosaur centre) and Porcupine Gorge, a beautiful little National Park about 60 kilometres north of Hughenden. The campsites were on the flat above the gorge and you walked down to it.  There was a huge natural pyramid shaped rock, and small swimming holes in the river.  And the days were warm enough to swim again, although the nights were still very cold.

Dinosaur Museum Hughenden, Qld

Pyramid Rock, Porcupine Gorge Qld

 We saw one other interesting camp set up here – a motorcycle towing a tiny camper trailer that held an alarming amount of stuff – picnic shelter annex, table chairs, camp stove, fridge, food, solar shower and shower tent.  I could not figure out where they put all that stuff and I had to wonder just how hard it was to tow.

We continued on to Atherton, a beautiful green little town in the Tablelands.  We got the truck serviced in preparation for our trip to Cape York.  I also had to spend about half a day online booking all the National Park campsites in advance, as they had changed their booking system this year. You must book in advance, can’t self-register at the parks as you used to.  Very difficult as there is little internet reception in the Cape, so you have to plan about three weeks ahead.  And it does not allow for any changes of plan.  On top of that, they had changed all the names of the parks since last year, so Lakefield NP is now Rinyirru NP and Mungkan Kandju NP is now Oyala Thumotang NP (don’t ask).

We also decided to book ourselves and the truck on the sea freighter back from Seisia (near the tip of Cape York) to Cairns, so if the roads are as horrible as people say we only have to drive one way.  Other people we know have done it say it is fun and the food is supposed to be good.

We headed out of Atherton via Lake Tinaroo and Lake Barrine.  The road was very beautiful; narrow, steep, and twisty with lots of construction.  The scenery is stunning and verdant green, with a patchwork of farms and houses between the tropical rainforest.  It was lovely to be out of the red dust and back into the greenery for a change.

We stopped in Cairns for a couple of days and left our bicycles and some extra gear with friends Gaynor and Ashley.  The bikes have taken a battering on the back of the truck and we thought the Cape might be the end of them, so we let them have a little holiday.

Our drive to Cape York started up through the beautiful green rainforest of Daintree National Park. ( I know it is repititious but it is so long since we’ve seen lots of green plants).   We crossed the Daintree River on the ferry and made the essential stop at the Daintree River Ice Cream Company for lunch. We sampled the day’s four special flavours – raspberry, passionfruit, wattle seed and coconut, all grown on the property. Their beautiful grounds were lush with blooming tropical plants and brilliant blue Ulysses butterflies. After lunch we continued up the “Bloomfield Track”, a narrow, very steep and twisty gravel road with lots of potholes that was probably navigable by a careful two wheel drive, but was quite exciting enough for us. We stopped overnight at Ayton and the Lion’s Den Pub on the Bloomfield track, and two days later were in Cooktown. 

Beautiful Gardens, Daintree River Ice Cream Company (above and below)

Jade Vine, Lion's Den Pub, Bloomfield Track Qld

Cassowary, Daintree National Park Qld, Bloomfield Track 

We got to Cooktown 18 August, and we catch the freighter from Cape York the 17 of September, so we have lots of time to stay and investigate the cape. We spent a few days seeing the sights of Cooktown – the botanical gardens, historic cemetery, community swimming pool with early morning length swimming, the recently refurbished grassy hill and lighthouse, as well as the lighthouse south of Cooktown at Archer Point.

Lighthouse, Cooktown Qld

View from Lighthouse, Cooktown Qld

 Leaving Cooktown we left the pavement behind and headed north to the little town of Laura.  On the way we stopped at Split Rock Gallery, one of the many aboriginal rock art sites that are scattered over the southern York Peninsula.  We also stopped at the Laura Arts and Cultural Centre, which has a vey good display of the history of the area.

We camped that night at Jowalbinna (Dingo’s Ear) Station, a station and campground about 40 kilometres from Laura.  The original owner, Percy Trezise, found many long forgotten rock art sites on the property in the 1960’s, and his sons currently run the station and tours to the art sites.  We did a day tour with his son Matthew, a fund of local information, and saw many beautiful “galleries” as whites call the rock art sites.

Aboriginal Rock Art, Jowalbinna Qld (above and below)

Pancake Breakfast, Jowalbinna Bush Camp, Qld

After leaving Jowalbinna, and our kind campground hosts Richard and Maree who fed us a pancake breakfast in rerturn for us providing the maple syrup, we travelled to Lakefield NP.  The first of our “sight-unseen” pre-booked campsites was a delight.  Six Mile Waterhole was a one campsite campground – we had it all to ourselves, as well as the waterhole with Brolgas, Egrets, a Royal Spoonbill, Ibis, Herons, Burdekin Ducks and wild pigs in the early morning.  We also camped at Kalpowar Crossing, a bigger campsite that overlooks the Normanby River.  Here we saw our first Cape York crocodile, but he was just a little freshie sunning himself on a rock.

Brolgas, Six Mile Waterhole, Lakefield NP Qld

Freshwater Crocodile, Lakefield NP Qld

After three days we continued up the Cape to Coen, where we camped overnight at the pub. Great value -- $15 for a powered site.

Our next destination was Chilli Beach in the Iron Range NP.  We stopped overnight on the way at Kaanjungaachi, an aboriginal run campground on the Wenlock River. A herd of about 12-15 wild pigs ran across the road and nearly under the truck as we drove in. 

The next day we continued on to Lockhart River, an aboriginal community with a wonderful art centre where I bought a print that was very similar to some of the rock paintings at Jowalbinna.  My arts friends would be interested to know that the arts centre is a major community resource, and many people come there to paint and do printmaking.  Despite being located in a run down, former health centre and the community strongly supporting the art centre, the state government is unwilling to give them a long lease and their tenure is uncertain.  Nice to know that the arts are treated with equal disdain in all states, and large cities as well as tiny communities.

The road through Iron Range NP had been forest and more open sort of heathlands, with quite a few fires burning off the undergrowth here as well.  As we came across to the coast, however, remnant rain forest appeared as we neared Chilli Beach.  We camped for three days, just back of the beach in the trees, and spent our time exploring the white sand beaches fringed with coconut palms.  The southeast trade winds blew strong and constant, and we were glad of the protection of the trees. 

Chilli Beach Sunrise, Cape York Qld

Chilli Beach, Cape York Qld

 Of course, swimming was discouraged (crocodiles again) and the beach had an incredible amount of plastic rubbish, old thongs, plastic bottles, tubs, pails, crates, shoes, and broken unidentifiable bits.  There was masses of rope and netting, fishing floats, umbrella handles, knife handles, a plastic chair, glass bottles, bits of wooden crates, docks or piers, huge commercial size LPG tanks… The most amazing thing about this was that we were there at the beginning of September, and in August there had been a massive volunteer clean up of the beach that removed over 5 tons of rubbish!!  Horrible to think how much junk we dump in the sea – and this is where a lot of it washes up.

We zigzagged our way north up the peninsula.  To Portland Roads, a tiny fishing village with crystal clear blue-green water and a small café overlooking the bay;  Merluna Station with fresh grapefruit from their trees and a couple who run bow-hunting safaris for wild pig.  The pigs are feral pests and hunting is very popular.  They kindly gave me a few boars’ tusks to see what I could do with them for jewellery.

Portland Roads, CapeYork Qld

Merluna Station, Cape York Qld

 Next stop was Weipa, a bauxite-mining town with a wonderful Woolies grocery store (you really do appreciate the finer things when you’ve been bush for a few days) and an interesting tour of the local bauxite mine – lots of dust and big trucks.  They strip mine and revegetate everything.  When the revegetation is finished, it is hard to tell the mined from the unmined areas.  The miners are well paid and work 4 days on and 4 days off.  You never saw so many four wheel drives, boats, ATVs and trucks set up with cages for dogs for pig hunting.  There is not much to do in Weipa in your spare time if your don’t camp, fish or hunt pigs.

Bauxite Mining, Weipa, Cape York Qld

We also saw our first Cape York Estuarine Crocodile (salty) sunning himself on sandbar under a bridge north of town.

We headed north from Weipa after a few days to the start of the Old Telegraph Track – a famous four-wheel drive track to the tip.  There are a number of go-arounds and the Developmental Road for those who do not want to do the OTT.  We went into Palm Creek, the first crossing .  It had very steep clay banks that then take a straight drop of about 1.2 metres into huge puddle with old logs floating in it..  A bit further on was a trash heap of lost truck parts, bull-bars, side steps, broken lights, etc.   We decided to give it a miss and stick mainly to the Developmental Road Bypass. 

Southern end of the Old Telegraph Track

First Crossing (Palm Creek) Old Telegraph Track

We went north on the bypass road and spent two nights on the east coast again at Capt. Billy Landing – a beautiful beach that was incredibly exposed to the wind with no shelter.  The wind blew constantly and the truck was coated with salt spray.  There were bat caves at the south end of the beach.  Although it was a lovely site, I was glad to leave to get relief from the constant howling wind.

Capt Billy Campsite, Cape York Qld

The road out was rough and slow, and we were worried, as the truck has developed a couple of problems.  One of the diesel lines was leaking slightly as it was nearly abraded through – Bill managed to patch it with amalgam tape, and the front shock has developed a creaking/thumping sound that is getting worse.  We think it is the bushings. (And hope that is all it is)

Next stop was Jardine River National Park, where we swam in the clear blue pool at Fruit Bat Falls, and camped 5 kilometres down the OTT at Eliot/Twin Falls. We had three days of lazing around, swimming twice a day in small, clear waterholes, and generally relaxing.  Unfortunately we got bad news on our first night there (Monday the 10^th).  We learned from other campers that a large road building truck carrying blue metal (gravel to the Canadians) had an altercation with the ferry.  It ended up with the truck in the Jardine River and the ferry out of commission for an indefinite time.

Fruit Bat Falls, Jardine River NP Qld

Eliot Falls, Jardine River NP Qld

Twin Falls, Jardine River NP Qld

Carniverous Pitcher Plant, Jardine River NP Qld

We reached the Jardine River Crossing on Thursday the 13^th and the ferry was still not running.  We camped on the south side for two nights, and finally got across on Saturday, along with a lot of other delayed campers.   Some vehicles had tried to cross the Old Jardine River ford which is quite deep.  A few were successful, but a number of very wet, flooded four wheel drives were towed to the ferry and later seen at various mechanics hoping for resuscitation.

We were supposed to put ourselves and the truck on a the MV Trinity Bay, the freighter back to Carins on the 17^th, but luckily we were able to change that to the 24^th of September, as we lost two days waiting for the Jardine River ferry to be fixed.

Superintending repairs on Jardine River Ferry

Waiting for ferry after 5 days out of service

First crossing of Jardine River in 5 days.  Hooray!!

We are now camped at Loyalty Beach, a pleasant commercial camp about 40 kilometres from the tip of Cape York, the northernmost point in Australia.  Bill is on a fishing charter today, and tomorrow we are taking a tour of Thursday and Horn Islands, two of the more accessible islands in the Torres Strait.  We hope to drive up to the tip on Thursday. After a little more looking around, we will be heading south by freighter to Cairns on Monday the 24^th and then back down coast towards Sydney.

Sunset Loyalty Beach, Cape York Qld