Gunshot Creek Entertainment

OK, our 3 vehicles, minus caravans headed up the Bamaga Road toward the turnoff to the infamous 'Gunshot Creek' where many a vehicle has died at the crossing, and those which survive wear a badge of honour (or stupidity, depending on your perspective).  The road out there wasn't great, some parts very narrow(which meant giving way to oncoming traffic) but we all managed without any trouble.  

There are several entrances to Gunshot, because when one entrance becomes completely wrecked and chewed up, drivers just create a new one.  A winch was already set up at the exit, which was just a huge, deep, muddy mess.  We spent an enjoyable morning watching many vehicles attempt the exit, but few did it without the winch, and without at least some damage to their cars.  The most successful crossings were by a group who were travelling to the Cape on 'posties' bikes - yes, they managed to get through because they were so small and could take the least muddy option right on the edge of the exit.  Great fun to watch.

Bramwell Station and a look at Palm Creek

The entrance to Bramwell Station

Leaving Weipa, we took the Batavia Downs track, which was shorter and much easier on the vehicles.  We stopped for morning tea at Moreton Telegraph Station, which looked like a good place to stay, with big open GREEN grassy areas.  Haven't seen a lot of that!

We had all made the decision to leave our caravans at Bramwell Station, and do the northern part of the cape in our tents.  A very brave move, as we haven't been camping in tents for quite some time.  So, we arrived at Bramwell and booked in for 2 nights so we could reorganise our vehicles for a camping trip rather than a caravan trip.

Oh, the agony of deciding how everything we needed was going to fit into just one car; what to take, what to leave behind, what goes in the car, what goes on the roof, what clothes/shoes we needed, how can all our food fit into one fridge instead of two.... it was nerve-wracking!  But we got there!

On our first evening at Bramwell we booked in for the dinner and entertainment package at $35 per head.  The meal was;  steaks, sausages, rissoles, baked potatoes, several vegetable bakes, salads, gravy, sauces.  It was delicious, and once everyone was fed, you could get a second helping if you wished.  Dessert was apple crumble and custard, but that was very small, the only criticism we had.  

Ken, the manager, gave us a very interesting talk about the history and operation of Bramwell Station.  Our entertainment for the evening was 'The Bagman' - he was excellent, a singer, musician, raconteur, poet and comedian.  A good all-round entertainer.  We all had a great night. 

I forgot to mention:  earlier in the day we had noticed a group coming in, and one of the faces looked familiar.  It was Pat Callinan and his crew from Pat Callinan's (Mr 4x4) 4WD Adventures - those who read 4WD magazines will be familiar with the name.  He and his family were at the dinner that evening, so Trevor and I introduced ourselves and had a photo taken with him.  I mentioned to him that, as a female,  I really enjoy his magazine, as all the other magazines that Trevor has bought have become too 'blokey', and I like the articles and LOVE the photography. He was quite impressed with that comment and thanked me for the feedback.  I hadn't realised until then that I was a 4x4 Adventures groupie!

Next day, we took a short trip up the road to Bramwell Roadhouse to refuel, then ducked into Palm Creek to check out one of the crossings.  Well, that was entertaining. When we arrived there was a 4WD almost vertical trying to get out of the crossing - the exit was pretty close to 90 degrees, and he was well and truly stuck.  There were people at the top of exit with a winch, but I didn't think anything was going to get those vehicles out.  Tyres were spinning, smoke was coming from the front of the 4WD, it looked hopeless - but, after we watched for about 30 minutes, it finally crept up the side and was out.  A big scream of relief from the owner and his friends, as  they reached the top. 

Further on, we watched several vehicles do another of the crossings - it is amazing what you can do with 4WD vehicles, but only if you're not too bothered about damaging them.

Trev towed this one out!

Bill and Lorraine returned to Bramwell, and we continued with Danny and Margaret through some of the tracks around Palm Creek - we went through a couple of interesting crossings, then Trevor had the pleasure of towing a Toyota and trailer out of one of the creeks.  He was a happy man!

Sad goodbye to our vans... 

The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent fine-tuning our packing for the camping trip ahead.  In the morning we moved the vans to the side of the huge camping area where we would leave them (at no charge) until our return from The Tip.   It was sad to wave goodbye to our little van - but we do want to keep it in one piece for the rest of our trip.

Meeting Friends at Weipa

Next morning, we headed to Weipa on the western side of the cape.  This was along the Peninsula Development Road, and it was a very rough stretch of road, again with a lot of roadworks.  The corrugations coming into Weipa were some of the worst so far.   There was no such thing as 'the right speed' for these corrugations.

On our travels I had noticed on Facebook that a friend I worked with several years ago, Sue, was currently doing the trip to Cape York.  I had messaged her to say we might cross paths.  The last message I got from her said she was in Weipa, and as we drove into our site at the Weipa Camping Ground, a strange lady started to follow us - yes, it was Sue!  The last time I saw her in Canberra, we said we must meet up and have coffee - well, it was long way to meet for a coffee, so we had a champagne instead.  It was lovely to catch up with her and Doug, her husband.

Continuing on with our 'hot tip' on the horses that we got in Cooktown, Trev and Bill took a drive into the local pub to see if there was a TAB.  The horse was supposed to be running that Saturday, so we were keen to back a winner.  Sadly, when the boys got to the TAB, they found the horse had been scratched, so we have to keep working for a living. One bonus, though, is that Trevor finally managed to find a barber in the shopping centre, and his untamed tresses, which were growing out at all angles, are now tamed and shorn.

Weipa is quite a large town, primarily because of the mining industry.  We stayed at Weipa Caravan Park for a couple of nights, caught up on washing, replenished our supplies.   Sunsets were pretty here, but again, no swimming, except in the lovely swimming pool on site.  Even Trevor had a dip.

The weekend we were there was the 50th anniversary of the town.  There was a celebration and markets at the local park, where John Williamson was the star attraction. We listened to him while the sun set - very nice.

Hann River to Archer River

The road to Archer River was about a  200km stretch of either decent bitumen or indecent corrugations.   The temptation is to speed up on the bitumen, but with lower tyre pressures, you can't because the tyres heat up and could blow out.  So slow and steady is the way to go...  

Plenty of roadworks, well organised

There were long stretches of roadworks along here, so several stops, with plenty of time to admire the amount of work and infrastructure that is going on under very difficult, hot, dry, dusty conditions.  It is all very well organised, and people are patient, because there is no point getting annoyed about it. 

We stopped for morning tea at Musgrave Roadhouse, then on to Coen where we stocked up on groceries.  We checked the pub to see if there was a TAB in town, as we had been given a hot tip on a horse when we were in Cooktown and we wanted to make our fortune.  Unfortunately no TAB, but we did give the publican the tip as he had a sportsbet account, and he was very happy with us.  We would try again when we got to Weipa.

Starting to collect a little red dust

Then on to Archer River Roadhouse for the night.  This was a huge open dusty (and prickly) area on the edge of a river, also with resident emus and plump guineafowl.  Again, the facilities were rustic but welcome after a hot, dusty, bumpy ride.  Rio Tinto had a 'welcome tent' with a guy distributing maps and he gave us a good overview of the current road conditions, roadworks and general info about the road to Weipa and the telegraph track.  He advised us on protocols re roadtrains - if they're on the dirt coming towards you, get off the road;  if you're on bitumen, call them on channel 40 to let them know you're going to pass.  A very good PR exercise for the company.

Battening Down The Hatches

We drove to Laura, where we met a young guy and his son who had just returned from their adventure -  they had a camper trailer, and had done the Telegraph Track as well. They did a bit of damage to their drawbar which had to be welded back together, but it looked like they'd had a great time.  After chatting with him, we set about deflating our tyres to about 30psi. 

As this was Danny and Margaret's first serious off-road trip, we advised them to put a board between their flyscreen and door, put plugs in all of their sinks and drainholes, and tape or cover up any other areas where the bright red dust might find a way in.  At this point Margaret started to get a bit worried, saying, 'You're starting to scare me, Sylvia', but I told her that we had all learned these tricks from previous trips, and were just happy to pass on our knowledge.


So, we all battened down the hatches and set off for for Hann River Roadhouse, about 200km up the dirt/gravel/bitumen road, our first overnight stop on the track.  We kept in contact through uhf radio, warning of dips, corrugations, oncoming vehicles (OCV) and general hazards.  



We arrived generally intact, relatively dust-free, refuelled, and we were greeted at Hann River by the resident Emu. 

We finally had our first campfire here.  Hot showers and flushing toilets are always welcome when on the road, no matter how rustic, and we all got ready for the next section of the trip.

Cooktown

We booked sites at the Peninsula Caravan Park in Cooktown, just on the edge of town.  It was a 'bush feel' caravan park, but it did have a swimming pool, which we were looking forward to using.  Cooktown is a pretty area, with amazing views of the bays from the lighthouse lookout.  The colours of the water are fantastic, but it's definitely a no-go area for swimming.

The night after we arrived was the State of Origin final game, so we booked into the RSL Club for dinner and football, and we arranged to be picked up by the RSL courtesy bus so we could all have a drink.   We had two traitors with us, Lorraine and Margaret, so the rest of us were little blue people in a sea of maroon!  I'd bought Trevor a Blues polo shirt, which he proudly wore, but to no avail - the Blues let us down, and Qld scored a well-deserved victory.  The evening cost us a fortune:  bottles of bubbly were $30 each (and we had 3) and the boys did have a drink or two.  But the best part was my delicious crayfish mornay, and Trev had American style ribs, which were so big that he shared with our group.  Yum!

Next day we drove two of our vehicles into Cape Tribulation to get a feel for some of the types of roads we would be travelling on up to the tip of Cape York.  We stopped at the beautiful Bloomfield Falls, took some photos, then carried on through some challenging tracks and a couple of small water crossings into Cape Trib.  We ate at Mason's Cafe, where Trev and I tried the sample plate of roo, croc and emu sliders.  I have to say they were overpriced and underwhelming.  The rest of our crew decided to head back to camp, while we went for a quick dip in the swimming hole at the back of the restaurant.  It, too, was disappointing.  It was a very difficult, slippery and rocky climb down into the pool, which was murky and not too pretty.  But at least it was cool and wet.

We caught up with Bill, Lorraine, Danny and Margaret at the Lion's Den Hotel on the way back to Cooktown.  It's a quirky pub with a lot of character, and has camping available onsite.  After a couple of drinks, it was back to Cooktown to prepare for our assault on 'The Tip'.

Tinaroo Lake via Mareeba

Our next spot was Mareeba - it was pretty difficult to get a site that allowed dogs (Lorraine and Bill were travelling with theirs), but I finally managed to get one just outside Mareeba at the Granite Gorge Nature Park, a lovely spot with lots of animals, bare faced wallabies, peacocks and chickens.  We arrived and checked in with a very harrassed lady (lots of visitors arrived at the same time, and she was a little bit disorganised), who gave us a couple of sites right in the middle of other campers, kids, dogs and a multitude of chickens, peacocks and birds.  Well, Lorraine's dogs went berserk, barking at everything that moved or breathed, and we realised we had a problem.  We decided to move on to another park, got our money back, and set off for Mareeba.

We found a small park near the information centre and booked in for the night.  Bill and Lorraine booked in for 4 nights, as they planned to take the dogs to a doggy resort near Cairns for the duration of our Cape York trip.  We booked in just for one night then moved down to Tinaroo Lake in the Atherton Tablelands for the remaining 3 nights.

There are many beautiful camping spots around Tinaroo Lake, and we chose Downfall Creek.  It cost us only $19.05 for 3 nights (don't quite know how QLD National Parks came up with that amount, but, hey, we were happy with it!)

We set up camp with a minimal view of the vast lake (all the best ones were already taken), but shortly after we completed this, the people in front of us in a prime spot started packing up.  It was the last week of the school holidays, and there was lots of movement going on, so we thought: 'Hmm, shall we wait till these people have gone and move our already-set-up caravan?'  Yes, we decided.  Perfect spot with great views of the lake and plenty of shade.  

There was lots of birdlife, and lots of activity on the water. I don't know if you've ever seen or heard Stone Curlews, but they are the strangest birds.  They have very long legs, long skinny necks and big eyes.  If you approach them they pretend they are not there and stand like a statue.  Their call is one of the eeriest birdcalls I've ever heard - it's somewhere between a baby crying and a scalded cat!  And they call out all night....  I did get some good photos of them.

We did a 5km rainforest walk from our camp through to Kauri Camp.  It was beautiful - lots of old, old forest, a small waterfall, the bark on the trees was amazing, and of course I found some unusual fungi.  The walk should have taken about an hour, but I was a bit busy taking photos, so it did extend just a little.  It was sooo pretty.

We met up with our neighbours, Annette and Michael, and spent some time with them in front of their campfire.  They are just starting a 12-18 month lap of Australia and will be heading up to Cape York shortly after us with their daughter.  Lovely people, and Annette is a very keen photographer - she gave me a few tips and showed me some of her work. We exchanged details and we are now Facebook friends, so I hope we can catch up with them again somewhere in our travels.

On our second day at Tinaroo we did a drive around the area, saw the Curtain Fig Tree, Lake Eacham and Lake Barrine (and tried to stay ahead of the tour groups).  It really is a beautiful, rich, green area with many waterfalls and plenty to see and do.  We also visited the Gallo Dairy and Chocolate Factory - oh dear, we did spend a bit of money here - the cheeses were so yummy, and we bought individual chocolates at around $1 per chocolate, but they are being doled out sparingly!

We are still having problems with our fridge/battery system, so we decided to bite the bullet and buy another battery (this one sits in the car) to try and rectify the issue before we head up to the tip.  Back into Mareeba, where we managed to get a battery installed (they did the work) for $320 plus cables and other bits and pieces, bringing it up to around $400.   Money, money money....  hopefully this will sort everything out.

We met up with Bill, Lorraine, Margaret and Danny after the installation, so now we are finally on the road to Cooktown and heading up to Cape York.

Midge Point

Midge Point is about 30km south of Proserpine and 50km south of Airlie Beach.  We booked into the Travellers' Rest Caravan Park, which we did visit several years ago.  It's a nice park, again right on the beach, with a swimming pool. The park was damaged quite badly during Cyclone Debbie, and the owners were busily replanting and re-seeding patches that had been damaged.  


There was a firepit for campers to congregate around, and we found that on the second night we were there, there would be a sausage sizzle and entertainment.  A group of bikers called the Cooktown Crusaders were coming through on the way to Cooktown to raise money to support autistic kids.

We all turned up for the sausage sizzle and met the Crusaders, checked out their bikes, and had a drink or two/three.  The proprietors (Cathy and Allan) started up a karaoke machine, and Allan (who had previously been an Elvis impersonator) started belting out a few tunes.  We sat up the back and had a bit of a dance (Lorraine, Margaret and I were 'backup dancers') and the evening was a lot of fun.  Towards the end of the evening, the boys went back to the caravans, and the girls stayed at the party where we may have participated in a few little karaoke songs.....  I'm sure we all did a wonderful job???!!


Next morning, Lorraine and I went for a bike ride with the Cooktown Crusaders, and contributed some money to their collection.  Great fun!

We were also the only people in the entire park to have a swim in the pool - yes, it was a bit cool, but it was hot outside.  Lovely.

Over the last few days I have also been a bit sick, with a cough, cold, and haven't been sleeping well.  That makes 3 of us so far who have been unwell.

We're also having problems with our new fridge, as the batteries don't seem to be lasting , and alarms keep going off, so Trev went into Proserpine to buy a new battery.  Money, money, money..... so far this trip, we've had a new radiator installed (around $860), bought a new fridge ($250), and a new battery ($350).  I hope we've got rid of all the gremlins before we get to Cooktown!

Agnes Water to Keppel Sands

We spent a couple of nights at Agnes Water, and each evening the hosts lit the firepit and brought around munchies for the guests.  Very civilised, and a great way to meet other travellers and get some info on places they had been to.  

Our next stop was Keppel Sands, just south of Yeppoon.  It was a neat little caravan park, off the beaten track, and right on the beach.  We booked in for a couple of nights, and did the cliff top walk around the area - it wasn't a very long walk, but it was straight uphill, then straight downhill, so I gave my ankle a bit of a workout.  Great views from the top, but the beaches were dark sand, and the sea was a green/brown colour.

On our second night here, we went to the local pub for a very good meal (my lamb shanks were melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness), and the rest of the group were all happy with theirs.  While we were dining, Lorraine organised a Keno game for us, as she usually does when we are travelling with her.  We got a couple of little wins, then we realised that we had 6 out of 6 numbers on one of our games!  That was a prize of $1800!  Well, we were all a little bit happy about this - $600 a couple for $10 investment, woohoo!  We claimed this from the publican, but had a bit of a problem getting the whole amount, as Keno refused to pay more than $1000 in cash, and the rest had to be mailed to someone's address.  The publican did his best to help us, and after a lot of fiddling around, we finally got it sorted.  He would have been happy to pay us the whole amount and have Keno reimburse him, but apparently that's not how it's done.  Anyway, we're all a lot better off than we started, so it might pay for some of our repairs along the way.

We had a look around Emu Park about 25km north of us. It was a pretty little spot, with a wonderful sculpture on the point called 'The Singing Ship'... it had huge white sails with several concealed organ pipes hanging vertically to represent the rigging on Captain Cook's 'Endeavour' - as the wind whistled through them, the ship 'sang' eerily.

Margaret and Danny had a flat tyre here, so had to get that fixed before we could move on.  We drove up to Yeppoon to check it out - I lived in QLD around 30 years ago, and can remember the fuss when Japanese interests first bought into Yeppoon, to build a luxurious destination for Japanese tourists.  There was a lot of opposition to the sale, but it went ahead anyway.  I had it in my mind that this would be a very up-market, trendy area, similar to Noosa, so I was a bit disappointed with the main town area.  It looked very tired, run-down and not at all what I was expecting.  There were lots of lovely homes on the outer edges of Yeppoon, but the actual town centre was a bit of a let-down.


Our next stop will be Midge Point, just south of Proserpine.

On The Road Again

Our aim this trip is to travel to Cape York, the northernmost point of Australia, then down into the Gulf country, through to Lawn Hill and back to Canberra via southeast Queensland.  It should take us about 8 weeks.  We're travelling with good friends and partners in crime, Lorraine and Bill, and Lorraine's brother Danny and wife Margaret.

Our first (very cold) night was spent in Cowra.  It happened to be State of Origin night, so we walked up to the corner pub to have a meal and watch the game on the big screen with some of the locals.  Well, our dinner was pretty basic, and there were only half a dozen other people in the pub - not a lot of atmosphere, and the pub was quite chilly, so we walked back to our van and watched the game on our little TV in the van.  We created our own atmosphere, but it still wasn't enough to get NSW over the line 😡.

Next day we put in a good day's driving to get to Goondiwindi just over the NSW border.  We stayed at the showground for $20 per night, with showers and toilets.  I called Lorraine to find out where they were, as we were supposed to be meeting up with them in Bundaberg.  We were ahead of schedule, and they weren't ready to meet us yet, so we decided to take a detour and spend a couple nights at our daughter, Tracy's place in Brisbane.  On the way to Brisbane, the fridge in our van gave up the ghost, so we stopped at Good Guys in Toowoomba to buy a regular little bar fridge to replace it, and Trev would instal it when we got to Tracy's place.

I asked Tracy not to tell our grandkids that we would be visiting, so when we arrived at their new house, Cory opened the door and Blake and Chantelle were on the staircase - their mouths just dropped, and they flew down the stairs to give us big hugs - what a lovely greeting.  After a couple of nights catching up with family, we were off to meet Lorraine and Bill at their friends' property in Burnett Heads, in the middle of cane country.  We spent the night there, had a lovely BBQ, and had a drink or two around a roaring campfire. 

Next morning, Trevor discovered we had a problem with the radiator - as in, we need a new radiator!  We found a radiator repairer in Bundaberg who could do the job for us the next day, so we found a spot to stay at the Bucca Hotel out of town, set up our vans, then Trev dropped the car back in town to leave it overnight.  By this time we had met up with Danny and Margaret, so the boys followed Trev and brought him back to camp.  We had a good meal at the Bucca hotel, where we camped for $10 per head, which also gave us access to showers and toilets.

Next morning, the boys went in to pick up the car, and $860 later we were back on the road.  We're doing well so far:  new fridge, new radiator and it's only about day 6!  We're also having trouble with the batteries since we installed the new fridge, so Trev is fiddling around with that too.

We're now at The Reef Caravan Park at Agnes Water ($25 per night) and we were very lucky to find a spot.  It's the beginning of school holidays here in Qld, and this is a holiday town.  Unfortunately, Margaret is not well, so we had to find a doctor for her today.  We'll be staying another night so hopefully she'll be feeling well enough to travel tomorrow.