Cape York Adventure - Part 3

We left Seisia on the 19^th of August and over the next few days retraced our steps back down the road to Bramwell Junction then straight on down as far as Musgrave Roadhouse where we turned east into Lakefield National Park.

Nifold Plain termite mounds

We stopped at an open grassland area called Nifold Plains where there are hundreds of big Cathedral termite mounds and also the flat magnetic termite mounds which all align N – S and look like rows of tombstones.

Hann River

Two days were spent at a lovely camp spot beside the river at Hann River Crossing in the National Park and we saw our first crocodile (luckily on the other side of the river). The camp spot was protected by a rocky drop off of about 7 feet where the river has cut down through an old lava flow. The rest day was spent relaxing, bird watching and looking for crocs.

Magpie geese and waterlilies

As we moved through the park we stopped at several lagoons and billabongs covered in waterlilies and populated with native water birds and we saw brolgas and even a jabiru.

Fresh water crocodile (approx 3 metres)

One overnight stop was at Kalpowar, another camp area by a causeway crossing the Normanby River where a fresh water crocodile posed for pictures, and another stop was near the Old Laura Homestead, an old pioneer property established to supply gold miners in 1879 and was last inhabited in the 1960’s. It is now restored and protected within the national park.

Fording the Laura River

From here we travelled through hill country over the Battlecamp Range, fording several shallow river crossings until we finally reached the coast at Cooktown and the first continuous sealed road for 22 days.
Cooktown is famous as the place where Cook beached the Endeavour to make repairs in 1770 and made contact with local aboriginals. They also saw kangaroos and were at a loss to try and describe them in a way anyone in England would understand.

Inside The Lions Den Hotel

Our last day of this adventure took us to The Lion’s Den Hotel and camp area on the road to the Blomfield Track. The old pub was built in 1870 and hasn’t changed much over the years, retaining its pioneering outback character – uneven floors, corrugated iron walls covered in signatures and surrounded by huge mango trees. The wall signatures started when miners used to leave their money with the landlord and record the amounts beside their names.
Next day we said goodbye to our fellow travellers and headed back up to Lakeland where we collected the fuel filler cap left there four weeks and a couple of thousand kilometres ago.

Cape York Adventure Part 2

Giant termite nest at Bramwell Junction

From Weipa we cut east on the Batavia Downs road to the Telegraph Road up to Bramwell Junction. From here the Old Telegraph Track, used by the 4WD adventurers, goes straight north, while the By-pass Road wiggles it’s way north to avoid the deep creek crossings. The road conditions deteriorated with corrugations and some sand so at times we zigzagged across the road looking for the least damaged surface. Sometimes this was outside the road-marking posts along the edge of the bush.

Fruitbat Falls

We camped one night in the bush on a track by the road. This gave us the opportunity to visit Fruit-bat Falls on Eliot Creek near the point where the By-pass crosses the Old Telegraph Track before continuing on to the Jardine River. The Falls are a wide curve of water cascading about 2 metres over a rock shelf with a large swimming hole below them. The water was around 22^o and very refreshing.

Jardine River Ferry

Northern most tip of the continent

We crossed the Jardine River by ferry and made our way to the small townships in the far north where wild horses wander the roads and through the camp grounds. We had got as far as we could go with 2WD vehicles.
We spent 3 days each at Loyalty Beach and at Seisia which are not far apart, and used them as a base to see the surrounding areas. Those of us without 4WDs clubbed together to hire a vehicle to do the last few kilometres up to “The Tip”. The road, winding through tall tropical forest, was narrow and had several deep waterholes which added to the fun.From the end of the road there was a 15min climb over the rocky hill and down to the tip and the famous sign. The view north was of small offshore islands, east was rugged and windblown cliffs & west was a sweeping white beach.
A short drive east took us to Somerset, site of an early attempt to establish a government headquarters in the far north – grand plans which failed but the area became the home of the Jardine family.
A day trip by boat to Thursday Island in the Torres Strait was a highlight of the trip with a tour of the island and a visit to Green Hill Fort est. 1891 with guns which gave coverage of the passages between all the surrounding islands. It is now a museum with fort and pearling industry exhibits. Because of the pearl shell diving, the local population has a multicultural background with many Japanese divers buried on the island. Pearl shell was used for buttons before the invention of plastic.

Some of the islands of the Torres Strait

Cape York Adventure - Part 1

When I started to write this page I realized that there was so much to tell, it would have to be done in several parts.

Seven vehicles with 13 people set off for the top

In early August we met up with some old friends and some new ones to start our big adventure to the tip of Cape York, the northern-most point on the continent. The trip was to take four weeks and on day 2 we were already off the sealed roads onto gravel only occasionally relieved by very short sections of seal which became more and more scarce as we traveled north.

Ancient aboriginal rock paintings

An early highlight of the trip was a stop at Split Rock to look at ancient aboriginal rock paintings up on the hillside above the highway. The paintings are quite accessible after a climb up towards the sandstone bluff and are in good condition with interpretive signage.

Roadworks on the Peninsula
 Development Road

Roadhouses occur at well spaced intervals along the route north, usually near a river crossing and they have fuel, food, basic supplies, and often a hotel licence. They usually provide unpowered camp spots and amenities blocks and some have basic motel rooms. There are no towns to pass through other than Coen, so the roadhouses do a good trade during the tourist season but have to survive the wet season when there is no traffic and they can be cut off by flood waters. They all have walls of flood photos interspersed with giant crocodile and wild boar pics.
Two nights were spent beside the river at Coen and one at Archer River and at both these spots we could relax in the cool river water as there were no crocodiles.

Archer River in the dry season

Fifty Kilometres north of Archer River, the Peninsula Development Road veers off to the north-west and the bauxite mining town of Weipa, while the Telegraph Road continues almost straight north to Bramwell Junction.

Bauxite mining- dirty, dusty work

We went to Weipa and spent two nights taking a bus tour of one of the bauxite mine sites which included a tour of the township and plenty of warnings about the local crocodile population. Bauxite is found in a layer 5 -7 metres deep just under the topsoil and is just scooped up and loaded into huge trucks and after minimal grading, is loaded onto a short rail track to the dock then transferred to ships to go to refineries to become aluminium. Bauxite is terracotta red – and so is everything else in the area because of the dust. Under the bauxite layer is ironstone – almost the same colour – and it is used to build and repair most of the roads on the Cape York Peninsula so everything on the roadside has a red coating of dust. Actually the western side of the road is red; the eastern side is green as the area receives the prevailing south-eastern trade winds most of the season.

Sunset at Weipa

Going North in Queeensland

We got out to the coast at Townsville where we finally caught up with the seemingly thousands of travellers in motorhomes and caravans, all escaping the southern winter for the dry season in Queensland. It was the weekend that the V8 Supercars were in town so accommodation was at a premium. We did get several beautiful fine days in the Townsville area and were amazed by the difference in the vegetation – at last we were seeing palm trees and lush vegetation in the parks and gardens. Plant which we struggle to grow indoors in Melbourne thrive wild and natural – stag-horns and climbing greenery everywhere and so many different types of palms.

A couple of relaxing days were spent at Toomulla Beach not for from Townsville but it was not a good beach for swimming. The wind was blowing in strongly although the camp was protected by coastal vegetation. We moved slowly north to Ingham, then Mission Beach and Innisfail but the weather was unseasonably wet and windy. The area has largely rebuilt after Cyclone Yasi but the vegetation will take years to recover.

Dunk Is. from Mission Beach foreshore -
not what you see in the travel adverts.

Mission Beach used to have big trees all along the foreshore, now the surviving few are tattered and broken. We did not see the Queensland of the tourist brochures with perfect sunny days but there’s always something new to see and amuse like the traffic warning signs showing collisions between cars and cassowaries on the way to Mission Beach and the rainforest in the area was beautiful.

Little Millstream Falls - Ravenshoe

We still had a couple of weeks before we were due in Cairns so from Innisfail we turned inland up through the Misty Mountains to the Atherton Tablelands spending a few days at Ravenshoe where there is budget camping at the Railway museum. Unfortunately their steam locomotive was not running.

Kookaburras at Millstream Falls

 We visited some of the lovely waterfalls in the area and drove some very twisty hill roads in the Moke  - but it still rained!

Next stop was Herberton where we stayed for over a week visiting local tourist areas like the Pioneer Village (excellent) and through the hills on dirt road to Irvinebank for the day. 

Speedway competitor

We went to a Sunday market and the local speedway at Wondecla – great entertainment though by the last race of the day there were a lot less cars left.

Dave, Allen & Grace at Green Island

At Cairns we caught up with a fellow Moke owner, Dave and spent a very enjoyable day with him and his friend Grace on a boat trip 9km out to Green Island, a coral atoll which forms part of the Great Barrier Reef. We viewed the coral and the tropical fish and turtles from a glass bottom boat and walked round the island before a fairly rough trip back. That night we had dinner at the RSL with Dave, Grace and Dave’s mum, Elsie, and next morning we left our Moke and trailer in Dave’s care as we headed out to start our adventure to the top of Cape York.

Riches from the past and present

This musical tractor at Wooroolin can
be played by tapping the tuned
"engine" plates

We slowly made our way north after leaving Kingaroy through Wooroolin and Wondai to Proston where we spent a few days visiting local places of interest like Boondooma Homestead, once part of a huge property established in 1846 and covering all the surrounding district. The homestead is in original condition and restoration work continues on surrounding outbuildings and regular events are held on the grounds and campsites are available.

The locals are friendly in Sapphire

On north with a detour to Sapphire and Rubyvale, famous for sapphire fossicking, where the cattle, camels and goats wander the streets, old diggings dot the area and it seems every business in the townships sells sapphires, fossicking equipment and bags  of “wash” to sift through for gemstones. The biggest percentage of the world’s sapphires come from this area. (We didn’t find any).

Back on the Gregory Hwy, our next stop was Clermont where the attraction is gold fossicking. The entire town of Clermont was moved to its present location on higher ground in 1916 after a flash flood took out most of the township with the loss of around 65 lives.

Flood level markers at Burdekin R.,from
13.7m to 21.79m ,all above the present
bridge level (13.4m)

The countryside changes as we travel, sometimes through flat areas or low hills and sometimes crossing ranges of sparse timber with high rocky faces towering over us. The cattle are all looking well fed and sweet little floppy eared calves watch us drive by. There are lots of coal mines in this area but they are usually way back off the main road out of sight behind the hills.

The next town of any size was Charters Towers , a gold rush area in the 1880s with mine shafts underneath much of the town. Lots of lovely old historic buildings and boom and bust tales from the past. Tower Hill overlooks the district and has many old ammunition storage bunkers left from WWII. An old chimney stood 167 metres above the hill but it was demolished in 1943 as it was a hazard to aircraft.

Imperial Hotel, Ravenswood

We spent several days at Ravenswood, once again an old gold mining town with plenty of evidence of the mining activity in the form of rusted equipment and tall brick chimneys, round, square and octagonal, depending on the nationality of the builders. Notice boards round the area have historic facts plus tales of old events from murders to practical jokes . 

Bunya Mountains

From our last stop at Casino we drove over the hills through Kyogle to Murwillumbah which nestles below Mt Warning, the rocky remains of an ancient volcanic core. Unfortunately the hills were shrouded in misty cloud so we couldn’t get any photos.

Next day we moved on into Queensland and over the next few days we skirted round Brisbane, through Ipswich and north through the hills on the Brisbane Valley Hwy past the Wivenhoe Dam to Kingaroy, the peanut and navy bean capital of Australia.  The area has rich red and black basalt soils, excellent for crops but it is the huge peanut silos which dominate the town. After a visit to the Tourist Information Centre and Museum we now know a lot more about growing and harvesting peanuts.

Blue tongue lizard sunning himself on the track 

 We drove up into the Bunya Mountains, named after the Bunya pines which cover large areas of the mountains. The area was logged from the 1840s and in 1908 was declared a national park although some logging continued till 1917. There are many unique plants in the area and also some rare birds and animals and the pine themselves are a very old species dating back to the dinosaur and beyond. The area was very important to the aboriginals who gathered the nuts and used the natural grass clearings for ceremonies. We met an aboriginal ranger who told us that some of the grass trees were over 1000 years old. They only grow a couple of cm per year but some are up to 5 metres tall. The aboriginals made a drink from the flowers in water which is a great pick-me-up, and the flowers when eaten are better than Viagra!    The roads were very narrow and twisty but sealed but the gradient on one was 20%! Not suitable for the bus and not for caravans although some had come in on a different route.

View from Mt Kaingarow with grass trees below the track

Bush Turkey

We climbed a short track to the top of Mt Kiangarow, through real tropical rain forest with lots of vines and moss hung trees. Little birds were flitting ahead of us down the track and whip-birds were calling in the trees. We saw a big blue-tongue lizard on the track and the view from the top was spectacular looking out to the east and west. We had a late lunch of scones and coffee at the tearooms and then drove down to a picnic area where there were bush turkeys and wallabies everywhere.

Wallabies 

Central and North-east NSW

As we moved on up through New South Wales, our next stop was at Condobolin where we found free camping with hot showers at Gum Bend Lake and stayed for a week visiting local sights like Utes in the Paddock on a side road between Condobolin and Parkes.

Instead of using the highways we travelled north on sealed back roads up through cattle and then cotton country.   The back roads are good though narrow with almost no traffic. The disadvantage is coming up behind huge cotton harvesting equipment doing 15kph and using the whole road. There’s no chance of passing until they find a place to pull over.

We passed through little townships like Tullemore and Albert where we had lunch at the Rabbit Trap Hotel. They have a huge trap ready to mount on the roof of the hotel, but as it weighs about 1 ½ ton, they need to get the roof structure strengthened first. The project has been underway for a couple of years already – things don’t move very fast in the country!

1910 Regal Roadster at Gunnedah Rural Museum

Crossing the Mitchell Hwy at Nevertire we turned east through Warren where we could hear the cotton gins running all night as we camped by the river, then through Gilandra, Coonabarabran and Gunnedah were we looked through the big rural museum which had a wide range of displays and is well worth a stop if you’re travelling in the area.

 We turned north again on back roads through to Manilla and joined Fossickers Way north to Inverell, Glen Innes and Tenterfield. As well as Manilla, we saw roads to Wyoming and Bolivia, and Texas is not far up the road – you can see the world without leaving Australia! By now we were into much greener country, driving gently winding roads through green valleys and well wooded hills –quite a contrast to the flat plains not far behind us.

Ready for the parade - they wanted everyone
 in our group dressed as hippies!

After Tenterfield it was up over the Great Dividing Range to Casino where we met up with old friends and drove our Mokes in the Beef Week parade. The theme was Aussie icons so there were quite a few Edna Everidges, jars of vegemite, and large native animals. 

Over the hills towards Casino 

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

You may be wondering why you haven’t seen a blog for a while?

Murray River at Tocumwal - rail bridge - centre can open to allow
 boats through. Last opened 1995

Well, we spent the summer at home but we’re back on the road, heading north slowly through New South Wales and up into Queensland. So far we have only got as far as West Wyalong, a township in wheat country in the southern part of inland NSW. You can drive from here to Melbourne in 6 hours, but we’ve taken two weeks, stopping in Tocumwal by the Murray River for 4 days where we camped beside the river, walking distance from the town.

 We then moved about 190km north to Nurrandera on the Murrumbidgee River for another  4 days using it as a base to explore some of the smaller towns in the area. Lockhart was particularly interesting as they hold a “Spirit of the Land” festival each year which includes a sculpture contest using old scrap iron from round the farm and some of the items are on display around the town.  At the local museum there are portraits done in natural wool by a local lady Doris Golder but no photos are allowed however this link shows a few and also the metal sculptures  http://www.demotix.com/news/477865/lockhart-festivalthe-true-aussie-spirit-lies-heart-land#media-477794

Swag man & his dog - Artist:Andrew Whitehead

From Nurrandera we moved to Griffith and got lovely fresh veges at the Sunday market and a new foam mattress for our bus which we folded in half long-ways and carried back to camp poking out each side of the Moke (roof on, sides off) but forgot to take a photo.  Griffith grew out of the work camp for the Murrumbidgee Irrigation project and was originally known as Bagtown as the workers built huts out of the discarded cement bags. Today there are over 3700km of canals allowing the area to grow oranges, grapes, rice and a wide range of other produce.

That brings us up to date in West Wyalong where it was time to do some basics like shopping and laundry while staying at the local showgrounds. We are out of the irrigation area and into dry country desperately in need of rain – such a huge contrast.