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