Borroloola, Lorella Springs, Mataranka, Katherine, Adelaide River, Litchfield, Darwin

Links to both sets of photo's and exploreoz tracker.

Saturday 9^th August

Today we headed off towards Hells Gate Roadhouse. The track said it was around 70km of 4wd track but it was the best 4wd track we’d driven to date and I reckon we averaged around 60-70kph. While driving this track, we came across two 2wd cars going in the other direction. While the track was pretty good, there was one relatively deep river crossing which I think may have stopped these cars so we wondered how they were going to get on there. After finishing the track we were back onto the blacktop just before Doomadgee when we had our first, and hopefully only, flat tyre. We have two spares as well as a repair kit however looking at the gash it didn’t look like the repair kit would fix it so on with the spare. This is the first time we have had to use the highlift jack but it all went to plan. We arrived into Hells Gate and topped up on fuel and had an ice cream. We had thought about staying there however it wasn’t really far enough on our way to our next stop so we carried on for another 130km or so to a free camp beside the Calvert River. We did however cross over into the Northern Territories so had to take a photo of the border as it was the only State or Territory none of us had visited. One thing about this part of the world, they have brilliant sunsets. We took a couple of photos through the trees however they won’t really do them justice. After a quick spag bol it was time to hit the hay as there’s another big day of driving tomorrow.

Sunday 10^th August

Most days Richard has been checking under the trailer for any damage, the springs and the wheel bearings. This morning, the wheel bearings were a bit loose and being a good boy scout he did have some spares so thought he would change them at our next stop which was to be Butterfly Springs. However, some things just don’t go to plan as we found there is also something going wrong with CJ.

We got into Borroloola where we eventually decided to stay so we could change the trailer wheel bearings and check to see what the problem was on CJ.

The wheel bearings went without a hitch however try as he might Richard could just not find the problem with the car. It had just started a weird clonking noise (he thinks from the front right) and also pulling to the right and feeling a bit wallowy.

Anyway, managed to get blog uploaded and some of the pictures as well (although not published as yet) so not a bad night after all.

Unfortunately there was no pool at the (one and only) campground so the kids did what all kids do without a pool – played under the sprinkler for the afternoon!

Monday 11^th August

Richard tried to get hold of the NRMA however with no public phone and no Telstra phones with us he decided to head to the local mechanics. Talking with one of the guys there he said if there’s nothing obviously broken or cracked then we should be ok but also said to check the rear air bags.  Richard had done but thought he’d let the air out and put 20psi back in. This didn’t help at all but we decided to push on towards Butterfly Springs anyway. We had been thinking of going into Lorella Springs also which was a turn off before Butterfly Springs but had read and heard some not so good reports. The road in is 29km and while the first 6km were ok, the remaining 23 were not and were slow and painful being rough and corrugated. While the trailer handled it well, CJ ended up with the unusual clonk getting louder and more frequent.

We got into Lorella Springs to find we had to watch a video of the station which was quite interesting. The station is approx. one million acres and most people come in to camp at the base camp and then drive, walk, fly out to other destinations on the property. There are a number of gorges which have swimming holes that are river fed and a number of other swimming holes which are hot springs. The main camping area is like a island with a moat as they pump hot water from a spring on a nearby hill to a small creek which completely surrounds the “island”. You can swim in any part of this creek as it is around 30 degrees. You can also camp at some of the more remote spots and there is also a 30km stretch of beach which is part of the property however I think you need to take the chopper for that one. While it doesn’t seem too busy at the moment, there are many keen fishermen who come here with their boat/4wds or hire the chopper to fly them to more remote areas to catch that ever elusive big fish.

Anyway, while Trish and the kids took a swim in the hot springs, Richard took the spanners to CJ and tightened everything he could find, double checked for any breakages but still couldn’t find anything so joined in the swimming.

Happy hour runs around 5 til 6pm so from the hot pools it was to the bar to swap some stories with other folk. Beer is usually $8-9 but it’s a dollar cheaper at happy hour. Fuel is an astronomical $3/litre with a big sign apologising for the price and to only take as much as you might need to get to where you’re going!

Tuesday 12^th August

After recommendations from the office we headed out to Nannies Retreat. It’s about an hour and a half drive through some of the property and then a 1km walk. We arrived out there and found it was a lovely swimming hole. It was around 30 degrees outside but probably low 20s in the water which was very nice and refreshing. Some of the rock formations are amazing in this part of the world as you may see in the photos. There is also a cave which you can walk through and come out the other side. We stayed here for about 3 hours and sat in the sun and had lunch. Amazing to think NSW and Victoria are having snow!

We headed back to the campground surprisingly arriving just in time for happy hour and to swap some more stories. Even ran into a young couple from Oamaru who have been living in Aus for the last 3 years and are on their way to Darwin to look for work.

Wednesday 13^th August

This morning we headed out towards Mataranka however we thought we’d have a few stops along the way so might stop in at a free camp before getting there. Once we’d negotiated the 29km out from Lorella Springs, which took almost 45min because it was so rough, we had a short drive to Butterfly Springs. It was a nice little camping area and we were looking forward to having a swim in the water hole however the water looked a bit stagnant so we only had a short dip. On the right hand side of the pool though were some rocks which are home to thousands of butterflies. It is just amazing seeing all these on the rock walls and even more so when you disturb them and they all fly off. Once we’d left here the road got quite rough and corrugated and was slow and painful however we came across the graders at work and from then we more than doubled our speed to at least 90kph. We made the decision to push on right to Mataranka as the road then turns to asphalt which meant we could get in at a reasonable time rather than stop for a night before getting there. Once we’d set up the tent, we headed back into town for something to eat and to get some beer. Richard had a Mataranka Burger which he reckons is the best one so far. We then stopped in at the local pub (bottle shop closes early) for some take out beer. Richard went in by himself and reckons it was the roughest pub he’s ever been to. There were no tables and chairs and everyone in there was very drunk, so much so if that had been Sydney or Melbourne they would have been turfed out hours before. There weren’t that many people in their however he had to negotiate his way around the staggering people to get to the bar. Once at the bar there were 2 young white girls serving and he noticed one of them handing over 2 x 30 can packs of VB to one of the aboriginals who could barely stand. You hear about the alcohol problem in this part of the world but seeing that makes you think the republicans aren’t helping at all and are just after money.

Thursday 14^th August

Today we drove into town to see some Barramundi feeding at another campground. The fish there were around 1m long and have been trained to be fed by hand.  They are unable to be released into the wild again as they will not get their own food. Trish got into the water and fed one of the fish which don’t have teeth but rather eat the fish whole. We then had a very nice coffee and Mango smoothie with scones, cream and jam at the local Stockmans Cafe. There is also a small aboriginal art gallery here which was also very good.

We then headed out to the Mataranka Homestead Tourist Resort where they have a replica of the Elsey Station homestead which was used in the movie “We of the Never Never” which is an autobiography of a woman who married a man who was a partner in a cattle station on the Roper river and decided to move to the station with her husband. They play the movie every day at midday however while you could sort of understand what was going on, the sound was pretty bad and while there is a dedicated smoking area, it’s only separated by a painted line on the ground. We did manage to see it to the end. There are also hot pools here but while Richard was booking CJ in for a service in Darwin, Trish and the girls walked down and had a look and decided it was too busy and we’d be better going to the hot springs back near where we were camped.

The hot springs near our campground are called Bitter Springs and they are about a 10min walk from the campground. They are not really hot pools but a flowing creek so you can hop in at one point, float down to some steps, hop out, walk back and do it again. There are small turtles here but we didn’t manage to see any. The water is around 35 degrees which is very very nice.

Friday 15^th August

Today we had a short drive to Katherine so after a quick dip at Bitter Springs after packing up, we hit the road. We arrived into Katherine at around 1pm, dropped into the info centre and Woollies (was amazing to see such a large supermarket as we hadn’t seen one for a few weeks) then onto the Big 4 campground just outside Katherine. It was also nice to set the tent up on grass rather than rock or dirt and dust (or all three!)

We then had a swim in the pool, the first swim in a “normal” pool for weeks and it was a bit odd as it tasted of salt and wasn’t very warm at all. Happy hour was at 5 and we enjoyed a beer beside the pool before calling it a day.

Saturday 16^th August

Katherine has a community market on every Saturday so we headed there for breakfast. It was fairly small but did have an amount of fruit and vege, some good coffee and a selection of breakfast foods. After a bacon and egg sandwich we headed back to camp to hang out some washing before heading out to Katherine Gorge or Nitmiluk as the locals call it. There are 2 boat rides you can do, one which does the first two gorges and one which does the first three. Being on a bit of a budget we chose the 2 gorge option which was still $240 for all four of us. We would have liked to take the helicopter rides however these started at $99 for 9 minutes! The boat cruise was fantastic and the commentary was well polished and very funny. It’s about a 25min ride up to the first point where you get off and walk about 400m to get on another boat to cruise on up to the actual Katherine Gorge. The walls to the gorge are very high and impressive and Richard wonders what happens in the wet as some of the rocks must come down into the water. We did manage to see 3 fresh water crocodiles on the trip. You can also hire a canoe and paddle up and jump in for a swim.

We headed back to the campground to get the washing in and then headed off to the rodeo. Neither Trish nor Richard had been to a rodeo for around 30 years and things have become a lot more professional in that time, well, at least in Australia and probably in NZ too. The kids really enjoyed the whole show and the bull riding was the favourite event for the night. Richards phone ran out of battery about 5min prior to the Bledisloe game so had to wait until he returned to the campground to find out the score.

Sunday 17^th August

After packing up we headed north to Edith Falls. Emily has another cold and wasn’t feeling very well but we did manage to get in for a swim after a quick bite of lunch. The water wasn’t too bad, it can’t have been as Trish got in, and the view was very nice too. So, after an ice cream we hit the road again to Adelaide River and setting up camp on Mt Bundy Station which is a working cattle station of around 4,000 acres carrying around 1,000 head of stock. The cows are all Brahman and mainly go to live export to South East Asian countries. There are a number of horses here as well as a large Brahman bull called Nigel who loves bread. Most of the facilities here were built by American soldiers during WWII when they had to move south after all the bombing in Darwin. The Adelaide River area played a large role in WWII housing thousands of soldiers when they were evacuated during the bombing.

Every night at 5pm they have a “happy hour” around the campfire at Mt Bundy however it’s more of a meet and greet and swap some stories. There are around 30 odd people here and it was great cause both Trish and I felt very young amongst the grey nomads. Although, I do have to say we are quite envious of them being able to stay in one place for more than 3-4 days and not having to move on because they need to get home. Some folk we talked to work on the BDM principle, that is, they will only go home for births, deaths and marriages. Earlier in our travels we did come across a couple in their 70s who have not been home for 6 and a half years as the kids and grand kids prefer to come to them where the weather is nicer during winter.

Monday 18^th August

Today we headed towards Darwin as we had to see the service guy as well as get some fuel and groceries. It was around an hours drive but when we got there we found there were other things we needed to do also. Emily had run out of Flixotide (asthma preventer) and as it’s a prescription drug we had to go to the medical centre, see a doctor, then go to the chemist. One of the iPods had a shattered screen so we also had to drop that in for repair. Richard is still on the look out for a drivers side window control box but the only one the parts place had was almost $300 and he had seen them on eBay for around $60. On the way back to Adelaide River, we stopped into Crazy Acres which was advertised as having one of the best mango smoothies. They also make their own ice cream and while the banana flavour was nice, the lime one was a bit waxy and left an odd after taste. The mango smoothie however was the best we’ve had so far.

We then headed back to Adelaide River and checked out the War Cemetery. It has been extremely well maintained and looks very good. It’s such a sad memorial as there are over 400 headstones and a number of these are for unnamed people.

Tuesday 19^th August

We headed into Litchfield National Park today. First stop was the nearest town to the National park called Batchelor. When in the grocery shop, we saw the headline that someone had been eaten by a crocodile while fishing from a bridge on the Adelaide River. Of course this is the river we are staying near (not that near though) and there is a bridge in the Adelaide River township so we thought it odd we hadn’t seen anything. We had to buy the paper and found it was further downstream where there are tour operators who take boat loads of people up the river and hang bits of meat over the side so the crocs jump up for it. The last person to be taken had been taken somewhere in the NT and had been in a boat and had not been leaning over so there’s lots of talk about teaching the crocs to jump for their food.

Anyway, we then headed into the National park and stopped to check out some info on the two main termite mounds we see on the side of the road.  These are the magnetic and cathedral termite mounds.  There was also a photo opportunity beside a huge termite mound.

We then drove onto Buley’s Waterhole and had a wonderful swim. There are about 5 different pools in the rocks, some around 4-5m deep so you can easily dive in from the rocks beside them. While the water was coolish, it wasn’t too bad.

Next stop was Florence Falls, which had two routes down into the pool area, one just steps, and the other a 1.1km walk. We chose to head down the 135 steps on the way down and jumped into the pool with about 50 other people. You could swim out and then get behind the waterfall itself which was fun. The kids chose to walk back via the steps and Trish and Richard walked back via the alternate path. The alternate path was very nice and a lot of work had been put into it, we think to make it able to weather the monsoon season rather than having to rebuild it after every wet season.

It had been very hot there and after visiting The Lost City, a walk through many stacked rocks resembling a city, we headed back to Batchelor for a burger and fish and chips before driving back to our camp at Mt Bundy Station.

Wednesday 20^th August

Today we had a look at the Railway information in Adelaide River.  There was also a lot of information on the bombing of Darwin in WWII.  The volunteers had collected and displayed an amazing array of WWII and railway relics and Richard and Trish spent a good hour and a half wandering around.  It was very interesting to see the details on the role that Darwin and Adelaide River played in the war.  Adelaide River was used to farm the food that supplied the troops in Darwin.  It was also used as a recreation area for the troops and then later when Darwin was bombed was used as the hospital.

We headed back into Litchfield NP and visited Wangi Falls. It’s the largest of the falls in Litchfield which means there’s a lot more people and also a campground and cafe. We had a swim here and it was much easier to get in and out as there were steps down to a large sand bank rather than the rock climbing we had to do to get into Florence Falls. You could also sit under the waterfall however it was like needles into your head and shoulders. Once again, we hit the road after an ice cream heading towards Darwin. We did have to negotiate about 20km of gravel corrugations which we hadn’t missed at all. We arrived into the Free Spirit campground in Holtze which is enormous and possibly the largest campground we’ve visited so far. While having dinner, there were about 8 fighter jets flying laps above us. It was very loud but thankfully it stopped about 8 so we could all get to sleep.

Thursday 21^st August

Today Richard had to drop CJ in for a service and have a few things repaired so we decided we’d have a catch up day on the washing, photos, swimming, blog and organising other things we need to do tomorrow.  That afternoon we headed into Darwin for dinner at the Mindil markets.  These are held twice a week and feature mostly food stalls.  Everyone goes down to the beach to watch the sun set (it was pretty nice), then go back up to get dinner.  We wandered around, trying different foods – Richard had a crocodile hamburger (tough), and a bit of shopping..

Thursday Island, OTT, Morton Telegraph Station, Musgrave, Normonton, Boodjamulla NP

Quick note: we are having issues getting reliable internet so are struggling to get the photos up to the internet however there should be loads in about a week all going to plan.

On with the story.......

Thursday 31 July 2014

Today we enjoyed a trip to Thursday and Horn Islands. Thursday Island (or TI as the locals call it) is the centre for business admin for the Torres Strait Islands with around 3,500 people living there. The Torres Strait people are of Polynesian/Melanesian decent rather than of indigenous Australian decent. There is however a group of TI people who are recognised, and recognise themselves, as Australian indigenous and as you can imagine this has caused problems over the years.
Thursday Island replaced Somerset (on the mainland) as the business centre because of its deep harbour, closeness to the shipping lanes and the fact it is sheltered from much of the weather which happens in these areas. The harbour is tricky to negotiate and still requires pilotage where a pilot is put onto any vessel coming into port.
The majority of the people living on TI are government employees, Defence and Quarantine being the main departments. House pricing is almost as bad as Sydney house prices as an average three bedroom house is around $700,000 so the government have had to build many housing estates to accommodate the folk who are unable to afford the average home.
TI has a rich history in defence and played a major role in the second world war. We did a tour and visited the Fort where the 3 guns commissioned remain and a maritime and war museum have been set up.  The guns have been fired once during the war when a boat didn’t advise who they were so the gun fired warning shots.  The boat identified itself as a “friendly” and all was well.
In the 19th and 20th centuries there was also a very large pearl harvesting industry as well harvesting of beche de mer (sea cucumber) and trochus shells. Pearl harvesting is still done on a small scale but since the invention of plastic buttons the demand decreased. There were many Japanese men working in the pearl industry here and as time went by there were many deaths as the pearls had to be found at deeper and deeper depths .
TI as several primary schools, one high school and a tafe (polytechnic).  There are three pubs and 13 churches on the island!
Horn Island is larger than TI and has a small village with small resort and shop. A ferry goes between TI and Horn fairly regularly and takes about 20min to get across.   Horn also supplies water to TI from several large dams and also receives all of TIs rubbish which is used as land fill.
 We did a tour here with Heritage Tours and were bussed around and looked at many different areas of WWII significance.  Horn Is played a large part in WWII as an airfield which was home to many bombers and fighters and was also the 3rd most bombed town or city in Australia. TI strangely did not receive as any bombing raids as there was a rumour that a Japanese princess was on TI but this is only a rumour and has never been confirmed.
It was a big day out and we were all happy to get back to Loyalty Beach.
We did have a stop in at the wreckers to borrow some wire to “fix” the LPG tank guard. While there, the guy mentioned they had pulled out 45 cars from the OTT to date.

Friday 1 Aug

This morning we returned the wire to Bamaga Wreckers, filled up with fuel and headed south having ticked off one of the “must-dos” of our trip in visiting the tip. On the way back to the Eliot Falls camping area, we stopped into one of the more notorious OTT crossings which is called Nolans Creek. We arrived in there to find about 5 other cars camped in there, one of which had been pulled out and was just drying out before they carried on. They had set up some camp chairs down near the water to watch people go through. The main problem with Nolans Creek is that it is quite deep, over most bonnets as you drive through which is why the local wrecker in Bamaga has his phone number on a tree nearby. Rumour has it he charges $2,000 to recover your car! The water is very clear and the young kids there were swimming in the shallow part. As we were talking to some of the people there, four young blokes pulled up in their Hilux and Landcruiser. They were very dirty and had obviously been camping up and down the track so they did the walk through the creek to check depth and line etc (after jumping in from a bank a couple of times) then promptly drove through without any drama at all.
We wussed out of doing the crossing (still a long way to go you know!) and back tracked the way we’d come in and headed to Fruitbat Falls for a swim which was lovely. We then continued onto Eliot Falls where we set up camp once again then jumped into the water which was fantastic. Our vote was Eliot Falls over Fruitbat Falls because of the big rocks to jump off.
Dinner that night was sausages and “squeaky cheese” (haloumi) cooked on the fire.

Saturday 2 Aug

After packing up we headed back down part of the OTT and came upon a tricky looking river crossing across Cockatoo Creek. We stopped and had a bite to eat for lunch and Richard walked across and wasn’t really too sure how to attack it. After 10min or so, some folk turned up on the other side and after the obligatory walk through, drove through it no problem. A few minutes later, another car turned up and also had no problem so we headed on down to the creek. The river did have some big holes but in the end it wasn’t too bad and less deep than some of the other rivers we’d already crossed getting to Eliot Falls. There was also a quite steep bank to get out once you’d left the river but with the guidance of another driver on the other side it wasn’t too bad either. While talking to this driver, he mentioned of all the tracks he’d been on so far, this was the only crossing to have a croc warning sign on. So, all four of us had been walking around in the river and Didge and Trish had crossed to take some GoPro footage as well!
We then drove further along the OTT to a crossing called Gunshot. This is one of the notorious crossings because the entry to the river is so steep. We think there are about 8-9 entries into the river, only one of which Richard thought we would attempt (not that we did as there is a bypass road back a bit) and even this one was fairly steep. Going South to North would mean you’d come down the bank and would have gravity on your side, however, North to South would mean you’d have to have a winch. When we parked up, I had a chat to the 4 young blokes we’d bumped into at Nolans the day before. They’d camped here the night waiting to see some action before they attempted it themselves. We found out they’d done the entire track from South to North and were now heading back down the entire track again. They both had winches and knew they had to use them but they were just deciding which bank to tackle. A couple of the banks were near vertical and unless you’ve a dedicated 4wd for that sort of thing, we couldn’t see how you could even come down most of them!
We did hear a story about a family that got stuck in one of the crossings (Palm Creek – the first crossing of the OTT) overnight.  They had a camper trailer on and got stuck going across.  There was no-one around to pull them out so their truck & camper had to stay there the night!
Richard thinks we may well have to visit the OTT again but CJ might have to have a bit of new gear to tackle some of the tricker crossings.  Trish thinks she is busy for this holiday so some of the boys might have to go with Richard.
We drove onto Bramwell Junction to collect the trailer (which was thankfully still there!), then onto Morton Telegraph station for the night. Morton has a very nice grass camping area which was a welcome change after dust and sand.

Sunday 3 Aug

We spent some time rearranging the trailer and car, did some washing ($6 per load – most expensive so far!) and changing fridge connection as it had fallen out a few times over the rough, corrugated roads. (Note to Dave T, you know how you were talking about changing to Anderson plugs? Well, the fridge end has been done for you! Happy to sort out your car when we are back).
We found out Morton has a runway which has a plane come in once a week to deliver a mail bag which they deliver for local folk. The station also caters for many large coach tours.
We had packed up and were on the road to Musgrave Roadhouse around midday. It was a big drive and the road was the roughest of the lot so far, some of the corrugations you could really only do about 30-40kph. You need to experience how rough these roads are, we did manage to see a fairly new 200 series Landcruiser which had just speared off a corner on the corrugations and there are many, many stories of suspension failure and trailers falling apart. One couple we ran into mentioned a trailer failure which had the A frame on one side of the road, the tray part on the other and all their belongings strewn across the road between the two earlier that day.
Got into Musgrave (the last remaining telegraph station house) fairly late and had dinner there at the restaurant, once again, nice hamburger however not as nice as the Archer River one.

Monday 4 Aug

We had parked up beside a young family who were travelling for 12 months (3 kids are all under 5!) and decided to have a mini convoy to Normanton. We got an hour or so into the drive and found them parked on the side of the road with what looks like a bent chassis as the tray was bent up although it wasn’t obvious where the bend was so weren’t sure that was where the problem was. We travelled together crossing the Mitchell River which used to cause all sorts of problems to cross as it is very sandy and wide and the local station landowner would charge $1,500 to pull you out. Thankfully there is now a causeway so it wasn’t a problem. We stopped on the other side of the river and had a sandwich for lunch and this was the first time on the entire trip we’d actually felt it was hot.
Thankfully the road wasn’t as rough as the previous day but there were still some rough and corrugated patches and was a fairly long day arriving into the Normanton camp ground around 6.30pm.

Tuesday 5th Aug

We had tried to figure out what the problem was with the other car which meant there were a lot of other folk coming around and offering advice/help also. Great thing about this travelling thing, generally there are many other folk offering to lend a hand if they can. There wasn’t much we could do so we’re not sure how they got on but when we have some phone reception we’ll give them a call as it would be good to meet up again.
We had a look around Normanton, checked out the statue of the largest official crocodile shot (Krys is his name and he’s just over 8m long!), did a big grocery shop, bought some oil to do an oil and filter change and then hit the road to Burke and Wills Roadhouse. While we don’t know that much about Burke and Wills, we believe they were the first two to go overland from Adelaide to Darwin (or there abouts). The road to the roadhouse was sealed all the way which was excellent for a change. After a quick fill up and an ice cream we headed out for Adels Grove campground right next door to the Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park. We arrived in the dark so found it a bit tricky to find a spot but did manage to find a lovely shady spot in the aptly named Grove.

Wednesday 6th August

Today we explored the park to find a great swimming spot in the river.  There are freshwater crocodiles in the river but these are timid and will stay out of your way (unless provoked).  The swimming spot has a pontoon and swing rope so was a great place to spend the afternoon. We were a bit nervous about the crocodiles for a start but there were lots of people coming and going in the river and none of them got eaten so we figured it was ok!

Thursday 7th August

Today we went into Boodjamulla National Park to canoe up Lawn Hill Gorge.  The gorge is amazing – steep red walls and amazing views.  Along this first section we found our first freshie (Freshwater croc) in the wild. The freshie is not as big nor aggressive as the salty and is much more timid however it’s not unheard if he gets annoyed to have a go at people so it’s not a clever thing to get too close. The canoe trip goes up the first gorge then you have to drag the canoes over the pass to reach the top of the gorge.  This takes you up to the source of the river (spring and run-off fed) which is where there are many fish waiting for tasty morsels to come in from the springs and run-offs. It looks like the fish might also be fed from the canoes the way they were following us. On the way back we stopped at the pass and had a swim where the falls are. It was nice for a swim however in the back of your mind is the fact just a few hundred metres away there is a croc sunbaking on the bank, at least there was when we paddled up! When dropping the canoes off we were told the croc had actually disappeared for around an hour, just about the time we were swimming but he was back there when we came back again so must have found some food elsewhere thankfully. Emily did say she didn’t think he was very big but we figured at around 3m if that was hanging onto your leg it’s plenty big enough.
We then travelled down the road a bit further to visit the Riversleigh fossil site which is open to the public. At the bottom of the small hill, there is a large manmade rock which doubles as an info centre and a toilet. It fits really well into the whole view as it’s not obviously out of place. The walk takes about half an hour and it was very hot (mid 30s) so with hats and sunscreen on we took a wander looking at fossils of large fresh water crocs, large flightless birds, carnivorous kangaroos (who knew!) and turtles.
Back at camp we jumped into the water and had a swim and the kids met 2 girls almost exactly the same age as our two so they had a ball and it was fairly dark when we managed to extract them from the water. Dinner was a “stove top Pizza” cooked on a fire on the cast iron fry pan which Emily stated was “the best meat lovers pizza” she had ever had.

Friday 8th August

Today we had planned to head off however the kids had found a couple of friends, we had to at least write the blog (if not upload!)  as well as change the oil in CJ so we figure it would be a while before we can do all of those things so we’d do it today.
The Kids had arranged to meet up at the river at 9.30 so Trish sat in the shade beside the river and updated the blog while Richard went in search of firewood. With both morning tasks accomplished we had to drag the children out of the water at 12.30 to have lunch but shortly after lunch they were quickly back in the water while Richard changed the oil and filter and Trish added more to the blog.
After coming back from the oil change, Richard thought it was time for a swim so wandered down to where the kids were. They weren’t there however as there was a freshie about 5m away from where they had been swimming all morning. He was well hidden in the bamboo and obviously hadn’t been bothered by all the noise and commotion. The kids had moved down to a much safer spot however it was too shallow and not in the sun so they came back to the pontoon where the croc was only to find he was no longer there. While it didn’t stop the kids jumping in for another 15min, I could tell it was on their minds.
We had enough firewood to cook a sausage stew in the camp oven so this we threw in a whole heap of vege and some sausages and viola, our first use of Cath and Pete’s camp oven completed successfully.
We had a social evening with the other family the kids had made friends with which was a wonderful change from just ourselves.

Port Douglas, Daintree, Lions Den, Cooktown, Lakefield Nation Park, Archer River Roadhouse, Elliot Falls, Loyalty Beach, Cape York

Wednesday 23 July 2014
Today was a quiet day but we did manage to venture to Mossman Gorge. It is a lovely part of the world however we did think it looked a lot like many other nice rivers in both Australia and New Zealand but was a welcome outing for the day as we were all going a bit stir crazy.

Thursday 24 July 2014
Mostly recovered, we headed out to the closest servo to fill up all available fuel containers, (90 LPG tank, 90 litre fuel tank, and 4 x 20l jerry cans).  We did get told off for filling up the jerry cans on the roof rather than removing them to fill up! Some hundreds of dollars poorer, although prices here were very reasonable, we started the next part of our journey into territories unknown (almost, as we’d been to Cape Tribulation a few years ago on a wonderful (larger) family holiday for Richards Dads birthday)
Before we got to Cape Trib. though, we did have to stop for an ice cream at the Daintree Ice Cream Company (Wattleseed, Pineapple, Raspberry and Yellow Sapote were flavours of the day), the obligatory photo at Noah Beach and (Trish’s favourite) an insect museum/collection. The insect collection was very impressive and the man who had made it had wandered the planet collecting bugs to bring them back to display them in his small museum of which he had made all of the displays and shelving from timbers in the area.
We had done a beach walk at Cape Trib. on our previous visit and we did try again however there was no parking for trailers so we kept on heading north on roads not yet travelled. The track past Cape Trib. is four wheel drive only and did prove to be so. It’s called the Bloomfield track and while much of it is passable by two wheel drive, there are a number of river crossing and some very steep sections both up and down. One of the ups did stump CJ and Richard had to do a very nasty change from high to low range on the fly which did thankfully work out (and there weren’t a bunch of gears left on the road!). Needless to say he was much more cautious on future ascents.
We drove on to one of the more famous outback pubs called the Lions Den. Many of the pubs have camping available out the back and usually have amenities although often fairly basic. It had been mentioned to us the pizzas here was good so after a couple of cold ales and a couple of pizzas it was time to crash.

Friday 25 July
The day started with us playing at skimming stones in the river next to the campground.  Crocodile free, thankfully!  Its a selling-point for campgrounds to have a swimming river as so many aren’t ok for swimming.
Today we drove into Cooktown for a visit which was very interesting. The info centre was quite interesting also housing a small museum so learnt even more info about crocs and termites. There are three types of termites up here and they all build very different, distinct mounds.  We then had a walk along the main drag as there are points of interest and info about when Cook landed and why.  There is a very cool playground which has a boat made of plastic tubes that you can play music on – think Blue Man Group type music.   After a quick visit to the lighthouse on the hill and a visit to the servo to see if they had LPG in (truck with LPG was supposed to be in on Tuesday, then on Thursday) we headed back to the Lions Den.

Saturday 26 July
We headed back into Cooktown to refuel and saw there was a market on and Trish can’t pass up a good market so we had a wander down the street. It was all but over though and didn’t look that interesting anyway.
The LPG truck had been to the servo so after topping up with LPG (using this as the emergency) and fuel, we headed off for a fairly long drive to Hann Crossing in Lakefield National Park. This was our first taste of the red dust and while driving we saw many termite mounds of different types, a couple of fires along the side of the road (fairly common around here) and managed to run over a long snake (long enough that it wouldn’t fit between the front wheels but did manage to run over only it’s tail rather than it’s head but I bet it’s still not happy if alive).
Hann Crossing was also on the river and was a fair distance from the toilets so required a drive for the girls. This was our first taste of more remote camping although there were about 12 other campsites along the river but each site was several hundred metres from each other so was fine. The biggest problem was there were crocs in the river and while no one saw any, we were very conscious of being “croc aware”. The stars that night were amazing and one of Didge’s favourite things so far. There was so many to see that it all blended into a fuzzy light and we also saw some shooting stars. After dinner (cooked on the fire followed by some smores ) we decided to turn in and as it was also very warm, around 22 degrees, we left the side window up to see the sun come up in the morning.

Sunday 27 July
Sunday was Emily’s friend, Freyas' birthday and Emily was a bit sad she couldn't ring her as we didn’t have any phone coverage. We had been talking to some folk at the Lions Den who mentioned a 4WD track which bypassed much of the Peninsula Development Road (PDR – the road to the Cape) and came out on the Port Stewart road so we thought we’d give that a go. While we were expecting it to be slower, we didn’t expect it to be as slow as it actually was. We ended up taking around 7 hours to do about 300km of which around 100km was proper 4wd track with around 11 river crossings. Richard was having fun as there were 2 quite challenging crossings, not so much for the car, but more so for the trailer which isn’t a “proper” offroad trailer. There are now a couple of bent bolts beneath the tool box and there was a moment there after dropping off a steep bank he thought the tow ball hitch might have snapped off but after crawling around underneath for a bit it looked to be ok.
Once on the Port Stewart road it was much quicker however getting onto the PDR slowed us down a bit as the corrugations were pretty severe and we often couldn’t travel much faster than 50-60kph and even then we lost half our fillings. We nearly stopped at Coen where you could camp at the Exchange Hotel however everyone thought we should push on the next 60 odd km to the Archer River Roadhouse as the burgers were supposed to be very good. We arrived in the dark, set the camper up and headed to the Roadhouse and had a proper burger the likes of which you could get 30 years ago at your local takeaway shop before they disappeared.

Monday 28 July
Today we made the decision (on the back of the previous days 4wd track expedition) to leave the trailer at Bramwell Junction rather than take it on more corrugations and 4wd tracks. This meant organising the car to be self sufficient which took a bit of time but the more we did, the more we thought it was the right decision as it then gave us the option to look at some more tracks and also not risk any more damage to the trailer. It was still a fairly long day however as we still had over 160km of rough road and corrugations to travel before dropping the trailer at Bramwell and then a further 90km to travel including some of the infamous Telegraph Track before arriving at the Eliot Falls camp ground. It all went without hitch although there was one river crossing (very muddy water and couldn’t see the bottom) which had us stumped until someone came through and we saw the line they took so wasn’t a problem after that. Eliot Falls was a fantastic campsite and is Trish’s favourite so far.  We went for a swim here and it was warm enough for Trish to get in which tells you it must have been warm indeed!  There were some great rocks to jump off and everyone had a good time here.

Tuesday 29 July
After breakfast we packed up and headed down to swim in one of the falls further upstream called the Saucepan. This ended up being a very nice swimming hole although the rocks weren’t as challenging as the previous day. We headed off further up the Tele track and came across the first river crossing which was indeed very gnarly. The river, while not that deep, had some very deep holes and Richard was wondering what he’d got himself into. So, after walking through and scoping out what he thought was the best lines, he dived in. All was going fairly well, made it across the river had to make a sharp right, then across some bumps and off to the left again. The last part proved to be tricky as there wasn’t enough lock to get around to the left so had to have a couple of goes at it and the fact the tow bar was digging into the ground was making it very difficult too. We did make it out and Richard was thinking to himself if the rest of the track looked like this he wasn’t so sure it was going to be that much fun! We stopped and took stock as we hadn’t actually finished this bit when we saw some other cars coming in the other direction. It just so happens, we’d wandered off the main track and had gone off and done the “fun 4wd stuff” off to the side and there was a much easier track off to the left! We had all got out of the car and Didge had got her jandal (thong for you Aussies!) stuck in the mud and had completely lost it. So, after fishing around for about 20min in the mud we eventually found it and so carried on in one piece very happy we had dropped the trailer the previous day.
We then carried on the variable red road towards the Jardine River ferry. Once across the ferry we experienced some of the worst corrugations but also some of the smoothest roads to date. We really couldn’t work out how to deal with the corrugations, fast , slow, it didn’t make much difference and it was easier to opt for the slow (second gear)  as at least you could still talk or hear the radio. Extremely happy to have put the Lovells springs and Bilstein shocks combination in as well as replacing all bushes as I think that helped a lot. The smoothest road was because there were a couple of sections the graders were working on and we were the first folk through so was wonderful.
We arrived into Bamaga and headed straight for the wreckers. Last year this wrecker pulled 62 writeoffs out of some sections of the Telegraph track and he’s up to 30 this year having pulled out 3 just last week (one being a 100k plus 3 week old Landcruiser).  The drivers window control had stopped working and Richard had hoped he would have one but not to be. After refuelling and a quick top up on bread and essentials, we headed on to Loyalty Beach camp ground where we enjoyed a beer and watched the sun go down.

Wednesday 30 July 2014
Today we drove to Punsand Bay where there is another campground and had a wander around there. It did have a much nicer feel to it, the restaurant and bar looked a bit nicer and the beach was much nicer although you still couldn’t swim there. It was also a bit more expensive than where we were staying .
We saw there was a 4wd track which was a short cut to the main road to the tip of mainland Australia so thought we’d head out onto this track. It did prove to be a “proper” 4wd track and we  were almost digging ourselves out of a  bog. However (thankfully!) we were able to reverse out of it and attempt another track to the side which worked out ok. As it turned out though, the reversing did rip the undercover protection off the LPG tank which we only found out later that evening.
We drove to the end of the road, parked and had some lunch before donning hats and sunscreen for the walk to the end of the mainland. It was very warm and also very windy which meant we weren’t able to wear hats but after clambering over a couple of rocky hills we had made it. After taking the obligatory photos, we headed back to the car to visit the site of a couple of crashed planes from WWII. There is quite a bit of the planes left to see as they were built from mostly aluminium. There are also many aviation gas fuel drums left scattered through the bush also.
We had collected firewood during our 4wd adventure so had a fire cooking toasty pies (jaffles) for dinner.

Cooktown and beyond

Very quick post. In Cooktown about to head out but will probably not have Internet access for the next few days maybe up to a week or more.

When we get access and time we'll update.

Townsville, Magnetic Island, Paronella Park, Mareeba and Port Douglas

Friday 18th July

Magnetic Island is only a 20 minute ferry ride from the mainland – in fact lots of people live on Magnetic Island and travel to the mainland each day for work. It is (as expected) a very touristy place with a good bus network and lots of accommodation.  There are lots of backpackers as it is so easy to get around.  We bussed over to Horseshoe Bay and spent a lovely few hours wandering up the beach collecting shells.  There are lots of coral to be found being so close to the reef and lots of very impressive shells.  The kids were itching to ride horses and kept asking every 5 minutes what the time was.  We were all very glad when the time came to go riding!  The horse riding is very well run.  Both kids were ok on their own and the staff seemed surprised that I even asked if an adult had to go with them.
The riding group was split in two – (experienced and non-experienced riders) but all followed much the same path.  The groups rode down to the beach with some trotting on the way.  The horses were then unsaddled, and ridden into the sea.  The horses walk along in the sea with staff walking along the beach beside.  It was very well organised and one of the few places you can ride a horse into the sea.  Then it was back on with the saddles and more trotting on the way home.  Richard and I walked back to meet them at the end, sneaking in a quick drink on the way!
We had to then get three busses and one ferry back to the campground due to not having a car since it was after garage closing time which meant CJ had a night in the garage.  The horse riding was definitely the highlight of the kids’ trip so far.

Saturday 19th

Richard got up early and walked to the garage to collect CJ while I did some washing and tidied up.  We then packed up and drove up the coast towards Cairns. We stopped at ‘Paronella Park’ which had a free campground if you paid for park entry.  Paronella Park was built by Jose Paronella in the 1930’s as he’d always wanted to live in a castle!  He moved to Australia from Spain and made money buying and selling cane farms.  He then went back to Spain to collect his bride (who didn’t wait the 11 years it took him to make the money so he married her younger sister!) and moved back to Australia to set about building his castle.  He started with the steps up from the riverbank so he could more easily carry the stone and building materials up to the house/castle site.  The first building he built was the cottage for his family.  Most people would have stopped there – a nice cottage in the lovely bush, but not Jose – he goes on to build a castle, tennis courts, ballroom, movie theatre, etc etc.  He installed hydro-electric generators to power the park so the locals could have movie nights and buy ice-creams there.  This was some 20 years before nearby Innisfail had power!  Those original generators have been restored and are still in use today to power the park.  It was a very interesting place to visit and we did both the night tours (incl fish, turtle and eel feeding) and the day tour.

Sunday 20th

Today we drove along the Atherton tablelands to Port Douglas. This is a very popular area for people wanting to escape the heat of the beaches and has lots of do. Our first stop was at the crystal caves in Atherton where one couple have travelled the world collecting crystals for display.  It was an amazing display and well presented.
Next stop was at the Mareeba Information Centre.  We were looking for Dave’s Mum but she wasn’t working that day so we took a look around the Info centre instead.  The locals (including Dave’s Mum) have done an amazing job of setting up a museum of the local area.  It is really good and has lots of interesting things to see.  Sadly we must be getting old as both Richard and I remember using some of the “museum pieces” like old telephones (the ones with the handle to wind to ring) and farm implements.
Next stop was coffee and chocolate world.  This museum/display has coffee memorabilia from all over the world.  But more importantly has unlimited coffee and chocolate tastings!  It’s a great place and really interesting.  Not to mention yummy chocolate and good coffee!
Then it was on to Port Douglas where we're staying for a few nights.

Monday 21st

Today we were up early for a reef tour.  We went out aboard Calypso Blue which specialises in snorkelling tours.  We stopped at three sites, all on the Opal reef.  The day wasn’t the best – a bit windy and overcast but the water was warm at 23-24 deg C.  They provided wetsuits which us three girls used.  Didgy had a sea-sickness tablet and sat out the back in the fresh air all the way out to avoid getting sick.  Richard didn't and ended up losing his lunch on the way back in!  The snorkelling was great with one of the highlights the tour by one of the staff who dived down to show us things then came up to tell us about them.   The whole day flew by and was one of my highlights of the trip so far.

Tuesday 22nd

Today Emily is getting over a cold and Didge and Richard have colds so we've decided to have a relax day.  I did some washing and cleaning and tidying while everyone else slept, read books or watched movies. Temp is currently around 26 degrees although Richard is complaining of it being cold and we're putting that down to his cold and would still rather be here with a cold than back in Sydney without!
We have booked an extra night in Port Douglas for everyone to recover as much as possible from the colds before moving further north.

Townsville

Thursday 17th

After leaving Airlie Beach we headed  back to the Bruce Highway for our morning coffee at the Whitsunday Gold Coffee shop. We grabbed a couple of takeaways so we could drive on as we had a big day ahead, well, that's how it started.

We had been umming and ahhing over whether we needed a snorkel, well, Richard had anyway. There are a number of creek crossings to be done but also many of the roads we want to travel will be dust as well as bull dust and having a snorkel above most of the dust will stop it getting into the engine. So, while Trish drove Richard organised a snorkel which actually meant we were going to stay in Townsville rather than push on to Cairns. Cairns has a public holiday on Friday which meant everything was closed so we couldn't do it there.

On the drive, we did manage to see a large mango and also a large pumpkin. We have also noticed many "red" trucks coming back from further north, assuming this is what our truck will look like after our trip to the top.

Reached our campground in Townsville around 3.30, set up, had some dinner and crashed.

Friday 18th

We thought we'd drop the car off and then head to Magnetic Island for the day. The children have been wanting to go horse riding ever since we started so they are booked in on a 2 hour horse ride in Horseshoe Bay where they even get to go riding in the sea. Will report back on how that goes.

Airlie Beach

Tuesday 15th

On the drive to Airlie Beach, we had seen a couple of signs for Whitsunday Gold Coffee which was one minute past the turn off to Airlie Beach so thought we'd drop in. Well, what a find, the lady there (whose name we will get tomorrow when we stop in again) was a mine of information regarding the trip to Cape York as she and her family had just arrived back a few days prior. The coffee was also fantastic so if you find yourself anywhere near this place drop in, oh, and the Lime cheesecake was pretty special too!

We arrived into the Big 4 Adventure Whitsunday at a reasonable time (for a change) and had everything set up before it got dark! It was still a reasonable drive, around 3 and a half hours but seemed to go fairly quickly.

The big change we've noticed is while the days are still similar temp, the nights are much more pleasant and we no longer have to wear all of our clothes to bed and the kids are down to just one sleeping bag. In about a week or so I reckon we'll be complaining of it being too hot at night!

Wednesday 16th

Today we spent regrouping and catching up on some washing as well as enjoying the fact we didn't have to rush off anywhere. We did wander into town for a walk along the Bicentennial Walk and to check out the beach and Lagoon. The water is a very nice aqua colour and right now, even though it's a bit cool, you can swim however in summer it's full of stingers so not so pleasant then. There is also a pool in the centre of town (called the Airlie Beach Lagoon) which is where people can swim even during the stinger season.  Most of the towns up here seem to have these pools in their centre for this reason.  The one here is pretty big and even has Life Guards.
Downtown was full of backpackers and looks like it would have a pretty good nightlife but we were happy to head back to the campground for some very good fish and chips from Fish D'vine.

Tomorrow it's off to Paronella Park which will be around an 8 hour drive which everyone is looking forward to, or perhaps not.

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