Our trip to the Cape - starting 21 May 2018

The Plan:

This trip we plan to head to the tip of Cape York pretty well direct then, as we head south, explore the region in detail on the way back. There are a couple of reasons for this.  Friends travelling with us, Ray and Gael, have to be back earlier than us so they will take off home when they need to and secondly, we want to get to the top as soon as possible and start heading back before the school holiday crowds start appearing. Everything is subject to weather, the roads, and equipment so we don't have any firm plans apart from being home before the start of the last week in July. 

The plan

Apart from Ray and Gael in their 4WD, another 4WD with Alan and Noel, who are friends of Ray and Gael, will be travelling with us. The other four left last week as they are visiting a couple of other places on the way up. We leave on Monday 21 May 2018 and plan to head to Miles the first night then north to eventually catch up with the others at or before Coen. From there we plan to take the caravan as far as Bramwell Station where we will leave it and travel to the Tip in a tent. Ray and Gael are swagging it with Alan and Noel in a tent like us. Not having the van with us will allow us more freedom to explore. 

Getting to the northern tip of Australia has been a bucket list item for me for a long, long time while getting back home to our newly installed kitchen is now on Julie's bucket list.

The Trip:

Monday 21 May - After closing up our apartment and Julie tearfully saying goodbye to her new and largely unused new kitchen we set off to the caravan with the final bits and pieces to be loaded in. We departed around 10am with our first night's target being Charleville or maybe Miles or even Dalby a few miles back.

Day 1 - The first of many gravel pit stops

Miles ended up winning as the car, its occupants and van went well. With still a bit of sorting out to do in the van we sorted them out quickly and then had a well deserved beverage under the clear skies of Miles. 

Next day we were off fairly early heading towards Rolleston but with a different route planned. Friends of ours, Leuwin and John, with their 10 day old were camped just north of Roma. It's not often you get to see a 10 day old Roadstar caravan and Leuwin had further bribed us with an offer of one day old banana muffins. We spent a few hours with them before heading off north to Rolleston.

Oh look another gravel pit - on the way to Rolleston

Passing the turnoff to Carnarvon Gorge on the way we stopped and took a photo of the sign and sent it to Ryan and Kahlia just in case they weren't already excited enough about going there in July. Based on the feedback they were already excited enough and they didn't need reminding.

After a few hours the outskirts of Rolleston came into view. As it turned out the outskirts were the inskirts as Rolleston isn't all that big. After setting up, a quick stroll around the inner and outer skirts of Rolleston was eagerly followed by a seat in the setting sun with a beer in hand while we chatted to some of the friendly campers coming back from their walk around the skirts of Rolleston. The sun went down and so did the temperature, so much so we had to adjourn inside and huddle around our little fan heater while the temperature went down to near zero overnight.

With the weather still fine and clear we set off towards Charters Towers via the backroads stopping at the most picturesque gravel pits along the way for morning tea and lunch.

Another beautiful gravel pit, this time for lunch on the way to Charters Towers

News had come through from Ray and Gael that they were starting to circle the area from Cooktown west to Chillagoe while waiting for us to arrive.  The pressure was on to catch up so today we travelled over 600klm to Charters Towers via more backroads and again enjoying the delights of numerous gravel pits for morning tea, lunch and arvo tea along the way. 

After a long day's drive we arrived at a lovely van park on the northern outskirts of Charters Towers, Dalrymple Tourist Van Park. Put this one on your list if ever travelling this way. Our site was out the back overlooking the golf course with no one else around - just as we like it.

Charters Towers

Ray and Gael were now on a couple of day's respite from Alan and Noel somewhat entertaining antics. The pressure was on for us to get further north quickly, so the next day we hit the road early heading to Walkamin via Mt Surprise over 530 klm away.

Morning tea style gravel pit

Standard lunch style gravel pit

Camp at Walkamin

After setting up in the van park for two nights so I could have a break from driving and to give us time to stock up on food etc we contacted Ray and Gael who were in Atherton - 20 klm behind us! They were off to Cooktown the next day by themselves for a night for more respite purposes while Alan and Noel were headed for the Lions Den just south of Cooktown for some further antics.

We all agreed to converge on Lakeland at the start of the road north to Bamaga before 12 noon the next day to then set off for the Cape.

Yep another gravel pit on the way to Lakeland - this is a lunch style one

Everything worked to plan with us arriving first, followed by Ray and Gael and finally Alan and Noel (who we now call the Two Ronnies). After fuelling up we all set off at 11:30am for the Cape - finally.

The start of road to Cape York

The road is sealed for quite a while and it wasn't until north of Laura did the dirt road start.

Not that anyone was complaining but it was good to know we were on the right road. So the road is good with some corrugations and lots of washouts, dips, and floodways. When a road sign says any of the above you have to take it seriously as the washouts etc can be really bad.  We sat behind Ray and Gael who warned us of anything coming or adverse road conditions. 

B-double road trains filled with cattle were given absolute right-of-way as they travel at speed, do not slow down and throw stones and blackout clouds of dust. We just pulled over and watched them pass.

B-Double road train heading south while we headed for the side of the road

Our first camp was at Hann River Roadhouse which we reached around 1:30pm. Julie and I were keen to stay here the night so we could check things over and freshen up after another 360 klm day. Ray and Gael were keen to stop too and opted for a king single, one bed donger near the 24 hour power generator over their swags. The Two Ronnies saw that there was no alcohol for sale here so headed on further north to Coen to camp behind the Exchange Hotel where their "needs" were met. 

Aussie the Emu greeted us all as we sat under the gum trees chatting with Ray and Gael as they debriefed after a week with the Two Ronnies - absolutely hilarious stories.

Aussie the Emu

A much needed lazy afternoon and evening were spent with Ray and Gael as we prepared for the next day's drive north.

Hann River Roadhouse camp for the night

As we were early in the season, the tourist numbers were low and all the venues were geering up for the crowds to start arriving in the next few weeks. All the retailers were happy to see us as they were yet to be jaded by the hoards.   

Hann River Roadhouse is the last of the 'cheap' fuel on the Cape when heading north, so we filled up and set off once again along the long dusty road north.

Hann River - Ray and Gael's car

The road north towards Coen

We stopped at Musgrave Roadhouse for smoko and then onto Coen to catch up with the Two Ronnies who were still enjoying the offerings of the (S)Exchange Hotel at lunch time.

Musgrave Roadhouse

They were so pleased with the offerings that they had already decided to say another night.

The (S)Exchange Hotel in Coen

We had lunch here and set off to Bramwell Station for two nights. The road was in fairly good condition and posed no problems for us provided we slowed for the water crossings and assorted washouts. 

Another road train - people actually overtake these things

The road to Bramwell Station after Weipa turnoff

We arrived at Bramwell Station late afternoon and checked in. Camping is provided in a well mown enormous paddock dotted with a few lean to's and shade trees. The weather has been warming up the further north we travelled so we were able to select a site that afforded some shade while giving us enough sun for our solar panels. Ray and Gael rolled out their swags under a lean to near us and there we sat in the late afternoon very satisfied with the fact that we were just 230 klm from the tip of Australia and everything was going well with our cars and our caravan. The big question still remained for all of us though - would the Two Ronnies arrive tomorrow......

Ray and Gael's camp at Bramwell Station

Start of the Old Telegraph Track

OTT 

28 May - given we didn't expect the Two Ronnies to arrive before lunch today (if at all) we decided to have a look at the start of the Old Telegraph Track just 10 klm up the road. A sign at the Bramwell Station Roadhouse indicates the start of the track so in we went. Immediately the track narrowed as it wound its way around 3+ metre high termite mounds and thin trees rising out out of savanna grasslands. Our first problem was the first water crossing - we just couldn't gauge how deep or treacherous the track was through muddy water. We looked for a workaround but came to an even more dangerous crossing so with an unanimous vote from the four of us we turned around and headed home.

Jeff and Ray deliberating about the track

Rather large termite mound - our car is 2 metres high

Julie and I spent the afternoon swapping things between the car and caravan in readiness to tent it for the rest of the trip north. Happily everything fitted in the car just fine and we were ready for the next day. The refrigerator hadn't been working efficentially since we entered the warmer weather and I tracked the problem down to a failed fan on the condenser. Being in the middle of nowhere with no 240v power to plug the van into there was nothing I could do except worry that the fridge would fail because the solar panels could not top up the battery enough due to the fridge working overtime. 

Alan and Noel arrived okay and set up camp nearby. We then all booked into the dinner and show for that night put on by Bramwell Station. As it was nearing Alan's 70th birthday we decided tonight would be as good a night as any to celebrate it.

Bramwell Station - Alan beside me, Noel opposite and Ray and Gael

We all sat at the one table and took advantage of Happy Hour drinks. We introduced ourselves to the rest of the table and after a while The Bagman started his evening's entertainment of songs, poetry and jokes. Part way through dinner was served - a great spread of BBQ'd steak, sausages, rissoles served with salads and veggies was laid out. Calls for seconds were responded to, although not needed, as the food was great. Meanwhile the Bagman's show continued.

Alan geeing up the table

A singing competition between all the tables was held with Alan being our table's elected captain. The captains job was to rally his troops to sing the best when our turn - Alan failed and had to have a sing-off with the captain of another table - Alan failed but entertained everyone with his antics. Gael had told the Bagman it was Alan's birthday so a little later he was dragged up to the stage for his Happy Birthday song - which he had to sing to himself much to everyone's delight. Taking off Elvis Presley, Alan didn't fail, he could have, but you couldn't hear him over the laughter. It's fair to say we all had a great night.

29 May - with three cars all ready to go and the van about to be locked up and me still very worried about the fridge, Ray spotted a fellow traveller about to leave too who had a refrigeration repairmans sign on his 4WD. I went over and told him of my problem whereupon he asked his wife to stop locking the caravan door and wait a bit while he had a look. The short story is that we were able to break apart the fan, solder the positive lead back onto the motor, glue the fan back together, reinstall it and to our great surprise the thing worked just like new.... but for how long while we are away.

Much relieved that the fridge should be okay until we get back we all headed off in our three car convoy north, bound for the tip of Australia.

The crew at Bramwell Roadhouse

We could have easily taken the caravan up to the top of Australia but we wouldn't have been able to explore the 4WD tracks on the way. Without the van we headed along the Old Telegraph Track a few times only to be thwarted by dangerous river crossings and track conditions. None of us were interested in damaging our vehicles just to get to another obstacle. Being early in the season there was still a lot of water about and very few 4WD's. We easily got to Fruit Bat Falls but couldn't get to Elliot Falls due to track conditions. 

The Bats and Fruit Bat Falls

Fruit Bat Falls

The track to Elliot Falls

That night we ended up camping 3 kilometres off the main road north down a track beside a crystal clear stream in the middle of nowhere. The Two Ronnies realised there was no pub here so they pushed on to Punsand Bay with its bar. The remaining four of us spent a few hours in the creek until we started to get cold then set up our chairs beside it to have a beer to celebrate life, friends and being on the Cape.

Our tent

Our campsite

Relaxing drink beside Mistake Creek

We set up our new tent for the first time and left the fly off as it was warm at night and the weather was fine. After a great day we each retired to our campsites and fell asleep. We stayed asleep until 2:30am being woken by drops of dew hitting the tent. The 'drops of dew' turned out to be rain which in turn created a puddle on Julie's side of the bed. Anyway, I slept fine as the dew stopped falling after a couple of hours and my side of the bed was dry.

Next morning we had the unenviable task of packing up a wet campsite, bedding and tent and set off to the top of Australia.

Crossing the Jardine River

 

Umagico Beach

We had a quick look around Bamaga, Injinoo, Umagico and Seisia before arriving at Punsand Bay campground. We jagged a site overlooking the beach and set up camp for four nights. We were able to dry everything out okay and Julie insisted that the tent fly went on for some reason. Overnight and the next day occasional showers came through but we remained dry and comfortable.

Alan's 70th birthday dinner

Our first night was marked with a celebration of Alan's 70th birthday again, this time it really was his birthday, so wood fired pizzas and drinks in the bar/restaurant area were ordered while another shower of rain fell on the iron roof above us. Another couple Alan and Noel had met also joined us.

Punsand Bay

The drive to the Tip

31 May - we set off for a visit to the tip of Australia around 8:30 am. Overnight showers became early morning showers ensuring the dust was now slippery red mud and the creek crossings were up. The 30 klm drive took us through thick rainforest and several water crossings.

Our cars were soon covered in red mud and still are today in some parts. Arriving in the carpark we waited for a shower of rain to pass and headed off along the trail for the 30 minute walk to the famous little sign at the Tip of Australia.

Showery walk to the Tip. Looking west towards Punsand Bay

 

Walking to the Tip

After taking the obligatory photos we headed back to the cars. There was only a couple of people at the Tip compared to five weeks later where there are photos of over 100 people lined up to have their photo taken.

Somerset Beach on a windy day

Cape York mud

Next we explored all the other bays and inlets to see if it was worthwhile spending a couple of nights there - nothing was appealing at all. In fact, the other campsites were disappointing as they had been let go. Toilet blocks were closed off, campsites were overgrown and rubbish and junk littered the place. Arriving home in the afternoon we went down to the beach to watch the beautiful sunset before heading to bed.

Sunset at Punsand Bay

Looking back to our camp

For the rest of our time up here we visited the old WWII relics around the place. Wrecked airplanes near old runways are still there today exactly where they crashed 70 years ago. Rusted 44 gallon drums remain in the old fuel dumps along with other bits and pieces. We poked around some 4WD tracks looking for any other camps but nothing was better that where we were at Punsand Bay. 

Visiting the WWII plane wrecks

Red mud still on the cars

Alan's wine bottle airport

2 June - our last day at Punsand Bay before moving down the road to Loyalty Beach and into a house Ray and Gael have booked for two nights - a bit of luxury before heading south. Our last night at Punsand was again spent on the beach watching the sunset. Alan got out his drone and entertained/terrorised us as he it took some great photos and video of us all on the beach - this included the drone crashing into Alan's wine bottle. More wood-fired pizzas were had for dinner.

Drinks at sunset - Punsand Bay

Wood fired pizza

Sunset at Punsand Bay

Croc slide

Next day Julie and I went for a walk along the beach with Alan and Noel to show them a couple of croc slides on the beach that Ray and Gael found earlier.  One slide showed that the croc went up and came back out but the second one went only one way up into the sand dune and it hadn't come out yet. So we all agreed that we should head back before the croc did.

Croc footprint beside mine

Later that morning we said goodbye to the Two Ronnies as they headed south while the rest of us went to Loyalty Beach for a much anticipated two nights in the "Cape's Best Accommodation". The house was a shack, the windows had no glass - just shade cloth, the door had a rock for a lock, the bedroom doors were plastic shower curtains, the shower had a family of 14 green frogs and the toilet leaked. Julie's mattress had some sort of fluid in it, the kitchen was basic, the water had a 5 metre croc in it but the views were great overlooking the water to Thursday Island in the distance.

The house

The view

Julie and I went for Friday fish and chips at the nearby pub like restaurant with tables under the stars. The views were magnificent as was the sunset. We met some lovely people - Jack and Ning and Richard and Charmaine.

Fish and chips dinner

The people we met

Next day we all did a day trip to Thursday Island including a tour of the island with a local guide.

Seisia Wharf - waiting for the boat to Thursday Island

The boat ride to Thursday Island

The place is very pretty in a tropical way and surprisingly small.

Fort on Thursday Island

View back to the mainland

Dirk, our guide, with fresh lobster

Traditional fishing stand

The other passengers getting on the boat 

Coming into Seisia Wharf

After a beer in the most northerly pub in Australia we headed back to the boat for the lovely return journey through the islands to Seisia wharf. Dinner was again held at the restaurant on the beach with a great a la carte menu on offer. Again the sunset was beautiful and we had a fitting last night at the top of Australia

Sunset from our dinner table at Loyalty Beach

5 June - Ray and Gael led the way out of Bamaga and back onto the dirt road south.

Packed up and ready to leave Loyalty Beach

Crossing the Jardine River heading south

We arrived back at Bramwell Junction and had a toastie for an early lunch. Ray and Gael decided to head for home from here, so sadly we said our goodbyes and they left us at the turnoff to Bramwell Station as they quickly disappeared in a cloud of red dust. Alone we drove the 6klm back to our van where it has been stored for the last week. Apprehensively I opened the door and the fridge was working away with the freezer at -14 and the fridge at a cheery 4 degrees - yeah!!!!  The battery was fully charged and nothing was missing or damaged. 

Our Bramwell Station campsite

We hooked up and moved the van beside a lean to and set up camp for the night. It took 1.5 hours to swap everything back between the car and van in readiness for the trip south. We didn't go up to the show with the Bagman again, content just to sit and listen from a distance. Once again the music was great, the jokes were mostly different and still funny and everyone was having a great time.

On 6 June we left Bramwell Station and travelled back to Hann River Roadhouse and spent the night.

Another stupid bustard on the road south of Bramwell Station

Weipa Turnoff 

The fan in the fridge survived the rough road and dust and continued to purr away. We had a great unpowered site with our backs to the campground. Again Aussie the Emu came for a visit and spent quite a bit of time 'cleaning' our mat. 

Mat cleaning service

Our campsite at Hann River

This is a great gravel pit overnight camp just south of Laura 

Next stop was Endeavour Falls Van Park - 30 klm north of Cooktown. We stayed here three nights to clean up the car and caravan and to explore Lakeland NP at the southern end of Cape York. The van park is all but empty and set amongst 100's of tall palm trees on the banks of the Endeavour River - very pretty and peaceful. 

Our campsite at Endeavour Falls

Clean car and van!

Day one here and I spent ages getting the mud and dirt and dust off and out of the car and caravan. The car's engine bay was hosed out and there were even pebbles on the roof of the caravan. The day and night time temperatures were once again lovely and cool making sleeping a real pleasure.

Bit of bush bashing

Day two and we set off for a really great day exploring Lakeland NP. We drove right through to Old Laura Station just a little north and inland of Laura township which is on the road to the Cape. This national park is lovely for scenery and camping with a couple of nice spots on the edge of billabongs and creeks - all having their own resident saltwater crocodiles. At one waterhole we spied a family of brolgas feeding and stopped for 15 minutes to watch these beautiful birds as they slowly moved along just near us. Old Laura Station is a beautiful part of history and wonderfully preserved just as it was in its heyday. Backtracking home from the station took us just as long as it did to get there. 

Old Laura Station

Coloured sands, Elim Beach

One of a number of water crossings

Brolga family

Driver, tour guide and chef

Old Laura Station

Really big goanna

Copperfield Dam near Cairns

Next day, Sunday, we headed off towards Charters Towers and that great van park we stayed in on the way up in our sights. Our car had different ideas though. Around 100klm into our journey in the middle of nowhere it went into 'limp' mode, dropping power considerably and limiting the gearbox to only 3 of its 8 gears but adding a bright orange light to our dashboard as compensation. Worried, we pulled over, read the manual which advised us to get to an authorised dealer as soon as possible - that would be in Cairns some 3.5 hours away. After a while the light went out and away we went with all 8 gears again. After five minutes the light came on again and 5 gears went away. We popped the bonnet to have a look at the big black thing under it to discover it was covered in leaves and twigs. This was strange as I had just hosed down the big black thing a couple of days ago. We cleared them all out and slowly and very anxiously headed off to Cairns choosing a van park near to our Authorised Dealer.

Early monday morning I introduced myself to our Authorised Dealer who turned out to be an Authorised Unhelpful Dealer as the car could not even be looked at until late Thursday afternoon. So off to Townsville in search of a Helpful Authorised Dealer.

A good morning tea stop on the way to Townsville

They were able to look at the car on Wednesday which they did to discover that the cause of our problems was bush rats that had eaten through some very important wiring. The leaves and twigs under the bonnet were their nest. Before they left their nest they dropped a whole packet of black Tic Tacs where they had chewed on the wiring. Next day, with a part flown up from Melbourne and many $ notes flying out of my wallet, the car was fixed - yeah!

So with all our plans of exploring new places on the way home thwarted by black Tic Tac, wire eating rodents from Endeavour Van Park and the call of Julie's pristine, unused kitchen getting louder by the day we set our sights for home. Still taking the backroads and enjoying the various offerings of the numerous gravel pits along the way we stayed a night at Capella and another in Monto before calling into Mum's place at Tewantin for a couple nights and then headed home.

Morning tea style gravel pit on the way to Capella

Lunch gravel pit

JnJ's Gravel Pit

So is the Cape worth it? Not really, although we enjoyed ourselves. Bang for buck per kilometre it's pretty repetitious, the roads are rough, the adventure is not really there anymore as the infrastructure is pretty good and getting better and the place is rather loved to death these days. We were early in the season and the crowds were fine as we had no queues for the Jardine Ferry or for any water crossings. The campgrounds were active but not busy and all the businesses were still happy to see tourists - so a good time to go. Four weeks later there were 4 kilometre queues for the Jardine Ferry, the campgrounds were booked out and there was not a single fishing charter up the top with any available times. There were queues to get across the river crossing and there were over 100 people queued to have their photo taken beside the little sign at the Tip - not a good time to go.

Where we have been in our caravan after this trip

The End

JeffnJulie