Heres quick vid of the hardest hillclimb I could find at Levuka….

We left Townsville and headed south.  We ended up staying at the Seabreeze again in Mackay and then went to Bundy.

We spent a couple of nights in Bundy to catch up with family and friends.  They were all very excited about the engagement and for some reason thought that we’d already had some planning done.  Unfortunately not!!

We’re having our Cape Trip debriefing at our place this weekend and we’ll be swapping photos and stories.  Maybe I will steal the other guys stories and put them up so you can get some different points of view.

Til the next trip – toodle pip for now!!

When we went over to TI and Horn Island, we left out our kitchen camping stuff and chairs but locked up other stuff incase it went wandering – eg. our notebook.

One thing that didn’t packed away well enough was the Plain Flour.   I think it was just put into a plastic bag and put on the bench.

When we got back from the day trip, there was Plain Flour everywhere.   The Bush Turkeys had eaten all of the 2kgs of Plain Flour other than the white powder that had been spread all over our campsite.  Glen and I were one of the last travellers off the ferry, so the other guys had cleaned up most of the mess.  It was still pretty funny walking in to white powder everywhere!!

Here are a couple of dog photos.

Garry got up and started breakfast.  We’re pretty much all separating today, so we split some food and I’ve done some meal prep for the they others so they’ve got dinners to get back to Brisbane.  We had bacon & sausages on bread for breakfast.

We packed  up camp and went into the Cultural Centre in Laura to get the details on how to get to the Rock Art.  We all gave our $5 donation and travelled the 12km to Split Rock.

We climbed the stairs to get to the Art and it was pretty good.

Our next planned stop was lunch at Cape Tribulation.  We did the Bloomfield Track to get there.  Bloomfield is pretty but nothing compared to what we’ve seen on our cape trip.  Cape Tribulation was packed.  We had a BBQ lunch and the BBQ was free to use.  We did the board walk and then went up to the lookout.

We got stuck at the Ferry for a while – there were heaps of cars waiting to get across.  Glen and I took off after the Ferry and kept driving til we got to Ellis Beach.  We booked in for camping, but when we went down to the Camp Ground, it was packed.  There was no way our tent would  fit in.  So we went back to the Office and we’ve upgraded to a Bungalow.  It’s pretty nice but nothing on the Sebel. Doh.

Scott has found some room for his swag at the campsite, but he’s up here visiting us in our bungalow.  Tomorrow we’re heading south.

We had Corn Fritters again for breakfast – I think they’re a favourite.  We called Loyalty Beach to see if they had any vacancies because we were over Punsand’s packedness.  There was availabity so we had a new home.

We packed up and got on our way.  I drove today.  Glen said I did really well.  We got to Loyalty at about 11ish.  We got to the office and paid for our campsite and we got an icecream.

Shed 2 where we were given to stay, someone had already set up there.  So we went back to the office to see what we could do.  We ended up where the other guys that had taken Shed 2 were supposed to be camped.

We set up camp and Garry and Ristan went into Seisia to drop in a line.  The other group set off to see the WWII plane wrecks.  Along the way, I said to Glen that something on the roof rack was flapping about, so we pulled over to check it.  Two of our floor mats had flown off, so we turned around to find them.  We didn’t have to go too far to find them and then we were off again.

Our map wasn’t the clearest; we were kinda feeling our way to get there as the info centre in Bamaga was closed.  We went to far and then we had to turn around and then we went bush and the track lead no where to see the two planes that are off the main road.

The DC3 was easier to find.  This DC3 actually took off from Archerfield Airport in the middle of the night and crashed here early in the morning.  Someone told us that what had happened was their commanding officer had told them just to follow the coast til PNG and they ran out of fuel.  Not sure if this is correct or not.  I think the plaque said that the pilot was in training – so not sure if human error came into play here.  I felt really sad for the lives that were lost in the accident.

Dog got a ride home from the wreck with Alex in the Challenger.  They guys filled up again in Bamaga.

We had Mexican Chicken and Rice for dinner.  Alex cooked Sticky Date Pudding for Luke’s Birthday for dessert.

After dinner, I went and had a shower.  I shared my shower with some friendly green guys.

We had Toad in the Hole (made by Scott) for breakfast today.  Not a great fan cause I don’t like soft runny yolks.  While packing up, Alex dropped a chair on her ankle and it looked pretty painful.

We finished off the Southern Section of the OTL and Gunshot was quite interesting.  Once again there were lots of cars waiting to go through, but no one was stuck.  We all got through fine.

We stopped at Fruit Ball Falls and had a swim.  The boys got right under the waterfall and got pummelled.

The next stop was Eliot Falls.  Eliot Falls is absolutely beautiful.  It is well worth the stop, but the campsites were pretty crappy and the toilets stank!!

We did a creek crossing and it was really weird – we’re not sure what creek it was, but it was like the surface of the moon.

We were all pretty amazed with the landscape.

The northern section of the OTL is awesome.  There isn’t as much traffic and **most** of the Poles are untouched.  We had heard some pretty bad stories about Nolan’s Brook and that was the last crossing for the day.  The boys walked the crossing thouroughly before going across.  We all got across fine and made camp there.  There were lots of flys, but other than that it was a really good campsite.  There is an old log crossing that we jumped into the creek from and floated downstream to where the crossing was.  Lots of fun.

Alex was reading and I had started dinner when Scott said he’d heard a car.  The boys went down to the creek and they thought that the other car (a Jeep Cherokee) was going to make camp on the other side of the crossing.  A little while later, I said to Alex, “Does that sound like a winch motor to you?”  We went down to the creek and the Cherokee was well and truly stuck in the creek.  The boys asked if they wanted a snatch out and then Luke went up to get the Challenger to pull them out.

These people we had run across before and let me just say that we have met nicer people on the track than these guys.  Their entire car was a swimming pool.  They were bailing water out of the car all night and they had all the stuff out of their car.

We had Shephard’s Pie and peas & corn for dinner.  Scott stepped on a hot coal that the fire had spat out and he’s got a lovely blister on his big toe.

Injuries & Ouchies:

Alex – Ankle
Jeep – Weld that Glen did for the Control Arm broke
Scott – Burnt Toe

I did our washing by hand. we read our books and fluffed around camp.

A really nice day just relaxing and swimming. I washed Alex’s hair with the soap today too. Now we’re both bogan style.

We had Rissoles and veges for dinner and the night was cooler than the night before.

We got up early and had a good run to the bridge and we had some time to kill so we went to Red Beach.  We had a look around and Garry spotted a log that didn’t really look like a log. When the log moved, we were sure that it was a chomper.

We filled up at the BP 149.43L $216.52 (1094km since filled up totally – Cairns).  We stopped at the Bauxite Terminal to get some piccies and then we were on our way.

We took the Batavia Downs turn off to get to the start of the Old Telegraph Line (OTL).  We stopped for more piccies at some huge Ant Hills.

Ristan was interested in checking out the Moreton Telegraph Station and we stopped there and got more piccies.

Next stop was Bramwell Junction.  They guys had to fill up (again) Unleaded – $1.80 per Litre and Diesel – $1.86 per Litre.

Once everyone had had amenities stops, we started on the OTL.

When we got to the first creek crossing, there was a back log of cars waiting to get across.  A car had got bogged and someone was pulling him out.  We met quite a few people while waiting for the guy to get pulled out.  The Jeep went across first for our group and Scott drove it easily.  The GU was next and Glen had his frilly skirt firmly on.  A small log that the bogged guy had tried to use to get out, flicked up and hit the GU. Luke helped another guy towing a trailer down (snatch attached to the back of the trailer and the Challenger lowered the trailer slowly – releasing the pressure on the tow ball etc) and then the Challenger went across without a problem.  Garry and Ristan decided after a while that they weren’t going to risk their son’s Hilux through the crossing.  The Hilux took  Bamaga Road to the top.

Not long into the track, Scott broke his front driver’s side control arm and then noticed the mount to the rear driver’s side shockie mount had broken off.  The guys took off the control arm and the shockie and we decided to make camp so they could attempt to fix it.

We made camp at North Alice Creek.  They guys that we had met at the first creek crossing asked if they could camp with us and if we could all share a community fire.  These group of people were awesome.  They were quiet and even set up the fire for us.

A note here for Mick and Shaz – Oddie made like a bear in the woods at North Alice Creek…

We had Wagyu Steak and Mushroom Risotto for dinner.

Injuries & Ouchies:

Jeep – Front Control Arm
Jeep – Rear Shockie
Jeep – Castor Slap

We got into to Weipa at about lunch time.  Scott, Luke & Glen went to go and get and air filter for the GU.  Garry and Ristan went looking for internet access for Ristan to submit a recommendation.  Alex and I went to the shopping centre to get some more bread, milk and other stuff.  Before we started the shopping, Alex and I needed to use the amenities.  We were following an Aboriginal lady and honestly, I could’ve got drunk just standing next to her.

Total for the group $91.07 and there wasn’t that much shopping.  I got a bottle of Cab Sav to share with Garry as we are the red drinkers out of the group and I had been drinking his on the trip up so far.

We walked past a takeaway store and saw pies, wedges, chips, cake and other assorted goodies.  We decided that we were going to buy lunch.  Glen got a pie and I got wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce. We got 40L on diesel at the BP $1.44 per litre.

Luke’s boss had told him about this fantastic camping spot called Pennefather.  We had to go and book and pay at the Camping Ground at Weipa.  The bridge at Weipa was getting works completed and was only open at certain times, so we had to wait until it was open before we could go make camp.

Our convoy got stuck behind some slow going vehicles so the trip was long and dusty.  We took the Pennefather turn off and unfortunately, that’s the way the other cars went too.  The road in was shocking!  It went from a bad dusty road to a very soft sand road.  The GU and the Challenger got stuckish in one spot on the road in the soft sand.  The beach sand was the worst beach we have ever driven on.  As soon as you stopped, you were up to the chassis in soft sand.  A couple of guys that were already camping there stopped to have a chat.  They told us about an inland track to the campsite that Scott and Glen had found.

If you are really into fishing and want to stay there for a week, then this is for you.  People wanting a nice campsite, Pennefather is not for you.  They had massive thorns – one went through my thong and lodged itself in my big toe – ouch!  Other turn offs were: lots of mozzies, midgies and it was hot.  Even after the beautiful sunset and the rusty shelter, we would not go back.

We had Roast Chicken & veges for dinner.

Injuries & Ouchies:

Oddie – Thorn stuck in her toe (and then another in her finger)

Garry needs to have medical attention for his toothache.  We stopped in Coen, but the nurse was on lunch.  We decide to check out The Bend Camping Site.  We got there and we were not impressed.  The toilet stank!  The campsites were not level and the site was actually on the main road.  Not so good for the light sleeper – ie me.  We decided that we would have some lunch and Garry and Ristan would go back into Coen to wait for the nurse to come back to the Medical Centre.  We had just finished lunch and were about to head into Coen to see how things were going when Garry and Ristan turned up.  The nurse had given Garry the drugs he needed without a charge.  They gave a donation to the Royal Flying Doctor’s Service instead.

We decided that we would continue on to Archer River Roadhouse as they had Amenities – including a hot shower!!  We got to Archer River Roadhouse at about 2pm and we were the first campers there.  We got the pick of the campsites and got the flatest bit and all of us made camp around a campfire.   A winnebago parked next to our car and the guy got out and had a good chat with us and even gave us some crap about chewing up the roads (bloody 4wders as he said).

On the menu for dinner was Rib Eye Steak with Mushroom Sauce, Deb and Peas & Corn.  We had Apple Crumble for dessert.  I cooked my first Camp Oven Bread and it turned out fantastically.  Yum Yum fresh bread.

As the evening wore on, more and more campers were setting up camp.  Soon, we were in the middle of a huge nest of campers.  We went to bed and could still hear people pulling in.  The attendant when booking in told us that the generators would turn off at 10pm.  At midnight it was still going and we had bogans come to our fire in the middle of our camp and they made noise and yelling until 2am.  We had tried several times to ask them to be quieter, but alas, they were bogans (bevans, wankers, f*cktards, morons etc) and didn’t care who they annoyed.  WE WERE NOT HAPPY!!!

When they bogans (finally) went to bed, the locals (after drinking) went balistic.  Glen went to the men’s facilities and saw two Aboriginal males having a full on blue.  Glen said one guy was speaking english and the other was speaking a different language.  When we drove through the Archer River Crossing, we saw where the locals had made camp and there were beer cans and other mixer cans everywhere.  It was like a trash site.  I feel sorry for whoever has to clean that up.   We spoke to some other people futher up the Cape and they stayed the same night as us.  They saw a local lady that had been bashed to a pulp and she was in the middle of the bridge.  They went and found help for her.   What can we do to stop this?!?!

Advice for all future people heading up the Cape – DON’T STAY IN ROADHOUSES – IT ATTRACTS BOGANS!!

Injuries & Ouchies:

All – No sleep and cranky!!