Summary and High Lights Cape York 2011

Summary and High Lights Cape York 2011

Itinerary :
Cairns                                24/6/11
Lions Den Hotel                25/6/11
Endeavour Falls                  26/6/11
Lake Field NP Kalpowar 27,28/6/2011
Archer River                     29/6/2011
Chilli Beach                       30/6-1/7/11
Wenlock River                  2/7/11
Bramwell Station              3,4/7/11
Weipa                                 5-7/7/11
Dulhunty River                 8/7/11
Cockatoo Creek                9/7/11
Sam's Creek                      10-12/7/11
loyalty Beach (Tip)           13-15/7/11
Vrilya Point                       16,17/7/11
Bramwell Station              18/7/11
Hahn River Road House  19/7/11
Port Douglas                      20,21/7/11
Cairns                                 22-24/7/11
Undara Lava Tubes         25,26/7/11


Vehicle : 2002 GU Patrol, 3L TD, 285 BFG Mud Terrain, 2 inch lift, roof rack carrying two boxes, spare tyres and max trax. (No other mods)

Camper Trailer : 2010 Lifestyle Extenda 4x4 CT. Approx pack weight 1300kg

Km's travelled : 7396km
Fuel used : 1245 Litres Diesel
Fuel Cost : $2014.00

Average L/100km : 16.8 L/100 Km (16.97 miles galon)
Best L/100km : 12.6 L/100 Charters Towers to Emerald
Worst L/100km : 21.5 L/100 (Weipa to Tele Track) Foot was down to hit the Tele Track

Fuel Station Prices per litre: These are the places we fuelld up

Childers $1.419
Guthalungra $1.469
Ingham  $1.409
Cairns $1.519
Cooktown $1.569
Archer River $1.999
Bramwell Junction $2.009      THE BOLD TYPE IS ON THE TELE TRACK.
Weipa $1.699
Jardine River $2.10
Hahn River Road House $1.75
Oasis Road House - Lynd junction $1.499
Charters Towers $1.519
Miles $1.479

High Lights of the trip:

• Bloomfield Track through Cape Tribulation to Lions Den Hotel. Its a must to stay at Lions Den Hotel. Get there early as the better camp sites are taken. Great food and cold beer.
• Lake Field National Park - Kalpowar camp site on the way to Cape Melville
• Frenchmans Track - If you have the recovery gear, great track. Pascoe River Fantastic love it. The mighty, mighty Wenlock River - Excellent.
• Archer River - Basic camp ground, but great swim in the river
• Morton Telegraph Station - Great grassed area with showers.
• Bramwell Cattle Station - MUST stop. Great hot showers, great meals through the bistro, Cold Beer.
• Old Telegraph Line
• Dulhunty River - Worth more than one nights stay.
• Cockatoo Creek - Great spot overlooking the creek. Worth more than one night
• Sam's Creek - Well worth it. We stayed 3 nights here. Loved it.
• The tip if you havent done it is worth it, but I would spend more time on the OTL
• Somerset is worth a visit. Good camping on the beach and must be self sufficient
• Weipa - Nice, but head up to Pennyfather River for some fun.
• Vrilya Point - Very nice. Good log bridge on the way in. Take plenty of water as there is no fresh water north of the point towards the Lightship wreck.
• Cairns Coconut Resort - Well worth the money if you have kids. Plenty for them to do.

Undara Lava Tubes

We left Cairns, staying our goodbyes to Steve, Viv, Cam & Dan. We headed west from Cairns out through Kuranda and onto the Atherton Table Lands. It was a nice drive, stopping at Atherton for lunch. Both Melissa and Nat had seen a brochure on the Crystal Caves, which is a shop in the middle of Atherton on the main street.

The shop sells crystals, but also has over $1,000,000 worth of crystals deposited into a manmade cave at the back of the store. You pay ($55) per family and are given miners helmets, a book describing each crystal and sent deep into the manmade cave. What a top place to see so many crystals. It was very good and well worth the $55, if you like crystals.

We continued on to Undara Lava Tubes, turning onto the Savannah Way. The Undar Lava Tubes are West of Townsville and can be found about 15 Km's along the Savannah Way.  We arrived and found the National Park where we camped to be very nice. You are allocated numbered camping areas, which must be booked in advance, due to the numbers of people wanting to camp there.

The main reception at Undara

We set up camp and kicked back knowing this was going to be our last couple of nights camping before heading home.

The girls took great delighting watching a friendly Kookaburra fighting over some bread with a bunch of Currawongs, near our camp.

We kicked back and took in the silence watching a beautiful sunset. Later that night we walked down to the community fire ring in middle of the resort area, where one of the guides was discussing the local bird life. Every night, there is a guide discussing aspects of Undara and its surroundings. These were very informative.

The following day we had a few hours to kill, before our scheduled tour of the Lava Tubes. So we decided to go on a self-guide walk around the camping area. There are several of these walks. It was really good to get out with the girls and have some fun.

Looking towards reminants of Undara Volcano

Later that day, we went on the adventure tour, which lasted 2 hours. The guides take you to set of tubes, explaining how, when and why the tubes were made. It was fascinating to learn how these massive tubes, 3-4 times the size of a train tunnel were made.

Entrance to a section of tube

On the way out of the last tube a friendly Wallaby greeted us, right on que. She was so friendly, just sitting there watching us and eating grass, with a little joey in her pouch.

Over looking the Savannah

We came back to camp and started to tidy up a little, getting things ready for an early get away the following morning.

I would recommend a stay at Undara Lava Tubes. Camping was cheap, $30 family 4, with hots showers and flush toilets. Some spectacular scenery in the area.

Hahn River to Port Douglas - Snorkelling

Well after Steve's Paj doing a pulley, south of Coen and some time spent to get him back on the road back to Coen for some professional help, we were told to head off, with Steve & Viv meeting us somewhere down the track.

We headed for Hahn River Road House, arriving about 4.30pm. Pulled in filled up with fuel and got a camp site.  The camp sites were the usual, find your own piece of land and stake your claim. The camping area had 12-15 campers and caravans in it at the time.

A quick set up and a well earnt cold beer for Deb & I.  A walk down to the Hahn River and a look around was called for, as it had been a long day.

Shortly after, the girls were off for a shower. I walked over to the open air showers to find a hot water system, I hadn’t seen for a very long time.  The water was being heated over a fire, but then the cold water was entered the boiler, causing the hot water to be pushed to the shower.  Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photographs.

Later on we settled down to dinner, followed by a slide show of all the photographs we had taken thus far in the Cape York Trip and there are some crackers.

Next morning saw us heading south towards Laura.  We had heard about Split Rock Aboriginal Art, just south of Laura and were keen to have a look.  A short walk up into the hills on a well marked track, we found some amazing Aboriginal Art, that it is suspected to have been there for over 13,000 years.  Nat and Melissa loved the art and were facinated by it.

Afterwards we headed to Lakeland, where we hit the cross roads, to either heading into Cooktown or down to Port Douglas.  A quick phone call to Steve and Viv told us that the part would be in Coen the following day (Thursday) and they should be on the road by Friday. Finally good news for them.

We made a few phone calls to a snorkelling company at Cape Tribulation, but they couldn’t get us in until Saturday, so it was decided to head for Port Douglas.  We rolled into town with the sun blazing and found a caravan park not far from centre of town.

We set up camp, and then headed for the showers to wash the dust and grit from our bodies.  By the time I had returned from the showers all the camp sites beside us had been taken with Britz campers and tenters all on holidays

We booked our snorkelling trip for the following day on Wave Dancer http://www.quicksilver-cruises.com/wavedancer.htm 

We headed out to see the night life of Port Douglas as much as you can with a 9 & 11 year old.  We found ourselves at a local bar and bistro, called Rattle & Humm. We had dinner there and it was tops. Totally recommend them for dinner and price.

We headed back to the camper and went to bed. The girls were excited at the proposition of going snorkelling in the morning and what they would see.

For only the second time this trip, I had to set my alarm, as it was an early start to get to the boat.  A short 15 minute walk down to the marina, found us early enough for a coffee and a look around. 

Deb and I honeymoon here 13 years ago and we both can see how much Port Douglas has grown, but still a very nice spot.

By this stage, Nat was jumping out of her skin, she wanted to board the boat, but it wasn’t time for boarding. She stood at the very front of the line, so she was first on.  I hadn’t seen her this excited for sometime.

Finally the time came and the crew ushered us on. The boat was a massive 30 metre luxury sailing catamaran and looked fantastic.  We sat at the back of the boat, looking out over the mariner at the other luxury boats, which appeared to be worth lots of money, well outside my budget.

No long and we were motoring out of the marina towards Low Isles, where we were to snorkel from the Island.  The sun was shining brightly with a slight wind. It was perfect and everybody was enjoying the time together.

Pano looking towards Cape Trib.

The 30 Metre Catameran as seen from Low Isles

No sooner we started and we could see Low Isles. It is a small Coral Kay, about 15 nautical miles off the coast of Port Douglas.   We moored away from the Island and collected out snorkelling gear, before being taken across by little tenders. 

The reef is only a matter of 4-5 metres from the edge of the Island. Every kid would love to snorkel hear because the water is warm and it isn’t as deep as the water on the outer reefs.  My kids loved it, as well as I did.

We all put our gear on and went straight out snorkelling amongst the reef.  There were fish everywhere.  Only metres away from the shore we saw a clown fish, as in Nemo, frolicking amongst the coral. 

One of the best things Wave Dancer has is its own Marine Biologist on board.  He was giving a guided snorkelling tour of the reef.  Nat, Melissa and I jumped on the tour, which only included two others, so it was very good.  The tour went for 45 minutes, swimming around the reef. The biologist would stop and show different things to us.  He picked up a sea cucumber and showed the girls, as they were able to touch and feel it.  He pointed out a school of baby Barracuda that use the reef for protection against predators.  Then came a green sea turtle, swimming gracefully along the edge of the reef. We were only 20-25 metres from the Island.  The girls were ecstatic.  We continued on and saw giant sea clams, soft and hard corals as well as schools of fish, just swimming around.  It was a great experience for the kids.

We came back in and lunch was being served on board the boat.  We took a short 3-4 minutes ride back to the boat and had a smorgasbord lunch, including seafood, cold meats, salad and bread rolls, followed by a fruit platter for desert.

After lunch it was back to the island for a further swim, then a tour of the island with the Biologist again, before climbing onto a glass bottom boat and ridding over other parts of the reef we couldn’t swim to.  By this stage, it was time to board the main boat and get ready to return to Port Douglas. 

This time we sat up front, in the sun and enjoyed the ride home.  A few beers were had, whilst one of the crew strummed his guitar and sang some songs whilst we traversed back to Port Douglas.  It was a relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable day and I full recommend the Wave Dancer trip to Low Isles.

After arriving back in Port Douglas, and a short stroll home, we were all buggered.  A couple of beers shower and off to get pizza for dinner.

The following morning we hadn’t heard from Steve and Viv and were not sure what was happening with their vehicle, so we headed for Cairns, to book into Coconuts Resort.

The Tip

After conquering Nolan’s Brook and returning to Sam's Creek for one last night, we packed up the following morning and head to the Jardine River along the Development Road. We stopped at the Jardine River Road House and fuelled up, buying our Ferry ticket and permit for camping North of the Jardine River. The ticket and permit are just a sales receipt.

Down to the Ferry we drove and awaited for it arrival, which didn’t take long. Both Steve and I drove up onto the Ferry with the trailer in tow. Before we knew it, we were off across the Jardine River.

Within seconds we were stopping at the other side, where we disembarked, driving to Bamaga, before we stopped at the Bamaga Bake House. They have some great pies, sausage and salad rolls, not to mention sweat pastries.  We found the local supermarket very good  for supplies

We also visited the local pub, opposite for a carton of XXXX Gold ($60) cans. Next stop was Loyalty Beach Caravan Park, where he had booked in for 3 nights.

Deb and Viv were straight up to the washing machines to catch up on some washing. Steve and I started to set up the campers for the stay.

On the way in, I noticed, Barry, Chad and Brett with their respective families were camped right on the beach, beating us to the punch by a few hours. It was good to catch up with those guys again.

During our stay here, we chillaxed even more. Next to Steve's camp site were some very, very loud snorers. This kept him up most of the night. After three nights, I thought he was going let their tent down.

The following day, we set forth to the Top of Australia, with the Young’s & Frost Cape York shirts on. On our way to the tip, we stopped at the iconic Croc Tent, for the usual souvenirs, shirts, stubby holders, stickers and magnets. He had the customary photograph and then made our way through the rainforest to the car park at the top of Australia. Parking was at a premium, with 20-30 vehicle parked along the road and into the bush. Now for the 20 minute’s walk up and over the bluff to the tip. It was a great view from the top of the bluff, but the wind was howling from the south east. There was the usual wait for photographs, as there were lots of people making the some trek. It was out turn to get the photographs with the Young’s and then celebratory drink was done. We talked about how far we had come and how long we had planned to get to this point. It was a great day. After about 1-2 hours, we walked back to the vehicles, before setting sail for the Caravan Park.

The Frosty's and Young at the Croc Tent

A pano of Punsand Bay, which is west of the Tip.

A long time coming, but Frosty's & Youngs Standing at the Tip.

 Frosty's Standing at the Northern most point of the mainland.

That afternoon, I decided to do a bit of fishing off the beach, below the caravan park, but once again, not much was bitting.

Terry fishing, not catching much at all, with Steve delivering the refreshments.

The following day, we decided to head out to Somerset and do the 5 beaches drive, along the east coast of the tip. Somerset was once a British out post from 1864, when Jon Jardine, followed by his son Frank Jardine turned it into a Cattle Station. There are still remnants of their houses located near the roadway and also their graves. Sumerset was a nice place, with a very nice beach to camp at, but you would have to be self-sufficient.

The grave of Fank Jardine, who was appointed magistrate and cheif constable of the area.

 Great beach at somerset - I believe well worth camping at. Unfortunately we didnt have time.



 The cannons that were believed to have come from a wrecked ship at Ashore reef, located by one of Jardines Pearling ships.  The homestead is believed to have been built further up behind the cannons

We headed back towards Bamaga and went in search of a number of World War 2 planes that had crashed landed near the Bamaga Air Port. Not before long, we had found the DC-3, then the Beauford Bomber. We went looking for the Kitty Hawk fighter, but would only locate a small amount of remaining metal, which could not be recognised.

The remains of the DC 3

The rear section of the Beauford Bomber

We returned to the caravan park, before i went to Seisa to have a fish from the wharf. At the wharf there was a little local boy, no more than 8-9 years old, he was running from one end of the wharf to the other, catching live hearing. No soon he had caught the herring, it was thrown into the water as live bait. He caught more live bait than anybody else on the wharf and there were about 20 of us. He was magic. And no, I didn’t catch anything there either.

During the time at Caravan Park, a couple of Banidcoots came out to play. They came into camp and stayed around, happy to let the kids pat them, before the scurried off into bush.

The following day, we packed up camp and headed to Vrilya Point, which is just south of the Jardine River. Everything was going well, until we got off the ferry and we saw that Steve's trailer wheel, was weaving all over the road. I quick radio call to Steve and we were pulled off the road, with the jack, tarp and new bearings out. I quick change of the bearings and we continued onto Vrilya Point.

I surprise along the way, was a nice log bridge, about 5 km's from the main road. The water in the creek was crystal clear. It made for a great swim when we came out from Vrilya Point.

The crystal clear creek below

Crossing the log bridge

We continued out to the point and head north along the beach, up past the Light house ship, which had been blown ashore many decades ago during a cyclone. We made camp close to the Unnamed Creek, kicked back and relaxed. This was another nice camping spot. Over the next few days, we cooked roast dinners, damper and bread. Little did we know, but this was going to be our last bush camp with Steve and Viv.

I tossed lurers in every patch of water I could find and the best I came up with was an 8 inch flathead. Oh well, better luck next time.

After a few days, we packed up camp and made our way down the development road to Bramwell Cattle Station, where we did a one night camp, before continuing further south.

About 40 km's south of Coen, Steve called me on the radio and quickly told me to come back. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but turned around and came back to see Steve and Viv on the side of the road, looking disillusioned. Steve had dropped an idle pulley and he was going nowhere.

With 4WD and caravans hooning passed, not even slowing down, which P1ssed both Steve and I off, we tried to fix the pulled or at least bypass it. After about 2 hours of cursing, we managed to bypass the broken pulley utilising my extra Nissan Patrol Fan belt, which was smaller than the Paj belts. This enabled Steve to limp back to Coen and get some professional help. They wanted us to continue with our holiday, telling us to drive on. Steve had the part brought up from Mareeba and was back on the road in 3-4 days. We continued onto Port Douglas.

Old Telegraph Track (OTL)

We left Weipa and headed to the start of the Old Telegraph Track (OTL).  As we came across Batavia Downs track, Steve stopped as he had lost his bearing cap on his Camper trailer wheel. We put another one on to prevent the bearing siezing up and camper wheel from coming off.  

Further on we stopped at Bramwell Junction for lunch and asked the usual questions of the owner, how many trucks have been stuck,  how far will we make it today etc. It was all positive, except for a tour group of 11 cars that left only half hour prior to our arrival. It could be a long wait at the first creek.

We drove an excited few kilometres out to Palm Creek to find a stack of vehicles crossing Palm Creek with one vehicle ‘broken’in the bottom of the creek with mechanical problems. The tour group had moved it to one side.  We watched and waited, when the tour leader, asked if we wanted to go before the rest of the group. To that Steve and I said,”Yes”. We also met up with another couple from Deniliquin, Hoody and his wife, who were by themselves, doing the track. They tagged along with us.

A quick air down of the tyres, for more traction and I was first to attempt the creek.  To my surprise the Patrol crawled down the bank and with a bit of gusto, made it up the other side without a winch or snatch. One down many to go.

Steve's vehicle crawling down the bank.

Steve was up next and nailed it. Wasn’t a problem for him.  Kids all jumped in and we were off, so we thought.  Steve gave he a call on the 2 way, saying his 4WD system was not disengaging properly.  A stop of the side of the track, a little CRC, and things worked out. We were off again.

We headed of to Ducie  Creek. This was a nice little creek, but the entrance and exit, weren’t straight forward, you had to almost do a hair pin turn to get around a deep hole in the middle of the creek. On the way out Steve came up the undulating bank and popped his front wheel in the air. I could have laid under it to inspect his CV joints, he got that much air.

We continued on crossing the two Alice Creeks, before arriving at Dulhunty, just on twilight.  This creek was beautiful.

A quick one night erection, camp set up and it was down the creek with a few beers and time to wash the dust from our mouths and bodies.  The kids played in the creek and on its banks. 

Soon after it was a bite to eat, a few more beers and off to bed. Next morning, we were up and packed with Steve & Viv, before continuing North.

We cross another pretty Creek, Bertie Creek. Crystal clear water. At this creek there were a few people sitting on the banks, just watching life go by, not a care in the world.

Having the camper trailers on, it was a mutual decision to take the bypass road, for Gunshot Creek and head for Cockatoo Creek.  This was a steep banked creek with plenty of rocks in the middle of the creek.  Steve and I walked the creek to make sure things were okay and we could get through. Water blind on and off we go.  The track was a figure 'S' and no problems.  We got to the other side and parked the campers on the bluff overlooking the creek. The idea was to head back to Gunshot and watch others come through.

Cockatoo Creek

We arrived at Gunshot with some young guys just getting across, so we missed the fun stuff. At that point were was nobody else there. We settled down to some lunch, just as we were finishing lunch, we heard vehicles from the south. We all ran down to see what was going to happen and then the fun began.  Within 10 minutes 40-15 people with possibly 15 or more vehicles, circled around the creek.

Entrance to Gunshot

The shrine tree of damaged items

 The kids sliding down one of the old Gunshot Entrances

Well for the next few hours, Steve and I laughed, cringed, got dirty and just watched people, winching, being pulled through Gunshot Creek.

Some other friends, that we kept meeting along the way, Barry, Kerri, Shad and Natasha came down Gunshot towing their Campers.  A little push and shove, they made it around the corner.

After a few hours, we headed back to Cockatoo Creek, where we set up camp, started the fire and had a awesome bath in the creek.  We sat around the fire talking about the days events, washed down with a few ales.

I could have stayed another night at Cockatoo creek, it was very pretty and I am sure there would have been fish in those holes down stream. Maybe next time

The following morning, packed up and head off, we decided to make bea line for Sam's Creek to set up.  We were told about Sam's and how good it is. We underestimated, how good it was going to be.

On the way, we passed Fruit Bat falls, Elliot Falls and Twin Falls, but were planning on coming back and doing a day here.

We arrived at Canal Creek, the sand and clay was white, with this crystal clear stream running  towards us. This was another stunning creek along the OTL.  Both Steve and I made it across the creek with no troubles. We then climbed up the creek bank, which was interesting. I broke a tail light, which was quickly fixed.

 Steve crossing Canal Creek.

 Climbing the Northern Bank of Canal Creek

We headed off to Sam's Creek, which was only 10 minutes down the road.  We drove in to the so called camp area and set up, whilst the kids went swimming down in the creek.  Afterwards, Steve, showing his chain sawing skills, cutting up a stack of timber for the fire.  We were staying here for three nights.

We headed down to the creek. Upstream was a crystal clear water hole, about 5 feet deep, with piture Plants over hanging the bank, down stream from the crossing was a beautiful little water fall, that if you layed back, gave you a great shoulder and and neck massage.

After a wash, it was back up to have dinner and settle in for the night.  The kids decided to make there own fire and worked as a team to look after it.

The following morning, we headed to the Fruit Bat, Elliot and Twin Falls.  What a top spot. Fruit bat, was a little cool, but still nice. We headed over to Elliott and Twin Fall, where he had lunch, before going to have play.  The kids were first in at Twin Falls with their wahoo's.  I then saw Steve and said, let get the kids and float down from the large falls at Elliot. With a grin from ear to ear, the men were boys again. Rounded up the kids and down to the falls. A bit of coaxing for the kids and were were off, floating down the stream. Brought back memories of floating down the Macquarie River at Dubbo.  The kids and us, played there for an hour of so, whilst the ladies watched on.

Back to camp. Everybody was tired, so dinner, some laughs and into bed. 

The next morning, we headed North along the OTL, this time without the campers.  We came to Mistake Creek, which was steep and sandy, but again crystal clear.  No problems for either Steve or I.  Next was the famous Cypress Creek with the log Bridge. This was a little disappointing, as it was very stable and wide, nothing like the TV shows i had seen it in.
Mistake Creek

Cypress Creek

We arrived at Logans Creek, where we met up with Shad, Barry and Brett.  They had just arrived, but were no keen on walking the creek as it was murky and said to have crocs in it. I had been given some inside information, to hug the left hand bank, heading south to north, which they did. The water went up to the bonnet, with Brett loosing his nuts, coconuts from his roof.  So, we were on one side of the creek and Brett was on the other. He wanted his nuts and we were wanting to know the price.

Steve and I set up with the Water blind and away we went, by now it was a bit of fun, with all care taken. Both Steve and I made it without any problems, carrying Bretts's nuts with us.

On the other side, we found a large colony of piture plants, these flourish around this area.

Barry, Shad and Brett headed off, with us following. We were headed to the infamous Nolans Brook.  This creek had claimed many dozens of vehicles this dry season.  Both Steve and I had not made a decision, one way or another to drive the creek.  But on arrival and walking the creek, finding a hard bottom, I was confident we could do, but Barry, Shad and Brett were in front, towing their Campers.  We gave them a hand to set up and away they went. We all made it through without any problems, followed a celebratory beer in the creek.

Terry & Steve contemplating Nolans Brook

Terry entering Nolans

 Steve heading into Nolans and he did come out the other side, lucky for the snorkel

After lunch we headed back to Sam's Creek, where the Campers were set up.  The following morning, we headed for the Jardine Ferry, via the Development Road.