Weipa

The day before we were to tackle the OTL, we all drove up to Bramwell Junction for lunch, then a short trip to the first creek on the OTL, Palm Creek.  We were excited at the prospect of doing the track the following day. 

We arrived and found a group of people watching as a troopie was being winched up the other side of the creek.  Not good, as Steve’s winch was still not working.  A quick discussion and it was decided to postpone the OTL and head for Weipa to get the winched fixed, in case we need it on the OTL. 

The following morning, we left Bramwell station and heading towards Weipa, this is a larger mining town on the West coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria.  It was a two hour trip and as we drove into the town we notice straight away the large ocean port, which is used to load the bauxite onto ships, which is transported to processing plants on the East Coast. 

We pull into the camp ground and book in for a night. Our first job is to find a mechanic to fix Steve’s winch. We find the auto electrician can fix it in two days time so we proceed back to camp and book a further two nights.

Once we know the agenda, the next few days are spent unwinding and trying to keep the kids entertained.  First we take the kids fishing on the mission river where they all caught a few nice bream and we had a couple of keepers for lunch the next day.

While fishing we spotted a large croc on the water line sunning himself, he must have been at least three and a half metres long. 

The photo is a bit hazy, but the shape in the middle of the photo was the croc, between 400-500 metres away.

After all the bait had been used we headed back to camp for the night. The next day was spent stocking up the food supplies and an afternoon mine tour.  We toured a local Bauxite mine and saw firsthand the massive amounts of bauxite moved in the area.  The kids(and adults) loved the huge machinery.

After an afternoon swim and watching the sun go down, we had dinner were we made plans for the trip north to Palm Creek.  The winch was ready for action and the jockey wheel had been repaired, which Terry damaged, when the trailer came off.  All that was left was to pack up in the morning and head out.