The days journey was only about 100kms but it took some time. We made the, roughly, 40kms back to the Jardine River barge by about 11. We were slowed by the sections 10KM north and south of the Jardine Crossing, which were the worst sections of road on the entire peninsula – some of the corrugations were the size of small waves, except much closer together!! With all the corrugations and potholes we spent a lot of our time driving in the ‘chicken lane’ as we’ve named it. Many of these outback roads (we found the same in WA) have a side track next to the road – sometimes it’s sand, sometimes is gravel and often it’s better than the actual road! However in this case the chicken track had a lot of corrugations too!! Nowhere to go expect over the top. We arrived at the crossing to find a short queue and we were on our way south in 20 minutes.
Before long we were right where we’ve wanted to be for most of the trip – swimming in fresh water!! From the campground we had access to Eliot Falls, Twin Falls and the Saucepan. Despite the constant rain we swam in all of them all afternoon – heavenly.
As is often the case travelling these remote routes you bump into the same people at many of the stops you make. Yesterday we met a family on the ferry out and back from Thursday Island. We chatted in the queue about our travels and discovered they were from Mansfield. We knew they were also heading south (from the tip) today and as fate would have it they found us swimming in Twin Falls. We continued our conversation from yesterday, talking about travel and the many stories associated with it! We discovered we’d both be arriving in Weipa tomorrow night and they asked if we’d booked a spot? They’d been told to book as it gets busy. We hadn’t booked and without service until later the next day, they kindly offered to book us a sight when they got back into service later today. We swapped numbers and they promised to let us know, I just love the travelling community and the willingness of most to help out the fellow traveler.
By the time we’d finished swimming it was pouring – we arrived back at the tent and were forced to put up the annex so we might have a dry spot to cook and shelter. Fortunately the pelting rain eased over the next hour and light showers was the worst of it for the rest of the day. We enjoyed a campfire dinner and games before an early bed – not much to do when it’s wet out!!
With all the rain over night I was a little nervous about the return journey out on the short section of the Telegraph Track – would it be muddy, slippery, would the river crossings be much deeper? I needn’t have worried, the car (and trailer) handled it no problem – not to mention the driver!
Back on the ‘main’ road we headed further south to Bramwell Roadhouse, small sections of the road have just been or are currently being graded so the condition of the road was ok. The issue travelling on this road this time was not dust but mud!! With all the rain the dust has turned to mud and by the time we arrived at Bramwell the car and trailer had changed colour to a bright orange!!
Earlier at Bramwell we’d had confirmation from our fellow travellers that we had a spot booked at Weipa, so it was a quick process of getting in and setting up. After a few days of no showers, a wet tent, wet towels and low levels of clean clothes, we set about using ALL the services available. Before long we were fit for public appearances and went off in search of our booking angels. We found them not far away and set off to the pool together for the kids to have a swim and play. As a return favour we cooked up a huge butterfly chicken and enjoyed dinner together – even a bottle of champagne – Mumm no less. My first champagne since leaving home. Yum!
Weipa is not known for a lot – fishing and wildlife tours – we couldn’t get on a tour for either. Andrew was not going to be deterred, together with Al (our new friend from Mansfield) they set about trying to find someone to hire them a boat. It didn’t take long and they were all set for a fish out on the water tomorrow. The next morning the two Dad’s set off with Al’s son Levi and Ivy.
Meanwhile back at camp we organised a day of eating! We finally got ourselves organised and head off to the ‘resort’ where we thought we might eat and drink for little while. However a distress call came in from the fisherman – Al had been speared by a catfish and needed to come in. It turns out the barbs of a catfish are very nasty indeed – he was in immense pain and went to hospital in search of some pain relief.
Meanwhile Andrew stayed out on the water with Levi and Ivy – catching mostly catfish, being very careful not to suffer the same fate as Al. By the time I picked them up and we returned the boat and arrived back at camp, Al had returned and was quite chipper. They’d numbed half his hand!! We all gathered for dinner at Barramunchies – the beachside café at the caravan park – for a delicious meal and drinks, in great company. We were treated to a pretty amazing sunset too.
The next day was moving day for us – we packed up and went in search of Bri and Al to say goodbye. Only to find Al had gone back to hospital during the night due to the pain. During his second admission to hospital they found remnants of the barb in his finger – ‘it will work its own way out!’ Ouch!! We bid them good luck and expected to see them on the road further south!
Our journey today is almost due east to the opposite coastline of the peninsula – Chilli Beach. We had heard from other its that the road in to Chilli Beach was OK – so off we went. It was 107km in from the ‘main’ road and it took us 2.5 hours!! The road was the messiest road we’ve been on. With all the rain there was extra water in the roughly 6 rivers we had to cross and messy puddles in all the dips (making it hard to pick a good line). The road was messy, very sloppy wet mud at times and full of potholes. We saw a snake - we called him 'snake dip'!!
Our first stop was Lockhart River, which we had been told was a very authentic indigenous community. It was that indeed.
We visited the Art Centre, which although no one was there at the time, looked like an excellent facility for the locals interested in producing art. It had a small ‘gallery’ at the front and behind a huge under cover area with space for many artists to meet and paint. The gallery has enjoyed many accolades, including some international interest. I bought a small piece of art as a reminder of the area.
We didn’t stay in town long before heading to the Lockhart River Airport – which is home to some more WWII history. Another northern airstrip used to help in the northern protection against the Japanese threat.
We also read about ‘Operation Blow Down’ – I suspect (and hope) the only time a nuclear weapon (bomb) was detonated on or near Australia soil. Any interesting piece of history – it was a collaboration, of mostly recoding equipment assets, between Australia and many other interested countries – it was an experiment to record the effect of a nuclear blast. I’d noticed a strange area of different vegetation on the way in to Lockhart and was a little horrified to discover it was the area of the nuclear blast – 60 years on and still little vegetation has grown back.
From Lockhart River we finished off the drive to Chilli Beach. Finding our campsite in what appeared to be a mostly deserted campground. I think we’ve bought it most of the mud from the road – the car and camper have changed colour again to light brown!!!
We had heard the wind blows ALL the time on this side of the peninsula – but not today – today it’s raining!! No wind and tropical rain = mosquitos. We were eaten alive – we didn’t know it at the time but we would be itching for more than a week!! Andrew and Ivy had a brief fish off the beach and we all had a wander along the HUGE beach – during the war when they were conducting Ariel surveys for new areas to use, planes landed on the beach – I have no doubt!
Chilli Beach was a spectacular spot – amazing wide white beaches lined with palm trees – yet again not fit for swimming. I don’t think we saw it at it’s best, rain here is SO rare. So it wasn’t too soon to pack up the next morning, after yet another long night of rain and eating breakfast while trying to avoid the mosquitoes.
From Chilli Beach we drove a short distance, further north up the coast, to a place called Portland Roads. It was the site of a very important jetty during the second world war. The jetty was the lifeline between the outside world and the airstrip at Lockhart – the machinery and supplies that were delivered using the jetty is mind blowing. The jetty that once stood here was 90 metres long and was built to transfer (almost other things) heavy machinery – unfortunately it was left to decay and literally wash away. Only a few stumps at the shoreline remain. Such a shame.
Driving the dirt road back toward Lockart River it was easy to imagine the terrain those serving would’ve been faced with, I’m sure the roads weren’t nearly as good back then and they’re not even that good now!!
We made the slow journey back to the main road, making a short stop to look at an ancient volcano.
The road out had become muddier, sloppier and the rivers deeper over night with all the rain! Yet another challenging section of driving.
Back at the main road we turned left and headed south, it was at this turn that I felt like we were headed toward the end of the journey. It’s been a quick one, compared to our last ‘big’ one, but in many ways a lot more challenging. It has been a totally different remote experience and might take some time to unpack all the new experiences and information we’ve gained along the way. For now we’re headed south, back to sealed roads, 2WD cars, towns with shops and cinemas and people! At this point sealed roads are what we’re longing for the most!
With the car and the camper carrying what feels like a tonne of mud we came up with, what we thought was, a clever idea. We’d pull in at Coen River again and wash the trailer of all its excess mud. Brilliant! We pulled in and made our way down the 4WD track to the river, which doesn’t come into full view until you’re almost in it – I noticed the sandbank had shrunk since we were there last and on closer inspection the river was actually too deep to cross. We were already in!! So we stopped and cleaned the trailer thinking we could back out or turn around in the shallows. The best laid plans!
With the car out of the river we thought our crisis was over – however the whining noise coming from all 6 wheels was almost deafening – there was clearly a LOT of sand in places it wasn’t meant to be. So we limped into Coen town to Arielle at the supermarket – she walked me over to the pub where the local mechanic had positioned himself for the afternoon. When I explained our predicament he replied ‘yeah, I heard ya’ pull inta town’!! He was kind enough to open his garage and let us hose out the discs.
We had a much needed drink to calm our nerves and after shouting the mechanic a few beers we were on our way again.
On the road south we stayed overnight at Hann River Roadhouse – another long night of rain and in the morning continued south. We made a stop at Split Rock Art, not the best rock art in the district but the most accessible. It was an interesting site and we enjoyed getting in to the bush and looking at the stories from long ago.
Our final afternoon was spent heading toward Port Douglas and our reef trip tomorrow to round off our trip on a high.
