Leigh and Mita's Travels: Atherton to Cape York

We spent a very pleasurable eight days with Norton and Marg’s at their home located on the shores of Lake Tinaroo during which time we explored the local environs including Yungaburra, Malanda and its waterfall (pictured below), Herberton and Maleny visiting Maloberti’s Coffee Plantation. In the evenings while sitting on the patio we enjoyed visitations by a variety of wildlife including wallabies, possums, bandicoots (pictured below) and a variety of birdlife. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and it was time to continue on our way.

Leaving Tinaroo Saturday morning our first stop for the day was the Tolga Butchery, recommended by various “locals” as possibly having the best meat on the tablelands where we stocked up; to date we definitely haven’t been disappointed.

From Tolga is was a quick refuel in Mareeba followed by lunch at Mount Molloy at the one and only café owned by a Swiss gentleman and his Mexican wife. The café has a reputation for serving the best hamburgers in the region and reputedly has received various awards. As the wife is Mexican they also serve up a pretty mean burrito complete with a very hot and spicy chilli sauce. Of course Leigh just had to accept the challenge after being warned about the intensity of the sauce, needless to say he ended up purchasing a bottle of the sauce.

Our final stop for the day was nearby Julatten visiting friends Fred and Jenny who, four years ago had opted for a “tree change” by moving away from the hustle and bustle of city life and relocating to a forty plus acre rural property nestled in the hills. Unfortunately the property they purchased was left in a quite a disorderly state however after many many hours of pains taking labour Fred and Jenny now have it looking absolutely beautiful; it really is a credit to them.

Leaving Fred and Jenny’s late Sunday morning following a lovely evening during which time we caught up on the gossip, solved the world’s problems and enjoyed a lovely meal, we continued north towards the tip of Cape York. While our intention was to reach Laura that afternoon we weren’t really in the mood for driving hence we only made it as far as the Palmer River Roadhouse, a mere one hundred thirty kilometres down the road where we camped the night perched on the edge of an escarpment overlooking the river.

Continuing on our way the next morning, first stop of the day was a lookout in the Byestown Ranges that afforded panoramic northward towards Cooktown.

Shortly thereafter we arrived at Lakefield where we took the opportunity to check our emails and phone messages as phone and internet reception would be a rarity from this point on. Surprisingly there was a message from fellow Bushtracker owners Wayne and Helen from Tasmania, a couple whom we had travelled with on a previous occasion and were literally “just around the corner”; one kilometre later we were sitting under a shady tree having coffee and exchanging trip plans.

Leaving Wayne and Helen we joining the Peninsula Development Road, Cape York’s main arterial road, eventually arriving at Laura early afternoon where we stopped briefly to deflate the tyres before heading into Lakefield National Park where we would spend the next three or four days.

Our first night in Lakefield was spent at the Old Laura Cattle Station camped next to the Laura River together with several others nearby. After settling in, having a walk down to the river, Leigh did a cursory check of the vehicles and noticed that one of the tyres on the van didn’t appear to be holding pressure however decided to wait ‘til the following morning to confirm his suspicions.

Next morning following breakfast Leigh decided to change the questionable tyre as it had definitely developed a slow leak. With that out of the way next on the calendar of events was to refill the water tanks from the pristine waters of the Laura River, and since there were rapids present we were pretty safe from any marauding crocodiles that may decide to mount an ambush.

Tasks completed we continued further into the National Park stopping initially at the ranger station that surprisingly had phone reception. After viewing all the paraphernalia relating to camping areas, then deciding what was available, phoning and booking our site, we continued onwards stopping from time to time at various scenic venues including the Kalpowar camping area located on the banks of the Normanby River that in hind sight was definitely the pick of all the camping areas within the National Park; unfortunately some wise bureaucrat has decided the allocate all the van sights to commercial operators hence there are no longer any camp sites either available or suitable for “off-roaders”. We eventually arrived at the Hann Crossing camping area where after unhitching the van had a relaxing afternoon watching the wildlife.

Following a totally unhealthy breakfast of Bacon, Eggs and Tomato’s we set out to explore the sights.

Our first “port of call” was the now abandoned Breeza Homestead established in the mid 1800’s to supply the Palmer River Goldfields with horses however the decline of gold mining also spelt the end for Breeza; all that’s left now are the old ruins located next to a beautiful lilly covered lagoon.

Moving on from Breeza our next stop was the Red Lagoon covered with red lotus lilies

Next stop was the White Lagoon which while quite pretty was nowhere near as picturesque and the Red Lagoon.

Next on the agenda was the Nifold Plain with its expanses of giant Termite Nests and fields of Blackboy Ferns.

Leaving Hann Crossing Thursday morning the road back out to the Peninsula Development Road was fantastic with the only concern being the Morehead River crossing with its chopped up soft sandy approaches.

Also worthy of a mention was our last creek crossing, Crocodile Creek, that was just beautiful.

We eventually arrived at the Musgrave Roadhouse, refuelled, had a bite to eat and then headed for Coen, our planned overnight stop.

Arriving at Coen we set up camp on the banks of the Coen River behind the pub on lush green grass (quite a luxury); it wasn’t too long before we were joined by quite a few fellow travellers including Max and his highly modified Toyota and Bushtracker.

Max is a paraplegic who also has limited upper torso mobility and is travelling Australia accompanied by his carer. Although he is wheelchair bound his vehicle has been extensively modified to the point that he is able to drive unassisted. As for the van, its beds are on hydraulic lifters, the shower facilities are capable of accommodating his wheelchair, and it has a full kitchen, plus a bed for his carer.

Quite an amazing person.

For kilometres prior to arriving at Coen, Mita and I observed a multitude of signage advertising the pub and its facilities including “Great Grub” and with that decided a pub meal would be the order of the night. Wandered up to the pub early evening what greeted us was an extremely limited menu of only three selections all of which were accompanied by 5 Star prices normally reserved for eateries in major cities. Needless to say we returned to the van and ate there instead.

Leaving Coen mid morning our next destination was the Merluna Cattle Station about one hundred sixty kilometres down the track. While the road conditions between Coen and Archer River Roadhouse deteriorated quite markedly hence slowing us down considerably we eventually arriving at the Archer River Roadhouse around lunchtime, stopped for a brief coffee break before turning west towards Weipa and thankfully significantly improved road conditions; we were now cruising quite comfortably on eighty KPH while being trailed by a massive plume of bull dust.

While Weipa was only a mere one hundred kilometres further on we opted for a two night stopover at Merluna, the rationale being that as we had some last minute shopping to do and the only supermarket in Weipa was closed on weekends we might as well enjoy some farm hospitality with the added bonus of having a reprieve from the dirt and dust.

We eventually arrived in Weipa lunchtime Sunday and after booking into the only Caravan Park; I might add that if we’d arrived at the van park an hour or so later we well may have had difficulty getting a site large enough to accommodate the Bushtracker. That night we dined at the Weipa Bowls Club and have to say that not only were “the prices right”, the meal was also pretty darn good.

With shopping out of the way, sightseeing completed, and after watching quite spectacular sunset over the Gulf of Carpentaria the previous evening, Tuesday morning we headed to Cullen Point located north of the Mapoon Aboriginal settlement, spending two days camped within metres of the beach, reading, walking, and fishing (yes, Leigh is still doing his best to finance bait and tackle shops).

Wednesday morning arrived and Leigh was down to the beach exceptionally early in the hope of catching some fish, in fact that early that I was wondering what the heck was going on as I was still in bed sound asleep. Needless to say the big game fisherman managed to catch two large Redfin Salmon. Following the return of the now famous game fisherman complete with smile from cheek to cheek, we had breakfast, a quick shower (but not before I sent him back down to the beach to clean his catch) and then filled in the rest of the day exploring, chatting to other campers and reading.

As pleasant as it was we had to leave Cullen Point as we were booked into Punsandd Bay on Friday and our destination was still five hundred kilometres away on dirt roads that were in an unknown condition. Fortunately for us the roads from Cullen Point to Bramwell via Weipa turned out to be in pretty good condition although the scenery was pretty boring, the only exception being as we crested the Embley Ranges (all of one hundred eighty metres high) that provided a view of sorts of the surrounding countryside.

Our overnight stay on Thursday was at the Bramwell Junction Roadhouse. We specifically targeted Bramwell as it’s the start of the notorious Telegraph Track, once the only road to the Cape but now seen as a challenge by die hard 4x4 enthusiasts. After parking the van, we unhitched and drove about five kilometres down the track to the first of numerous crossings and watched the “gung hoe” enthusiasts attempting to tackle the crossing.

With barely two hundred fifty kilometres until we reached our final destination, we “hit the road” a little after 09:00 with the idea of reaching Punsand Bay early afternoon.

Unfortunately our plans went up in smoke. After travelling little more than twenty kilometres the road conditions went from acceptable to atrocious encountering possibly the worst corrugation we’ve travelled on for some time. That aside we still managed a diversion into Fruit Bat Falls however as time was running out any further sight seeing was “put on the back burner” as we continued to crawl northwards.

Crossing the Jardine River via the vehicular ferry that's length was barely capable of accommodating the Nissan/Bushtracker combination we eventually arrived at Punsand Bay at 16:00 complete with frayed tempers and opinions of Cape York that were definitely unprintable. By 17:30 we had established ourselves, annex was out, privacy screens installed, annex flooring down, tables and chairs set up, sullage organized, and a bottle of wine was then opened.

Saturday morning arrived and following breakfast, finishing the final touches to establishing our home for the next two weeks, plus addressing a few minor maintenance issues (cleaning air filters, checking the oil, etc), it was off exploring firstly the local park we staying in and then over to the tip of Cape York where after a 15 minute walk from the car park while enjoying the scenery en-route had our photo’s taken standing at the northern most tip of continental Australia.