Lakefield National Park to Weipa
Sunday 31 July to Sunday 7 August
Four Bushtrackers left Cooktown and headed north to Lakefield National Park on our way to the tip. We looked quite spectacular heading off in convoy. We crossed our first couple of river crossings including the Normanby River, lunched at Lake Emma which was more like a marsh that the feral pigs had destroyed and headed towards Old Laura station. A fantastic old cattle station. I don’t know how the pioneers survived.
We hit our first bit of trouble when Phil and Helen announced over the UHF radio that the pin connecting the caravan to the car had broken and they had lost the caravan. After some temporary repairs we arrived at Kalpowar Crossing camping area which was home for the next 4 days while we waited for Phil’s spare part to arrive. Exploring the area, eating fresh Barramundi caught in the river, watching the many different birds, kangaroos next to the caravans, green frogs in the bathroom, cane toads, bright stars and the space shuttle go over at night filled in the time. Mike was chopping some wood for the BBQ and managed to chop into his leg. All is OK now, but it just added to the adventure of the day!!!! We cooked our first meal in the Dutch Oven buried in the coals. We had lots of time to sit around the campfire and wait.
We finally left Kalpowar Crossing and as we were hitching up to go John managed to drive his 4WD into a tree and just gently bend his bull bar and smash his headlight. We hadn’t gone very far when we got another call from Phil on the UHF radio that he had blown a tyre on his caravan. He was thinking “Why me”. It happened to bend the axle!!!
We crossed the Hahn River, Salt Water Creek and beautiful Lotus Pond with lots of Lilly pads and Magpie Geese. We arrived at Musgrave Roadhouse, an oasis in the bush and part of the original telegraph line, where petrol, an ice-cream or beer was needed before we headed north to Coen.
We stopped for the night at the caravan park in Coen only to be confronted with the smell of burning electricals and smoke coming from our cupboard just before we lost all 12V power. Once we disconnected everything and found the melted wire but an intact fuse we managed to save our food supplies in the fridge and freezer by plugging our car fridge into 240V which was the only thing working in the caravan. A bit more adventure than we wanted in one day but we still managed to see the funny side of it!!
The next morning we had to leave Phil and Helen in Coen who were now waiting for the new axle and we headed for Weipa as quickly as we could as it was Friday and we needed to have an auto electrician fix our electrical problem. The road was fantastic (relatively), the scenery and bush beautiful as always and when we got to the Archer River Roadhouse, another oasis in the bush and also part of the original telegraph line, we were given the name and phone number of an auto electrician in Weipa. We phoned him as we approached Weipa, he was about to close for the weekend, but waited for us to arrive and fixed our problem. Such a nice guy and he even lives in the caravan park in Weipa where we are staying. We are right on the beach, a beautiful spot. Weipa is a Comalco mining town.
Saturday was Open day at the Australian Air Force Base Scherger which gave us the opportunity to see F111’s close up and on manoeuvres and talk to some of the air force people . There were so many people there; we wondered where they all came from.
We spent Sunday on a fantastic daytrip north to a settlement called Mapoon. More beautiful coastline and on the way home we stopped at Pennefeather River. These huge sandy dry river beds must be frightening in the wet.
The day was not over yet as just before we left for dinner at the Golf Club we discovered that one of the shock absorbers on our caravan had torn away from the chassis. We won’t be going anywhere until we can get it fixed!! Mike’s mission tomorrow is to find a welder to fix the van.
Just another hiccup. Despite all these little hurdles we are having a great time, seeing spectacular scenery and meeting wonderful people.
Four Bushtrackers left Cooktown and headed north to Lakefield National Park on our way to the tip. We looked quite spectacular heading off in convoy. We crossed our first couple of river crossings including the Normanby River, lunched at Lake Emma which was more like a marsh that the feral pigs had destroyed and headed towards Old Laura station. A fantastic old cattle station. I don’t know how the pioneers survived.
We hit our first bit of trouble when Phil and Helen announced over the UHF radio that the pin connecting the caravan to the car had broken and they had lost the caravan. After some temporary repairs we arrived at Kalpowar Crossing camping area which was home for the next 4 days while we waited for Phil’s spare part to arrive. Exploring the area, eating fresh Barramundi caught in the river, watching the many different birds, kangaroos next to the caravans, green frogs in the bathroom, cane toads, bright stars and the space shuttle go over at night filled in the time. Mike was chopping some wood for the BBQ and managed to chop into his leg. All is OK now, but it just added to the adventure of the day!!!! We cooked our first meal in the Dutch Oven buried in the coals. We had lots of time to sit around the campfire and wait.
We finally left Kalpowar Crossing and as we were hitching up to go John managed to drive his 4WD into a tree and just gently bend his bull bar and smash his headlight. We hadn’t gone very far when we got another call from Phil on the UHF radio that he had blown a tyre on his caravan. He was thinking “Why me”. It happened to bend the axle!!!
We crossed the Hahn River, Salt Water Creek and beautiful Lotus Pond with lots of Lilly pads and Magpie Geese. We arrived at Musgrave Roadhouse, an oasis in the bush and part of the original telegraph line, where petrol, an ice-cream or beer was needed before we headed north to Coen.
We stopped for the night at the caravan park in Coen only to be confronted with the smell of burning electricals and smoke coming from our cupboard just before we lost all 12V power. Once we disconnected everything and found the melted wire but an intact fuse we managed to save our food supplies in the fridge and freezer by plugging our car fridge into 240V which was the only thing working in the caravan. A bit more adventure than we wanted in one day but we still managed to see the funny side of it!!
The next morning we had to leave Phil and Helen in Coen who were now waiting for the new axle and we headed for Weipa as quickly as we could as it was Friday and we needed to have an auto electrician fix our electrical problem. The road was fantastic (relatively), the scenery and bush beautiful as always and when we got to the Archer River Roadhouse, another oasis in the bush and also part of the original telegraph line, we were given the name and phone number of an auto electrician in Weipa. We phoned him as we approached Weipa, he was about to close for the weekend, but waited for us to arrive and fixed our problem. Such a nice guy and he even lives in the caravan park in Weipa where we are staying. We are right on the beach, a beautiful spot. Weipa is a Comalco mining town.
Saturday was Open day at the Australian Air Force Base Scherger which gave us the opportunity to see F111’s close up and on manoeuvres and talk to some of the air force people . There were so many people there; we wondered where they all came from.
We spent Sunday on a fantastic daytrip north to a settlement called Mapoon. More beautiful coastline and on the way home we stopped at Pennefeather River. These huge sandy dry river beds must be frightening in the wet.
The day was not over yet as just before we left for dinner at the Golf Club we discovered that one of the shock absorbers on our caravan had torn away from the chassis. We won’t be going anywhere until we can get it fixed!! Mike’s mission tomorrow is to find a welder to fix the van.
Just another hiccup. Despite all these little hurdles we are having a great time, seeing spectacular scenery and meeting wonderful people.
