Cape York

This is going to be a long one!

Cape York was such an adventure and we have plenty of photo's to prove it.

After our caravan was safely locked away it was on the road and back past Black mountain, which is a mountain made up of black rock with a few trees poking through, a  bit of a change from the green hills we are used too.

The bitumen ran out after about 120kilometres and although it did re appear every now and then in the small towns we passed through it was mainly corrugated roads from here on out, yay.

There was plenty of water around as wet season had only officially finished a few weeks before we arrived and the roads had not long been opened.

Stopping to capture the wildlife.

1st water crossing, 4wd a must up here!

Our first stop for the night was near a small town called Coen, it was a very long 379 kilometre drive on shocking roads but we did find a nice free rest stop just 2 kms out of town that had shade and was alongside a river. 

We also topped up our fuel here and it was not as expensive as we thought it would be $1.70 per litre.

We had been on the road for a few hours and decided to pull in at Bramwell station just before Bramwell junction for showers and a ginger beer. We paid $5 each for a shower and use of facilities but we figured we could free camp again that night and it would make up for it. We also got a lot of information about places to see and things to do.

Our bush showers.

We also stopped at Bramwell Junction to check out the old telegraph track, we were meant to do it but were advised against it by the junction attendant who said the rivers were too high and fast and a few four wheel drives had already had to be saved and towed out.

We did go and have a peek though, just in case.

Whoops!

There was plenty of water and lots of boggy mud so after a few smaller water crossings we headed back.

We got back onto the development road but to get to the Bertie Creek free campsite we would have to get back on the old tele track,it's only about 28kms off the development road and it's a very sandy track with random speed humps. The detour we took cut out all the extreme water crossings that were not yet passable.

Very Narrow

Lot's of this around.

We arrived at Bertie Creek at about 3:30pm after another long day on crappy roads, Bertie Creek is one of the main water crossings on the old tele track and is a great little spot to spend the night, we had it all to ourselves, not counting the ants, spiders and march flies!!

Bertie Creek

It was a nice starry night and we even had a go at making damper in the camp oven.

Taste testing.

It must have been good because we polished it off pretty quick!

We were glad we did the 2 big days of driving because our next stop was Elliot Falls and it would only take us a few hours to get there and not a whole day.

We headed back on the tele track then out onto the development road and headed towards the falls.

Before Elliot Falls is Fruit Bat Falls, this is for day use only but it's definitely worth stopping for a quick dip!

The water was nice and clear and it was stinking hot, perfect combination for a swim!

After a swim and a bite to eat it was off to our camp ground, Elliot Falls only a few km's away from Fruit Bat Falls.

W arrived at Elliot Falls by lunch time and after quickly setting up our tent on a good size site we went to check out swimming pool! We had three to choose from Elliot Falls, Twin Falls and the saucepan all within walking distance.

Twin Falls.

Twin Falls was the best swimming spot.

Perfect water temperature!

We decided to stay for two days, there is a fee at this campground but it's only about $10.00 per night, there are toilets but no showers, but plenty of water to wash in!

Even at 7am the water was perfect, a great way to start the day.

Elliot Falls

The saucepan.

Nanna Nap.

Our camp site.

This camp ground does get very busy and we had to put up with about 10 absolute morons one night who had music blaring till about 4 am, even after we told them to shut up they continued on, so we got revenge the next morning when we drove past and blasted our music out the front of the site and held our horn down. Revenge is sweet!

We did meet a lovely young couple though Jack & Sally from Fobes, N.S.W and we decided to tackle the last part of the old tele track with them, we felt safer knowing we had someone to pull us out if needed, so after two days at Elliot Falls it was onto the tele track!

First crossing of the day.

The boys checking water depths.

Sally and I filmed most of the water crossings and were happy not to be in the car, just in case, not that we didn't trust the boys....

The water crossings got deeper and deeper.

So far so good.

Crossing the log bridge.

We didn't look under the bridge until after we crossed it, I'm glad we didn't because we may not have gone across!

There were even a few water crossings that weren't meant to be there, and this one below was murky and looked like a perfect croc spot, Sally and I stayed in the cars for this one!

Our last crossing before we got to the ferry at the Jardine river was Nolan's brook, it was the deepest of all the crossings that we had done and the boys took a while to figure out what path they would take, in some parts the water was past my shoulders!

We were not going to turn back now so Sal and I swam across and let the boys do their thing, Jack braved it first.

Within a few seconds he was stuck so Brenton jumped in to give him a hand with the winch.

The tree didn't look too strong but it did the job.

The car may have took on a bit of water:

Just a bit.

Now we were scared, our car is a lot older than Jack and Sal's but at least we had time to get everything off the floor, just in case.

Not off to a great start.

At least the car got a wash, inside and out.

Yep, we're stuck!!

Jack got to work and helped winch us out.

The aftermath:

Opening the door.

Thank god that was the last crossing and thank god our cars were still running!!! Although half an hour or so after all the excitement I realised that Nolan's Brook had claimed my thongs and a pair of shorts, very annoying!

We were very happy to see the Jardine river ferry, almost at the tip! Whilst we were happy to see the ferry we were not so happy with how much it cost to cross 30 metres of water, $88! 

There is also a petrol station here, $2.10 per litre for diesel.

Crossing the croc filled Jardine river.

We drove through Bamaga one of the main towns up this way and it was nice to see some life!

Before we reached Punsund Bay, at the top of Cape York we stopped at the famous souvenir shop, the croc tent.

The fake pet croc.

We did purchase a stubbie holder that reads 'I survived Nolans Brook' with a picture of a couple on top of the car roof with snorkel gear on, very fitting!

Finally the moment we had been waiting for!! 

The camp ground is right on the beach and is $20 per night to camp, plenty of wildlife around, we spotted a snake, owls, plenty of lizards and spiders.

You can't swim in the beach because of the crocs and sharks but they do have a small, freezing pool to cool off in.

Apparently we were lucky to get through Nolan's brook without any trouble (just stinky cars), we were chatting to some locals and apparently one car had got stuck and was so stuffed it had to get shipped back to cairns for repair and one of them had to go and pull someone out the day before we went through. We were very lucky for once!

Our front yard.

The day after arriving at Punsand Bay it was off to the tip of Australia!! Roughly 40kms from the campground.

It's only a short rocky walk to the sign,a little steep in places.

Melbourne 3020KM

Brenton found a mascot.

We may have gone a bit overboard with pictures of the sign but I doubt we will be back again!

Brenton planking at the top of OZ

After our trip to the tip it was back to punsand bay for some fishing.

Brenton was the only lucky one to get a fish.

The boys also put a crab trap in the water overnight and caught one which they cooked up and tasted for breakfast.

Trying to get it out of the trap was not easy!

I didn't try any but Sally, Jack and Brent said it was awful! 

After punsand bay we headed back into Bamaga and got one of the famous bakery pies, get in early they close at 2pm.

We also went and looked at some plane crash sites not far from the centre of town from WW2.

Then is was off to Seisa only 6kms from Bamaga, we stayed at the Seisa caravan park for $24 per night, a bit expensive considering we were just camping, but everything is pricey up this way.

Fishing at the Seisa jetty.

No luck though,

Nice shady sites.

The biggest downfall in Seisa is there is no swimming pool!! 

It was stinking hot and staring at the beach that you cannot swim in does not seem fair!  

Cold showers did the job though.

After Seisa we headed back to the Jardine Ferry and still with Jack and Sally headed towards our next camp spot, crystal creek, a free camp spot on the way to Vryila point.

The camp area was not great, a bit bare and not a lot of room but we had somewhere to swim, it seems it's not called crystal creek for nothing! Down near the log bridge that leads to Vrilya point is a great swimming spot that is crystal clear.

This is where we said goodbye to Jack & Sally,they headed out to Vrilya Point and we headed south.

The turn off to crystal creek.

We were not looking forward to the drive home, once on this road is enough! 

There is also a quarantine check on the way south about 20 kms from Coen, and that's where we ended up staying again after leaving crystal creek.

River View at Coen.

Bitumen!! So happy to be on an actual road again!

We were back on bitumen again but we still had one more night of camping at 'The Lions Den' before picking up our caravan (Pictures in the next blog!).

We were gone 9 nights all together and although rough, hot and dusty we had an amazing time in this part of the country, compared to the rest of Australia it is so untouched.

An adventure we will never forget.

(Update on the cars: Jack and Sally's car stuffed up after leaving Vrilya point, the gear box was full of water, the air bag computer was fried and it was making weird noises, they had to go to Cairns to get it repaired and it has taken 3 weeks and is still not running right.

We also had a service in Cairns and found that our gearbox was full of water as well as our diffs and transfer case, aside from that it's still running okay. 

Not as lucky as we thought!)