Australian Photos
- Thread starter Travis22
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Damn Travis, that is my exact car! How many airbags went off? That would have been a big hit for the old lady to take. Glad you were both relatively ok, I hope. Love your updates. 
- Thread starter
- #123
Thanks for the kind thoughts guys. Yeh i came out of it fine. Bloody stiff and sore but all things considered all i can say once again is thank god i was in Michelle's beautiful (well it was once) Subaru Forester Diesel. Pretty sure its way up there in the safety ratings / one of the safest cars on the road and i believe it without a doubt now lol.
The intersection is very dark, but how she didnt see my headlights ill never understand. However once the whole story came out it was a little more obvious why the accident happened.
The old lady was following her husband home, he was in a separate vehicle in front of her. He too blew through the stop signs about 5 seconds before i was 'there' so i guess he never touched his brakes so his wife just was blindly followed him most likely completely unaware of the intersection ahead. Mind you, there are still no excuses in my mind, there are more then enough reflective signs on her approach had she been paying attention she would have know there was an intersection ahead and to STOP. I had actually lifted my foot off the accelerator the second the first vehicle blew the intersection and thought to myself, what an idiot that driver was why didnt they stop, its night time hardly anyone around surely they would have seen my headlights etc, then a second later WHACK... The Subaru really coasts well, so even tho id gotten off the gas before the impact i still think i would have been doing pretty much the same speed. I didnt see her vehicle until i was about 1/100th of a second from impact.
I might have been knocked out for a couple of seconds, im not sure. It was a MASSIVE impact. My vehicle ended up doing a full 180deg spin as it ricocheted off the old ladies car. All i remember was a truly massive whack, then i was stationary - again facing the opposite direction to which i was traveling and i was on the other side of the road. My very first thoughts were the car was on fire, as the entire cabin looked like it was full of smoke, and my face really really really hurt / stung (from the impact with the airbags i can only assume) Other then that i felt fine at that moment. As it turned out it wasnt smoke, just the powder the airbags are packed with to insure they open properly without sticking. So within seconds i was thumping my door to get it open and i got out asap again thinking the car was about to go up in flames. There was Diesel absolutely everywhere, along with coolant. I was once again thanking god i was in Michelles car and i was a Diesel at this point!
I went over to the other drivers vehicle and called out to her, she was out of it, then came through and started screaming her head off. A few other vehicles arrived on scene and tended to her so i called 000 (911 in the USA). Ambo's took her away. I dont really know what happened to her, the police lady called me back a few days later to say she was ok and that she had surgery but that was all the information i got.
After the accident it really was a mad rush to finish packing and double checking everything on the Landcruiser etc. + i then had to run Michelle around to and from her Work etc... AND quickly go out car shopping for a new car for Michelle so that when she would return from this trip she would be able to pickup a new car. It really made the last few days before i was heading off chaotic to say the least!
The intersection is very dark, but how she didnt see my headlights ill never understand. However once the whole story came out it was a little more obvious why the accident happened.
The old lady was following her husband home, he was in a separate vehicle in front of her. He too blew through the stop signs about 5 seconds before i was 'there' so i guess he never touched his brakes so his wife just was blindly followed him most likely completely unaware of the intersection ahead. Mind you, there are still no excuses in my mind, there are more then enough reflective signs on her approach had she been paying attention she would have know there was an intersection ahead and to STOP. I had actually lifted my foot off the accelerator the second the first vehicle blew the intersection and thought to myself, what an idiot that driver was why didnt they stop, its night time hardly anyone around surely they would have seen my headlights etc, then a second later WHACK... The Subaru really coasts well, so even tho id gotten off the gas before the impact i still think i would have been doing pretty much the same speed. I didnt see her vehicle until i was about 1/100th of a second from impact.
I might have been knocked out for a couple of seconds, im not sure. It was a MASSIVE impact. My vehicle ended up doing a full 180deg spin as it ricocheted off the old ladies car. All i remember was a truly massive whack, then i was stationary - again facing the opposite direction to which i was traveling and i was on the other side of the road. My very first thoughts were the car was on fire, as the entire cabin looked like it was full of smoke, and my face really really really hurt / stung (from the impact with the airbags i can only assume) Other then that i felt fine at that moment. As it turned out it wasnt smoke, just the powder the airbags are packed with to insure they open properly without sticking. So within seconds i was thumping my door to get it open and i got out asap again thinking the car was about to go up in flames. There was Diesel absolutely everywhere, along with coolant. I was once again thanking god i was in Michelles car and i was a Diesel at this point!
I went over to the other drivers vehicle and called out to her, she was out of it, then came through and started screaming her head off. A few other vehicles arrived on scene and tended to her so i called 000 (911 in the USA). Ambo's took her away. I dont really know what happened to her, the police lady called me back a few days later to say she was ok and that she had surgery but that was all the information i got.
After the accident it really was a mad rush to finish packing and double checking everything on the Landcruiser etc. + i then had to run Michelle around to and from her Work etc... AND quickly go out car shopping for a new car for Michelle so that when she would return from this trip she would be able to pickup a new car. It really made the last few days before i was heading off chaotic to say the least!
Glad to hear you're OK. The pics show that was a hard hit.
Also, love the pics and story that always goes with them. People like you are how I get to see and enjoy other countries. Thank you!!
Don
Also, love the pics and story that always goes with them. People like you are how I get to see and enjoy other countries. Thank you!!
Don
Just had to get back with you on this subject. My wife and I went through very similar troubles. Your wife is going to feel the weight of this problem more than you will, just the way things are. Be very supportive of her, she needs it.
Fortunately, my wifes' aunt and uncle helped us financially to pay for a specialist. We were almost ready to give up, even with the specialist, when we experienced success. Our twins are now twenty five years old.
Hopefully you have the insurance to get a specialist. But, be careful of who you get. There will always be someone who will want the notoriety of guads, or more. The Dr has a lot of control over how many are conceived and can stop the process if there are too many eggs to be fertilized. We ended up with twins, which are not in her family line. This was due to the process, and the Dr (and us), being comfortable with twins. A boy and a girl, a complete family at one time.
Keep us updated on how things go for you and your wife. I care.
Don
- Thread starter
- #127
It was a fairly fresh morning and the swag was pretty damp from condensation overnight so i left it out while i packed up and cleaned up. Once again i ended up chatting away with the Air Force bloke for a while then spotted another 40 Series Landcruiser in the park!!! So i promptly headed out to say hello. They must have pulled in late the night before.
I was a little disappointed tho, it had Vic plates on it, but it turned out the two fellow's (father and son) were from Cairns and had just purchased the BJ42 from down my way and were heading home with it! Buggers, taking all our good, not so rusted out 40's up to QLD to rust out (joke!) lol.
While chatting away another bloke came over to look at his 40 Series and hmmmm, how shall i put it, told us how much he knew about them and himself. He also went on to tell me, (after looking at the 42, he followed me back to look at my 45) how he and his wife had just done the Cape... and how bad it was up there. He had trashed both is vehicles, and his camper trailers suspension and blamed it all on the conditions then continued ranting and raving about the mechanics up the top etc. To be honest, i was crapping myself and really for the first time second guessing our plans of doing the Cape in our old cruiser, alone.
Just before leaving i had one last look around the car and found one hell of a mess!
Our Aux battery had leaked acid everywhere which had run right through parts of the tray. It was a bloody mess. So i started unpacking everything and with the 60L of 'emergency' water i had in jerry cans tried to clean up the spillage.
It had to have been my own fault tho, as the day before i got this crazy idea into my head to check the battery water levels and even purchased some distilled water passing through one of the little towns and had topped up the Aux battery... Clearly, id overfilled it!!! (Still, im going to blame this on our fridge, this bloody thing has been giving us grief for nearly 2 years now and im positive now something is wrong with it, however up till now ive always been second guessing the Aux battery and wiring etc...)
What a morning!
Before finally hitting the road once again, i was told about a vehicle wreck 'just up the road' heading North. It had apparently happened the day before. It was however a fair way up the road, and before finally reaching it i was starting to doubt everything the know it all bloke had been saying.
Apparently, 2 German tourists had lost control and run off the road in a modified Courier Van fitted out as a camper van. When said bloke had passed the scene he believed it must have just happened hours before as ALL of their belongings were still scattered around the place. However when i got there, there were about 4-5vehicles parked on the road and they were checking it out so god knows how many could have stopped in the 24-36hours since the crash. They rightly so stopped given it looked so 'fresh' to see if someone was there, hurt etc. However there we're no valuables left what so ever just rubbish and broken stuff, parts from the camper - draws, doors etc... everywhere. Looking at the vehicle, it became obvious someone had even stolen some parts from the car!
The vehicle had hit the edge of the road at a 30-40deg angle, and the edge of the road there just happened to look like a perfect 45deg dirt ramp / jump. This sent the van airborn for some 5ish meters into a landing comprising of 2 MASSIVE rocks / boulders hidden in the long grass. This shattered the fiberglass van body and did 90% of the visible damage.
I was a little disappointed tho, it had Vic plates on it, but it turned out the two fellow's (father and son) were from Cairns and had just purchased the BJ42 from down my way and were heading home with it! Buggers, taking all our good, not so rusted out 40's up to QLD to rust out (joke!) lol.
While chatting away another bloke came over to look at his 40 Series and hmmmm, how shall i put it, told us how much he knew about them and himself. He also went on to tell me, (after looking at the 42, he followed me back to look at my 45) how he and his wife had just done the Cape... and how bad it was up there. He had trashed both is vehicles, and his camper trailers suspension and blamed it all on the conditions then continued ranting and raving about the mechanics up the top etc. To be honest, i was crapping myself and really for the first time second guessing our plans of doing the Cape in our old cruiser, alone.
Just before leaving i had one last look around the car and found one hell of a mess!
Our Aux battery had leaked acid everywhere which had run right through parts of the tray. It was a bloody mess. So i started unpacking everything and with the 60L of 'emergency' water i had in jerry cans tried to clean up the spillage.
It had to have been my own fault tho, as the day before i got this crazy idea into my head to check the battery water levels and even purchased some distilled water passing through one of the little towns and had topped up the Aux battery... Clearly, id overfilled it!!! (Still, im going to blame this on our fridge, this bloody thing has been giving us grief for nearly 2 years now and im positive now something is wrong with it, however up till now ive always been second guessing the Aux battery and wiring etc...)
What a morning!
Before finally hitting the road once again, i was told about a vehicle wreck 'just up the road' heading North. It had apparently happened the day before. It was however a fair way up the road, and before finally reaching it i was starting to doubt everything the know it all bloke had been saying.
Apparently, 2 German tourists had lost control and run off the road in a modified Courier Van fitted out as a camper van. When said bloke had passed the scene he believed it must have just happened hours before as ALL of their belongings were still scattered around the place. However when i got there, there were about 4-5vehicles parked on the road and they were checking it out so god knows how many could have stopped in the 24-36hours since the crash. They rightly so stopped given it looked so 'fresh' to see if someone was there, hurt etc. However there we're no valuables left what so ever just rubbish and broken stuff, parts from the camper - draws, doors etc... everywhere. Looking at the vehicle, it became obvious someone had even stolen some parts from the car!
The vehicle had hit the edge of the road at a 30-40deg angle, and the edge of the road there just happened to look like a perfect 45deg dirt ramp / jump. This sent the van airborn for some 5ish meters into a landing comprising of 2 MASSIVE rocks / boulders hidden in the long grass. This shattered the fiberglass van body and did 90% of the visible damage.
- Thread starter
- #128
As i traveled on, i couldnt help but think about this accident and well its easy to blame it on the international tourists as well, many of them do speed around. But it could have just as easily been fatigue, or something as simple as an animal coming out onto the road...
Continuing North, the road conditions went downhill fast, it seems these guys had already driven successfully through much tougher conditions and the road was in, as good of a condition you could ever expect a dirt road to be in where they crashed.
There were some pretty rough corrugations in places along with some very tight corners and even a few washouts etc. However approaching say the Oasis Roadhouse the country side is heaven to me. Having traveled so far, through mostly flat open country i was really enjoying the mini mountains there. Lots of little creeks and gorges, gullies etc. It also looks like prime pig hunting territory. Hell, id be happy to just go hiking around there.
However once again, the signage along the road was pretty non existent and a few times i really wasnt sure exactly where i was or if id taken a wrong fork in a few places.
You could say i was looking forward to finishing the unsealed section of the road. Id had enough! However little was i to know i would only get more annoyed as i reached the endless stretches of roadworks up ahead. The level of roadworks was amazing, massive scale. It wasnt until id reached say the turnoff for the undara caves that i seemed to be free of the stop and go roadworks.
You wouldnt believe it looking at the above photos, but before the days end, my patients would be stretched to breaking point as it started RAINING!
The weather went to crap around Ravenshoe and the humidity went through the roof. I didnt want to go on! And the most trivial thing was doing my head in... Just prior to this trip id fitted new windscreen wiper blades, as it was starting to become a bit of a tradition that id do this after a big trip, as id need them on the trip and they would be stuffed so id go and replace them as soon as i got home. So being smart, they were replaced before i left... Well the rubber kept sliding out of the metal so i was having to stop every 15minutes and feed it back in, in the rain!
In the end, i just kept driving and driving and driving, closer and closer to Cairns and before i knew it i was in Cairns! The weather really put a damper on my plans and i really couldnt be bothered swagging it on my last night alone, so i ended up at the First city caravan park and payed for a basic cabin which really wasnt so bad. It rained most of the night. Across from my cabin were a bunch of burly looking blokes with 4wd TV stickers over all of their vehicles. Other then asking one of them if they were heading for the cape, and me saying, will see you up there, they kept to themselves.
Over 550 pretty tough km's and some approx 9hours on the road. Towards the end, the conditions were down right scary and despite the rain most of the other road users seemed to want to travel far to quickly.
After fairly constant overnight rain, it seemed to stop come sunup however it was still very overcast and i expected more rain but fortunately it held off.
I needed to kill a few hours between the checkout time and my wifes plane flying in so i decided to go over the landcruiser, parked off the road near the airport. I ended up greasing most of the nipples - shackles and pins and all of the tie rod ends. I also checked the air filter along with the engine oil levels and then the points and timing.
I managed to eat up the free time perfectly and as soon as i finished it was time to drive on into the airport and pick up Michelle.
From there we quickly stocked up at the supermarket and hit the road!
It was already well into the afternoon, so we planned to spent the night in Lakeland, approx 250km away. It was very slow going and we found ourselves below a VERY slow tourist van around Palm Cove which was absolutely doing my head in. Basically i see myself as one of the slower travelers out there, in that, i travel as fast as i can safely in a slow old car. In other words, very few vehicles are slower then us! If i come across someone traveling slower then me, then they are literally going bloody slow. Dangerously slow and they should not be on the road!
I couldnt overtake and there was a cue of vehicles behind us growing every few seconds. With our manual transmission i was unable to match their speed in any gear... it was doing my head in. After about 30minutes they finally turned off and i think you could hear the cheer from the line of vehicles behind us.
It was a very hot afternoon on the roads once we moved away from the ocean and the old Landcruiser was running a tad warm every now and again. The end of the day heading North, or North West into the sun really is a crap time to travel!
We arrived in Lakeland right on dark, setup camp, started cooking and chatting with our neighbors. Then had a much needed shower before bed. The amenities there were almost on par with the ones at Birdsville. Very very large cubicles, and extremely nice and clean.
Continuing North, the road conditions went downhill fast, it seems these guys had already driven successfully through much tougher conditions and the road was in, as good of a condition you could ever expect a dirt road to be in where they crashed.
There were some pretty rough corrugations in places along with some very tight corners and even a few washouts etc. However approaching say the Oasis Roadhouse the country side is heaven to me. Having traveled so far, through mostly flat open country i was really enjoying the mini mountains there. Lots of little creeks and gorges, gullies etc. It also looks like prime pig hunting territory. Hell, id be happy to just go hiking around there.
However once again, the signage along the road was pretty non existent and a few times i really wasnt sure exactly where i was or if id taken a wrong fork in a few places.
You could say i was looking forward to finishing the unsealed section of the road. Id had enough! However little was i to know i would only get more annoyed as i reached the endless stretches of roadworks up ahead. The level of roadworks was amazing, massive scale. It wasnt until id reached say the turnoff for the undara caves that i seemed to be free of the stop and go roadworks.
You wouldnt believe it looking at the above photos, but before the days end, my patients would be stretched to breaking point as it started RAINING!
The weather went to crap around Ravenshoe and the humidity went through the roof. I didnt want to go on! And the most trivial thing was doing my head in... Just prior to this trip id fitted new windscreen wiper blades, as it was starting to become a bit of a tradition that id do this after a big trip, as id need them on the trip and they would be stuffed so id go and replace them as soon as i got home. So being smart, they were replaced before i left... Well the rubber kept sliding out of the metal so i was having to stop every 15minutes and feed it back in, in the rain!
In the end, i just kept driving and driving and driving, closer and closer to Cairns and before i knew it i was in Cairns! The weather really put a damper on my plans and i really couldnt be bothered swagging it on my last night alone, so i ended up at the First city caravan park and payed for a basic cabin which really wasnt so bad. It rained most of the night. Across from my cabin were a bunch of burly looking blokes with 4wd TV stickers over all of their vehicles. Other then asking one of them if they were heading for the cape, and me saying, will see you up there, they kept to themselves.
Over 550 pretty tough km's and some approx 9hours on the road. Towards the end, the conditions were down right scary and despite the rain most of the other road users seemed to want to travel far to quickly.
After fairly constant overnight rain, it seemed to stop come sunup however it was still very overcast and i expected more rain but fortunately it held off.
I needed to kill a few hours between the checkout time and my wifes plane flying in so i decided to go over the landcruiser, parked off the road near the airport. I ended up greasing most of the nipples - shackles and pins and all of the tie rod ends. I also checked the air filter along with the engine oil levels and then the points and timing.
I managed to eat up the free time perfectly and as soon as i finished it was time to drive on into the airport and pick up Michelle.
From there we quickly stocked up at the supermarket and hit the road!
It was already well into the afternoon, so we planned to spent the night in Lakeland, approx 250km away. It was very slow going and we found ourselves below a VERY slow tourist van around Palm Cove which was absolutely doing my head in. Basically i see myself as one of the slower travelers out there, in that, i travel as fast as i can safely in a slow old car. In other words, very few vehicles are slower then us! If i come across someone traveling slower then me, then they are literally going bloody slow. Dangerously slow and they should not be on the road!
I couldnt overtake and there was a cue of vehicles behind us growing every few seconds. With our manual transmission i was unable to match their speed in any gear... it was doing my head in. After about 30minutes they finally turned off and i think you could hear the cheer from the line of vehicles behind us.
It was a very hot afternoon on the roads once we moved away from the ocean and the old Landcruiser was running a tad warm every now and again. The end of the day heading North, or North West into the sun really is a crap time to travel!
We arrived in Lakeland right on dark, setup camp, started cooking and chatting with our neighbors. Then had a much needed shower before bed. The amenities there were almost on par with the ones at Birdsville. Very very large cubicles, and extremely nice and clean.
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- Thread starter
- #129
Other then seeing people during the evening we really saw very few people on the road during the day. What can i say, it suits me perfectly!
We arrived at Morton Telegraph station early the next day and upon pulling up we were quickly approached by a fellow traveler asking if we had any break fluid. I said yes, much to his excitement, then quickly followed that up with, but it wont suit your new car. He wasnt convinced so i pulled up and retrieved it anyways and went over to show them what i had. It turned out they were actually after power steering fluid anyways. I was pretty miffed at how anyone could come out here without some basic spares, and id call a bottle of brake fluid, and power steering fluid (if you have power steering) basic spares.
I guess you could say it bought some excitement to any otherwise uneventful morning. Its amazing how quickly things can get blown out of proportion with some people. Idea's like getting into touch with someone at Coen to bring some out etc... were floated! I guess they had been there some time, ie. a few hours lol... and were keen to find a solution. Eventually some auto trans fluid was supplied by one of the workers at the station and they were off.
We wondered over to the 'gift shop'? and had a nice chat with the caretakers there. Apparently the management? is going to be handed back to the traditional owners next year, my wife and i were a lot less enthusiastic about how that would fare compared to the caretaker. We took the opportunity to book a night at the Twin falls camp ground given we now had an idea when we would be there, tomorrow night. So that was good, Michelle was happy.
Lunch was provided for at the Bramwell Junction roadhouse. The bloke there was quite friendly and was very impressed that we were out there in the old Landcruiser, some 'good' overnight camping locations were revealed should we be looking.
I really couldnt believe we were about to start the Old Telegraph Track.
I guess, i didnt really know what to expect but it wasnt really how i expected it.
First stop, Palm Creek.
What can i say, ok ill get it out of the way and say straight up we decided to go around it.
Bloody hell i was so pissed off and deflated. This entrance really is absolutely stuffed and while im only trying to make myself fell a little better about bypassing it, i feel stuff like this requires about the exact same amount of skill to do, as driving through bog holes and over the edge at 'Gunshot'.
I spent a lot of time really, planning how i would get the old Landcruiser through unscathed... I even considered winching myself down it backwards, which i would do in a heard beat if it HAD to be done. But it didnt, there was a way around it so we took it.
Ok... here's my excuse lol. Bottom line, i believed 100% that because of the way the lower hump had been dug out to one side paired with the level of articulation or lack their of on the old girl, she would drag her roof on the side of the bank and the paint work already on the side of the bank there reinforced my feelings.
With a rare and 100% original zero rust steel roof on the old girl there was no way on earth i was going to risk dragging it on the side there for nothing.
About 45minutes later, i think both Michelle and i were almost thinking damaging the roof would have been worth it because the corrigations on the bypass track were without a doubt the worst we had ever been on.
Ranger Station. Smoke seen on the horizon far right, is the open land following Palm Creek.
Still wanting to visit all of the crossings etc. we backtracked before spending the night camped at one of the secluded spots on the Bertie Creek.
We arrived at Morton Telegraph station early the next day and upon pulling up we were quickly approached by a fellow traveler asking if we had any break fluid. I said yes, much to his excitement, then quickly followed that up with, but it wont suit your new car. He wasnt convinced so i pulled up and retrieved it anyways and went over to show them what i had. It turned out they were actually after power steering fluid anyways. I was pretty miffed at how anyone could come out here without some basic spares, and id call a bottle of brake fluid, and power steering fluid (if you have power steering) basic spares.
I guess you could say it bought some excitement to any otherwise uneventful morning. Its amazing how quickly things can get blown out of proportion with some people. Idea's like getting into touch with someone at Coen to bring some out etc... were floated! I guess they had been there some time, ie. a few hours lol... and were keen to find a solution. Eventually some auto trans fluid was supplied by one of the workers at the station and they were off.
We wondered over to the 'gift shop'? and had a nice chat with the caretakers there. Apparently the management? is going to be handed back to the traditional owners next year, my wife and i were a lot less enthusiastic about how that would fare compared to the caretaker. We took the opportunity to book a night at the Twin falls camp ground given we now had an idea when we would be there, tomorrow night. So that was good, Michelle was happy.
Lunch was provided for at the Bramwell Junction roadhouse. The bloke there was quite friendly and was very impressed that we were out there in the old Landcruiser, some 'good' overnight camping locations were revealed should we be looking.
I really couldnt believe we were about to start the Old Telegraph Track.
I guess, i didnt really know what to expect but it wasnt really how i expected it.
First stop, Palm Creek.
What can i say, ok ill get it out of the way and say straight up we decided to go around it.
Bloody hell i was so pissed off and deflated. This entrance really is absolutely stuffed and while im only trying to make myself fell a little better about bypassing it, i feel stuff like this requires about the exact same amount of skill to do, as driving through bog holes and over the edge at 'Gunshot'.
I spent a lot of time really, planning how i would get the old Landcruiser through unscathed... I even considered winching myself down it backwards, which i would do in a heard beat if it HAD to be done. But it didnt, there was a way around it so we took it.
Ok... here's my excuse lol. Bottom line, i believed 100% that because of the way the lower hump had been dug out to one side paired with the level of articulation or lack their of on the old girl, she would drag her roof on the side of the bank and the paint work already on the side of the bank there reinforced my feelings.
With a rare and 100% original zero rust steel roof on the old girl there was no way on earth i was going to risk dragging it on the side there for nothing.
About 45minutes later, i think both Michelle and i were almost thinking damaging the roof would have been worth it because the corrigations on the bypass track were without a doubt the worst we had ever been on.
Ranger Station. Smoke seen on the horizon far right, is the open land following Palm Creek.
Still wanting to visit all of the crossings etc. we backtracked before spending the night camped at one of the secluded spots on the Bertie Creek.
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- Thread starter
- #130
At the Delhunty River we met up with 2 other single vehicles both which had done the Palm Creek crossing without issue. One towing a camper trailer. We would travel with them a bit more on our way up to the tip.
We had backtracked, done the bypass and backtracked down the OTT before they reached the Delhunty so i thought despite the corrugations the bypass was ok... didnt cost us any time at least.
Having already investigated all of the camping spots between Bertie and the Delhunty we told them were we thought the nicest spot to camp would be with their camper trailer and with that they left.
Exploring around the Delhunty we came across this sad example of an otherwise beautiful dog. Bull Arab would be my guess?
No doubt, an abandoned pig hunting dog. It was very shy and wouldnt let me approach. But with it in the area, the misses decided she didnt want to camp there. I felt pretty bad, i guess i see it as a pet moreso then a wild dog which id happily shoot back home, if it wasnt for the horrible overflowing rubbish bins at the camp sites all along the OTT i dont think it would survive on its own for to long. I hoped maybe the pig hunters would return for it soon.
Nice spot to lay in the river, beside out camping spot for the night. Looking upstream.
While packing up the next morning, the couple towing their camper trailer came passed our camp and stopped for a chat. Before Pajero Interrupts they had stopped to let us lead as we continued on down the OTT.
One of the few brief views into the distance on the OTT, there really aren't many.
We stopped at Sheldons Lagoon to see the turtles. Im pretty sure the other couple thought i was crazy with my speak of these little turtles. For ages, i was standing in the water telling them there really are turtles here!
And finally just as the others were ready to give up and call me crazy all of the turtles started appearing!
Silly me, didnt get any photos.
Gunshot... Seriously, hmmmmmmmm ok. It isnt steep any more. It is, VERTICAL.
The 'easy' route IMO actually takes quite a bit more skill to navigate without issue. However as our new friends tried sussing it out we were as always entertained by the muffled arguments that always arise as these obstacles are further amplified by having to drag a camper trailer along behind. It would have been easier for them to drop straight over 'Gunshot' and winch out.
Pretty sure i almost dislocated my shoulder directing the old girl down here with only strong arm steering, but it was worth it once done and a refreshing break in the river was had.
Token shot on the OTT.
We had backtracked, done the bypass and backtracked down the OTT before they reached the Delhunty so i thought despite the corrugations the bypass was ok... didnt cost us any time at least.
Having already investigated all of the camping spots between Bertie and the Delhunty we told them were we thought the nicest spot to camp would be with their camper trailer and with that they left.
Exploring around the Delhunty we came across this sad example of an otherwise beautiful dog. Bull Arab would be my guess?
No doubt, an abandoned pig hunting dog. It was very shy and wouldnt let me approach. But with it in the area, the misses decided she didnt want to camp there. I felt pretty bad, i guess i see it as a pet moreso then a wild dog which id happily shoot back home, if it wasnt for the horrible overflowing rubbish bins at the camp sites all along the OTT i dont think it would survive on its own for to long. I hoped maybe the pig hunters would return for it soon.
Nice spot to lay in the river, beside out camping spot for the night. Looking upstream.
While packing up the next morning, the couple towing their camper trailer came passed our camp and stopped for a chat. Before Pajero Interrupts they had stopped to let us lead as we continued on down the OTT.
One of the few brief views into the distance on the OTT, there really aren't many.
We stopped at Sheldons Lagoon to see the turtles. Im pretty sure the other couple thought i was crazy with my speak of these little turtles. For ages, i was standing in the water telling them there really are turtles here!
And finally just as the others were ready to give up and call me crazy all of the turtles started appearing!
Silly me, didnt get any photos.
Gunshot... Seriously, hmmmmmmmm ok. It isnt steep any more. It is, VERTICAL.
The 'easy' route IMO actually takes quite a bit more skill to navigate without issue. However as our new friends tried sussing it out we were as always entertained by the muffled arguments that always arise as these obstacles are further amplified by having to drag a camper trailer along behind. It would have been easier for them to drop straight over 'Gunshot' and winch out.
Pretty sure i almost dislocated my shoulder directing the old girl down here with only strong arm steering, but it was worth it once done and a refreshing break in the river was had.
Token shot on the OTT.
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And we finally made it, to the tip, NO. To the water falls, the only reason Michelle came on the trip!
Michelle did say and i quote, "we can go home now" after spending the rest of the day in the water!
Michelle & the couple with the CT.
Logan Creek was a site to behold. We arrived to see the fellow with his donkey preparing to leave on the other side. Clearly they had just walked it so i thought ok... its time to do the same. From reading many trip reports prior to doing this trip outselves i was well aware that this crossing is generally the deepest on the OTT. Its also one of the few which has a Warning Crocodiles sign at its entrance (this i did not know prior to arrival!) So, with the old timer already across i thought what the heck here go's and i waded out across the creek then back again following where i expected my wheels to be. I ended up doing it twice more before deciding on the line id take. With some convincing i had Michelle stand off to one side a few meters into the crossing with my camera to snap some photos, she wasnt to keen on it but did as asked.
(last larger file size, sorry guys will edit later with smaller versions)
Once across, Michelle insisted i walk back to her, then walk her across. Next stop Nolans...!
If you think about now im starting to sh!t myself then you are absolutely correct. There was only one obstacle left before we would finish the Old Telegraph track and to be completely honest i really didnt think we would do Nolans Brook. I think id convinced myself before even leaving home that i would not do Nolans, not worth the risk that far from home... and all that. Butterflies in the tummy, oh yes, big time.
While my wife doesnt like speed over corrugations thanks to a little off years ago, i too really only have one fear when 4x4ing and that is drowning inside a 4x4. Yep, 7-8years ago i to stuffed up one day and wrote off a vehicle in a very fast flowing river crossing. Egged on by mates, over 24hours continuous low range 4x4ing - no sleep, done the crossing a hundred times before etc... i have all the excuses lol but at the end of the day now; i dont like river crossings!
We arrived at Nolans to find a cue of vehicle!!! What the!
We quickly pulled up and had a look at the notorious Nolans crossing. Our friends from the first day with the CT on the OTT where there, they had been waiting for some hours for another vehicle to arrive etc. They were the first to arrive there that day, when shortly after another vehicle arrived on the Northern side however the old bloke was not willing to position himself, his vehicle, ready to assist them in crossing should they get stuck. This news really pissed me off. Turns out the old bloke had gone around the bypass roads and doubled back to Nolans to act as standby help for his daughters and their husbands who were doing the OTT. They had arrived shortly ahead of us just behind another solo traveler. They all stood around in the water on the Northern side, where everyone generally stands to take photos and watched on as i walked around, back and forth side to side through the crossing.
So there were 5 of us on the Southern side, and the old bloke on the Northern side. Noone had crossed so far that day so i was keen to go first, but i was last in the cue so it wasnt going to happen! Everyone seemed to be happy just standing there in the water, not much actually happening, i guess everyone, drivers at least were working up the courage to cross. The two vehicles traveling with the guy on the Northern side would go first. The tension in the air was at an all time high, i tried to boost the first drivers confidence saying that he had the best chance of anyone here as the sandly bottom had not been disturbed with noone having crossed for at least that day. His father inlaw on the other side was being a right fool, he just wanted to watch and took repeated instructions for him to get his car in position to help if needed and even still he wouldnt wait inside the car, he stood out behind it to watch the first vehicle attempt the crossing.
The first, second and third vehicles all crossed without issue. Everyone was running between 10-12PSI in their tires and all shared the same Car-bra. But with each crossing, as expected the bottom become a little softer and softer and softer. Forth to cross would be our mates with their CT. Holy crap, he just made it. But in doing so he had chewed the absolute crap out of the bottom, where his vehicle and camper trailer had been the ground was about 1ft deeper! Now i was really, really sh!tting myself. I seriously took my time getting ready! Fortunately i had to wait to recover our Car-bra from our mates who had borrowed it then fit it to the old Landcruiser, every chance i could i killed some time just hoping the river bed would smooth itself a little more.
Finally, about 1.5hours after we arrived at Nolans it was our turn to give it a crack. But of course, just before my turn in the spotlight the dude in the Defender, his mate, and 3 young bucks we'd seen back at Mortons in their wild hiluxes etc arrive on scene to watch... me.
I dont think ive ever been so worried about a crossing; as i was at Nolans, i knew i wouldnt drown, the waters moving far to slow to tip the car, and well the old Landcruiser is about as tough as they come. Even if we got stuck there is nothing inside the car that would be damaged by the water, hell it would just have cleaned her out a little. With Low 2 selected, i dropped down into the water then fighting the urge to give it everything, gave it everything -1. Throttling between the bow wave flowing over the farm gate and not, before i knew it we were across!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I couldnt believe it but we had done it. For once, i was happy to have an audience because they were all cheering the old Landcruiser.
Later Michelle told me after crossing, one of the two Daughters had announced to everyone that her husband should get a Landcruiser like ours because it was the best, most impressive vehicle across Nolans! I was chuffed. Yet, her husband was quick to put her in her place and replied that she wouldnt last 5minutes traveling inside the old cruiser, they had a beautiful very newish looking Landcruiser with all the fruit along with two little kids.
Guess i look pretty happy here? Only slightly white knuckles!
Michelle did say and i quote, "we can go home now" after spending the rest of the day in the water!
Michelle & the couple with the CT.
Logan Creek was a site to behold. We arrived to see the fellow with his donkey preparing to leave on the other side. Clearly they had just walked it so i thought ok... its time to do the same. From reading many trip reports prior to doing this trip outselves i was well aware that this crossing is generally the deepest on the OTT. Its also one of the few which has a Warning Crocodiles sign at its entrance (this i did not know prior to arrival!) So, with the old timer already across i thought what the heck here go's and i waded out across the creek then back again following where i expected my wheels to be. I ended up doing it twice more before deciding on the line id take. With some convincing i had Michelle stand off to one side a few meters into the crossing with my camera to snap some photos, she wasnt to keen on it but did as asked.
(last larger file size, sorry guys will edit later with smaller versions)
Once across, Michelle insisted i walk back to her, then walk her across. Next stop Nolans...!
If you think about now im starting to sh!t myself then you are absolutely correct. There was only one obstacle left before we would finish the Old Telegraph track and to be completely honest i really didnt think we would do Nolans Brook. I think id convinced myself before even leaving home that i would not do Nolans, not worth the risk that far from home... and all that. Butterflies in the tummy, oh yes, big time.
While my wife doesnt like speed over corrugations thanks to a little off years ago, i too really only have one fear when 4x4ing and that is drowning inside a 4x4. Yep, 7-8years ago i to stuffed up one day and wrote off a vehicle in a very fast flowing river crossing. Egged on by mates, over 24hours continuous low range 4x4ing - no sleep, done the crossing a hundred times before etc... i have all the excuses lol but at the end of the day now; i dont like river crossings!
We arrived at Nolans to find a cue of vehicle!!! What the!
We quickly pulled up and had a look at the notorious Nolans crossing. Our friends from the first day with the CT on the OTT where there, they had been waiting for some hours for another vehicle to arrive etc. They were the first to arrive there that day, when shortly after another vehicle arrived on the Northern side however the old bloke was not willing to position himself, his vehicle, ready to assist them in crossing should they get stuck. This news really pissed me off. Turns out the old bloke had gone around the bypass roads and doubled back to Nolans to act as standby help for his daughters and their husbands who were doing the OTT. They had arrived shortly ahead of us just behind another solo traveler. They all stood around in the water on the Northern side, where everyone generally stands to take photos and watched on as i walked around, back and forth side to side through the crossing.
So there were 5 of us on the Southern side, and the old bloke on the Northern side. Noone had crossed so far that day so i was keen to go first, but i was last in the cue so it wasnt going to happen! Everyone seemed to be happy just standing there in the water, not much actually happening, i guess everyone, drivers at least were working up the courage to cross. The two vehicles traveling with the guy on the Northern side would go first. The tension in the air was at an all time high, i tried to boost the first drivers confidence saying that he had the best chance of anyone here as the sandly bottom had not been disturbed with noone having crossed for at least that day. His father inlaw on the other side was being a right fool, he just wanted to watch and took repeated instructions for him to get his car in position to help if needed and even still he wouldnt wait inside the car, he stood out behind it to watch the first vehicle attempt the crossing.
The first, second and third vehicles all crossed without issue. Everyone was running between 10-12PSI in their tires and all shared the same Car-bra. But with each crossing, as expected the bottom become a little softer and softer and softer. Forth to cross would be our mates with their CT. Holy crap, he just made it. But in doing so he had chewed the absolute crap out of the bottom, where his vehicle and camper trailer had been the ground was about 1ft deeper! Now i was really, really sh!tting myself. I seriously took my time getting ready! Fortunately i had to wait to recover our Car-bra from our mates who had borrowed it then fit it to the old Landcruiser, every chance i could i killed some time just hoping the river bed would smooth itself a little more.
Finally, about 1.5hours after we arrived at Nolans it was our turn to give it a crack. But of course, just before my turn in the spotlight the dude in the Defender, his mate, and 3 young bucks we'd seen back at Mortons in their wild hiluxes etc arrive on scene to watch... me.
I dont think ive ever been so worried about a crossing; as i was at Nolans, i knew i wouldnt drown, the waters moving far to slow to tip the car, and well the old Landcruiser is about as tough as they come. Even if we got stuck there is nothing inside the car that would be damaged by the water, hell it would just have cleaned her out a little. With Low 2 selected, i dropped down into the water then fighting the urge to give it everything, gave it everything -1. Throttling between the bow wave flowing over the farm gate and not, before i knew it we were across!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I couldnt believe it but we had done it. For once, i was happy to have an audience because they were all cheering the old Landcruiser.
Later Michelle told me after crossing, one of the two Daughters had announced to everyone that her husband should get a Landcruiser like ours because it was the best, most impressive vehicle across Nolans! I was chuffed. Yet, her husband was quick to put her in her place and replied that she wouldnt last 5minutes traveling inside the old cruiser, they had a beautiful very newish looking Landcruiser with all the fruit along with two little kids.
Guess i look pretty happy here? Only slightly white knuckles!
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- #132
We spent 2 nights camped at Loyalty beach, and despite the horror stories doing the rounds about the 130odd Variety Bash vehicles sharing the Tip with us, we barely saw more then 2 or 3 of them at any one time. Our so called reserved Lean-to, remained empty for the two nights and 3 days were spent at Loyalty Beach!
The couple we were camping with had as i said, many similar stories to ours and in fact we had almost crossed paths some years earlier while doing 'the Kimberley' lol. And if that wasnt enough, they lived about 30minutes from us back home and they too were beginning the whole IVF treatment thing, although they were behind us in jumping through all the hoops one jumps through going down this path so we were able to give them our no BS version of what its all like.
During the days up there we did our own things, Michelle and i did a bit more lazing around then the other couple however while there we did a little day trip out to Mutee Heads to see the old WW relics etc. The track out there was by far the worst track we had been down on this trip. The corrugations were extreme to say the least. We saw noone else while out there.
We also managed to drag ourselves away from camp to visit the tip with a slight detour via the Somerset ruins and the Croc tent!
And from the croc tent we made our way to the northern most point of mainland Australia!
From the tip we decided to up-route and move camp to Punsand Bay. What can i say, think Rabbit Flat beside the beach! Talk about run down among other things. It wasnt that bad, out by their workshop they had a well 'loved' old Landcruiser rotting away so even though the toilet blocks near their main buildings looked about as bad as they come at least they had an old Landcruiser Michelle didnt appreciate this as much as i did.
After an awesome lunch at their 'Cafe'? much to our HORROR their swimming pool had a closed sign on the gate. Sensing an explosion from Michelle i quickly raced back over to the reception building and quizzed the young girl there about the said sign. A mistake she quickly assured me and with that she followed me back to the pool and removed the sign. What a save!
With that, we quickly drove around to our campsite and setup the tent then prepared for the swimming pool. While getting ready the topic of the swimming pool came up with our neighbors and its closed status... I informed them of the wrong sign and with that they too got ready for the pool! It was bloody cold, but oh so good.
The couple we were camping with had as i said, many similar stories to ours and in fact we had almost crossed paths some years earlier while doing 'the Kimberley' lol. And if that wasnt enough, they lived about 30minutes from us back home and they too were beginning the whole IVF treatment thing, although they were behind us in jumping through all the hoops one jumps through going down this path so we were able to give them our no BS version of what its all like.
During the days up there we did our own things, Michelle and i did a bit more lazing around then the other couple however while there we did a little day trip out to Mutee Heads to see the old WW relics etc. The track out there was by far the worst track we had been down on this trip. The corrugations were extreme to say the least. We saw noone else while out there.
We also managed to drag ourselves away from camp to visit the tip with a slight detour via the Somerset ruins and the Croc tent!
And from the croc tent we made our way to the northern most point of mainland Australia!
From the tip we decided to up-route and move camp to Punsand Bay. What can i say, think Rabbit Flat beside the beach! Talk about run down among other things. It wasnt that bad, out by their workshop they had a well 'loved' old Landcruiser rotting away so even though the toilet blocks near their main buildings looked about as bad as they come at least they had an old Landcruiser
Michelle didnt appreciate this as much as i did.After an awesome lunch at their 'Cafe'? much to our HORROR their swimming pool had a closed sign on the gate. Sensing an explosion from Michelle i quickly raced back over to the reception building and quizzed the young girl there about the said sign. A mistake she quickly assured me and with that she followed me back to the pool and removed the sign. What a save!
With that, we quickly drove around to our campsite and setup the tent then prepared for the swimming pool. While getting ready the topic of the swimming pool came up with our neighbors and its closed status... I informed them of the wrong sign and with that they too got ready for the pool! It was bloody cold, but oh so good.
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- #133
Apparently while we were at the swimming pool we missed what would have been our only chance to see a wild crocodile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was spewing, apparently the young bucks in the hiluxes we'd seen on the OTT twice spotted a pretty large example just offshore while they were fishing from the beach in-front of the campground. This news did however bring me some joy in that i felt justified in always having done the safe thing and stayed away from the water despite the countless opportunities to swim at the endless beautiful beaches up there.
Sadly after just the one night at Punsand Bay we needed to turn around and head towards home. On our way out we visited the Plane wrecks. We located the two wrecks which were conviently located off right beside the tracks in however we spent some time searching for the 3rd wreck but eventually gave up after two unsuccessful bush walks. I was convinced that the 3rd time around would locate the remains of the wreck but Michelle had had enough.
I couldnt believe the little details in these hand build planes.
But the DC3 was my favorite. Id call it the British Bulldog of old planes. Short and chunky ball of muscle.
I took many more photos but they are all really no different to tho's already all over the web.
From there it was back to the Ferry, at which we somehow managed to perfectly time our arrival with that lunch break of the ferry operators so we had to sit around for a full hour and a bit.
As usual, once we start heading 'back' towards home Michelle usually gets a little depressed and the 2nd half of all trips seems to go much quicker then the first. However we had decided that we would spend another night at the Elliot Falls Campground and using the knowledge gained with our night there on the way up we had booked the nicest campsite (in our opinion) and the fact that is was still available clearly seemed like a good sign, it was meant to be. There were only 2 sights left according to the online booking system.
It was almost 1:30PM by the time we had crossed the Jardine Ferry and stinking hot once again but knowing that our campsite and the inviting water and waterfalls were only an hour away we set off down the Northern Bypass Road.
With great delight we pulled into the campground and headed to our site for the night, however there was someone in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You could say my blood was starting to boil instantly, there was noone present at the campsite but the campers beside our reserved site were there and came out to speak with us. We had camped beside them previously, and they knew we were scheduled to arrive and by pure luck the Ranger's were in the campground stocking up the toilet paper and checking camp permits, however luck is the right term either. Apparently we had missed the Ranger by literally 5 minutes. According to our would be neighbors the POS XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX that was in our site had told the ranger that they didnt know they needed to book and that they had only been there 1 night and we planning to move on the following morning, overhearing this and again knowing we had prebooked the sight the neighbors spoke again to the Ranger and informed him that we had the sight booked and would be arriving shortly.
Apparently the rangers reply was that we would have to simply just camp in the Tour Groups area for the night and with that, he left. Our would be neighbors also told us that after the ranger left the illegal camper came and spoke to them and had told them they just didnt bother booking and that they had already been there 2nights without being caught out.
I was very hot and bothered and really lost my XXXX at the situation. I wanted these people OUT of our sight IMMEDIATELY, and with every bit of restraint i could muster stopped myself from destroying their campsite. I think word got around that i was about to blow my lid and who should appear from the falls walking track but the bloke whos crap was in our reserved sight. Michelle was doing her very best at trying to calm me down and stop things from getting physical but this XXXXX idiots attitude saw her yelling at him too before long. I really really wanted to drag his car out of the campsite and cut down their tent and throw all of their stuff onto the road and this bloke wasnt doing a very good job of giving me any reason to do anything but that.
He didnt give a rats that we had specifically gone to the effort of locating a site we wanted to camp at and rightfully booking it. He simply told us to find an empty sight and setup camp there. I calmly explained over and over again that we had booked THIS site days earlier and it was one of two left. Every other site was paid for and booked by someone regardless of the sites being currently empty. He flat out refused to move from our site. For about 2 hours i pondered what id do, or perhaps simmered down would be a better term before eventually moving our car from out the front of the campsite, telling the bloke i hope they enjoy the rest of their holidays and that karmas a bitch... We then drove off and looked for somewhere to camp over in the Tour groups area, making sure everyone in the area knew full well the people in site # 21 had not bothered to book in and would not move from our reserved and paid for site.
Sadly after just the one night at Punsand Bay we needed to turn around and head towards home. On our way out we visited the Plane wrecks. We located the two wrecks which were conviently located off right beside the tracks in however we spent some time searching for the 3rd wreck but eventually gave up after two unsuccessful bush walks. I was convinced that the 3rd time around would locate the remains of the wreck but Michelle had had enough.
I couldnt believe the little details in these hand build planes.
But the DC3 was my favorite. Id call it the British Bulldog of old planes. Short and chunky ball of muscle.
I took many more photos but they are all really no different to tho's already all over the web.
From there it was back to the Ferry, at which we somehow managed to perfectly time our arrival with that lunch break of the ferry operators so we had to sit around for a full hour and a bit.
As usual, once we start heading 'back' towards home Michelle usually gets a little depressed and the 2nd half of all trips seems to go much quicker then the first. However we had decided that we would spend another night at the Elliot Falls Campground and using the knowledge gained with our night there on the way up we had booked the nicest campsite (in our opinion) and the fact that is was still available clearly seemed like a good sign, it was meant to be. There were only 2 sights left according to the online booking system.
It was almost 1:30PM by the time we had crossed the Jardine Ferry and stinking hot once again but knowing that our campsite and the inviting water and waterfalls were only an hour away we set off down the Northern Bypass Road.
With great delight we pulled into the campground and headed to our site for the night, however there was someone in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You could say my blood was starting to boil instantly, there was noone present at the campsite but the campers beside our reserved site were there and came out to speak with us. We had camped beside them previously, and they knew we were scheduled to arrive and by pure luck the Ranger's were in the campground stocking up the toilet paper and checking camp permits, however luck is the right term either. Apparently we had missed the Ranger by literally 5 minutes. According to our would be neighbors the POS XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX that was in our site had told the ranger that they didnt know they needed to book and that they had only been there 1 night and we planning to move on the following morning, overhearing this and again knowing we had prebooked the sight the neighbors spoke again to the Ranger and informed him that we had the sight booked and would be arriving shortly.
Apparently the rangers reply was that we would have to simply just camp in the Tour Groups area for the night and with that, he left. Our would be neighbors also told us that after the ranger left the illegal camper came and spoke to them and had told them they just didnt bother booking and that they had already been there 2nights without being caught out.
I was very hot and bothered and really lost my XXXX at the situation. I wanted these people OUT of our sight IMMEDIATELY, and with every bit of restraint i could muster stopped myself from destroying their campsite. I think word got around that i was about to blow my lid and who should appear from the falls walking track but the bloke whos crap was in our reserved sight. Michelle was doing her very best at trying to calm me down and stop things from getting physical but this XXXXX idiots attitude saw her yelling at him too before long. I really really wanted to drag his car out of the campsite and cut down their tent and throw all of their stuff onto the road and this bloke wasnt doing a very good job of giving me any reason to do anything but that.
He didnt give a rats that we had specifically gone to the effort of locating a site we wanted to camp at and rightfully booking it. He simply told us to find an empty sight and setup camp there. I calmly explained over and over again that we had booked THIS site days earlier and it was one of two left. Every other site was paid for and booked by someone regardless of the sites being currently empty. He flat out refused to move from our site. For about 2 hours i pondered what id do, or perhaps simmered down would be a better term before eventually moving our car from out the front of the campsite, telling the bloke i hope they enjoy the rest of their holidays and that karmas a bitch... We then drove off and looked for somewhere to camp over in the Tour groups area, making sure everyone in the area knew full well the people in site # 21 had not bothered to book in and would not move from our reserved and paid for site.
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- #134
I took a photo of the above mentioned blokes vehicle which i was going to post here, however i tried posting the above reply twice and it didnt work... so taking that as i sign ive removed his photo then submitted the above post and it went through fine... All i can say is its a small world, and once again i wish him the very best in his future travels.
After setting up camp we finally got to sit back and cool off in the water, once again with only two or three other people present. It was well and truly dark by the time we returned to camp, where a small fire was started so we could cook dinner then relax for a while as the moon rose. I stayed up for a few more hours after Michelle went to bed, i kicked back by a seriously tiny camp fire and had a few whiskeys then decided id get my camera out and try and take a photo of the moon again.
Once again, Michelle and i wandered down to the falls and made the most of them. The mood was better once our campsite stealer had left, they moved on at pretty much first light.
Unfortunately we had to keep moving towards home, and we had only booked one night at the falls so we had to pack up once again and move on. Mind you, i took the opportunity to go back to the falls one last time once the car was packed to cool off before hitting the road again!
On the way out towards Bramwell Junction we had to pull over for our first vehicle related issue. The old indicator had finally given up holding on over the rough roads and was now hanging by its wires. As mentioned earlier this was kind of expected and new indicators had already been purchased and were waiting at home, but were not fitted as they required a bit of work and modification before they would even function despite being the most expensive Made in Japan units available for these old Landcruisers.
We arrived at Bramwell Junction for a late lunch, and once again had a good chat with the fellow running the show and recounted the tails of our adventure thus far. He too was shattered that we had turned back at Palm Creek and his first reply was, get down there now and do it! lol but completely understood and agreed once i explained my fear's of damaging the roof because of the articulation or lack there of on these old Landcruisers. He was extremely impressed that we had done Nolans so that lifted my spirits again after the shame of Palm Creek lol.
We pushed on through the midday heat well into late afternoon and arrived 100% spent at Musgrave Roadhouse. In all honesty we pushed a little to hard that day and really should have stopped a few hours earlier but i was trying to create an extra day Michelle and i could spent together in Port Douglass etc.
On the way to Musgrave we stopped at the causeway just before the Archer River Roadhouse and spent a good half hour sitting in the shade, in the river. It was tough to get back into the car and continue on but we did.
Approaching Coen, we arrived at the Quarantine station to find it open and we were directed to stop for inspection. It was a little scary, the young local bloke was pretty friendly however he seemed very very weary. It was a pretty strange experience, he did very little talking and i didnt know what to expect, i was 100% sure we had nothing to hide, nor had we done anything wrong but still... After waiting a while i stopped the engine and got out to initiate some general chit chat with him as it just seemed weird sitting there in the car. I think this helped, but there was still more standing around with him saying very little and just walking around the Landcruiser then anything else. I asked him if he would like to go through our car, check the fridge etc. to which he said no. Eventually he asked if we did any fishing, to which i replied honestly; No. He then told me to burn the little fire wood we had in the tray that night and that was that we were free to go on our way.
As the sun was setting we pulled into Musgrave, quickly booked into the campground for the night then ordered dinner. Fish and Chips, it was a truly magnificent feed.
After tea we put the tent up and i set about creating a little camp fire in which i would burn the remainder of our firewood. I ended up staying up later then just about everyone in the campground waiting for our camp fire to burn out! I really do love the dry hardwoods found up there.
After setting up camp we finally got to sit back and cool off in the water, once again with only two or three other people present. It was well and truly dark by the time we returned to camp, where a small fire was started so we could cook dinner then relax for a while as the moon rose. I stayed up for a few more hours after Michelle went to bed, i kicked back by a seriously tiny camp fire and had a few whiskeys then decided id get my camera out and try and take a photo of the moon again.
Once again, Michelle and i wandered down to the falls and made the most of them. The mood was better once our campsite stealer had left, they moved on at pretty much first light.
Unfortunately we had to keep moving towards home, and we had only booked one night at the falls so we had to pack up once again and move on. Mind you, i took the opportunity to go back to the falls one last time once the car was packed to cool off before hitting the road again!
On the way out towards Bramwell Junction we had to pull over for our first vehicle related issue. The old indicator had finally given up holding on over the rough roads and was now hanging by its wires. As mentioned earlier this was kind of expected and new indicators had already been purchased and were waiting at home, but were not fitted as they required a bit of work and modification before they would even function despite being the most expensive Made in Japan units available for these old Landcruisers.
We arrived at Bramwell Junction for a late lunch, and once again had a good chat with the fellow running the show and recounted the tails of our adventure thus far. He too was shattered that we had turned back at Palm Creek and his first reply was, get down there now and do it! lol but completely understood and agreed once i explained my fear's of damaging the roof because of the articulation or lack there of on these old Landcruisers. He was extremely impressed that we had done Nolans so that lifted my spirits again after the shame of Palm Creek lol.
We pushed on through the midday heat well into late afternoon and arrived 100% spent at Musgrave Roadhouse. In all honesty we pushed a little to hard that day and really should have stopped a few hours earlier but i was trying to create an extra day Michelle and i could spent together in Port Douglass etc.
On the way to Musgrave we stopped at the causeway just before the Archer River Roadhouse and spent a good half hour sitting in the shade, in the river. It was tough to get back into the car and continue on but we did.
Approaching Coen, we arrived at the Quarantine station to find it open and we were directed to stop for inspection. It was a little scary, the young local bloke was pretty friendly however he seemed very very weary. It was a pretty strange experience, he did very little talking and i didnt know what to expect, i was 100% sure we had nothing to hide, nor had we done anything wrong but still... After waiting a while i stopped the engine and got out to initiate some general chit chat with him as it just seemed weird sitting there in the car. I think this helped, but there was still more standing around with him saying very little and just walking around the Landcruiser then anything else. I asked him if he would like to go through our car, check the fridge etc. to which he said no. Eventually he asked if we did any fishing, to which i replied honestly; No. He then told me to burn the little fire wood we had in the tray that night and that was that we were free to go on our way.
As the sun was setting we pulled into Musgrave, quickly booked into the campground for the night then ordered dinner. Fish and Chips, it was a truly magnificent feed.
After tea we put the tent up and i set about creating a little camp fire in which i would burn the remainder of our firewood. I ended up staying up later then just about everyone in the campground waiting for our camp fire to burn out! I really do love the dry hardwoods found up there.
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- Thread starter
- #135
The next stop was Larua, we arrived there nice and early and decided to get a little fuel in return for use of their Air Compressor so we could pump up our tires. We also took the opportunity there with phone reception to book some accommodation ahead of time using Michelles IPAD. However it was during this time that a rather strange event occurred, while Michelle was doing her thing on the IPAD one of the locals came over and hopped into the passenger seat of our car out the front of the servo. He seemed extremely friendly however he was blind drunk, and had just come out of the servo himself and now wanted me to drive him home!
I really didnt know what to do, and given his friendly state i didnt want to change that and i told him id drive him the few hundred meters up the road to his house. I really wasnt happy about it, but felt it was the best way of avoiding any sort of confrontation and besides, he absolutely loved the old Landcruiser and he spent the whole short ride talking about the old girl and wanted to know about or travels up to Cape York. In the end, he wanted to buy the Landcruiser from me, and offered me $40,000 for it lol... Hahaha. Upon arrival at his house, he then introduced me to all of his family etc. His wife was very nice and very apologetic for his drunken state and told him to stop pestering me many times... i really didnt mind it, didnt find him to be 'pestering' but it sure was a strange situation to be in and i wasnt really comfortable but also didnt want to cause a scene. I never felt threatened etc. it would have been a different story then! Michelle was waiting back at the servo for me. After about 100 handshakes i was off, i quickly collected Michelle and we got out of dodge.
We stopped at the Palmer River road house for lunch. Sadly it was the worse microwave sausage roll ive ever eaten so we were back on the road minutes later.
Next stop was the Newell Beach CP. Again, we arrived completely buggered. After setting up camp we dropped into the local supermarket and topped up our supplied before retiring for the night.
While sitting out the front of our tent, this repetitive strange noise could be heard and i eventually tracked it down to this bird which would fly 5m from one tree, hoover in the air at another and peck at it for 2-3 seconds then fly back to the tree it had come from; over and over again.
I thought see's i hadnt gotten to take any photos of a wild croc with my new lens i might as well try it out here although it was getting very dark. This was the best i could do, hand held at 370mm (+ 1.6X crop body) 3200ISO, F5.6 @ 1/50th second.
Next stop, Cape Tibulation.
We didnt see any full grown killer birds much to my disappointment, nor any crocs.
I took the opportunity in the cool shady car park there so check and adjust the points on the Landcruiser, which got the attention of quite a few other visitors. Most came to ask if everything was ok which was very nice of them.
One group took a little more interest and the blokes were quite fond of the old Landcruiser. We ended up speaking with them for some time as they were on their way up to do the 'Cape'. So i advised them as best i could on the OTT etc.
Just before leaving, much to Michelles dislike one of these little guys came out from the dense bush to say hello. She was sure its big mummy and daddy was going to come out and attack us hahaha.
Apologies for the overdrive like nature of the trip report right now. Ill stop soon and hopefully slow down for the final stretch.
Leaving Cape Tribulation, we called into the nearest carwash and proceeded to spend about $30 washing the red dirt from under the Landcruiser then headed out to a local swimming hole which some locals had told us about. Sadly, i didnt spend much time swimming as upon arrival i decided to look over the vehicle and noticed that the exhaust was basically hanging of the manifold mounts, in other words all of the rubber hangers had torn through so the only thing keeping it on were the 4 bolts under the exhaust manifold! eeeek. So i started walking up and down the little back country road looking for a homestead. I eventually got lucky and found an older lady in her garden, and explained our position, and asked if she might have any fencing wire etc. laying around. Fortunately for me she did so i cut about a foot worth off and headed back to our car. Once the exhaust had cooled enough i set about bending up the wire and attached it to the hanger bolts on the exhaust system. WIN. This was followed by a couple of cans, and some swimming in the beautiful little swimming hole before setting off towards our accommodation for the next few nights.
The next two nights were spent in a luxury apartment which Michelle had booked online in Port Douglass. While there, we caught up with a fellow 40 Series owner - and the creator of the 40 Series Facebook group while in Port Douglass for a drink one night.
I really didnt know what to do, and given his friendly state i didnt want to change that and i told him id drive him the few hundred meters up the road to his house. I really wasnt happy about it, but felt it was the best way of avoiding any sort of confrontation and besides, he absolutely loved the old Landcruiser and he spent the whole short ride talking about the old girl and wanted to know about or travels up to Cape York. In the end, he wanted to buy the Landcruiser from me, and offered me $40,000 for it lol... Hahaha. Upon arrival at his house, he then introduced me to all of his family etc. His wife was very nice and very apologetic for his drunken state and told him to stop pestering me many times... i really didnt mind it, didnt find him to be 'pestering' but it sure was a strange situation to be in and i wasnt really comfortable but also didnt want to cause a scene. I never felt threatened etc. it would have been a different story then! Michelle was waiting back at the servo for me. After about 100 handshakes i was off, i quickly collected Michelle and we got out of dodge.
We stopped at the Palmer River road house for lunch. Sadly it was the worse microwave sausage roll ive ever eaten so we were back on the road minutes later.
Next stop was the Newell Beach CP. Again, we arrived completely buggered. After setting up camp we dropped into the local supermarket and topped up our supplied before retiring for the night.
While sitting out the front of our tent, this repetitive strange noise could be heard and i eventually tracked it down to this bird which would fly 5m from one tree, hoover in the air at another and peck at it for 2-3 seconds then fly back to the tree it had come from; over and over again.
I thought see's i hadnt gotten to take any photos of a wild croc with my new lens i might as well try it out here although it was getting very dark. This was the best i could do, hand held at 370mm (+ 1.6X crop body) 3200ISO, F5.6 @ 1/50th second.
Next stop, Cape Tibulation.
We didnt see any full grown killer birds much to my disappointment, nor any crocs.
I took the opportunity in the cool shady car park there so check and adjust the points on the Landcruiser, which got the attention of quite a few other visitors. Most came to ask if everything was ok which was very nice of them.
One group took a little more interest and the blokes were quite fond of the old Landcruiser. We ended up speaking with them for some time as they were on their way up to do the 'Cape'. So i advised them as best i could on the OTT etc.
Just before leaving, much to Michelles dislike one of these little guys came out from the dense bush to say hello. She was sure its big mummy and daddy was going to come out and attack us hahaha.
Apologies for the overdrive like nature of the trip report right now. Ill stop soon and hopefully slow down for the final stretch.
Leaving Cape Tribulation, we called into the nearest carwash and proceeded to spend about $30 washing the red dirt from under the Landcruiser then headed out to a local swimming hole which some locals had told us about. Sadly, i didnt spend much time swimming as upon arrival i decided to look over the vehicle and noticed that the exhaust was basically hanging of the manifold mounts, in other words all of the rubber hangers had torn through so the only thing keeping it on were the 4 bolts under the exhaust manifold! eeeek. So i started walking up and down the little back country road looking for a homestead. I eventually got lucky and found an older lady in her garden, and explained our position, and asked if she might have any fencing wire etc. laying around. Fortunately for me she did so i cut about a foot worth off and headed back to our car. Once the exhaust had cooled enough i set about bending up the wire and attached it to the hanger bolts on the exhaust system. WIN. This was followed by a couple of cans, and some swimming in the beautiful little swimming hole before setting off towards our accommodation for the next few nights.
The next two nights were spent in a luxury apartment which Michelle had booked online in Port Douglass. While there, we caught up with a fellow 40 Series owner - and the creator of the 40 Series Facebook group while in Port Douglass for a drink one night.
- Thread starter
- #136
After spending two luxurious nights in Port Douglass it was time to hit the road and head home.
I dropped Michelle at the Air Port in Cairns then called into the Repco shop on the corner there as i left the Air Port. I purchased a new set of points and a couple of bottles of engine oil and took the opportunity to change the air filter in the carpark before heading off, the points and engine oil id do at a later time.
Leaving Cairns i was quite taken back by the beauty of the endless mountain ranges and water courses cut deep into the sides of many of the mountains there. I spent quite a bit of time thinking how each would look with peak flow running down them and how close many were to people houses etc. Many of the rivers which seemed to start up on the mountains all eventually seemed to cross the road i was on and it was clear just how much flow they must get by the size of the bridges and also the debris seen and condition of the banks as i passed over each of them. Sadly i really had a huge day ahead and didnt bother to stop for any photographs, but boy the really are endless opportunities for great photos around there!
It was very humid and in places threatening looking clouds would form but time and time again i seemed to miss the rain and after the experience i had arriving in Cairns on the way up with my faulty new windscreen wiper blades i was certainly happy to continue to skirt around the rain ahead.
Most of the day i was driving through Sugar Cane country, a first for me and it was a very enjoyable experience. Very much like nothing ive ever seen before and i honestly felt as though i was potentially in another country. The Bruce Highway was certainly an experience, fortunately for me the traffic was mostly at a minimum and i seemed to get lucky during times of heavier traffic in that there would be large trucks traveling at a similar speed to myself so i wasnt holding up traffic very often.
Not finding many good places to stop for a break i made a quick toilet stop after passing this funny looking contraption, so impressive i doubled back for a photo and toilet stop.
The next brief stop was in Cardwell. It was a small but interesting looking town and after a while a thought crossed my mind with regards to what looked like signs of heavy storm damage... Cyclone Yasi! Well beyond a year later there ia still evidence of what Cyclone Yasi had done to Cardwell.
One of the many pretty views out to see from the side of the highway in Cardwell.
Approaching another one of many mountain ranges.
Somewhere out near Bluewater i passed a fairly fresh car accident where a single vehicle had veered off the roadside right before a large bridge and had 'jumped' the whole creek / river and landed on the other side. There were many police vehicles there so i just continued on my way.
For quite a while i was traveling side by side with this big beast, i decided to speed up just a touch until i thought i had enough time to stop on the side of the road for a photograph.
Somehow i managed to time my arrival into Townsville right on Peak Hour! I was blown away by how large the town seemed to be and also by the amount of traffic around. When i eventually came out the other side, i stopped in Wulguru for a brief rest and fuel stop. The sun was setting and the heat was blazing through the old Landcruiser and cooking me slowly. I asked the lady in the service station about the wildlife on the road ahead, towards Charters Towers. She replied as if i was asking about some distant far away land! But before long id answered my own questions as the remains of old animal strikes littered the roadsides.
Once again i was doing what i really shouldnt have been doing and that was driving right through into the sunset, and to make matters worse, driving at the exact angle whereby the sun was blaring through the windscreen and my drivers side window. I pushed on and on and on into the night and as a result had a couple of close calls with the kangaroos out there. The plan was the marked rest stop in the Camps 6 book at Macrossan however i was struggling to find the campground in the darkness and i was a little on edge after having just driving over / through the remains of a massive kangaroo strike what i could only imagine must have been from a truck a couple of minutes ahead of me. I had my headlights on lowbeam with an oncoming vehicle ahead and rounded a corner to find what was left of possible multiple strikes meters ahead with no chance to avoid the remains. Fortunately no damage was suffered by the Landcruiser but again it reinforced to me, the slower speeds which i was already traveling at in the darkness and that well, i should have stopped for the night before dark lol.
My mind also seemed to be playing tricks on me, after over 10hours in the relentless heat of the old Landcruiser cabin, i could have sworn there were planes flying along side me right outside my drivers side door. I even stopped a few times to see if there was anything out there but there was total silence! Finally out of the darkness i spotted lots of little lights off the side of the road where the campground should be then i arrived at the turn off, however even with a sign clearly stating it was the campground i managed to get lost and ended up down under the HUGE bridge there and not up at the main campground. I turned around and took the other track off from the entrance sign and finally found myself in the middle of the hugest gathering of roadside gray nomads and their caravans! There seemed to be hundreds of them there. In the darkness, it really didnt look like a particularly nice stop to camp, basically one huge gravel pit... I pulled up between a few caravans on the side of the road and quickly pulled out my swag then started cooking some dinner.
Other then the rather loud noise of passing road trains back on the main road, the place was very very quiet, and other then the hundreds of outside caravan lights i could have easily believed there was noone else there, clearly it was passed all of the gray nomads bed time. After a quick feed it was my bed time too and with approximately 550km traveled i had no issue with the noise from the passing road trains overnight.
I dropped Michelle at the Air Port in Cairns then called into the Repco shop on the corner there as i left the Air Port. I purchased a new set of points and a couple of bottles of engine oil and took the opportunity to change the air filter in the carpark before heading off, the points and engine oil id do at a later time.
Leaving Cairns i was quite taken back by the beauty of the endless mountain ranges and water courses cut deep into the sides of many of the mountains there. I spent quite a bit of time thinking how each would look with peak flow running down them and how close many were to people houses etc. Many of the rivers which seemed to start up on the mountains all eventually seemed to cross the road i was on and it was clear just how much flow they must get by the size of the bridges and also the debris seen and condition of the banks as i passed over each of them. Sadly i really had a huge day ahead and didnt bother to stop for any photographs, but boy the really are endless opportunities for great photos around there!
It was very humid and in places threatening looking clouds would form but time and time again i seemed to miss the rain and after the experience i had arriving in Cairns on the way up with my faulty new windscreen wiper blades i was certainly happy to continue to skirt around the rain ahead.
Most of the day i was driving through Sugar Cane country, a first for me and it was a very enjoyable experience. Very much like nothing ive ever seen before and i honestly felt as though i was potentially in another country. The Bruce Highway was certainly an experience, fortunately for me the traffic was mostly at a minimum and i seemed to get lucky during times of heavier traffic in that there would be large trucks traveling at a similar speed to myself so i wasnt holding up traffic very often.
Not finding many good places to stop for a break i made a quick toilet stop after passing this funny looking contraption, so impressive i doubled back for a photo and toilet stop.
The next brief stop was in Cardwell. It was a small but interesting looking town and after a while a thought crossed my mind with regards to what looked like signs of heavy storm damage... Cyclone Yasi! Well beyond a year later there ia still evidence of what Cyclone Yasi had done to Cardwell.
One of the many pretty views out to see from the side of the highway in Cardwell.
Approaching another one of many mountain ranges.
Somewhere out near Bluewater i passed a fairly fresh car accident where a single vehicle had veered off the roadside right before a large bridge and had 'jumped' the whole creek / river and landed on the other side. There were many police vehicles there so i just continued on my way.
For quite a while i was traveling side by side with this big beast, i decided to speed up just a touch until i thought i had enough time to stop on the side of the road for a photograph.
Somehow i managed to time my arrival into Townsville right on Peak Hour! I was blown away by how large the town seemed to be and also by the amount of traffic around. When i eventually came out the other side, i stopped in Wulguru for a brief rest and fuel stop. The sun was setting and the heat was blazing through the old Landcruiser and cooking me slowly. I asked the lady in the service station about the wildlife on the road ahead, towards Charters Towers. She replied as if i was asking about some distant far away land! But before long id answered my own questions as the remains of old animal strikes littered the roadsides.
Once again i was doing what i really shouldnt have been doing and that was driving right through into the sunset, and to make matters worse, driving at the exact angle whereby the sun was blaring through the windscreen and my drivers side window. I pushed on and on and on into the night and as a result had a couple of close calls with the kangaroos out there. The plan was the marked rest stop in the Camps 6 book at Macrossan however i was struggling to find the campground in the darkness and i was a little on edge after having just driving over / through the remains of a massive kangaroo strike what i could only imagine must have been from a truck a couple of minutes ahead of me. I had my headlights on lowbeam with an oncoming vehicle ahead and rounded a corner to find what was left of possible multiple strikes meters ahead with no chance to avoid the remains. Fortunately no damage was suffered by the Landcruiser but again it reinforced to me, the slower speeds which i was already traveling at in the darkness and that well, i should have stopped for the night before dark lol.
My mind also seemed to be playing tricks on me, after over 10hours in the relentless heat of the old Landcruiser cabin, i could have sworn there were planes flying along side me right outside my drivers side door. I even stopped a few times to see if there was anything out there but there was total silence! Finally out of the darkness i spotted lots of little lights off the side of the road where the campground should be then i arrived at the turn off, however even with a sign clearly stating it was the campground i managed to get lost and ended up down under the HUGE bridge there and not up at the main campground. I turned around and took the other track off from the entrance sign and finally found myself in the middle of the hugest gathering of roadside gray nomads and their caravans! There seemed to be hundreds of them there. In the darkness, it really didnt look like a particularly nice stop to camp, basically one huge gravel pit... I pulled up between a few caravans on the side of the road and quickly pulled out my swag then started cooking some dinner.
Other then the rather loud noise of passing road trains back on the main road, the place was very very quiet, and other then the hundreds of outside caravan lights i could have easily believed there was noone else there, clearly it was passed all of the gray nomads bed time. After a quick feed it was my bed time too and with approximately 550km traveled i had no issue with the noise from the passing road trains overnight.
- Thread starter
- #137
I cannot believe how long ive dragged this trip report on for. Once again i apologize and hopefully this will be it, the final chapter of our Cape York adventure.
At first light i was up and back on the road, it was a beautiful fresh / cool morning and there was little to no traffic on the road. Charters Towers was still asleep as i passed through however as i turned off onto the Gregory Dev. Road the world started walking up and i passed a nice little collection of Grey Nomads parked up near the turnoff for the Gregory Dev. Road and i thought to myself it would have been an ok place to spend the night.
Another half an hour passed then once again i found myself stopped and waiting for roadworks. There was quite a bit of work taking place out there, i think they were putting in many culverts etc. were creeks or feeders must cross the roadway.
Just after 1pm i arrive in Emerald after nearly 6 hours on the road covering approximately 500km i was fairly buggered. I made a quick phone call to Michelle to tell her i was in Emerald and asked about an employee of her's who had not long since left her business and moved to Emerald with her partner who had gotten a job on a mine around there. I thought id surprise her and call in to say hello. After finding out where she was now working i dropped in and said hello! I was giving some thought to calling it a day then and perhaps even staying the night with them but given it was still early in the day and fact that they wouldnt finish working for some time i thought bugger it, id just keep on driving towards home.
After a quick catchup i once again climbed into the old Landcruiser and continued on through Emerald taking in all the sights. Honestly, it seemed like a nice town. If i could get a job there, or they could get me a job there i said id be there in a second. Michelle isnt so convinced tho!
The country side was once again quite beautiful with plenty to see out the window.
Just before Springsure one passes the magnificent Mt Zamia / Virgin Rock. Right off the main road there is a really nice overnight rest top however it is very clearly labeled as being strictly for caravans only NO TENTS. And to be honest despite the view being truly magnificent there were to many bloody caravans (complete with generators) and people there as it was. So i stopped only briefly for a couple of photos but i was quite disappointed, it was now 4pm and i had no idea where i would stop for the night. In hindsight i think i should have just stopped there but I pushed on.
Beyond Springsure, one kind of 'drops' down off the ranges there back into low lying country and as i got closer and closer to Rolleston i was amazed to see once again very extensive signs of the flooding the year previous. Damaged fences everywhere and endless piles of debris where creeks once ran etc.
Pulling into town after a bit of a double take as to which way i needed to go at the intersection with the Carnavorn Hwy i finally located the local caravan park and called it a day. However it seemed to be either a ghost town or i was the first weary traveler to arrive for the night... The caravan park was a bit of a let down, nice and clean but other then having amenities it was not unlike a roadside gravel pit. Thankfully i was in my swag and not tenting it on the gravel. Within an hour a couple of other travelers all so arrived for the night so i at least had some company.
At first light i was up and back on the road, it was a beautiful fresh / cool morning and there was little to no traffic on the road. Charters Towers was still asleep as i passed through however as i turned off onto the Gregory Dev. Road the world started walking up and i passed a nice little collection of Grey Nomads parked up near the turnoff for the Gregory Dev. Road and i thought to myself it would have been an ok place to spend the night.
Another half an hour passed then once again i found myself stopped and waiting for roadworks. There was quite a bit of work taking place out there, i think they were putting in many culverts etc. were creeks or feeders must cross the roadway.
Just after 1pm i arrive in Emerald after nearly 6 hours on the road covering approximately 500km i was fairly buggered. I made a quick phone call to Michelle to tell her i was in Emerald and asked about an employee of her's who had not long since left her business and moved to Emerald with her partner who had gotten a job on a mine around there. I thought id surprise her and call in to say hello. After finding out where she was now working i dropped in and said hello! I was giving some thought to calling it a day then and perhaps even staying the night with them but given it was still early in the day and fact that they wouldnt finish working for some time i thought bugger it, id just keep on driving towards home.
After a quick catchup i once again climbed into the old Landcruiser and continued on through Emerald taking in all the sights. Honestly, it seemed like a nice town. If i could get a job there, or they could get me a job there
i said id be there in a second. Michelle isnt so convinced tho!The country side was once again quite beautiful with plenty to see out the window.
Just before Springsure one passes the magnificent Mt Zamia / Virgin Rock. Right off the main road there is a really nice overnight rest top however it is very clearly labeled as being strictly for caravans only NO TENTS. And to be honest despite the view being truly magnificent there were to many bloody caravans (complete with generators) and people there as it was. So i stopped only briefly for a couple of photos but i was quite disappointed, it was now 4pm and i had no idea where i would stop for the night. In hindsight i think i should have just stopped there but I pushed on.
Beyond Springsure, one kind of 'drops' down off the ranges there back into low lying country and as i got closer and closer to Rolleston i was amazed to see once again very extensive signs of the flooding the year previous. Damaged fences everywhere and endless piles of debris where creeks once ran etc.
Pulling into town after a bit of a double take as to which way i needed to go at the intersection with the Carnavorn Hwy i finally located the local caravan park and called it a day. However it seemed to be either a ghost town or i was the first weary traveler to arrive for the night... The caravan park was a bit of a let down, nice and clean but other then having amenities it was not unlike a roadside gravel pit. Thankfully i was in my swag and not tenting it on the gravel. Within an hour a couple of other travelers all so arrived for the night so i at least had some company.
- Thread starter
- #138
The next morning was once again meant to be a early start, but one of my neighbour's had other plans and continued to hover and talk my ear off for a change. I think i ended up hitting the road around 8-8.30am
Eventually i managed to get back on the road about an hour later the planned then no sooner then id pulled out of the caravan park and into the main street, i was lost! Id mistakenly started heading down the Dawson Hwy instead of the Carnavorn Hwy... but i knew something was wrong within a couple of minutes and quickly turned around and drove back through the main street once more.
The Carnavorn ranges from a distance looked impressive. I would have loved to turn off and head into them properly but again, figured that would be saved for another trip another time.
It was an extremely pleasant mornings drive. And once again for the most part i had the roads and views to myself.
As i neared the bottom end of these ranges i was joined by a group of 5 vehicles towing what id call very large caravans and i was a little undecided about letting them passed me or not but as luck would have it the terrain quickly became very very hilly and i soon left them behind.
While stopping for the above photo a large cattle truck passed me... Little was i to know just up ahead there was a massive, massive hill climb and despite waiting a while before getting back into the road after the truck passed i soon caught up with him then ended up in first gear literally crawling behind him and the vehicle in that photo. It was one hell of a climb, id imagine the caravan'ers would have ended up traveling as slow as this truck once they arrived! Hell i recon at best id have been in 2nd if the truck was in front of me.
I arrived at Injune bang on lunchtime and i must say it was a good looking little town. But i must say there was something odd about the place! I couldnt find a bakery and ended up standing in line at the information center / arts gallery waiting for AGES to ask the guy there where the bakery was. While standing in line i also tried asking a policeman who had come up and he laughed and said he wasnt from there, he was from the big smoke (Roma) and had no idea himself. Eventually i got to the front of the line and asked about a bakery only to be told there wasnt one! I wasnt happy after waiting forever. I was told the general store / supermarket was it and a bit. So that was that, i quickly walked over there and grabbed a sausage roll and hit the road once again.
Roma was next, and i must say compared to Injune it really is the big smoke! However, not my kind of town. On the far side i took the opportunity to fill up both of the fuel tanks then got the hell out of there but not before being pulled over by a hwy patrol vehicle for a random breath test. I was genuinely worried about my front passenger indicator there and then, but the officer didnt give it a second glance. I was worried about the indicator and well one other thing! Id just finished snacking on a Cherry Ripe, and i had a vague recollection of someone telling me that Cherry Ripes can give you a false blood alcohol reading And being the right fool, i asked the bloke about it after telling him quite randomly im sure that i hadnt had anything to drink but i had just finished a Cherry Ripe! Hahahahahaha. He got a good laugh out of it, and i blew 0.00 so i was free to go. So now i know, and you all now know, Cherry Ripes do not effect your BAC reading lol.
It was scorching hot by now and it was felling like one of those days. St George was a hole. I stopped there very briefly for a pee stop then quickly got back on the road.
I ran into a heap more roadworks South of St George but thankfully as it was nearing the day the fella's were all packing up and other then having to stop at the first couple of the portable red light stops i was through there much quicker then i thought id be, or would have been had i arrived any earlier. Thank god for that, again i was really starting to feel the heat. The heat build up inside the old Landcruiser after 10hours operation really gets unbearable. So much that i decided to pull over somewhere South of Kurray to see if i could get the engine to run any cooler. I cannot remember if id mentioned earlier but the radiator had only just been replaced under warranty a week before we started this trip and as i was slowly being cooked alive in the cabin i recalled the conversation i had had with our radiator bloke when i replaced the 'faulty' radiator. I was showing him the additional wire mesh grill i had made up to protect what was the new radiator fitted after coming back from the Birdsville trip last year. I was showing it off proudly and saying how there wasnt a bug to be seen let alone a stone in the core of that radiator, which had started leaking randomly out of the core. (ie. no stone had gotten through and cracked the core). He wasnt impressed lol, he then got out some sort of air flow meter and showed me how fitting any sort of mesh can restrict the air flow by as much as 70-80%! However my rebuttal to this was that well, i said these old girls are so over engineered that the radiators would cool the engine enough with zero air flow.
We'll i thought as i was stopped on the side of the road in the blistering heat, he would have the last laugh as i dug through my tools and set about removing the mesh from in front of the radiator! Sadly for me, it didnt to squat and the cabin remained hot as hell.
By Dirrandandi i was really knackered and the sun was getting low to the heat was just poring into the cabin. Hebel was another strange little town! Strange vibe i mean.
Eventually after one hell of a long and hot day i arrived in Lightening Ridge, in the dark. Once again i got lost trying to find the caravan park. After about half an hour wandering around i finally found the reception and checked myself in for an unpowered site. The area was terrible! It was very very small and there were already a number of campers setup inside the designated area, fenced in by wooden railing. So to finish the day off i had to try and blindly reverse the old girl into a spot between the trees and fence posts and other campers!
After parking the Landcruiser i made my way over to the shower block for a much needed cold shower. The shower block was much like the camping area, it was a very tiny amenities building with god only knows just how many toilets and showers crammed into every nook and cranny within it. I had a good laugh as i overhead some old bloke saying to another fella in there something along the line of "Gee, you'd think they were worried about running out of land when they built this toilet block out here".
Before bed i had a couple of drinks and chatted with my neighbors for a while then retired for the night, but not before kindly asking my neighbors to try and not run me over in my swag in the morning if by the odd chance they were up before me and trying to get out of the camping area! The next morning while going over the Landcruiser i found the Snorkel had come loose... Looking closer i found the mounting bracket had almost cracked right through. So the snorkel was removed and packed away in the tray to avoid it falling off whilst driving.
......................
I really thought id finish this report this arvo but sadly its going to blow out into one last installment! Sorry.
tbc
Eventually i managed to get back on the road about an hour later the planned then no sooner then id pulled out of the caravan park and into the main street, i was lost! Id mistakenly started heading down the Dawson Hwy instead of the Carnavorn Hwy... but i knew something was wrong within a couple of minutes and quickly turned around and drove back through the main street once more.
The Carnavorn ranges from a distance looked impressive. I would have loved to turn off and head into them properly but again, figured that would be saved for another trip another time.
It was an extremely pleasant mornings drive. And once again for the most part i had the roads and views to myself.
As i neared the bottom end of these ranges i was joined by a group of 5 vehicles towing what id call very large caravans and i was a little undecided about letting them passed me or not but as luck would have it the terrain quickly became very very hilly and i soon left them behind.
While stopping for the above photo a large cattle truck passed me... Little was i to know just up ahead there was a massive, massive hill climb and despite waiting a while before getting back into the road after the truck passed i soon caught up with him then ended up in first gear literally crawling behind him and the vehicle in that photo. It was one hell of a climb, id imagine the caravan'ers would have ended up traveling as slow as this truck once they arrived! Hell i recon at best id have been in 2nd if the truck was in front of me.
I arrived at Injune bang on lunchtime and i must say it was a good looking little town. But i must say there was something odd about the place! I couldnt find a bakery and ended up standing in line at the information center / arts gallery waiting for AGES to ask the guy there where the bakery was. While standing in line i also tried asking a policeman who had come up and he laughed and said he wasnt from there, he was from the big smoke (Roma) and had no idea himself. Eventually i got to the front of the line and asked about a bakery only to be told there wasnt one! I wasnt happy after waiting forever. I was told the general store / supermarket was it and a bit. So that was that, i quickly walked over there and grabbed a sausage roll and hit the road once again.
Roma was next, and i must say compared to Injune it really is the big smoke! However, not my kind of town. On the far side i took the opportunity to fill up both of the fuel tanks then got the hell out of there but not before being pulled over by a hwy patrol vehicle for a random breath test. I was genuinely worried about my front passenger indicator there and then, but the officer didnt give it a second glance. I was worried about the indicator and well one other thing! Id just finished snacking on a Cherry Ripe, and i had a vague recollection of someone telling me that Cherry Ripes can give you a false blood alcohol reading
And being the right fool, i asked the bloke about it after telling him quite randomly im sure that i hadnt had anything to drink but i had just finished a Cherry Ripe! Hahahahahaha. He got a good laugh out of it, and i blew 0.00 so i was free to go. So now i know, and you all now know, Cherry Ripes do not effect your BAC reading lol.It was scorching hot by now and it was felling like one of those days. St George was a hole. I stopped there very briefly for a pee stop then quickly got back on the road.
I ran into a heap more roadworks South of St George but thankfully as it was nearing the day the fella's were all packing up and other then having to stop at the first couple of the portable red light stops i was through there much quicker then i thought id be, or would have been had i arrived any earlier. Thank god for that, again i was really starting to feel the heat. The heat build up inside the old Landcruiser after 10hours operation really gets unbearable. So much that i decided to pull over somewhere South of Kurray to see if i could get the engine to run any cooler. I cannot remember if id mentioned earlier but the radiator had only just been replaced under warranty a week before we started this trip and as i was slowly being cooked alive in the cabin i recalled the conversation i had had with our radiator bloke when i replaced the 'faulty' radiator. I was showing him the additional wire mesh grill i had made up to protect what was the new radiator fitted after coming back from the Birdsville trip last year. I was showing it off proudly and saying how there wasnt a bug to be seen let alone a stone in the core of that radiator, which had started leaking randomly out of the core. (ie. no stone had gotten through and cracked the core). He wasnt impressed lol, he then got out some sort of air flow meter and showed me how fitting any sort of mesh can restrict the air flow by as much as 70-80%! However my rebuttal to this was that well, i said these old girls are so over engineered that the radiators would cool the engine enough with zero air flow.
We'll i thought as i was stopped on the side of the road in the blistering heat, he would have the last laugh as i dug through my tools and set about removing the mesh from in front of the radiator! Sadly for me, it didnt to squat and the cabin remained hot as hell.
By Dirrandandi i was really knackered and the sun was getting low to the heat was just poring into the cabin. Hebel was another strange little town! Strange vibe i mean.
Eventually after one hell of a long and hot day i arrived in Lightening Ridge, in the dark. Once again i got lost trying to find the caravan park. After about half an hour wandering around i finally found the reception and checked myself in for an unpowered site. The area was terrible! It was very very small and there were already a number of campers setup inside the designated area, fenced in by wooden railing. So to finish the day off i had to try and blindly reverse the old girl into a spot between the trees and fence posts and other campers!
After parking the Landcruiser i made my way over to the shower block for a much needed cold shower. The shower block was much like the camping area, it was a very tiny amenities building with god only knows just how many toilets and showers crammed into every nook and cranny within it. I had a good laugh as i overhead some old bloke saying to another fella in there something along the line of "Gee, you'd think they were worried about running out of land when they built this toilet block out here".
Before bed i had a couple of drinks and chatted with my neighbors for a while then retired for the night, but not before kindly asking my neighbors to try and not run me over in my swag in the morning if by the odd chance they were up before me and trying to get out of the camping area! The next morning while going over the Landcruiser i found the Snorkel had come loose... Looking closer i found the mounting bracket had almost cracked right through. So the snorkel was removed and packed away in the tray to avoid it falling off whilst driving.
......................
I really thought id finish this report this arvo but sadly its going to blow out into one last installment! Sorry.
tbc
Hurry more pictures
OUTSTANDING
I'd like more pictures and more text too Travis!
This is my favourite thread!
Reading your latest travels has taken me so long that I've exceeded my daily beer quota. But I still want more...
Those killer birds.. We're you referring to the Cassowary?
As it happens I came across one of those (and I think it was near Boulder). I actually chased it trying to photograph it but I never got a photo because we were in rainforest, foliage was always in the way, and it ran away from me.
I never believed that they were dangerous despite being told afterwards that they could kill. (They just look like a colourful emu to me.)
The joys of youth! Today I'm a little more wary of things that I'm ignorant about.
Only just now watching this video do I think of how lucky I was that the Cassowary I chased 30 years ago appeared to be scared of me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA58sS3x2Oo
