From our camp at Leichardt Falls, our handy navigation app suggested allowing 31 hours and 20 minutes to travel the 224 kilometres to Karumba. We expected to be at Normanton by morning tea time, with only another 80km of sealed road to Karumba. Did the GPS know something we didn't?
Turns out there is a whole heap to see and do in this part of the world. We stopped at Camp CXIX (119) for a quick history lesson.
It was from here that Burke and Wills made their final dash to the Gulf in 1861, leaving Gray and King at this camp. Burke and Wills were thwarted by the monsoon (it was February), mangroves and clay pans, and never saw a vista of the ocean stretching out before them. It was a bitter disappointment for Burke. Whilst we now know how ill prepared they were for the perils of their journey, it is honestly amazing that they made it this far at all.
We then drove to Normanton where we found a fantastic community worthy of spending several days. The excellent Visitor Information Centre, housed in the historic Burns Philp shop was a completely unexpected pleasure.
We didn't have time to check out the Gulflander Railway which runs a once weekly service to Croydon and is dubbed the railway from Nowhere to Nowhere, but we did go and check out the life sized replica of the largest crocodile ever shot. This giant salt water crocodile was shot near Normanton in the Norman River, and its size is simply horrific to behold. Some 8.5 metres long this was one enormous crocodile.
We left Normanton and continued to the coastal town of Karumba, under an hour via sealed road. We figured perhaps the GPS was configured to allow us time to look at everything on our route! Karumba is famous for its prawns and barramundi and we were looking forward to a night in town.
Karumba has sealed road access and we soon realised that the main reason people come here is to catch fish. Several people in the caravan park must have taken pity on us - or the fishing here must be extremely good, and we soon had filled our freezer with lovely fillets of fresh fish donated by other campers. We stayed at Karumba Point, and spent a relaxing afternoon waiting for the sun to set.
We treated ourselves to a drink at the pub - which had a magnificent view, before enjoying a fish and chip dinner a few doors down. We all thoroughly enjoyed the little bit of civilisation.
Sunset treat at Karumba
The following morning we hit the road early to make our first venture into Cape York proper. I was hoping to make a beeline for the Peninsular Development Road (PDR) via the most direct route (Dixie Road). The only problem was we had received mixed reports on the road conditions, in-particular the Mitchell River crossing at Koolatah. The alternative was a long detour either east via Gamboola or west to the coast at Kowanyama. The direct run would see us driving some 550km between fuel stations, but the route via Gamboola would be around 750-800km - about my maximum comfortable range. It would all depend on the Mitchell River Crossing at Koolatah.
With fuel tank and emergency jerry can filled to the brim, we set off on the Burke Development Road towards Koolatah. We crossed some mighty rivers that would be fearsome to see in the wet season such as the Gilbert River, and we enjoyed lunch on the banks of the Staaten River
We arrived at the Koolatah crossing early in the afternoon. It was our intended campsite for the night - I wanted to see other people cross the river and check on road conditions further north.
A few years ago this crossing was just sand, and treacherous. Koolatah Station charged $1000 per recovery if you got stuck - oh and as an added bonus this river is full of Salt Water Crocodiles. It has recently been upgraded with sand blocks (about 2 metres deep), but road trains have caused them to subside, and at one point the crossing is very deep and fast flowing.
We had planned on camping here - but a road gang was due to commence work the following morning to repair the damage and we would likely be held up. We deemed it safe enough to cross and engaged 4 low. The crossing did dip to 75cm deep and just as the water looked like splashing over the bonnet we were coming up the other side and out of it. The rest of the crossing (another 200 metres or so) was about 20 cm deep and easy. Phew.
With the Mitchell River Crossing behind us, we continued on our way north - every mile gained was a bonus at this point in time. The next crossing we were worried about was the Alice River - and whilst rocky, it was dry and presented no problems. We were through the worst of Dixie Road, and had saved several hundred kilometres. Happy days.
We camped a night on the Dixie Road, at a beaut little creek, and made it to Musgrave Roadhouse the following morning. We were greeted at the former telegraph station by a very quiet cow taking advantage of the green pick out the front. We checked out some of the history of Musgrave Telegraph Station and the Overland Telegraph Line generally whilst slurping back an ice cream.
We moved on to Coen, a small town about half way between Cairns and Weipa. Just north of town on the banks of the Coen River is a great free camp. In a classic example of the 'grass is always greener on the other side of the fence', so too is camping so much better on the other side of the river. Jo had her heart set on a nice sandy spot next to a ripper swimming hole - and as the bank we were on was home to thousands of meat ants, I agreed.
It didn't take long until the inevitable happened...
It was a good job the boys had excess energy to burn! We pulled the MaxTrax off the roof and put them under the tyres only to move forward a couple of meters and sink to the chassis rails again.... and again.
Dumping air out of the tyres helped - marginally. But it was all good fun. We slowly worked our way back around to firmer sand.
It was all good practice - and good fun. Up until now the MaxTrax have been pulled off the roof as many times as they have pulled us out of our predicament. This time it took us eight goes to get out - and the boys wanted to know if we now count the number of extractions (10 in total) versus the number of times pulled off the roof (3). Whilst the jury is still out, I am leaning towards the number of times the MaxTrax are pulled off the roof!
And so we set up camp and decided to stay put for three nights. We all needed a break - and this was as good as it gets. A beautiful swimming hole, fire on the river bank and warm weather... it was a wonderful place to recharge our batteries and look forward to the next leg.
We caught up on some school projects - which I have published for you to have a look at. The Little Fisherman's story with a moral can be found here: http://project2014australia.blogspot.com.au/p/lachlans-projects.html and the Little Helper's season wheel can be found here: http://project2014australia.blogspot.com.au/p/little-helpers-school-projects.html
Cooking over the campfire - makes any meal delicious
The boy's loved it camped here - and begged to be allowed to sleep under the stars. Nothing like a room with a view is there!
And so our three days at Coen passed remarkably quickly. We all needed the break and opportunity to unwind. It was all part of getting ready to make our way to Cape York proper, but before we could do that, we had a rendezvous with old friends which we were looking forward to.
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