From Coen we continued north along the Peninsula Development Road to Weipa. We had been warned the road was rough and corrugated - and it was, but it was no better or worse than many of the roads we have travelled thus far. The dirt was still red, the countryside basically woodland and the temperature outside around 30. The real change was in the sky - we were seeing our first real clouds in what felt like months!
We pulled into Weipa just before lunch, and enjoyed fresh sandwiches down by Evans Landing Boat-ramp. Some blokes from Cairns were cleaning some of the largest fish we had seen - Threadfin Salmon. The Little Fisherman was impressed - but also ensured they heard about his successes in the NT a few weeks earlier.
We soon made contact with Matt and Julie, our former neighbours who generously allowed us to set up in their backyard and gave us the run of the place... well not quite - we had a bit of negotiation to do over where we should park the camper with Wazle and Gypsie, Matt's beautiful dogs.
I took the opportunity of our time at Matt and Julie's to carry out some planned maintentance on Matilda. Wary of the wheel bearings after our bush mechanic experience on the Tanami Track, I had been keeping an extra close eye on the wheel bearings. A slight wobble was detected at Coen, and whilst I had tightened the bearing nut, I decided to remove the bearings and repack them with all important lubricating grease whilst here in Weipa.
The Little Helper lending a hand
The boys were keen to help out, and I made the most of their willing assistance, by using The Little Fisherman on the starboard side and The Little Helper on the port. With help such as this it was amazing that the job was completed quickly with a minimum of grease dispersal on little fingers....
Whilst in Weipa we also took full advantage of the well resourced township, by having a hit in the shady cricket nets, and catching up on schoolwork at the library. Weipa may have a reputation for being a frontier town, but I think that it is no longer entirely true of the township itself.
Whilst in Weipa we visited the recently opened Napranum War Memorial. Julie works in the nearby Napranum Community, and took us to see it. We found the memorial very interesting, with informative plaques detailing the Napranum Community's history from early European contact as well as their involvement in WWI and WWII. Some of the early stories were incredibly sad as the Aboriginals fought in a 'war' for their land - with predictable consequences against the armed Native Police and Pastoralists. Finally the mission was established nearby, relocating to its present site in the 1930s.
The aircraft propeller is from one of two American Thunderbolt aircraft that conducted a forced landing at nearby Duyfken point during WWII. Both pilots survived and were rescued by residents of the mission. A third aircraft did also crashland nearby after failing to land at Port Moresby due to weather. Sadly one crew member from that aircraft was never found despite extensive searching.
Napranum War Memorial
We enjoyed our time at Matt and Julie's - and went croc spotting down by the water. These waters are home to many large saltwater crocodiles, regularly inhabiting the swamp areas close to town. We were not game to go anywhere near the waters edge - no matter how inviting it looked.
Weipa is very much a mining town - dominated by Rio Tinto and the nearby Bauxite mine. Nerarly half the town's population works directly for the mine - on the worlds largest known deposit of Bauxite. You can do tours of the mine - but for once the boy's decided to give the tour a miss.
On our last day at Weipa, Matt took us to the Pennefather River, an hours drive north of town. A popular camping spot with locals, we soon found ourselves driving on soft beach sand to a magnificent camping area.
This beach is also a turtle nesting area. The nests are marked with sticks to make sure you don't drive over them - and there were literally hundreds of nests on the beach.
And some tiny tracks leading from a nest to the water
Apparently crocodiles like nothing more than a fresh turtle. In the Weipa Newspaper a couple of days earlier there was a photo of one such turtle meeting her demise on this very beach - so we kept a good distance from the shore.
The wrecks of the two Thunderbolt aircraft can still be seen near Duyfken Point, and we started driving down the beach to check them out. It was hard going in the soft sand and we pulled up to let the cars cool a little. Checking the map we realised it was 30km to the point - a good hours drive - and we decided instead to call it quits and have lunch.
Glorious picnic spot
Just up from the beach is a dune that is large and flat, with shady casurina trees. It would be the perfect place to camp for a few days - particularly if you were into doing not much. We enjoyed a bite to eat and bade farewell to Matt who headed back home and soon dozed off in the shade.
Whilst there is plenty of floatsom about and other debris, this beach was pretty free of rubbish from campers, which was pleasing to see. I put it down to the fact that this area is mainly visited by locals - who revisit the same places frequently as opposed to tourist meccas where people tend to leave their rubbish (and loo paper) everwhere as they must think that they won't be coming back. We still managed to fill a garbage bag - but the rubbish was mainly bottles of an asian origin, apparently the majority of which is from the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.
In all we had a wonderful time in Weipa. Matt and Julie provided us with a wonderful place to stop and relax for a few days. It was great to take a break from the usual routine of camping or even caravan parks. We sure appreciated it!
And so our next leg is to The Tip - the northernmost part of the continent. We will not be doing heroics (or silly acts) on the Old Telegraph Track - however I am sure we will face some challenges on the next part of our adventure.
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