Day One - Scarborough - Benaraby 23 August, 2022
This was the first day of our adventure to (hopefully) Cape York and 'The Tip', the northernmost point of continental Australian.
We had a later than normal departure due to an early medical appointment, but still managed to get away by 10:00 A.M.
Our only goal on this first day was to drive as many kilometres as we could comfortably manage, to get past the boring bits we'd seen many times before, like the Sunshine Coast, Gympie and Bundaberg, and get a little closer to Cape York, about 3,000 kms away.
While there was no real rush to be at any particular place at any particular time on this trip due to my recent retirement, we were conscious that, because of our delayed departure on this trip, we would need to get up to the Cape and back down south before the annual monsoonal rains started, which would normally be in October.
Our only stop of any significance for the day was a lunch stop in a public park beside a lake in Gympie. The lake and surrounding trees were absolutely teeming with Ibis, Swampys, ducks, geese and various other bird life.
During the journey between Gympie and Benaraby we were disgusted by the number of coal trains we saw travelling south. At least half a dozen coal trains, with around 100 wagons each overflowing with coal passed us. We thought that didn't bode well for the future of the planet.
We didn't have a firm plan for a camp for the night when we set out, and during the journey we decided to try a free camp on the banks of the Boyne River, near Benaraby, not far from Boyne Island/Tannum Sands, which had good reviews on WikiCamps, but some not so good comments on the road to get in there.
The not so good comments were fairly accurate. We had to navigate some huge water-filled holes in the road, even having to resort to switching to low-range 4WD to get through them safely.
At the end of the track a couple was camping at the top of a dodgy looking hill that was the only route down to the riverbank itself. They told us that another similar looking motorhome to ours was down there, so we started walking down the hill to see if it was a viable option for us. It didn't take us long to chicken out of that idea because of the bad state of the track, and go and find another suitable campsite, which we did a few hundred metres away in a clearing surrounded by grasses and trees.
Once we got setup, the first order of business, after knocking the top of a bottle of course, was to crank up a nice fire using the plentiful wood scattered around the site.
Apart from the mozzies around dusk, we enjoyed being back on the road again and living in the outdoors, also enjoying some amazing views of the night sky, the highlight of which was the view of the Milky Way.
Later on while checking out our socials we discovered that Rosemary and Martin (#266 TS) were the other Explorer camped on the banks of the Boyne River. We arranged to catch up the next morning.
That was enough adventure for our first day on the road, so we had an early night.
Day Two - Beneraby - St Lawrence 24 August, 2022
As usual on our first night away we didn't sleep very well and were woken by light rain around midnight. We'd left the outside chairs and table out uncovered, so that required a dash outside to sort that out.
After our usual morning routine we wandered down to where Rosemary and Martin were camped and had a short catch-up standing on the bank of the river, watching all the fish jumping.
Back at our camp we packed up and headed out on the dodgy track to the main road, headed for the next night's free camp at the St Lawrence hotel.
It was only a short drive for the day, so we pottered along taking our time.
We diverted off the highway and drove into Gracemere to get a couple of pics of the Tropic of Capricorn monument.
That worked out nicely because it was morning tea time and there was a bakery nearby that provided the food. We sat in a nearby public park to eat our goodies, then got back on the road again to the St Lawrence hotel, arriving there around 1:30 P.M.
As per the WikiCamps suggested instructions, we popped into the pub first, had a drink, and asked about the camping facilities and meal options. We decided to have dinner there and lunched in Mata with stuff we'd taken from home.
The afternoon was spent catching up socials, blogging, showers etc.
At 6:00 P.M. we headed over to the pub to honour our commitment to have dinner to pay back some of the generosity of the pub's owners in providing a free camping spot, which included free hot showers and toilets.
The pub was heaving so we had to sit at a large table with one other well-travelled gentleman who regaled us with his wonderful life experiences, and tips on places to visit on our travels north. Once our meals came out, very nice fish, chips and salads with half a dozen large prawns on the side, we were joined by another couple who were heading south on their journey. We really enjoyed the experience of communing with other travellers similar to us, and vowed to make more of an effort to do so in the future.
This campground was one of the few places we'd been able to get TV reception, so we watched the ABC News on the TV, rather than on the tablet for a change.
Had an early night to try and catch up on some of the sleep we'd missed out on the night before.
Day Three - St Lawrence - Proserpine 25 August, 2022
We were on the road by 9:00 A.M. after our usual morning routine and packing up.
Our planned destination of Proserpine was less than 300 kms away, so we had an easy driving day.
We'd covered around 900 kms by this point and fuel was getting low, so we stopped after 120 kms at a servo at Carmila to fill up, 117 litres @ $1.93 per litre, which hurt the wallet.
Our next stop was Sarina to stock up supplies, fill up the fresh water and to empty the toilet cassette.
It was still too early for lunch so we carried on to Mackay and, after stopping off at a camping shop for some more toilet pills, we headed out to the Mackay coast for a lunch with a view.
We went up to Lambert's Lookout, parked up, enjoyed the view and took a few pic's, then had lunch in Mata. We were amazed at the number of ships lined up waiting to go into port, we assumed to load up with coal, which numbered at least twenty.
Then it was an easy drive to Proserpine, to a free camp behind a Catholic church on the main street of town.
After setting up we wandered along the main street looking for a clothing store where I could buy some warm track pants. I'd deliberately left my trackies at home, thinking it would be warm enough after a day or two, but the mornings were quite cold, so I had to give in and buy some.
That was pretty much it for another day of adventuring.
Day Four - Proserpine - Balgal Beach 26 August, 2022
We are nothing if not consistent, and were on the road by 9:00 A.M. with a rough plan to attempt to drive as far as Lucinda, about 400 km away.
Firstly though we wanted to see Airlie Beach and try to get a good view out to the many islands off the coast. There was a place called Lion's Lookout at Shute Harbour, about 10 km past Airlie Beach, that looked promising and it was only about 30 km from Proserpine so we set off to there. Talk about a disappointment! Lion's Lookout was an overgrown small hill in the middle of a tiny residential cul-de-sac, with no parking, no access to the lookout and no view. We drove back down the hill a little way to a parking area for a few photos of the view that was entirely underwhelming, then set off towards Bowen.
On the outskirts of Bowen we stopped briefly at the information centre for a toilet stop, to pick up some brochures and to get the obligatory photo of the Big Mango.
Our next stop was at a roadside pullover for lunch and to buy some goodies from the roadside stall that was selling all local produce. I couldn't resist buying a jar of mango chutney and we also bought a fresh pineapple that turned out to be really sweet.
The last driving for the day was to a free camp at Balgal Beach that turned out to be not easily accessible, and our second choice by the beach didn't have any free sites, so we ended up at the Mystic Sands Golf & Country Club RV park, which included showers and toilets and only cost $10 per night.
The golf club also had a restaurant that we were tempted to dine at for dinner, but we were good and instead had some of Meg's traditional spag bol we'd brought from home.
The weather was inclement so we didn’t bother setting up outside and just stayed in chilling for the rest of the evening.
As it was the noisy curlews populating the campsite probably would have driven us inside anyway.
Day Five - Balgal Beach - Cape Tribulation 27 August, 2022
As always we were on the road again around 9:00 A.M, heading for Cape Tribulation where we’d had to book a campsite for the night because there were no free camps.
Our first stop was the Hinchinbrook Lookout that provided views of Hinchinbrook and surrounding islands. I imagine it would have been spectacular on a sunny day, but the cloud cover was very low and we couldn’t see out past the islands.
We decided to drive off the highway and into Mission Beach for a hot pie lunch, which was about 50 km out of our way. The beach itself turned out to be a bit disappointing, as did the search for pies, so we had to settle for a burger at a café next to the beach.
Our only stop after lunch was a fuel stop on the Cairns ring road.
After that it was a solid drive, travelling on Captain Cook way to the Daintree River ferry, then onto the Lync Haven Rainforest Retreat campsite. Before we got to the ferry we were lucky enough to see a Cassowary foraging on the side of the road, only about 5 metres away from us.
Hot showers were welcome after the previous day’s barely lukewarm shower.
Unfortunately there was no internet, so that severely curtailed our usual activities for the rest of the evening, and we had to revert to analogue activities.
Day Six - Cape Tribulation - Cooktown 28 August, 2022
Our sleep for the night was patchy because it rained all night and we were parked under trees that amplified the amount of rain falling on the roof, above our heads. Also, in the back of our minds we would have been thinking about our plan to tackle the Bloomfield Track the next day, which was causing Meg some angst with the heavy rain and knowing we'd be doing some creek crossings.
It was still raining steadily in the morning when we were packed up and ready to go, so we decided to skip the first planned activity for the day, which was to walk around the rainforest retreat walking tracks.
The total driving for the day was only going to be about 100 km, but we expected with the Bloomfield Track thrown into the mix it would take us most of the day to achieve that.
We drove the first few kilometres to the Marrdja Boardwalk walking track, where unfortunately it was still raining. We donned rain jackets and set out on the 1.2 km walk. There were plenty of information signs dotted around the walk so we knew what we were looking at, and learnt a bit about the local species of flora.
The walk took us close to Noah Creek, where the warning signs told us crocodiles were lurking with bad intent.
With the procrastination out of the way there was nothing more for it than to tackle the Bloomfield Track, which we'd read varying reports about, some ok, and some not so ok.
The road started off sealed, but rough in many places so that speeds over 40 km/h were ill considered. The sealed road soon turned to gravel and mud, slowing us down even more, and the fallen trees across the road added another hazard.
Our first challenge, which we'd read plenty about from people who had recently done it, was the Emmagen Creek crossing. The reports we'd read were from people who had done the crossing after a fairly long period without rain, and not having had heavy rain for hours prior to the crossing like ours would be. When we pulled up there, there was a young couple in another 4WD preparing to cross, and another four or so spectator 4WD vehicles, who only go to such places to see bad things happen to other people. Emmagen Creek was the limit for 2WD vehicles.
The crossing was probably about 20 metres across, with the 15-20 cm deep water covering large river stones. The young couple in front of us crossed successfully, although a little fast we thought, so that gave us the confidence to go for it. We lined up for a straight run across, engaged low range 4WD, 2nd gear manual, cruised across the creek easily and up the steep muddy bank on the other side. First challenge completed!
We were so excited/nervous about doing the crossing we totally forgot to take any photos. The photo here doesn't really capture the essence of the Bloomfield Track, but the memories of our achievements will stay with us forever.
There were a few other more minor creek crossings along the way, but nothing like the Emmagen Creek crossing.
Our next planned stop was the Wujal Wujal falls, about a 30 km drive along the Bloomfield Track, which took us a good two and a half hours, with the poor road condition reducing us to much less than 40 km/h most of the time, and we arrived there around 12:30 P.M.
We whipped up a salad for lunch first, then walked the short distance, in the rain, to the falls, which were really impressive after all the rain in the previous 24 hours.
Our only other stop for the day was to have a celebratory drink at the Lion's Den pub, a very quirky place in the middle of nowhere that seems to mostly cater to 4WDers doing the Bloomfield Track.
The road was back to normal sealed status by this stage, so the last drive for the day to Cooktown was a lot easier than the rest of the day.
We parked up in the Cooktown Turf Club RV parking free camp in the pouring rain and set up for the night.
Thankfully we had internet so we caught up on our socials, blogging etc until dinnertime.
Day Seven - Cooktown - Coen 29 August, 2022
We were kept awake for a large part of the night by the incessant rain and wind, with some gusts strong enough to rock the motorhome. By get up time it was still raining, although not quite so heavily, and the wind had dropped off a bit.
We took off from our campsite around 9:00 A.M. (who would've thought!) and headed into Cooktown to fill up with fresh water and empty the toilet cassette.
We had an open-ended plan for where we might end up for the day, but hoped to make it as far as Coen, road gods willing, which was about 380 km away.
We only had a couple of stops planned, and the first of these was Isabella Falls, a short drive from Cooktown.
Some time after leaving Cooktown the sealed road turned to unsealed/gravel/red dirt, badly corrugated and that set the scene for the rest of the day's driving.
Our second and last stop before stopping for the night was the Old Laura Station historic site.
When we pulled up to the site there was nobody else around and we explored the site at our leisure, reading all the information boards ad learning about the early days of the site, up to the time it was purchased by the QLD Heritage Register in 2000.
By that time it was lunchtime for us, which we had in Mata.
By the time we'd finished our lunch there was a large 4WD tour bus and several other 4WDs parked around the car park, so we thought it was time to leave.
The remainder of our drive to our stop for the night, which turned out to be Coen, was very challenging.
There were patches of sealed road, typically about 4 km long, and the rest was unsealed gravel and red dirt that was very badly corrugated, which reduced our driving speed to walking pace for very long distances. We considered stopping to reduce our tyre pressures, but the sections of bitumen road deterred us from doing that, because we would have to have driven slower on those sections at the lower pressures.
After what seemed like 24 hours driving, we arrived at Coen not long before 5:00 P.M, and called into the Exchange Hotel, which provided a campsite out the back of the pub.
After setting up for the night we enjoyed nice hot showers then chilled for a while, sitting outside for a while until the rain returned and forced us inside for the night.
Day Eight - Coen - North of Bramwell Roadhouse 30 August, 2022
Today started the same as the last few days, with rain, rain and more rain!
The incessant rain falling through the night, while not heavy by any means, was enough to disturb our sleep for most of the night.
Based on our driving experiences the previous day we’d decided that we needed to deflate our tyres to make the ride more comfortable, and to save the motorhome from damage caused by the corrugations. After the morning routine we packed up and deflated the tyres to 30 PSI in the rear tyres and 28 PSI in the front.
We needed to top up with diesel and stock up on a few supplies so we drove a couple of hundred metres to the general store in Coen that sold both. The 80 odd litres of diesel at $2.50 per litre cost over $200, and the other items we bought were very expensive too.
After all that procrastination there was nothing else for it other than to head onto what we knew would be a horrible drive.
The first 20 or so kilometres out of Coen were sealed and in good condition but, because we’d deflated the tyres, we had to keep our speed down to 70 – 80 km/h.
The initial part of the unsealed road was also good, but that didn’t last for long. Soon we hit the patches of road that were barely formed and had huge corrugations that required us to drive at about walking pace for long stretches.
In many places we were forced to drive off the side of the road on tracks formed by many who had passed before us, to escape the interminable corrugations.
We soldiered on to the Moreton Telegraph Station, about 180 km from Coen, and stopped there for a lunch of hot chips.
After lunch it was more of the same as we endeavoured to reduce the number of kilometres to the tip of Australia to a manageable day’s drive the following day.
For a whole day of solid driving, from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. we managed to cover 250 km, which left about 130 km to go to the tip.
We parked up in free camp beside a small dam and set up for the night.
Meg did some cleaning chores, trying to clean up some of the red dust inside and outside Mata, but soon gave up on that senseless task, while I did some gathering of firewood ready for my evening’s entertainment, seeing there was no mobile of internet coverage.
Day Nine - North of Bramwell Roadhouse - South of Bamaga River 31 August, 2022
We managed to get away a little earlier today, and were on the road by 8:30 A.M., dreading what lay ahead of us. The aim if everything went to plan was to drive as far as Bamaga.
The road was as bad as we feared, and maybe even worse than our previous two days driving. On many sections the road was so corrugated we had slow right down to slower than walking pace to get through the really bad sections. As for the previous day, we spent much of the day driving on the side of the road, but even that was badly corrugated in places.
Apart from a brief morning tea stop at a lookout, the drive to our lunchtime destination of Fruit Bat Falls, about 130 km, took 3.5 hours because of the road conditions.
Fruit Bat Falls was a short 2.7 km drive of the main road, and we were pleased we took the time to visit this popular attraction. We parked up in the car park, got our togs on and walked a couple of hundred metres to the falls.
The pool beneath the falls was accessed by climbing over some rocks, then into the beautiful water for a swim up under the actual falls, and a great natural massage from the water tumbling over the edge. There was another place nearby at the top of the falls where you could sit in rock pools, which we also did.
Once we’d dried off and had lunch it was back on the road for more torture, with the only break being the ferry across the Jardine River. I’m sure we could almost have driven across the 200 or so metres of river, but as a captive audience with no other way across, we had to pay $110 for the pleasure of the ferry trip.
After leaving the ferry we had the choice of a 45 km drive to Bamaga, or a 9 km drive to a free camp. After driving another 9 kms on shocking roads it was close to 4:00 P.M. and we’d had enough driving on shitty roads for the day, and pulled up for the night.
We did initially get our outside chairs out with the intention of sitting outside in front of a fire, but before long the wind got up and brought with it another shower of rain that drenched the chairs before we got outside to save them.
This was our second night in a row with no mobile or internet coverage so we were once again limited in our choice of entertainment for the evening.
Day Ten - South of Bamaga - Loyalty Beach, Seisia 1 September, 2022
Probably because we were mindful how bad the road was going to be for the day’s drive, we were up earlier and on the road by 8:00 A.M.
Although the road condition was as bad to start with as the previous couple of days, the drive was only about 35 km to Bamaga, where we would assess the situation and see if we wanted to go any further for the day. Because of the short drive, and the longish section of sealed road leading into Bamaga, we arrived there by 9:00 A.M.
While in Bamaga we wanted to check out Alau campground as a possible camp for the night, but we couldn’t find it because we had not internet and the signs were almost non-existent.
One of chores for the day was to fill up with fresh water and empty the toilet cassette, and the only place anywhere around that it appeared that was possible was Sesia, a few kilometres past Bamaga, on the west coast. Our initial efforts to find the dump point failed so we went into the local mini mart to buy a few things and ask for assistance. The dump point was a small distance away, and with that done we went across the road to the servo to fill up with fresh water.
Our efforts to find the offices of the company that ran boat tours out to the nearby islands also failed – we were having a bad day at finding anything!
So we then decided to check out Loyalty Beach Campground, which we’d seen a sign for on the way into Seisia. Surely we could find that!. Once at the campground we decided we didn’t want to go any further for the day and signed up for a 2-night stay on a beachfront unpowered site, and for the boat tour to Thursday Island the next day.
Once settled there were some housekeeping chores to attend to like a load of washing, cleaning as much of the red dust out of the motorhome as possible and fixing the disturbing rattle coming from under the front of the vehicle, that had developed during our drive on the Bloomfield Track.
By then it was lunchtime which Meg had whipped up a yummy salad for, and for our post prandial perambulation we took a walk along the beach, which was beautiful and hot. The water temperature was beautiful but the tide was way out and the water depth was only a few centimetres so we only got wet up to our ankles.
After showers we settled in for the afternoon, attempting to amuse ourselves as best we could, but once again without internet so our choices were limited.
At 5:00 P.M. we wandered up to the bar/restaurant for a couple of drinks, sitting outside facing the ocean and admiring the view, hoping the clouds would break for a beautiful sunset, but that wasn’t to be.
It was another quiet night due to the lack of digital facilities.
Day Eleven - Loyalty Beach, Seisia - Thursday Island 2 September, 2022
We had a rude awakening this morning when the alarm woke us up at 6:00 A.M., early enough so that we’d be ready for the day’s adventure, which was a ferry ride to, and bus tour of Thursday Island (TI).
The campground provided a shuttle from the camp to the wharf where the ferry left from, and we were grateful for not having to pack up Mata for that short drive.
The ferry left on time at 8:00 A.M for the 70-minute crossing to TI. The crossing was nice and smooth due to the many islands out from the mainland that protect that stretch of water from the worst of the weather and heavy seas.
As soon as we arrived at TI we boarded the tour bus and took off for a 2-hour look around the highlights of the island.
We were both surprised at the amount of infrastructure on the island including houses, offices, businesses, schools and many government departments. We learnt from the bus tour guide that the government is the largest employer on TI, and also tourism contributes during the tourist season, and off course there is the fishing too. We also learnt that there had been a large military presence on TI since the First World War, which accounted for a lot of the original infrastructure.
After driving around viewing places of interest our first stop was Green Hill Fort, which was used mostly during WW2 when the Japanese attacked neighbouring Horn Island, the second most bombed place in Australia after Darwin. The fort had a number of 3.5-inch artillery guns on top of the hill to protect the island, that had a range of around 8 km. They were only used once in anger, at a vessel that wouldn’t identify itself, but that turned out to be friendly after a warning shot was fired across it’s bows. The fort also had an excellent museum that was housed in what used to be the underground bunkers where ammunition was stored.
Back on the bus we drove around and viewed some more places of interest before our next and final stop at the TI cemetery, where we learned about the many Japanese divers who went to TI to dive for pearls, and about the many divers who died doing this.
The bus dropped us off in a central area, which was a short walk to the Grand Hotel where we wanted to have lunch, but it wasn’t being served until midday and it was only 11:00 A.M.
There was nothing else for it on a hot and steamy day but to get a couple of beers and wait until the restaurant opened. We both had Barramundi with chips and salad and we were very impressed with meal, agreeing that it was a step up from standard pub fare.
After lunch we had a couple of hours before the ferry left so we wandered along to the cultural centre, then to an old Anglican church that had impressive architecture, stained glass windows and more historical information dotted around.
With all the touristing out of the way that we cared to do we walked back to the wharf to wait for the departure of the ferry, killing some of the time with a welcome ice cream to cool us down a bit.
The ferry was delayed about twenty minutes leaving TI because of an issue with another boat breaking down and people not being able to get to TI on time for the departure of our ferry. We made it back to Seisia around 4:00 P.M.
Back at the ranch the first order of business was a shower and a cool drink while we wound down from what seemed like a long day.
We wanted to be on the road earlyish the next day so it was an early night.
Day Twelve - Loyalty Beach, Seisia - The Tip & Somerset Beach 3 September, 2022
Today was the day we’d fulfill the purpose of this trip, to visit the northernmost point on mainland Australia, The Tip, Pajinka (Cape York).
We were woken at 6:00 A.M. by a tour group of motorcyclists camped next to us who were packing up and heading home, and talking loudly while doing that. We persevered for a while trying to go back to sleep but eventually gave up and started the day a little earlier than planned.
We wanted to stock up on a few bits and pieces before starting out for The Tip, which meant stopping off in Bamaga on the way, a short drive from the campground. After stocking up on food supplies we had some to kill before the bottle shop was open so we drove back down south a short way to some WW2 plane wrecks near the Bamaga airport.
There was a DC3 wreck that had crashed enroute from Brisbane to PNG, near the end of the war, when it crashed near Bamaga killing all on board.
The other wreck was a Bristol Beaufort bomber that crashed in 1945, also killing all on board.
Also scattered around both wrecks were the remnants of fuel dumps that consisted of dozens of 44-gallon drums that were used to store aviation fuel and were hidden in the bush so the Japanese wouldn’t find them.
After popping into the bottle shop at Bamaga, where we were restricted to buying one cask of wine and 30 cans of beer (no glass containers allowed) per vehicle, it was off to Pajinka.
We had about 35 km to drive up there, on roads that were by now familiar to us. The initial part of the drive was probably the worst with the dreaded corrugations, but later on closer to Pajinka the road to turned to more firm mud winding through dense bush with a thick canopy of flora shading the road, which made it harder to see the many rivulets and potholes. Not far from Pajinka there was a reasonably serious creek crossing that required low range 4WD and careful driving through mid-wheel depth water, and with an indeterminate surface because the water was so muddy. As always Mata handled it admirably and we were so engrossed in getting across safely we forgot to take the customary photo or video.
Shortly afterwards we arrived at The Tip carpark, which was really picturesque in itself looking out over the ocean to the north. The walk to the actual Tip was about 500 metres up and over rocky terrain that required us to pay attention to every step and not twist an ankle. The views were amazing to the east, north and west, the sort of views that photos don’t do justice.
Once at the The Tip we were lucky with our timing as a large tour group had just left a short time earlier and the only other people there were a couple with a child who had finished taking their photos, and who kindly offered to take some photos of us.
The views at The Tip were just as spectacular as the walk there and it was hard not to take dozens of photos that just wouldn’t convey what we were looking at.
On the walk back to the carpark we took a different route, following the tour group, that eventually came out onto the beach just below the carpark. The temperature was around 30 degrees and we were very hot by then, and just wanted to dip our feet in the sea, but the tide was out so far it wasn’t worth it, and of course there’s always the ever-present danger of crocodiles around any body of water!
We drove a short distance away from the carpark to an abandoned wilderness lodge and parked up to have a quick and easy lunch because we were so hot.
The final drive for the day was over to Somerset Beach free camp on the east coast, about 25 km away, along the usual rough, corrugated roads. We arrived there about 2:00 P.M., parked in a shady spot facing the beach and set up for the night.
The drive in was well worth going to this idyllic spot a few metres from the beach, which was about 200 metres long and picture-perfect looking out over to the nearby islands. The water temperature was beautiful too, but sadly it was not possible to swim in the ocean this far north because of the crocodiles and marine stingers later on in the hotter months of the year.
One of my first tasks was to gather enough firewood to make a good fire nearer dark, but there was slim pickings because it was a well-used campsite.
We finally had a little bit of internet that allowed us to do some basic interwebby things and, while we were doing that, a guy who’d been staying in the camp came over to talk at us and gave us a fresh coconut. We then had to figure out what to do with the coconut, not having done that before, relying on some basic instructions from the donor. Out came the axe and we eventually figured out how to get the top off enough to extract the coconut milk, and some of the flesh, but stripping the husk off the whole coconut seemed a step too far for the available tools.
We managed to catch up on some of the socials with the available internet, and just generally enjoyed being parked up in such a magic location.
Day Thirteen - Somerset Beach - North of Bramwell Roadhouse 4 September, 2022
We left our beautiful campsite about 8:30 A.M. with a goal of putting as many kilometres between Pajinka and our next overnight stop as possible.
About halfway between Pajinka and Bamaga there's a business that sells Cape York souvenirs, called The Croc Tent. We stopped in there and bought a singlet each and a couple of things for the grandkids.
Before heading south we needed to go back to Seisia to empty the toilet cassette, fill up with fresh water, fill up with diesel and buy some more wine seeing we were restricted to one cask the day before. We achieved most of those tasks, except for the wine because the bottle shop was closed on Sundays, and were on the road south from Bamaga around 10:00 A.M.
The only goal for the next few days, where we would be largely tracing our steps back from the drive north, was to cover the approximately 600 km of mostly unsealed, badly corrugated roads, as far as Laura where we would pick up sealed roads again.
Apart from the initial sealed section of road leading out of Bamaga, the start of the drive was much as we’d remembered it – HORRIBLE! The only stop we had planned for the day was a lunch stop, which we had in a gravel pit on the side of the road after driving less than 100 km.
We managed to cover about 220 km for the day, driving almost non-stop, apart from lunch, from 8:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., and ended up in the free camp we’d stayed in nearly a week earlier beside a small dam.
Very little was notable about the day’s drive, except for a man standing by the side of the road after we’d had lunch, wearing motorbike gear but with no motorbike in sight. We stopped to see if we could offer assistance and he told us his bike had blown a wheel bearing, that he’d hidden the bike in the bushes, and he was trying to hitch a ride to the Bramwell Roadhouse. Unfortunately, we couldn’t offer him a lift because we only have two seats, so we had to leave him standing by the side of the road. The only other interesting thing we saw was a Curlew on the side of the road later in the day, but it took off before we could get a photo.
We didn’t bother setting up outside because it was a bit later than normal when we stopped, and I also didn’t bother feeding my pyromania addiction and didn’t light a fire.
Once again, with no internet, we were limited in what we could for the evening, so just chilled and had an early night in anticipation of a demanding drive again the next day.
Day Fourteen - North of Bramwell Roadhouse - Coen 5 September, 2022
Today was going to be another day of pure driving to knock as many kilometres of bad road as we could comfortably manage. We had a flexible plan of attempting to reach Coen, the same drive in reverse we’d done about a week earlier when heading north.
To make sure that drive was achievable we set out around 7:30 A.M. expecting the worst of the road. Once again there were long stretches of badly corrugated road, that I would actually term more like small waves than corrugations. However, there were also quite long stretches of sealed road that made the drive more palatable.
We’d done a few more kilometres than expected by mid-morning, so we stopped off at the Moreton Telegraph Station again, for a morning tea of passable coffee and we also shared a muffin.
After that our only break was for lunch when we parked up at a very scenic lookout up a hill that had a great view back to the north where we’d come from.
Having made really good time we got into Coen by 3:00 P.M. where we first emptied the toilet cassette, then checked in at the Exchange Hotel for an unpowered campsite for the night, as we had a week earlier.
After setting up showers were the first order of business, and then a load of washing, before sitting and enjoying the great internet that we’d had little of in the past week.
Day Fifteen - Coen 6 September, 2022
The previous evening we decided, because we were enjoying the Coen campsite so much, and because we felt like we needed a break from driving on shitty roads, that we would have a down day today and stay in Coen for an extra night.
We tried hard for a sleep-in, but the bats and birds, and the neighbouring campers talking loudly while packing up early, had other ideas for us.
We took our time with our normal morning routine then chilled for a while until the pub opened at 10:00 A.M. so we could go up and book our campsite for another night. While we were in the main street we took the opportunity to stock up on some supplies at the general store across the road from the pub.
The rest of the morning was spent relaxing, enjoying the heat and sunshine and the lack of corrugated roads.
Around lunchtime we wandered up to the pub for lunch, schnitzel, chips and salad for Meg and fish, chips and salad for me, both of which were big on quantity and average on quality.
After lunch we popped into the shop next door to the pub where we were told we'd find a selection of packets of nuts and bolts, which we wanted to patch up the rattly stone guard under the bull bar.
The first task when back at the camp was to secure the stone guard with the bolts we'd bought, which didn't take too long.
The majority of the rest of the afternoon was taken up with catching up on updating photos and the website blog for the last week, that I hadn't been able to do because of lack of internet.
Day Sixteen - Coen - Lakeland 7 September, 2022
We were woken early again by the prolific birdlife and bats around the campground, and thinking about the day's drive ahead we thought we should get into it as early as possible.
Today drive was the last 220 km stretch of 600 km of bad roads, before we hit the permanent sealed road at Laura.
After emptying the toilet cassette and filling up with fresh water in Coen, we were on the road before 8:30 A.M.
Our memories from the northbound drive of this final section of unsealed road was that it was really bad, however it turned out to be not that bad at all. There were sections of badly corrugated road, but there were also long stretches of sealed road past the stations and roadhouses, and the last sealed section started at the Hann River Roadhouse.
Once at Laura, when we knew there was no more unsealed roads, we stopped inflate the tyres back to their regular pressures, and to fill up with diesel.
Because the drive thus far hadn't been so bad we carried on to a free camp opposite the Lakeland Pub, another 60 km south, arriving there around 3:00 P.M.
After setting up for the night we wandered over to the pub to have a drink, which is what one does when making use of a free camp provided by a pub.
After initially thinking we had no internet, I restarted the Nighthawk mobile router and all of a sudden our devices started binging, obviously happy with being connected to the outside world again.
The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent wallowing in digital activities.
Day Seventeen - Lakeland - Mareeba 8 September, 2022
After a restless night's sleep, due to neighbouring campers returning from the pub at midnight and continuing to party beside us, we were up early and away by 8:00 P.M.
The drive to our destination of Mareeba was very short, at only 180 km and on very good roads, compared to what we'd been doing in the previous days. We didn't really have anything firm planned for the day, apart from doing some shopping in Mareeba, and would just stop anywhere that took our fancy seeing we had all day with not much to do.
Not far out of Lakeland, after climbing a mountain range, we pulled into the James Earl Lookout and took in the impressive views back towards Lakeland.
Further along the road we stopped briefly at Bob's Lookout for the amazing views of the wooded valley below the road.
After coming down from the mountain range it was an easy drive to Mount Molloy where we stopped for morning tea in the quirky Loco & Lobo Mexican Café, run by a Mexican couple who'd been in Mount Molloy for 30 years.
It seemed a little odd, but we shared a meat empanada with our coffees, which was not our usual morning tea fare.
With smoko out of the way, we had a wander around the highlights of the town, which included the war memorial, a Jack & Newell shop, the old sawmill and the old post office which had some street art outside.
The Jack & Newell shops were supposedly the first chain of shops in Australia.
We arrived in Mareeba late morning and set about doing our chores, which included a blood test for me, stocking up on food at the IGA, stocking up on liquid refreshments, emptying the toilet cassette and trying to find toilet bowl liners, which were nowhere to be found in Mareeba.
Before going to our campsite for the night we drove out to the Mareeba Drive-In Movie Theatre, where we were planning to go the next night for a Top Gun double feature.
With all that done we drove out the Tinaroo Road to the Ringer's Rest Campground, where sites were only $10 per night and setup for the night. It was only around 1:00 P.M., and we had internet and mobile coverage for a change, so we were easily able to chill and amuse ourselves for the afternoon and evening.
Day Eighteen - Mareeba & Surrounds 9 September, 2022
Today's plan was to do as many touristy activities around the Mareeba/Atherton Tablelands area as we could manage, before returning to Mareeba for a late lunch, then chilling until it was time to rock up to the Mareeba drive-in movies for a Top Gun double feature and camp for the night.
We were woken early by a strange noise that we couldn't identify, so we got up to find that a hot air balloon had landed in the campsite paddock, presumably at the end of a sunrise balloon ride.
Our first destination for the day was to view an amazing curtain fig tree that was apparently the most visited tree in the world, with 600,000 visitors a year, until the Kuranda Skyrail opened in 1995.
After a beautiful drive through lush countryside, dense bush and rolling farmland we arrived at Millaa Millaa Falls, a short walk from the carpark. The falls are a popular spot for families because you can swim in the shallow pool beneath the falls.
We though Millaa Millaa was the nicest of the falls in the area, after we also visited Zillie Falls and Ellinjia Falls.
After completing the waterfall circuit we stopped off briefly in the township of Millaa Millaa to get a photo of the bull statue.
Next up it was a short drive up to the Millaa Millaa Lookout for a view of the amazing countryside, then another short drive to the highest road in Queensland.
We then drove up to Mt Hypipamee to see The Crater, a natural phenomenon commonly known as a volcanic pipe. We had a bonus while there when a lady who was there before us pointed out a pair of Peregrine chicks in a nest on the rock face of the crater.
Heading back towards the carpark we walked an optional loop that took us past Dinner Falls, a series of water falls as it turned out rather than just one.
By that time we were starving so we drove back into Mareeba, then out to Jacques Coffee Plantation for a lunch of smoked salmon and haloumi salad.
For dessert we drove to the nearby Emerald Creek Ice Creamery where we each had a small tub of ice cream.
With all the tourist activities completed for the day we needed to kill some time before we could enter the drive-in movies at 5:15 P.M. so we parked up in a park beside the Barron River and amused ourselves for a couple of hours.
At the appointed time we drove back out towards Atherton to the drive-in movies and lined up behind a load of vehicles that got there even earlier than we did. With only one man checking vehicles in, it wasn't long before the queue was stretched way back out onto the road. The cost for the double feature was a very reasonable $28 for two adults, which included being able to park up for night and the use of the toilets.
We set up for the night, parked our chairs and tables in front of Mata, poured some drinks and settled in for the evening's entertainment. We were both pleased we'd opted for this experience, a first for me, and we thoroughly enjoyed both movies and being able to stay up until the adult time of 11:00 P.M.
Day Nineteen - Mareeba - Undara 10 September, 2022
Despite our late night the night before, we were still awake earlyish and on the road by 8:00 A.M.
We were heading for Undara today, an easy 230 km drive, with a couple of activities planned along the way. First stop though was Atherton to empty the toilet cassette and fill up with fresh water.
We arrived in Herberton by 9:30 A.M. and parked up in the main street across the road from the activity that I was looking forward to doing, the Spy Camera Museum. For $12 each we had an introduction from the owner about some of the spy cameras and the best way to take it all in, then we self-guided around the museum. This was an absolutely amazing collection of cameras, photos, movie cameras and memorabilia from the 1800s up to modern times, with a focus on spy cameras that we learned have been around since the late 1800s.
Luckily there was a nice café next door to the museum that only sold locally made food, so we stopped in there for a coffee and a snack, then wandered along the main street to check out the wall art before continuing on our journey.
The drive from Herberton to our next activity took us past the Windy Hill Wind Farm, so we stopped off to read the information boards and take some photos.
After another 100 km+ plus drive we arrived at the Kalkani Volcanic Crater Walk near Undara. It was half past lunchtime by then so we lunched in Mata before undertaking the crater walk.
The first part of the walk, about 600 metres, was very steep and we were puffed by the time we got up to the top of the crater, which had been formed by a volcanic eruption hundreds of thousands of years earlier.
Photos can't capture the size and scale of the crater but we could imagine how scary it would have been to be around at the time of the eruption.
That was our last activity for the day and we drove to our campground for the night, the Undara Experience campground, where we'd be doing the lava tube tour the next day.
After checking in and setting up for the night the first order of business was a swim in the camp pool, to cool down from the Kalkani Crater walk. The idea was great, but the water was about 5 degrees cooler than we preferred for swimming, and there were too many people in there anyway, so we only had a quick dip then headed for the showers before settling in for the rest of afternoon/evening.
Day Twenty - Undara - Cobbold Gorge 11 September, 2022
We had another early start to the day, partly so that we would be at the meeting point for our tour of the Undara lava tubes, which departed at 8:00 A.M., and partly because those Rainbow Lorikeets started snacking on the Bottlebrush Trees we were surrounded by at 6:00 A.M.
Lava tube tour groups were split up into groups of twenty, the maximum seating capacity of the small buses used to transport us there. On the 15-minute drive to the lava tubes our very knowledgeable Savannah Guide shared with us facts about the lava tubes and the history of the tourist attraction that they’ve become since beginning in the late 1980s.
At the end of the drive we had a short walk to the first of the lava tubes that we would visit, Stephenson’s Cave. Once again our guide imparted his considerable knowledge of the geological phenomenon we were looking at, and having that knowledge made the lava tube seem even more impressive.
The second part of the walking tour took us to The Archway, which was even more impressive than the first cave we’d seen. It was a huge archway formed after a volcanic eruption and which had at its centre a stand of trees in a section open to the sky, before the cave continued behind it. Inside the cave, as in the first one we visited, the guide informed us about the different kinds of rock and minerals and how they were formed, and about the bats that inhabit the caves.
Back on the bus to return to the lodge we learnt more about the original owners of the land, how they came to own most of the surrounding blocks, how tours to the caves started, how the original owners lost their land when the QLD Government declared the area a national park, and how they became involved in the lava tubes tourist operation.
Back at the lodge we had an ice cream to cool down before embarking on our day’s drive, to
Cobbold Gorge, which was about a three-hour drive away.
We stopped off in Georgetown to fill up with diesel and to have a quick lunch in Mata. When looking around for a place to park up for lunch we passed the rock and mineral centre where another Explorer was parked, so we parked in front of it and took a photo.
A little way out of Georgetown, with about 80 km still to go to Cobbold Gorge, the sealed road ran out and our worst nightmares were reawakened when we hit badly corrugated unsealed road. There were a few patches of sealed road, but they were few and far between, so we just had to tell ourselves that’s it’s only 80 km, and way less than the 1,000 km return we’d endured driving to Pajinka and back.
We were pleased we had the UHF radio to monitor traffic in the area, with heavy vehicles calling in every ten kilometres or so at call points on channel 40. We also checked in at each of the call points to let other traffic know of our whereabouts.
We got into Cobbold Gorge about 3:00 P.M., checked in and setup for the night. The temperature was in the mid-thirties so we took advantage of their very nice infinity pool to cool off before relaxing for the rest of the afternoon.
Unfortunately, this was another destination without internet, so we were restricted in our available activities for the remainder of the day, but enjoyed the very clear view of the stars after dark.
Day Twenty One - Cobbold Gorge 12 September, 2022
We had a relaxing start to the day as our tour of Cobbold Gorge didn’t start until 10:00 A.M.
At the appointed time we wandered up to the meeting point at reception and hung around until our tour guide for the 3-hour tour pointed us to our bus. On the fifteen-minute drive to the gorge our guide told us a bit about the local stations and owners, and how the tourist operation got started.
There were two parts to the tour, an 800-metre boat ride along the gorge, then back to the starting point, and walk of 1.5 km that would take us over a specially designed and constructed bridge that straddled the gorge.
Our group, one of four, did the boat ride first.
The purpose-built boats were just wide enough to navigate the narrow gorge and could carry about 15 people, but we had a smaller group so we were able to stretch out a bit. The boat was powered with a small electric motor that was almost silent, so it was an amazing experiencing cruising slowly along the gorge in almost dead silence at times. Not long after starting out we passed a small freshwater crocodile sunning itself on the bank of the river, and we also saw black turtles, archer fish and rainbow fish. The rock formations, composed of sandstone mixed with quartz, magnesium and other minerals, had very distinctive and beautiful patterns. Thankfully there were sections of the rock walls that overhung the river, which gave us patches of welcome shade from the sun that was getting very hot by the time we finished the boat ride.
Back at the starting point of the boat ride we had a welcome opportunity to refill water bottles before setting out on the 1.5 km walk, in the blazing sun. The walk, which wasn’t on a formed track, took us up over stony/rocky ground and we stopped regularly to learn about the trees, plants and bush tucker we were walking past. About halfway into the walk we came to the highlight of that part of the day, the glass-bottomed bridge over the gorge. Before going on the bridge we had to thoroughly clean our shoes, make sure there were no stones in the bottoms of our shoes, and put on disposable shoe covers to protect the glass floor. The views in both directions along the gorge were spectacular, and this was where we saw a black turtle in the water.
The second half of the walk took us back to where the buses were parked, through more rocky country and also through a narrow canyon-like area. On the return journey to the lodge we learnt more about the history of the local stations and how they came to stock Brahman cattle, rather than the unsuitable European breeds that had originally been used.
As we were driving back into the camp, past Mata, we were surprised to see another Explorer parked up behind us.
After the walk we were hot and bothered so after a quick lunch it was into the infinity pool for a swim to cool off. We had a break from the pool to sit outside reception and make use of their WiFi to book our next campsite at Karumba and attempt to book a tour, but we had no phone reception to do that.
Then it was back to the pool to cool off some more and have a drink at the swim-up bar – very decadent!
After showers we chilled for the rest of the afternoon, enjoying the warm temperatures and light breeze. At one point in the afternoon the other Explorer owners arrived back from their gorge tour and came over to chat to us on their way to the pool. It was great to catch up with Geoff and Sue, #183 TS, from West End and we arranged to meet up again later at dinner, where we’d reserved a table and pre-booked a cheese platter for our meal.
We pulled some tables together with Geoff and Sue and had a great old chat, mostly about how great life is travelling in Explorer Motorhomes.
Back at our campsite we once again enjoyed sitting outside admiring the beautiful views of the night sky.
Day Twenty Two - Cobbold Gorge - Karumba 13 September, 2022
Today was going to be just a driving day to Karumba in the Gulf of Carpentaria, about 400 km away.
With the thought of wanting to get the first 80 km of dodgy road covered as soon as possible, we headed out of camp by 8:00 A.M, and got past the bad bits of road and into Georgetown after two hours driving.
We had a brief stop in Georgetown to reinflate our tyres, then continued on to Croydon, stopping only at the Cumberland Chimney, an old relic of the area’s gold rush.
We stopped for a pie lunch at the Croydon café/supermarket, and stocked up on a few bits and pieces at the shop.
Our only other stop was in Normanton to take some pic’s, first of The Big Barra, then some of Krys the crocodile, a true-to-size sculpture of the largest crocodile ever shot in the world, at 8.3 metres long. Very scary!
The last leg of our journey was a short 70 km to Karumba Point where we’d had to book a powered campsite at the Karumba Point Sunset Caravan Park for two nights, because there were no free camping options there.
After checking in, booking a sunset and croc tour for the following evening, and setting up for the night, we had a swim in their smallish pool to cool off from the 37 degrees temperatures.
Thankfully we had a good supply of internet, so the afternoon was spent catching up on socials, blogging and such.
At dinnertime we wandered a short distance along the road to the Sunset Tavern, where, as the name would suggest, you can eat your meal sitting outside watching the amazing sunset.
This was another one of those places where our mobile cameras just couldn't do justice to the spectacular scene in front of us.
Day Twenty Three - Karumba 14 September, 2022
Today we'd planned as sort of a rest day, but with some cleaning thrown in, and a sunset and croc spotting tour later in the day.
After brekky we got busy cleaning out as much red dust as possible from the inside of the motorhome, doing a load of washing including the bedding and cleaning out the toilet cassette hatch, that had been getting a bit smelly.
With all that done and dusted (ha ha, see what I did there!) we chilled for the rest of the morning, and even treated ourselves to a pre-lunch swim in the camp pool.
After lunch it was more relaxing, while waiting for the 3:15 P.M. kick off for the sunset tour.
Around 3:00 P.M. we wandered across the road from the campground to the boat tour departure point, via the shop at reception for an ice cream to keep us cool while we waited for tour to begin.
With everybody onboard promptly the tour took off on time, heading firstly upriver to the Karumba wharf to pick up some more people.
On the way there we saw a saltwater crocodile basking on the other bank of the river and a couple of Jabirus nearby.
Also, there were dozens of Whistling Kites and Black Kites flying overhead, and the reason for this became apparent a little while later.
After picking up a few more people at Karumba we were taken across the river to where a pair of Jabirus were loitering on the bank of the river. The boat pulled into the bank and the tour guide fed the Jabirus while we got some photos.
We then cruised upstream past the wharves and buildings on the riverbank, with the tour guide providing us with the history of them all.
Not long into the tour the guides started serving us with snack food, nicely presented and served on trays. Soon after, the drinks were served and that was really the point at which most of the people on the boat seemed to forget the purpose of the tour and we all just chatted with each other, ate more food, drank more beer and wine, and generally enjoyed being out in the boat with a good breeze to temper the mid-30s temperatures.
Still travelling upstream the tour guide told us about the Kites that were flying around us, then proceeded to put fish out for them on the front of the boat. The Kites would swoop down, take the fish, then swoop away again.
At some point the boat turned around to travel back downstream, an event I didn’t notice because we were so busy talking to the people sitting beside us. The boat travelled back past Karumba Point where it had picked us up, out towards the Gulf and in amongst the channel markers that mark the narrow channel that boats have to navigate to get out to open sea.
We sat out there until the sun had gone down, eating fresh prawns, drinking and chatting some more, and not even bothering to take many photos because it was too hard to capture a good photo with the mobile phone camera. Once the sun had disappeared below the horizon we headed back into Karumba Point where we disembarked and wandered back to camp with the couple we’d been sitting and chatting with. The couple were interested in seeing our motorhome so we showed them around before they went back to their campsite.
Another couple, who were also on the sunset tour, and who had parked up beside us earlier in the day, invited us over to their campsite, along with another couple who’d also been on the tour. We sat around drinking and chatting for hours until at some point we decided we should call it a night before we got too messy.
Day Twenty Four - Karumba - Cloncurry River Free Camp 15 September, 2022
We were up and about surprisingly early despite our best efforts the night before.
Because we’d only had snacks the night before we had a good fry up for breakfast, cooked on the camp kitchen barbecue next to our campsite.
We took our time packing up and left the campground a bit before 9:00 A.M. to drive to Karumba for a look around.
Several people had recommended the Barra Centre, so we drove out there to check it out. Combined with the information centre, the Barra Centre included a free display on the history of Barramundi fishing in the area, along with stories about local characters and, of course, plenty of stories about crocodiles. We decided not to do the paid guided tour and head back into Normanton to see if we could find a service person who could fix our fridge door, which had broken the day before.
When we couldn’t find the man we were looking for we stopped on the side of the road and patched up the door so that it wouldn’t keep opening while driving, and continued the drive heading firstly to The Burke & Wills Roadhouse for a lunch stop.
We grabbed a burger each for lunch then filled up with diesel which, at $2.77 per litre, really hurt when we pumped 116 litres into the tank, and cost a painful $322. While lunching we decided we only wanted to drive a short distance further for the day, so settled on a free camp beside the Cloncurry River, about 130 km away.
We arrived at the free camp, about 3:00 P.M., in 38-degree heat, and setup for the night, once again with no internet to amuse us. The site was close to the river, but very sandy and with a lot of flies to annoy us as we sat outside trying to catch some breeze and keep cool.
Day Twenty Five - Cloncurry River Free Camp - Hughenden 16 September, 2022
Today was once again going to be a mostly driving day to Hughenden, via Julia Creek and Richmond, with not much to see on the way.
We broke camp around 8:00 A.M. and headed south on the mostly empty, narrow roads, surrounded by bleak countryside that was dry and dusty with only a few small trees here and there. The road was mostly dead straight and flat for dozens of kilometres at a time, with a few vehicles travelling in the opposite direction and only one other caravan travelling in the same direction as us for hundreds of kilometres.
Julia Creek was the first sign of semi-civilization, but with nothing to see there we carried on through, not stopping again until Richmond, passing through the same kind of country as before Julia Creek.
We stopped briefly in Richmond to visit the information centre at Kronosaurus Korner and get some photos there, and also to get some photos of their water tank art. On the way out of Richmond we spotted a catholic church that had some interesting castle-like architecture so we got some photos of that too.
On the way into Hughenden we stopped for some more silo art and water tank art photos, before heading to the FJ Holden & Elvis Cafe for lunch.
After lunch we stocked up on supplies, took some more photos of sculptures around the town then drove to the Hughenden Showground RV Park, a free campground that only required us to register our presence in the camp.
Once setup for the night we hit the internet hard, catching up on all of our business after not having internet the night before.
Sitting outside was quite pleasant, but hot at 35 degrees, and thankfully without the plague of flies we'd had the night before, but we were occasionally harassed by very strong gusts of wind that blew sand in our faces and branches falling on us from the trees we were sitting under.
Apart from a brief walk to look at the Coolabah Tree monument adjacent to the camp, that commemorated a couple of dudes who'd passed through the area looking for Burke & Wills and marked the tree, we relaxed and caught up with everything we needed the internet for.
Unfortunately the night wasn't as peaceful as we'd hoped because at the nearby showgrounds there was a charity camp draft event happening over the weekend, and which had already started before we got there. There was a man talking endlessly announcing each event over a loudspeaker system that was very clear to us, and who started the next morning at 7:00 A.M. Then after all the events were finished for the day the partying started, including music that carried on until after midnight.
Day Twenty Six - Hughenden - Lake Dunn 17 September, 2022
After a leisurely start to the day we packed up, emptied the toilet cassette and filled up the fresh water using the campground resources, and left camp around 8:30 A.M. We only had one brief stop in Hughenden to pick up some fresh bread and sticky buns for morning tea.
Our first stop for the day was Mt Walker, about 10 km out of Hughenden, where we’d read there were a number of lookouts. It was only a short drive, and the drive up the hill wasn’t as bad as we expected. The six lookouts were spread around a relatively small area, each with a different view of the surrounding countryside. After visiting each lookout and taking some photos we drove back down to the road we’d driven in on and headed east towards Torrens Creek.
At Torrens Creek we pulled into a gravel area to have morning tea, then carried on the drive to our next destination, Aramac, which was about 270 km away.
The countryside we drove through was similar to the previous day’s drive, sometimes desolate wasteland, sometimes treed lightly, sometimes populated by cattle, but usually very bleak looking. Quite a few vehicles passed us going in the other direction, but I counted only three vehicles travelling in the same direction as us, in over 500 km of driving.
We had just commented to each other at one point about the lack of wildlife, with even the numerous kites and eagles we had been seeing in prolific numbers not present, when a pair of emus appeared at the side of the road. We also saw quite a few Brolgas and the birdlife eventually returned mostly cleaning up the roadkill.
We had tried to fill up with diesel before leaving Hughenden, but the gods were against us and we didn’t manage to find a suitable place to do that. I’d also considered filling up in Torrens Creek, but we didn’t go into the township, and thought we’d be ok until Aramac.
On that part of the drive we had a little bit of rain, but only enough to be annoying really, and the temperature dropped from 31 degrees to 19 degrees.
At lunchtime we stopped at Buchanan’s Bridge rest area, which had several covered tables to lunch in if we need them. The whole rest area looked quite innocuous until we drove off the road onto slimy thick mud, that didn’t even look particularly wet or muddy, and we started sliding off the track towards some grass. We engaged high range 4WD and parked up for lunch. All the tyres were completely covered in that thick slimy mud, and we started to wonder how we’d ever get out of there. After lunch we engaged low range 4WD and carefully picked our way on the grassier bits up to the road. As usual our fears were unfounded because Mata once again proved she’s a champion.
By the time we reached Aramac the fuel light had been on for about 50 km and I’d been concerned all that way that we’d run out of diesel. Thankfully we made it to Aramac, so the first stop was the servo. Turns out that we only had six litres of diesel left in the tank, and the 134 litre fill cost us well over $300. After a brief stop at the pub to stock up on supplies and to ask about the Lake Dunn Sculpture Trail, where we were headed for the night, we carried on to Lake Dunn.
Between Aramac and Lake Dunn we stopped about a dozen times to look at and photograph the metal sculptures, all made by the same lady, and all very impressive having been made out of all manner of old metal object.
We got into the Lake Dunn campground, which was only $10 per night, and setup on some soggy ground for the night. We did have some internet, but it was quite slow and limited our activities for the rest of the day somewhat. Eventually the internet stopped working altogether so we had to revert to other activities for the rest of the evening.
Day Twenty Seven - Lake Dunn - Barcaldine 18 September, 2022
The primary objective for today was to complete the Lake Dunn Sculpture Trail.
We set out from the Lake Dunn campsite around 8:30 A.M. to continue the trail, the remainder of which was on quiet country roads, used mostly by the local station owners, and not in very good repair with bad corrugations in many places. The previous day we'd seen about a dozen of the forty sculptures, and covered about fifty of the two hundred kilometres that the trail covered.
The going was fairly slow on the bad roads, but we had all day to complete the trail so we weren't in a hurry.
The statues included many native animals such as Jabirus, Emus, Eagles, a Koala, Brolgas, a Frill-Necked Lizard and a Goanna.
We also saw actual native animals along the way too, including some Bustards (Plains Turkeys), dancing Brolgas and a male Emu watching over half a dozen chicks.
Other statues included one of Johnathan Thurston, a bottle tree, a helicopter, a plane and many farm-related statues such as stockmen on horseback and one on a motorbike, a cowgirl, cows and horses.
Along the way we pulled into the Horsetailer's Gorge, a three km circuit around a picturesque canyon.
At lunchtime we went a short distance off the road into the Gray Rock Historical Site, which was an interesting formation of grey rock in amongst the usual red/brown rock, and where many people had carved their names, apparently some possibly carved by coach passengers prior to the turn of the century.
After lunch we completed the sculpture trail, which took us back into Aramac, where we'd started the trail the day before. We considered staying in Aramac for the night, but the free camp behind the pub was closed, and when we checked out the campground it was dusty with no shade, so we drove to Barcaldine, about 70 km away.
In Barcaldine we checked into a campground for the night, setup, did a load of laundry, then relaxed for the rest of the evening making the most of the good internet.
Day Twenty Eight - Barcaldine - Emerald 19 September, 2022
We weren't in a hurry to be anywhere particular today so we took our time with the morning routine, also filling up with fresh water and emptying the toilet cassette, in case we ended up free camping tonight.
We had an easy driving day planned to somewhere around Emerald, about 300 km away, stopping anywhere along the way that took our fancy.
After about 85 km we stopped briefly in Jericho to take some photos of some wall art on a toilet block, and also of the Walls of Jericho art installation.
Further along the road we stopped at the next town, Alpha. We took some photos of the bull statue that was made out of fencing wire, and the cow and calf statue beside it that was made out of waste metal.
It was close to lunchtime by then and, because there was nothing between Alpha and Emerald, we popped into the Alpha bakery to get a pie and drink for lunch, which we ate across the road from the bakery at a very nice picnic table that was decorated with a ceramic tile mural.
Back on the road we drove for another 50 km or so, and stopped at the Drummond Range Lookout for a view of the surrounding hills and valley, then onto Anakie for a look at the big sapphire, which we thought wasn't that big and didn't really look like a sapphire. There was also a bottle tree behind the railway station that had some local significance but which we thought was underwhelming.
Our last stop for the day was at Bogantungan where there was a memorial to the Medway train disaster, which occurred in 1960.
With all the touristing done for the day we continued the drive to Emerald where we stopped off at a supermarket and bottleshop for a few supplies, then checked out a nearby free camp, but it didn't offer any shade and was almost full anyway. The next best option was the Emerald Tourist Park that offered unpowered sites for $16, so we took a site there for the night. The park also offered gas bottle refills, which we needed, and also fish and chip meals cooked onsite that you take back to your campsite to eat, so we also took that option.
Once we'd found a reasonably grassy spot we setup then chilled for the rest of the day, not having to worry about cooking an evening meal.
Day Twenty Nine - Emerald - Lake Nuga Nuga 20 September, 2022
Once again we had a leisurely start to the day ensuring that we'd be prepared for a free camp that night beside Lake Nuga Nuga. This meant filling up with fresh water again, emptying the toilet cassette, stocking up on a couple of things we'd forgotten the day before, filling up with diesel and popping into BCF for a couple of things.
It was 9:30 A.M. before we left Emerald, heading first for some lookouts above Springsure.
That proposition sounded easy but, as we'd read in reviews, the road up to the lookouts in Minerva Hills National Park was 4WD only, and could be quite challenging. We weren't going to let that put us off and headed into the national park seeking adventure.
Once we entered the park proper, the road condition deteriorated, requiring initially high range 4WD, and in some places low range 4WD.
We drove first to the end of the road, and arduous 8 km or so on very rough road, sometimes rocky, sometimes muddy, sometimes deep rivulets and potholes, which took about an hour of hard driving.
The prize at the end of all that hard work was Eclipse Gap Lookout, which provided stunning views over the surrounding countryside.
We then drove back down the road to the Skyline Lookout walk, where we donned hats for the 800 metre trek to the lookout. The track was one of those where you have to watch every footstep because of the rough surface, loose gravel, rocks and steep drops off the unfenced edges.
Once again, the effort was worth it for the spectacular views down to Springsure and surrounding areas.
More driving back down the road brought us to Fred's Gorge where we stopped for lunch, then we continued on back out of the national park and into Springsure.
Our planned campsite for the night, Lake Nuga Nuga, in the Nuga Nuga National Park, was apparently also a challenging drive, but mostly only if there had been any rain recently, which there hadn't.
The drive from Springsure, through Rolleston, was about 160 km, and the first part was on good sealed roads, and even when we turned off the main road, the road condition was still good, until we turned off that road. Because it was dry, the road was easily navigable, but it was easy to see how bad it would be with just a small amount of rain turning the hard mud into a wet slush that would be hard to get through.
As with many of our more adventurous drives, this one was well worth the effort and bad roads.
We pulled into the campsite beside the lake and were ecstatic to find nobody else there, nice shady spots facing the lake, and even Pelicans floating around on the lake.
Once setup Meg got some water from the lake to clean some of the red dust off Mata, with mixed results, while I had a shower.
We both gathered some firewood for a camp fire later in the day, then settled in for the rest of the afternoon enjoying the bonus internet, that was a surprise in such a remote location.
Before dark we cranked up the fire, then watched the wildlife, including Pelicans and Shags on the lake, Kangaroos in the surrounding grasslands and assorted birdlife, whilst waiting for the sunset.
When the sunset eventuated, it was absolutely spectacular, setting across the lake with Kangaroos and Pelicans in the foreground.
The fire was pretty amazing too, so we sat outside some more after dinner taking it all in and also doing some stargazing in the clear and non-light polluted skies.
Day Thirty - Lake Nuga Nuga - Lawgi Dawes 21 September, 2022
We woke to an overcast sky this morning, cooler temperatures and light rain starting to fall.
The threat of rain was enough to make us hurry through the morning routine and get moving, because we knew the road out would become impassable with any amount of rain.
It was around 8:30 A.M. when we left our beautiful campsite, with thoughts of a second night there dashed by the impending rain.
The first part of the day's drive took us back out onto the same road we'd travelled in by the day before, as far as the Rolleston to Moura road, where we then headed east, with thoughts of stopping at Bauhinia for morning tea. However, the only place available was the Bauhinia Roadhouse, which didn't look very appetising so we kept driving to Moura.
There was some wall art and silo art that we stopped to take photos of, then continued on to the Dawson Coal Mine on the other side of town.
We first drove up to a lookout for views of some of the previous areas that had been mined, and were now in the process of being refilled and rehabilitated. Back down below the lookout was a memorial garden, honouring the memories of 36 men who had died in three separate explosions, when the mine used to be underground. The mine was then changed to open cut with a change of owners.
After looking around the memorial gardens we had lunch in Mata, then carried on the day's drive to Biloela to stock up on some supplies at the local Woolies.
The last drive for the day was a short 25 km to our campsite at Lawgi Dawes, a donation campground, with grass/gravel sites, basic amenities and firepits. On that last part of the day's drive, light rain started falling on an off, and as we pulled up at the campsite, the rain became heavier, so we didn't bother setting up outside.
After setting up Meg threw together a Bolognese sauce for dinner, and let it bubble away for a few hours, as we had stopped earlier in the day than we normally would.
The rest of the afternoon we spent relaxing and catching up on internet things, with, once again, good service for an out-of-the-way place.
Day Thirty One - Lawgi Dawes - Cania Gorge 22 September, 2022
We were woken by heavy rain about 5:00 A.M. this morning and were thankful that we didn't have anything set up outside.
We took our time with the morning routine because we only had a very short drive for the day, about 30 km to Cania Gorge via Monto.
Monto was actually about 10 km past the turnoff to Cania Gorge, but we wanted to empty the toilet cassette and fill up with fresh water before heading into the gorge. While we were in Monto we did the street art tour, taking photos of some cool wall art and silo art.
It was only a short drive into Cania Gorge and we first stopped off at the tourist retreat, where we had a campsite booked for two nights, to pick up a map of the various bushwalks that we planned to do some of, before returning to the retreat for the night.
There was a carpark about 1 km from the retreat where most of the walks started from, so pulled up there, donned shoes and hats and took off on the first walk for the day, The Two-Story Cave walk, which was a 1.3 km circuit around a small mountain. The climb was quite arduous and it was one of those walks where you have to watch every footstep on the sometimes rocky, sometimes loose surface, sometimes narrow with a steep drop off to one side. We saw what we thought was a Rock Wallaby early in the walk, but that was it as far as wildlife went for the walk. At the top of the climb was Two-Story Cave, a bit underwhelming we thought.
Back at the carpark we had lunch in Mata, then set out to do some more walks.
The first walk was to Dripping Rock and Overhanging Rock, a 2.4 km round trip through some nice bush populated with many different varieties of bush, flowers and trees. We didn’t actually see any wildlife on this walk but we could hear Cockatoos, Kookaburras and Whip Birds. Dripping Rock was another of those underwhelming attractions, but the Overhanging Rock was quite impressive.
Back at the junction where walks go off in different directions, we decided we could manage one more walk for the day, this time to the Gorge Lookout and Dragon Cave, which was another 1.7 km round trip. Because this was a gorge lookout, of course the climb was quite steep and hard going seeing it was our third of the day. The lookout itself wasn’t that great, but Dragon Cave, so named because the patterns in the rock apparently resemble a dragon, was worth the additional 150 metres off the main track.
Once we got back to the carpark we were absolutely exhausted, not having done much walking on this trip.
Back at the resort we checked in, filled up a bag of firewood and setup for the night, with what seemed like a small amount of internet, but which wasn’t really enough for our normal online activities.
Even though it was a beautiful evening we cranked up the fire, which actually took a few attempts because of slightly damp kindling and large blocks of hardwood that were hard to get burning.
We skipped the daily bird feeding that the resort staff do, but we were visited by a couple of cheeky King Parrots looking for food.
We sat outside enjoying the ambience of the fire, lack of wind and great views of the night sky.
Day Thirty Two - Cania Gorge 23 September, 2022
After a good sleep and a sleep in we took our time preparing for the day, as the only activity we had planned was one of the longer walks in the national park.
We headed out of the resort into the adjacent national park, and set out on the 6 km walk that would take us around the escarpment on the opposite side of the road to the walks we did the day before.
The first part of the walk started out going up a gentle incline, on similar ground to the day before, with a loose surface interspersed with rocks, tree roots, stone steps and potholes. Wildlife was scarce for the whole walk and the only things of note we saw were a small brightly-coloured wren early in the day, then near the end a budgie/cockatiel looking bird that had a blue body and yellow head.
The first milestone, about 3 km into the walk, was Fern Tree Pool which, while not spectacular, was quite pretty. We stopped there to take some photos and to have some morning tea to sustain us for the rest of the walk.
The next part of the walk, up to Giant’s Chair lookout at the top of the escarpment, was a lot more demanding, with very steep climbs up stone steps and rough tracks. The effort required for that part of the walk was well worth it, with great views over the gorge and across to the escarpment where we’d walked yesterday.
That was all the climbing we had to do for the day, and we headed back down towards the campsite, which was about 1 km downhill, once again over very steep steps. On the way down we filled up a shopping bag with plenty of smaller wood to start our fire later in the day.
Back at the camp shop we bought ice creams to cool us down, then settled down for a mostly relaxing afternoon.
Meg did do some exterior cleaning of Mata to remove some more of the red dust that had accumulated over the last month, using our grey water that was draining into a bucket, while I caught up on the website blog stuff and photos, as much as the average internet would allow.
Late in the afternoon we got the fire going again, this time on the first attempt. It would have been nice to have the fire a little closer because as soon as the sun went down the temperature started dropping rapidly, which forced us inside earlier than normal.
Day Thirty Three - Cania Gorge - Gayndah 24 September, 2022
We had another easy drive planned for the day, about 180 km to Gayndah, for a one-night stopover before heading into the Bunya Mountains the following day for two nights.
Leaving the campsite we had to drive back into Monto first, where we'd been a couple of days earlier, to refill with fresh water and empty the toilet cassette again before going off-grid into the Bunyas.
Further along the road towards Gayndah we stopped at the Three Moon silo art installation, which was very impressive, and provided some insight into how Three Moon came to have that name. There was also an excellent stall in the carpark, selling fruit, vegetables, honey, preserves, relishes etc. We bought a few bits and pieces to support the local economy.
After that we had a quick stop in Mulgildie to grab a photo of the Bunyip statue, and learn the story behind the local Bunyip Hole.
Next up was Mundubbera, the home of The Big Mandarin, and some interesting wall art on a water tower, that we stopped at to admire and take some photos.
The last stretch of driving for the day was to the Railway Station campsite at Gayndah, which we did via some back roads, to keep off the main roads and not hold other traffic up with our potter-mode speeds.
It was lunchtime after setting up, which we had in Mata, then we had a wander around the railway station reading the historical information boards.
All that was left to do for the rest of the day was to relax and make the most of the good internet, before heading into The Bunya Mountains, in a national park where it was unlikely we would have any communication with the outside world.
Day Thirty Four - Gayndah - Bunya Mountains 25 September, 2022
Our day started with a guided tour of some rail carriages that are no longer used, which used to be part of the Sunlander train that travelled from Cairns to Brisbane.
Our guide, Ray, was a volunteer and ex railway worker from Gayndah, and he was extremely knowledgeable about the history of the railway in Gayndah. He spent 45 minutes talking about the history of the railway itself, more particularly the Sunlander, about the volunteer group and how they'd raised the money to put on the display, and about the many groups who visit the railway now.
Meg was particularly interested in looking through the Sunlander club car and dining car, as she and her family had travelled from Cairns to Brisbane on it many years earlier.
After the tour we hit the road, wanting first to empty the toilet cassette and fill up with fresh water again before going into the Bunyas. We travelled south on the A3 until just north of Booubyjan, where we turned off onto the Windera road, aiming for Moffatdale where we'd spotted some wineries that looked like good lunch options.
There was a dump point and fresh water just past where our preferred winery was located, so we went there first to do the business, then drove back to the winery, which unfortunately had a sign at the gate saying that their restaurant was closed.
On to plan B, we drove into Moffatdale to our second choice for lunch, the Dusty Hill Winery, which looked like a great place to dine, but unfortunately they couldn't accommodate us because we didn't have a booking.
On to plan C, a short drive away was the Clovely Estate Winery so that was our next stop, and we were so pleased we did stop there. We ordered the guided wine tasting, which consisted of nine varied wines all of which use grapes grown by Clovely Estate, and we also ordered a grazing plate to soak up the alcohol.
First up we tasted two different sparkling wines, then onto a selection of whites including Verdelho, Semillon and Chardonnay. Lunch arrived somewhere in the middle of the white wines, and it was an amazing platter that included home-made pork pie, scotch egg, cheese, pickled onions, a jar of pickled vegetables, ham, relish and tapenade, and fresh and dried fruit.
After a sparking rose we tasted a couple of red wines, then finished off with a tawny port. Altogether a wonderful experience.
Reluctantly getting back on the road we had another 100 km to drive to the Bunya Mountains, and arrived at our campsite in the national park about 2:00 P.M.
Once setup for the next two nights, we immediately reached for our warmer clothes because the temperature had dropped about eight degrees as we climbed up the mountain, then wandered to the tourist information office for some info on the local walking tracks.
We also had a wander around the campsite area to see where stuff was, to check out where the walks start, to read some historical and local information, and to book into the tavern for lunch the following day.
As we drove over the top of the mountain into the campsite we drove past every type of internet and TV tower known to mankind, so we were pleasantly surprised to have excellent TV and internet coverage at the campsite, which we made good use of for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
We did set up our outside chairs and table, but the cool temp's and wind soon drove us inside again for the night.
Because of the expected overnight temperature of 8 degrees I had a crack at setting the timer on the diesel heater to come on in the morning and warm up the motorhome before our get up time, but from previous experience I wasn't confident that would happen.
Day Thirty Five - Bunya Mountains 26 September, 2022
As predicted the night before the diesel heater didn't come on with the timer, and I had to run out of bed and turn it on manually to combat the cold morning.
When done with the morning routine we suited up to do one of the bush walks that start close to the campsite. We chose the 4.5 km Scenic Circuit walk, which didn't sound too demanding.
We set out about 9:00 A.M. wearing shorts and light shirts, hoping it wouldn't be too cold in amongst the trees. The track was reasonably wide and smooth, allowing us to walk together for a change, instead of single file like we'd had to do on our few previous walks.
The huge Bunya Pines and Hoop Pines were amazing to see, many of them poking their tops above the canopy, and with huge trunks. We walked alongside gently running streams and around small waterfalls, most of the time by ourselves, but later in the walk there were a few other people around making too much noise and scaring the birds away.
During the walk we could hear abundant birdlife and along the way we saw Blue Fairy Wrens, Fantail-like birds, Whip Birds, King Parrots and Brush Turkeys with nests the size of mountains.
Back at camp we showered and chilled for the rest of the morning, until lunchtime when we wandered up to the tavern for lunch of pulled pork burgers and a drink each. A little highlight of the morning was discovering the nest of a Satin Bowerbird in some bushes only a few metres from our campsite. Weirdly, Bower Birds collect blue objects and arrange them artfully on the ground to attract a mate. The nest was full of objects such as bread bag tags, pegs, pen tops and containers, all coloured blue and nicely arranged.
After lunch we spent more time relaxing and starting to feel a bit down with the thought of heading home the next day, back to reality.
Day Thirty Six - Bunya Mountains - Scarborough 27 September, 2022
We woke to slightly warmer temperatures this morning, but also to very heavy fog, which had saturated all the outside furniture overnight.
Our initial plan for the day was to drive to a nearby carpark and do one more short walk before driving the 200 km to home. By the time we were done with the morning routine and were ready to head out of camp, the fog hadn't lifted at all, so we canned the idea of a walk because we wouldn't be able to see anything more that about 100 metres away.
There was nothing else for it than to tackle the poor visibility, hit the road and head for home.
The only stop we had along the way was in Maidenwell to empty the toilet cassette so it would be ready to clean once we got home.
After 36 days on the road, 8,200 km and lots of adventures, we arrived home around lunchtime and set about cleaning out Mata ready for our next adventure, and getting back into the home routine.
Thank you for sharing! What a fabulous trip! Not as many km as I'd have expected.