I did a few of the other 4wd tracks around the tip, then back south across the ferry to Vrilya Point, via Mutee Head. Got stuck in the powdery sand on the beach (to busy looking at the view instead of concentrating on where i was going. Dropped the tyres to 12psi and tried to reverse.
[email protected]/h, 3000revs dragging the rear diff the whole way, thank god it made it to hard ground as I hadn’t seen anyone for a few hrs. Decided to stay off the beach, and went for the easier option, climbed the headland to the old WW2 radar tower. Continued south to the Vrilya point track, which was the worst of the roads for corrugations, didn’t matter what speed, it shook the shit out of everything. It took around 2 hrs to cover the 35 odd km. Met up with (Dan + mille and Jan + dana) who had previously towed Paul across Nolans. We drove down to the wreck 8km down the beach. It had changed heaps from Jan’s guide books photos, the crows nest had fallen over and almost buried in sand. We camped up together, I slept under the shelter shed and low and behold next to the cruiser who dinted his bonnet at Logan creek. I decided to do the Tele on the way back after hearing stories about the horrendous corrugations on the bypass roads. I met up with Paul (troopie tray back w/ 35’s + coil rear end) and Jeff, Karie and son Brock 7 months) (105 series w/ 35’s) at Nolans. A quick chat and we quickly worked out we all knew what we were doing.
I was sick of recovering other people, and they had a long recovery a few days back and we all just wanted to enjoy the drive. We gave everyone the slip at Nolans (one guy wanted me to walk the crossing for him, “is it solf here, is it soft there” Get real buddy. All three of us continued quickly down the tele, didn’t bother walking any of the crossings. Passed quite a few vehicles and stopped at Fruit Bat falls for another swim. Continued to Sam creek, with secret waterfalls and swimming hole for a fantastic Camp oven roast. Great work Jeff! After a few bevies everyones plan was the same, try and get to chilli beach via Frenchmans the next night. It was going to be a big drive and we didn’t get the earliest of starts. We smashed it down to Bramwell for lunch, junction burger and beer, bloody beautiful. Stopped in at Moreton tele’s payphone so Paul could let his pregnant GF know when he was expected home.
Found Frenchmans track was nowhere near as bad as I thought. The Wenlock was just a creek, steep entrance but relatively easy. The Pascoe was a very rocky crossing with a large boulder right in the middle of the crossing. Few guys/spectators were camped up on the bank before the crossing. Went round the left of the boulder and almost made it up the eroded exit. Was temporarily haulted by the navs lack of flex in the front end, stacked 3 small rocks and she was up. A celebratory can was had after successfully making the crossings. It was getting late in the day, so we continued on. Single lane track, corrugations with shrubs flicking both mirrors the whole time for 20km or so. Corrugations weren’t that bad and once you got up to speed (60+km/h) you could smooth out the ride. We made it all the way to Cooks Hut camp ground, after a quick side trip to the ranger station towards Lockhart River, finally rolled out the sway and stubby coolers. My bulbar had stripped the rear captive nut (re-tapping didn’t work) and bent the front bolt at 60 degrees. I replaced the bolt(with 1 nicked off the dead nav) hoping it would last the few hundred km’s to Cooktown or Cairns. The others were on a tight schedule so after a big night on the rums, they left around lunch time. I drove out to chilli beach and tried my luck at chilli creek to catch lunch. Had a few casts, but a 4m lizard emerged from the depths, so I didn’t hang around to find out if I was on the lunch menu. Thought I should make a start on the journey home. Went into Lockhart River to top up with 25l of fuel ($1.87) Took some happy snaps at Tozer lookout, then continued onto the Wenlock River on the Portlands road track. Old mine site with heaps of old relics, so decided to camp up under a nice shady tree on the river. I was so knackered after 2hrs sleep the night before, so as soon as the sun set, I hit the swag.
With the bank account looking pretty sad, and still having a fair few km to travel, it was time to head back to Airlie Beach find a place and start my new job. Drove to Musgrave station to get some juice for both me and the car, 30 odd litres ($1.77). The fuel light came on about 20km before Musgrave and not long after so did the engine check light. Though I might have got some bad fuel, but I think the fuel may have become aerated by the corrugations and was probably quite hot due to the Musgrave tank being above ground in the sun. Also the fact there was only a few cm in the bottom of my tank and with the corrugations the pump was probably sucking up some air as well. (Fuel sloshing a fair bit I imagine) On the bitumen sections I stitched the car off while going along (60km/h) and clutch started it to clear the light. It would come back on after 20km or so of corrugations. Bloody thing kept doing this all the way to the Lakefield Servo.
The bulbar had worked even looser and was making the car look like it had a stroke. So I decided to drive the extra few km to Cooktown and get it fixed on Monday. Stayed at the Big4 on the outskirts of town, was really nice to have a hot shower and a swim. On Monday, sneaked round the corner to the local fab guy, borrowed a drill to fix up the bulbar, just drilled right through to the other side of the chassis and bolted it up with some 100mm HT bolts with nylocs to they can’t come loose. Only took about an hr, slipped the young guy some cash for his smoko, brimmed the tank full of diesel and returned to the lions den. Picked up a few shirts, stubby coolers for presents and got some info on the CREB. They said its been dry for a while so should be fine, You ripper I though after I got rained out on the way up. I drove right through to Daintree village via the CREB track, amazing views with some steep clay climbs. I can see why it would become impassable after some rain, some of the ruts are huge. (see Sims story on outerlimits about people being chopper’ed out) Had the best Prawn and avocado Roll at the Daintree takeaway, then put the pedal to the metal and made it to Mission beach on sunset. Really nice place, but I was so tired. After a sleep, had a quick look around then back on the road again. Managed to get back to Airlie round 5pm ish after a long day staring at white lines on the bitumen.
Was a Great Trip with plenty of Adventures, Fishing, pig hunting, creek crossings, corrugations, dust and great people. Hope to get back up that way soon. Maybe May/june next year, just after the wet so its still all nice and green. Anyone interested???
towed him into bamaga but being a saturday RACQ said come back monday. Camped at loyalty beach. stayed 3 nights then 1 at Punsand bay. Say a local catch a 6 foot gummy shark off the jetty at seisa. Went to the tip and in the arvo did the 5 beaches run (hilux with dual lokkers got stuck)
I started off in 1st low but nicked the radiator with the fan in one of the crossings, so switched to 2nd low 1000-1200rpm. Only got some water in a Nolans cause the towel was hanging out past the seal. (stupid, but barely wet the carpet)
