Day 15

Day 15, 16, 17 & 18 (Destination – Port Douglas/Home)

Waking to a damp campsite at Hann River Roadhouse, we took our time packing up to allow everything to dry out a bit more.  Driving was a different experience today, the roads were muddy instead of dry and dusty.  The rodeo finally looked like it had been through the mud.  It wasn’t long before we hit bitumen again, on and off again before we left the dirt behind us altogether. 

We stopped at Mt Quinkan aboriginal rock art site. Very interesting and well worth the $5 per adult fee.  It was a short but steep hike up a hill to a couple of different sites where there are clear paintings and plaques to explain what you were looking at (if you couldn’t quite make it out on your own). There was a funny English chap at the entrance hut, no vehicle it sight so it appeared he’d hiked there. He was sweeping and pruning, but also gave us a very helpful idea of how far the walk to the site was and persuaded us to go through and have a look.  Still not sure how he got there (Laura was at least 10-15 km away I think).

Continuing on, we stopped at Palmer River roadhouse for fuel and lunch, again under a shady tree (tuna and crackers this time).   

In no time we’d reached Mt Molloy and the turn off toward the coast. The familiar sound of text messages started coming through some time around Julatten. We hadn’t driven this way before and were quite impressed with the scenic drive coming down the range. 

James Earl Lookout

And so, to end our fabulous journey, we spent 3 days relaxing in Port Douglas, staying at Tropic Breeze caravan park and walking the short distance to the beach or into the town centre.

Brett finally had success fishing, catching a huge (65cm) Fingermark on a estuary boat charter we did - very happy. 'Did I tell you about that big fish I caught.....' became his favourite phrase until we all just started rolling our eyes and swatting him with whatever was on hand. 

We were also able to coincide our travels with attending our friends, Karen and Rodney's, wedding in Port Douglas which was wonderful.

Our camp at Tropic Breeze Van Park, Port Douglas

Enjoying a walk along the beach at Port Douglas

Heading home a few days later, we encountered a near-disastrous accident where a boat trailer detached from the towbar on the car travelling in front of us. Fortunately it happened when we had slowed down for roadworks after the Cardwell Range, and although the boat trailer ended up firmly wedged under the rear end of the car, Brett was able to help them get the trailer back on the towbar and on their way with only a damaged bumper bar to show for it. The rest of the trip home was uneventful fortunately!

The End....

Day 14

Day 14 (Destination – Hann River roadhouse)

After a good nights sleep by all, we packed up again. Brett, thinking a fishing charter might be our last hope of catching a good fish, decided we would go to the Weipa library to use their internet and see if we could book something for when we reached Port Douglas or Cooktown. After a half hour of ‘research’, we decided it was all too difficult and gave up.

We headed toward Merluna Station, thinking this would be our next overnight stop, however it wasn’t that far a drive from Weipa and upon arriving and seeing it didn’t really have what we were looking for, we decided to keep driving. ‘The more driving we do today, the less we have to do tomorrow’ became our motto. (We had to be in Port Douglas by Sunday for a friends wedding.)  Several hours later, after a very long day of driving, we stopped at Hann River roadhouse. Upon approach it is a fairly rough and ready looking place, with a large compound of demountable buildings presumably for the road crews work in the area.  However, looking past the demountables, there is quite a nice little camping area beyond. We set up camp again and got looking for firewood. Plan was to cook roast lamb and veges in the camp oven tonight.  There was also a pony, a peacock and an emu wandering around that were quite friendly and the kids enjoyed handfeeding the peacock some bread. 

Our camp at Hann River

A little later, while enjoying our meal, we watched a huge lightening storm in the distance, saying ‘it won’t come this way’….famous last words again! An hour or so later we were battening down the hatches, throwing our camp chairs under the Rodeo, zipping up all the windows and hunkering down in the camper to try to sleep.  It’s a bit daunting trying to sleep under canvas while heavy rain is pounding down, and thunder and lightening all around. Luckily it eased almost as quickly as it came and we all fell asleep.

Day 13

Day 13 (Destination – Weipa)

Woke early, Brett and the kids going to retrieve the crab pots hoping to have at least one. Well there was one, but too small to keep.  We are feeling like giving up on fishing!  We were running low on water, power (clouds had come over so solar panel not much help), and we were a bit tired of the flies too so we decided to move on. 

We were sure that gap looked worse than when we drove across 2 days ago

We headed back to the main road, stopping briefly to have a quick splash in the creek running under the log bridge (beautiful cool crystal clear water again), and then south again, taking the bypass road this time.  We got to Bramwell Junction around lunch time so stopped and made sandwiches and replenished our water tanks. As we were standing there, a voice called out to Brett. Long story short, one of the grouped camped because us at Vrilya for 2 days included a good friend of Bretts and neither of us realised. They were part of a group with a boat and had a bit better luck fishing than us, although they were now heading to Mapoon. After a quick catch up, we headed off again.

We were originally headed for Merluna Station for tonight but decided we would have to make the trip into Weipa for supplies anyway so would stay there instead. The Weipa caravan park was a nice break from bush camping and we enjoyed the amenities again. Caught up with lots of washing as well.  

Waiting for mine trucks to cross at Weipa

Mine water truck

Mine Truck

Our camp at Weipa Caravan Park

Day 11 & 12

Day 11 (Destination - Vrilya Point)

All the locals we spoke to said Vrilya Point was the place to go for fishing so off we set. Before getting the ferry back across the Jardine, we checked out a few more points of interest. Somerset ruins and the graves of early pioneers, the Jardines. Again, no signs so we weren't really sure whether we were in the right spot. We also went to see 2 of the WW2 plane wrecks that remain in the area. These were interesting enough and it helped that there was a plaque with some information about what happened. You can still see large sections of the planes and visualise where it came down.

We stopped in Bamaga briefly to refill out water tanks, buy bread and beer.....although we were an hour too early for the bottle shop to open so we had to hang around a bit longer.  We had lunch under a shady tree just outside Bamaga and then drove out to Seisia for a quick look. This is where Brett spoke to someone at the petrol station who said "yes go to Vrilya Point, good fishing but BIG crocs. Don't go near the water at all, and keep your camp fire burning at night"..... Yikes!  We decided we still had to go and check it out, couldn't be that bad surely.

Finally got our beer and headed back to the Jardine ferry.....only to find that the ferryman had gone on lunch and it grinds to a halt. The joined the several vehicles already parked under shady trees just waiting...waiting...waiting! It was over an hour before the ferryman returned and resumed operations and we were on our way again.

The turn off to Vrilya Point is not too far south of the ferry, driving straight past it at first (apparently the navigator wasn't doing her job..woops).  We felt sure the corregations on the main road had worsened in the 3 days since we last drove through.  The road to Vrilya Point wasn't that much better and involved driving over a rather precarious looking log bridge with a nice wide gap right where the wheels could go.

We wanted to go to North Vrilya Point which meant driving along the beach for about 11kms. Brett dropped the tyre pressures and we managed it just fine. We stopped briefly to look at the old light ship wreck. Not much remaining but interesting just the same.

We continued on the headland where we found a dozen or so other campers, immediately feeling abit more comfortable. Hopefully any marauding crocs would think twice with so many people around.  The camp ground is quite far back from the high tide line for the most part so we felt quite safe. There was loads of flotsom and jetsom around, washed up from somewhere. Someone had got creative with some bits of fishing net that must have washed up and had made a sort of 'thong' tree and hammock out of it.  The bad thing about Vrilya - the flies...everywhere!

We set up camp and decided to throw the lines in for a bit. Brett and Annieka caught 2 small flathead but nothing else. After dark at least the flies give you a break.

Day 12

Woke to a very low tide, the water is right out for miles so the kids are exploring the sandbanks finding hermit crabs and interesting shells. Brett has gone looking for a good spot to throw in the crab pots. There is apparently a creek behind us somewhere but requires a bit of a walk and is easier to get to during low tide.

The rest of the day was spent attempting to fish and getting terribly sunburnt (me).  We all practised cast netting (and caught lots of little flathead and throwing them back), Brett got a really good bite once and thought for a second he had the 'big' one but wasn't to be. 

Day 9 & 10

Day 9 (Destination - Punsand Bay and the Tip)

We set off from Eliot Falls early and 'did' the remainder of the Old Tele Track as far as the turn to the ferry. Some of the creek crossings north were a bit tricky and required walking first. The last one being Nolan's Brook which is also quite notorious for being challenging and can be deep and sandy. Being dryer and having watch dozens of Youtube video's before our trip, Brett knew what to do and kept to the right.

Cannibal Creek

The log bridge over Cypress Creek

Mistake Creek(?)

Sam Creek (?)

Nolans Brook

As we pulled up at the ferry to buy a ticket, a guy approached us asking if we'd give him a hand. He'd reversed into a ditch while trying to show his kids a wallaby. Brett was happy to christen his new snatch strap and even happier in the knowledge that a Rodeo had pulled out a Hilux.

Alcohol restrictions meant only 1 carton of beer and 2 ltrs wine

Jardine River ferry

Jardine River

We got the ferry across the Jardine River ($125 return) and continued on our way. We stopped at Bamaga to fuel up and buy some more groceries and make a couple of phone calls at a phone box, then continued on to the Croc Tent - the souvenier shop. There was a tiny pademelon piglet in a fenced pen with a huge stuffed crocodile which looked quite funny.

Pademelon piglet and friend

We decided to head straight to the tip, parking and then in typical Cape fashion finding no signs to tell which way to walk. It wasn't too hard to work out, we just walked up the rocks toward the only area sticking out further than the beach. Finding there was a bit of a track worn by the many fellow walkers before us and several piles of rocks along the way. I think the idea of the rock piles was that you are supposed to add a rock of your own to the pile. The walk is almost 1km from the carpark but we made it and found the familiar sign declaring that we were standing at Australia's most northern most point. Took the obligatory photos and enjoyed the views from the area. The woman at the Croc Tent had said someone had caught fish there recently with a pink lure, so of course Brett decided to take his fishing rod with him.  He got a good bite but that was it before snagging the lure and giving up. We watched a huge sea turtle swim by and enjoyed the fabulous views abit longer before heading back to the carpark.

The beach by the carpark at the tip

Walking to the sign declaring we were at the 'tip'

One of several rock piles on the walk to the tip

Waiting for me to set up the camera

views from the tip

Fishing at the tip

Sea turtle

Views from the tip

Views from the tip

Leaving the tip, we drove the short distance to Punsand Bay camping grounds. Soon discovering we had some Optus reception so took advantage catching up on news back home. The reception was a bit sketchy and seemed to be best standing out on the beach.
We decided to stay 2 nights here. There is a nice rustic bush style bar and restaurant area which Brett was very pleased to learn had Great Northern beer on tap. They also do wood fired pizza's so that took care of dinner.

Day 10 - Punsand Bay

I was able to ring Megan (my daughter) for her 16th birthday today which was good. She has been spending a week in Brisbane with friends and going to the Rhianna concert.

Today was a relaxing day. Attempted some fishing off the beach first in the morning but had no luck. After talking with the fellow who owns Punsand Bay camping grounds who recommended walking further along to where some rocks are, and to go around 4pm when the tide is coming back in. Yay success, caught a couple of small cod and a grasse emporer. All too small to keep but it was fun trying just the same.  It was dark by the time we stopped fishing and so it was a late dinner (curried sausages again) by the time we got back to camp.

Our campsite at Punsand Bay

Fishing at Punsand Bay

We were intending to spend longer here but decided 2 nights was enough. As we hadn't taken the legs for the camper, we couldn't use the Rodeo to get around. Time to pack up and move on again. We had heard that the fishing at Vrilya Point was pretty good so that is where we're heading tomorrow.