Day 5

Day 5 (Destination - Chili Beach)

This has been by far the most interesting day so far in terms of landscape and things we have seen. Leaving Hann Crossing around 7.30am we headed out of Lakefield NP toward our destination, Iron Range NP and Chili Beach. We saw black cockatoos, emus, wild pigs, and several wallabys. We also saw the biggest blue tongue lizard any of us had ever seen. He must have been almost 3 feet long.

Action shots, driving through Lakefield

More action shots

Emus

Blue tongue lizard

Turning back on to the Peninsular Development Road (PDR), we were initially stuck behind a Caltex fuel truck but with a little friendly uhf chat, the truck driver told us when it was safe to pass. Only 5 mins up the road, we were treated to another perfect stretch of bitumen. It was short lived and soon we were bouncing over horrible stretches of corrugated, bulldusty road again. We wondered over the reasoning behind having short stretches of bitumen every 10-15kms, instead of just starting at the bottom and working their way up. After some deliberation it was decided it must be to provide overtaking opportunities for vehicles. After further consideration it was decided that although bitumen the whole way would be a much more comfortable ride, it would also bring a lot more people to this area and that is not necessarily a good thing.

We stopped at Coen for fuel and bought some bread and milk. Brett tried to buy beer from the bottleshop but when the girl serving (but not really serving) was extremely rude, he used a few choice words and walked out. Apart from stopping to fill our water tanks which we did on the way out of town, we will probably not stop at Coen again. We did meet a couple also filling their water tanks who had been to the tip and were heading home. They recommended stopping at Bramwell Station for a night (which we were planning on doing tomorrow night anyway), Punsand Bay near the tip, and they advised us not to bother with Captain Billy landing (which we had a NP permit for in about a weeks time). They also recommended doing a tour to Thursday Island and Horn Island which we will look into. Will see what happens.

We stopped again just outside Coen for some lunch. There was a rest stop by a little creek which seemed nice enough. It had a "windy loo" which was basically a toilet with a mesh door for ventilation. I don't think it helped because the stench was almost unbearable.

Continuing on, we soon took the turn off to the PDR and headed into Iron Range NP. The landscape was amazing, constantly changing from dry bushland, to Eucalypt forests, to rainforest, to low scrubland, and back again.

We stopped at Mount Tozer lookout which is located in a beautiful part of the region. Absolutely stunning!

After a close encounter with a water truck and a roller (no road works signs), we reached Chili Beach. The water truck didn't turn his water spray off so we had to wind our windows up quick and flick the windscreen wipers on, only to find a roller reversing around the bend toward us. We had to swerve around him in a hurry.

Chili Beach is a beautiful spot. We'd heard Chili Beach was very windy but we didn't find that. Our camp was sheltered by trees so perhaps that helped. The tide was out when we got there so we set up camp and then tried fishing off the beach. Again - no luck. Nethertheless, we really liked this spot and would definately stay longer next time.

Setting up camp at Chili Beach

Chili Beach