Heading West.

Today we are heading west on our way to Darwin. It is 2,500k across bloody hot country. We pack up & fuel up and we are off. It’s only a short 130k to Charters Towers. We press on hoping to clock up as many k’s a day as possible. It is hot so we are trying to stop by 1.00pm each day. We make it all the way to Marathon Rest Stop which is 60k west of Hughenden. It’s just a toilet and a shelter on the side of the road. It is hot so we try to use the shelter roof as a bit of shade. The drive has been OK and not to many hills.


Near dark it gets cool and I mean less than 15° and I even have to put a shirt on. It feels nice and at least in the Outback it gets cool at night. A few Road trains pull in during the night as well as a few other travellers.

We are up early and on the road by 7:00am. There is no shortage of Road Kill along here with lots of Pigs & huge Roo’s. We push on through the heat and it sure is getting bloody hot. A spray bottle is our Air Con and its works well, it’s a shame it does not last longer. On and on we go, hot as well and we get to Fountain Springs rest stop 60k short of Mount Isa. Just how hot is it? well we got the Geny running and the Air Con on but anywhere away from it is hot. There are thousands of what seem to be huge moth’s on the road and at dusk they fly from everywhere. It cools down but not as much as last night. We watch Speed Racer and relax out in the stars.

Magnetic Island (Written by Tina)

Magnetic Island (MI) We boarded the ferry at 8.30am for our one and only Island adventure. I was on this island more than 20years ago, but I don’t remember much of if except for crouching down in the back of a Moke that Mum & Lee Sutcliff drove around on the steep and windy roads. I also learned that “bitumen” was not a swear word but that is another story. The view of Townville & MI we not very spectacular due to the dust and smoke haze that have been hanging around for days, never the less it was a very nice trip across the 8km’s of ocean to get to MI, nice and calm water just the way we like it. We arrived in Nelly Bay and awaited the public bus that would be our mode of transport around the island, it was only $6.30 for a day trip, and you can get off pretty much well as much as you like. First stop Horseshoe Bay, it is still a bit early and the town is not really awake yet, so a quite stroll up the beach to check out what water sports are available, jet skiing, tubing, swimming net all looked good. We decided to choose our next mode of transport a walk from Horseshoe Bay to The Forts walk about 8km up and down rocky tracks in our flip flops! No injuries to report phew! The first bay we walked too was call Balding Bay, it was so secluded and pretty, someone in a catamaran was moored in the bay.

We walked around the bay stripped off our shorts & T-shirts and went for a well earned dip, it was very warm and still early in the day but the water was cool & refreshing, after a quick dip we headed back to the track, this island really looks like we are on some Greek island with the Ring Pines and all of the rocks.

Onto Radical Bay which looks like there used to be some sort of structure but we did not find this out. From here we took the “bitumen” and walked the road around to Florence Bay, here we need a swim after all of the hot sun & steep roads we had walked. I forgot to buy some goggles & did not hire any so missed out some great reef viewing.

From here the road got steeper but we did get to see 2 Kolas a mummy & its baby further up the tree, it made it all the more worth while. Once we got back to the bus stop we headed back to Horseshoe Bay for some cold beer & lunch. There is not a whole lot to do unless you hired something,

so back on the bus & round to Picnic Bay, the Jetty is supposed to be good fishing, we did not bring our fishing gear! While we were there this guy feed 2 sea eagles off the deck that was cool. He hooked onto something but lost it, tell us about it! Picnic Bay is below Nelly Bay & on the other side of the island to Horseshoe Bay & the wind had picked up a little by now, we had to wait a while for the next bus so we, had you guessed it, another beer, we also had a read of the Townsville paper, and caught up a bit on local news. Then back to Nelly Bay and the ferry back to Townsville, once again nice calm seas prevailed. Next time we are hiring a Moke for the fun of it!

Adelaide United win in Townsville

Up early and off to Townsville, its AFL grand final day. We check into the CP for 3 days, that’s nearly like a permanent home for us. After set up we head into the city for supplies. It’s a great game and St Kilda has plenty of chances to win but cannot finish off so Geelong end up winning. Lots of Hot Dog’s & Beers and the noise show from the Air show. We didn’t see any of the jets but we heard them, and with all that dust I’m not sure anyone down at the Strand saw much either.
It is a bit of a hazy morning and I have a sore head. It’s a quite day and this arvo we are going to Dairy Farmers Stadium home of the NQ Cowboys to watch the A-League between Adelaide United & North Queensland Fury.

It’s a 5 pm start and the dust haze is really noticeable at dusk. The Fury dominates the 1st half but cannot score and Adelaide is lucky it is 0-0 at half time. The second half is completely different with Adelaide far more attacking. Adelaide score with 20 minutes to go and now have to defend. They score again and win 2-0 a great result especially for us.

leaving Innisfail

Today we are heading further south towards Townsville past Ingham to Jourama Falls a NP not far off the highway. It has a nice creek and large area for camping. We do some tidying up of stuff we have accumulated as well as finally putting a shelf up in one of the cupboards. Gary Ablet Jnr wins the Brownlow medal. There is a wetlands walk in Ingham, and we spot heaps of birds along with 2 snakes. It’s been getting pretty hot during the day but as usual its OK in the shade and the nights cool down nicely.

We pack up early and hit the road hoping to get a spot at Rollingstone. It is very popular and hard to get into so we are getting there early trying to pick up a spot when someone leaves. You are only allowed to stay for 48 hours. When we arrive there is plenty of room so we set up. It’s a great place by the ocean and a huge grassed area next to the park area. I go fishing straight away but there is no luck here. There is a bar/shop on the creek called Fishermans Landing so we have a couple of beers in the arvo. It was even happy hour. I’m up early and down the beach again for a fish, the tide is very low and there is no action at all. We go for a bit of a drive around to look for some other spots and Tina drops me off down the road and I fish there. Only two bites they are flatheads and I lose both, one in just 6 inches of water. In the Arvo we head down the bar again for happy hour where Tina gets to help out by feeding the Kookaburra’s. They take it out of here hand.

We move just down the road to Saunders Beach which is only 25k from Townsville. I’m straight down the beach again and I head down to the rocks while the tide is coming in and quickly land some small whiting. I use these as live bait and fish with these for quite a while. I did not land anything at all. I have exhausted my bait and as we are heading off to Darwin after the weekend I use up every last scrap I have, no wonder I can’t catch anything.

Paronella Park

Back at the park and after lunch we do the tour of the grounds and you see just how amazing it is than one man could have built this. Over the years fires and Cyclones have generated serious damage but left the buildings mostly untouched. It was probably considered a theme park in its day.

It’s quite a warm day and it’s the first time we have really used the Aircon and it is nice. After dark we head back to the park for the night tour where they light up the paths and castle.

Innisfail & Babinda

Car wash here we come and it is just amazing how much red dirt we can get out of the car. We give it a good going over and it comes up surprisingly clean. The engine looks like brand new. Once again we have done another 10,000km so oil & filter changes are done and new bushes in the front sway bar. The right hand side bracket has had and will need replacing some time. A 4 wheel align reveals no problems and all is good again after the rugged time we gave the Tojo in cape York. Friday night saw the Saints knock of the bullies and thanks to and early SMS from Mel, I new the result early. This is QLD and we don’t get AFL live on channel 7.

We went to Babinda the home of the equal highest rainfall in Aus 6,000mm a year. Had a lock at the Boulders & Josephine falls. The van is all packed up and we give James & Helen the gifts we got them. They let us stay under their house in a self contained living area and allowed us to store our van while we were in Cape York, so a big thanks to them. Its not a big drive to where we are staying tonight a road stop on the Highway to Cairns. After the van is set up we go back to Josephine falls for a swim. It is busy and the water is cold but refreshing. We watch a movie even worse than Cherry2000 called Blood Dolls. I’m eagerly awaiting the start of the AFL to see Geelong whip the Magpies. They come through and give them a bath after a close first half. I hear form Arny & Stevo who are at Thebarton Oval watching Goody Saints win their 5th flag in a row and this year a new opponent in Henley. It cools down nicely in the evening.

No rain overnight but the sun is up and heating up in the van early as usual.
We are on the road and off to Paronella Park a castle built by one man in the 1930’s in a rain forest. After the van is set up we head down to Mission Beach for the markets. It is quite a tourist place with Dunk Island not far off shore.

Waterfall Circuit

We head back towards Ravenshoe and do the waterfall circuit. There are about 10 to see and all have their own different characteristics.

Then we drive to the MaMu Rainforest walk which has over 1km of elevated platforms over looking the North Johnstone River Gorge.

It is spectacular and wasn’t built until after Cyclone Larry came through. 3 years on and you can still see the damage not just here but in many areas we drove through looking at all the waterfalls.

We decide to stay at the South Johnstone river campground which is 12.6km off the road down a very windy mountain road. It is one of those places you can only book over the phone which is a crap system. It’s a nice drive and a great little camp on the side of the river with good facilities. We play cards and a very ordinary movie call Cherry 2000. We had to move into the car because the wildlife was harassing us. They jumped on the table and into our tub we wash the dishes in. Although only Bandicoots and possums in the dark it is scary, one nearly ran up my leg.
It was a bit scary last night there were so many animals and large nuts falling on the tin roofs of the shelter it made it hard to sleep. The animals never let up the whole night.
This is a cool spot to camp.
It’s only a 40k odd drive back to Innisfail. It is good to be back in a room and after a bit of a rest we unload the car.

Tree Kangaroo's

We are up early I seem to have gotten over my faze of sleeping in and after a shower its off to the Garage sale at the Bowling club. It’s a fizzer so we drive out to Tinnaroo Dam a big dam with heaps of camping. Its bloody windy there and not nice on the water. It seems to have been quite windy here since we arrived. Next stop is the Curtain Fig tree a most amazing tree and nothing like I have ever seen. After we go to Milanda Falls which are not all that impressive but they have Tree Kangaroo’s there so we do the Rain Forest walk.

There is always lots of noises in the bush in NQ with bush Turkey’s everywhere. But this was a different sound so we moved on quietly, then a baby Tree Kangaroo climbed up a small tree about 1m off the ground. Then most likely its mum climbed up behind it and they both sat there for minutes while we watched them. It was so cool to see these in the wild and although we were not gamed to move in close enough to get better pictures we had a great view of them in the habitat.
Another last arvo watching V8’s while Tina reads. We walk down to the pub a steep hill 2km down and have tea for my Birthday which is tomorrow. Then on with the
Footy as the reception in the Cabin is crap on 10. The Crows are off to flyer but after dominating the first ½ weren’t able to put Collingwood away. I was real worried and predicted a Collingwood victory, and although they only just won it was so obvious that the same old problem that has haunted the crows all their history is no big gun to kick the winning goals. It was most disappointing anytime Collingwood win. It’s a brisk walk up the hill to the cabin just in time to see the final overs of the Aussies bowl to the Poms. Binga Lee cleans up and the boys have little trouble knocking off the 220 and lead the series 4 -0. If only they played like this in the tests.
We awake and I have a bit of a sore head, too many beers and not enough sleep. Tina gives me a bracelet & a jar of Tomato relish for my Birthday and I get a call form the kids. After we managed to get all our stuff back in the Tojo we are off. A quick stop at the Karia Sunday markets and then on to Ravenshoe, which is in a huge mountain range and claims to be the highest town in QLD. We are staying at a rest stop tonight and off to Innot hot springs in the morning. There are markets here too but mostly closing by the time we arrived.

Atherton Tablelands

Another glorious morning a little cooler here but the bloody crows are back waking us up just after 6.00am. The lady camping next to us has to much hot water so coffee was easy with no water to boil. Today is big day and we plan to drive over 400km today back to Mareeba. We have not driven south of Musgrave on the Peninsula Development Road (PDR) so we are in unknown territory. It is as expected with good and bad sections and the odd bitumen section for overtaking. We make good progress and arrive in Laura around lunch time. We push on and it is getting hot driving over the mountains so we pull in at Mount Carbine a former Tungsten mining town for a beer. Off again and with the aid of the Air con we push on to Mareeba and have some lunch. Next stop the Caravan Park where we get a cheap rate to camp overnight over with all the backpackers who work on the local farms. It is a bit of a shanty tent city but OK for us.
After a walk down to town and a beer we head back and have some more of that Trevally for tea still just as yummy.
We move down the road a bit to Atherton which is quite a contrast to Mareeba, it’s a lot more tourist looking with out as many locals wandering the streets. We check into the CP and splurge getting a cabin for 2 days. You deserve a little luxury after living in a car for 2 weeks covered in Red Bulldust, which by the way the car still is and will need a full hose out to get rid of some of this crap. We walk the main street but although there are lots of shops not really much for us to look at. It’s a lazy arvo spend sprawling out because we can and it doesn’t take long for our stuff to fill the cabin.
In the evening we watch the AFL final between Lions & the Bullies with the Bulldogs winning easy.

Heading South

It got cool last night well probably down to 25° I suppose but nice. It’s a beautiful sunrise over the ocean and there is a croc swimming up and down about 50m off shore. But it is so calm that it soon becomes hot very hot. After a chat to the local ranger, a beach clean up and Tina’s final touches to our monument ( a very thick boat mooring rope and a tag with our name, date and fish size) we head off. It is a bit of a common thing to leave something attached to a tree or this case the shelter with your name and date so everyone else can see who made it. There was one at gunshot creek crossing that was made mostly of car parts and one guy who reckons he shit his pants here while crossing so he wrote on them and left them, we just signed a damaged rim when we crossed. These monuments don’t actually look tacky.
Onwards we go down that 27km track of hell and back on the bypass road which is better from here on. There isn’t really much to see on the way back just 100’s of Km’s of Dirt road with corrugations. We push hard today stopping at Coen for fuel & beer and then carrying on to Musgrave roadhouse. We travelled over 430km today and that is a big day, only arriving after 6.00pm.
We met Andrew & Chris and their friends. Andrew had caught a 58cm Barra today at Hann Crossing. He to was aided by some knowledge passed on to him by some other fisherman which helped him to catch it. It was beaut fish and enjoyed by them all for tea. We st around and shared a beer and some yarns they to have decided to travel Aus for 2 years and it is great to meet people of our age doing this.

Captain Billy’s Landing and the great Trevally

We turn off for Captain Billy’s Landing which is a 30km track of big humps and corrugations, it was an effort to get down here.
The camp spot is on the beach and lucky because it is hot today. After setting up camp I head down for a fish, I have spotted a school of Whiting being followed by a school of Trevally and behind them are 2 Sting rays. I head down to where the whiting were but they have gone and there are some small mullet hanging around. I catch 2 Shovel nose sharks on the big rod and a couple of other fish that I don’t know what they are both around 24cm so I chuck them back in. I move to the smaller rod in search of some live bait for fishing. I catch about another 15 of these strange fish but mostly smaller.

As I often do these days when I can’t seem to catch anything I just ask Tina to hold the rod and something normally happens. This time is no exception because within a couple of minutes she gets a hit and whatever it is it is off. Not just like some fish we normally catch this thing is heading out to sea and even after tightening the drag he is still pulling out line. We try tightening the drag again and this only excites him more as he goes for another run, and then again 3 runs so far. Tina has been working him for a few minutes now and he is closer to shore, this is a big fish.

Eventually we swap as she can no longer reel him in. I tighten the drag again but now I’m getting scared about how much more this line can take, no 50lb line and shark hook just my 20lb with a small hook. I keep reeling him in and finally we can see him again, Tina heads into the water to grab him but he must of seen her and goes for one last run, then she strikes and grabs him by the tail and we haul up the shore. He is a huge Trevally the biggest fish Tina & I have ever caught and we didn’t even need a boat. Its lucky we got him in when we did because the hook was only just hanging on. It is one hell of a fish and we are not having steak for tea tonight. He is 68cm long and must weigh at least 4kg, we get enough fillets off him for 4 nights tea.

We just can’t stop grinning and talking about him and today will be long remembered as the day we caught the big Trevally at Captain Billy's Landing. We have two huge fillet pieces for tea and he tasted just as good as we had hoped. I must add a special thanks to Pete who taught me how to spot the schools of fish this really helped me pick where to fish today.

WWII planes and we head south

The suns up and so are we its breezy as usual as soon as I turn the gas on to cook. Its Kirsten’s birthday today she turns 9.

There are some WWII plane wrecks here so check them out. Its amazing to see them and hard to believe they could still be anything left after all this time.

The bush is still scattered with hundreds of empty fuel drums rusting away. After picking up some diesel at Bamaga $1.90/lt we are off back over the Jardine ferry and heading south.

We stop in at Fruit Bat falls for another swim.

The south Bamaga bypass which replaced the Northern section of the OTT is the worst road we have been on so far and it is where the most road works are going on. They are building entire new sections of it rather than fixing the bit we are on. This carries on for over 50km.

Cape York

It was a little warm last night not much breeze on the west side of the cape. We have a shower do a load of washing and then we trek off the final 35k to the cape. Another couple of creek crossings that are very murky so we don’t walk them and drive through. After a 5k section of tropical forest we drive as far as we can and walk the last 15minutes to the tip.

We are here we made and considering its just a sign on a rock at the edge of the ocean you can’t help but feel like you have achieved something. The roads may be good but I can tell you it is still no easy trek if you use the Old Telegraph track and this is made harder by the fact it is no longer maintained.

We are proud and we suck in the moment and ponder what is next. That’s right we still have to drive 800km back to get our van.

Next we try to find and old track to Evans Bay but after a couple of drives down old disused tracks resulting in more car scratches we abandon our search and head for Somerset. A nice bay sheltered by Albany Is. The tides have not been suitable for fishing so we drive around and spend the arvo sitting on the beach.

Jardine River & Loyalty Beach

Now the track gets really nasty and most people turn off and head for the Jardine river ferry. We carry on the track and make it down to the crossing.

It doesn’t look that deep but it sure is a long way and you can’t walk the Jardine it is Croc infested. So we turn back and drive the 40k to the ferry. It is only a small crossing and now we are on our way again and next stop Bamaga.

Not much of a town but I wouldn’t expect anything different then off to Seisa and Loyalty Beach where we are staying tonight.

It’s a camp on the beach with a Kiosk and Lodge where we can have a cold beer and a cooked meal. Mackerel & Chips was tonight’s meal and we are glad not to have to cook.

Old Telegraph Track(North)

But we must push on we have the northern section of the OTT to go.
Off again in search of new creeks and tuff tracks. All the way you see the old telegraph poles mostly bent over but no as many now we are up further. It is one hell of an adventure and we are having a great time and the Tojo is holding up well. We carry along the track where we come across the Tourists again and walk a rather deep water crossing.

Just after we left camp we come across Canal creek crossing which looks easy but all the exits are tricky. I just miss the exit route slightly and end up with the car wedged on its belly, there are no trees for the winch to work but I was able to reverse and then take a different line which worked.

The Trailer boys have lost a wheel and are doing repairs. I’m keen and jump in to cross. It is easy but there is something unnerving about water coming over the bonnet.

The Tourists go next and make it OK. Further down the track another deep crossing with some people stopped to let some air out of their tyres because it is sandy.

I’m not sure that would help but we drove straight through once again with water going over the bonnet.

More Creek crossings

Next stop Cockatoo creek this one is Tina’s turn and is a little more tricky than it looked, a bit bumpy but she made it and the boys on the KTM gave her a standing ovation an enquired on where they could find such a wife.

Some other smaller creeks along the way but easier until we reach Fruit Bat falls and a well earned swim. We are both bloody hot and buggered. You can’t camp here so after a swim we hop back in the car and do the short drive to Eliot/Twin falls.

I use the term short drive but 10k on the OTT can be an effort. We have driven all and only managed 98km. Once again we sit around have tea and crash out this is tiring stuff. There is a little Dingo pup hanging around the camp as well and no Mozzies.

This is one of the first mornings we have not been waken up by those bloody Crows is there no where in Aus they don’t live. A nice brekkie and a quick check of the car reveals no damage or oil leak just some stuff that comes loose and offcourse Bulldust. We go down to Twin falls for a swim it is so nice we just wish every camp site had one of these.