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September Back Week 18 A quick hello to Dodgy and Fiona, we finally
meet. A very cold camp at Eungella (pronounced as you like). On the way up , finally. Unbelievable how much stuff I still needed. Left Cairns after a good service and check over the car from Cairns Service Center 4032 4008. ..........came across this funny black stuff. My first roadtrain. What does that sign say? Black Mountain
Up to the legendary Lion's Den pub to watch the Lions and Collingwood, I've done a lot mouthing off over this one and I'm not too confident.
I don't think we're in Kansas anymore Toto. A great campsite but they had their BIG night
on Friday and were closing at 6:00, so off to Cooktown. Bloody Collingwood cheats, how many free kicks!! They bought their own umpires! It was rigged. For some funny reason the phone was out of service for the rest of that night so I'm sorry if I didn't respond to any of your consolatory messages. Out of Cooktown, an interesting road through Lakefield National Park. The Old Laura Station (not to be confused with New Laura or Laura). Now how did that get there?
My first
creek crossing.
Up to the Old Moreton Telegraph Station. A
nice spot to camp, even if you can't use the toilets until they start the water
pump in the morning. Ran into Phil and Amanda and 5 year old Tye and Mia, 9 months. Hooked up for the run up the middle. The crossings, too many to mention but I'll try to get them in order. South Palm Creek Palm Creek South Alice Creek North Alice Creek, Dulhunty River. This one looked serious so there was only one thing to do......................................................put on my..................................................................................
STEVE IRWIN SHIRT™
That should make things go smoother!!
And here he comes through the deep stuff, yee haw stalled...................... dang it.
Cholmomdeley, dry. The legendary Gunshot Creek Cockatoo Creek Sailor Creek Half time at Fruit Bat Falls, spectacular swim
and snorkel, lucky there were people around because this guy almost had the
full kit out when I rolled up.
Camped at Eliot Falls Twin Falls, another great swim and snorkel, ran into Benno and Jonno again and we had to go for the midnight croc swim (mcs). So, three of us set off under the gaze of a perfect full moon almost eclipsed by Mars. By my reckoning of basic statistics if aborigines have been here for maybe 50-60,00 years (no conclusive evidence further back than Lake Mungo) and Mars is its closest in 60,000 years, we may be the only humans to witness this event at this place. Crickey! So, for protection I had my STEVE IRWIN SHIRT™ and Benno had his STEVE IRWIN SHIRT™ as he is a tour guide on Fraser Island but Jonno didn't have a STEVE IRWIN SHIRT™ . Oh well what's the worst thing that could happen?
Before After Benno said he snored alot anyway.
Next day the Northern section, Canal Creek Mistake Creek and Cannibal Creek. This is where things came a little unstuck. Phil just couldn't quite get the boat around the corner and was left hanging rather precariously. I was used as ballast while he winched to a tree. That only helped to pull the car over to a 3 foot washout (see below) so I put the winch line around another tree and dragged him across and up. The boat is behind him...........somewhere.
The knees were already a bit shakey from the last crossing, but here goes.
3 tries and finally I'm up.
Cypress Creek Bridge Creek then the Jardine River. People were actually going across the ford (and losing a few) so we decided to play it safe and use the $88 ferry for the barely 1 minute trip.
Nice graded road up to Injinoo, through Umagico
and then to the picturesque Seisia renowned for its fishing. But first, the damage. One busted speaker at the back, one loose in the front, 2 console screws missing (found one), driving lights loose, broken salt and pepper mills, sugar mixed with some as yet unknown substance, fishing rod eye busted, broken socket on fridge (it rattled underneath the bolted down toolbox), coffee everywhere, and I'm finding more each day. And I'm going to take the corrugations back down!!!!!!
That night a slack one. The next day the boys rolled up - a miraculous recovery by Jonno. Had to try fishing the jetty tonight where, according to the lonely planet guide "you have to reel in the fish quickly so the sharks won't get them"!! It was 2:30a.m. when Ben got his first decent bite a whopping Tarpon measure from my fingers to half way up my bicep. Maybe 50cm. Half an hour later it was my turn 2with another Tarpon but not quite as bit. Got it to thge surface but it snapped the line. It's OK they're not good eating anyway. No pics. We were all fired up and could have kept going all night but I had a ferry to catch in the morning. Thursday Island. Hmmmmm. What can I say? So much potential, for the $80 fare I would have hoped for a museum or art gallery or something cultural, but Green's Hill was locked - tour guides had a key and you had to be there when they were there. The rest was just a community with a few historical buildings, a good cemetery and not much else, not even a souvenir/ art shop.
In the end I did an Historic building crawl which nicely filled in the gaps between walking around.
A nice lazy day today taking a spin in the boat - no fish - but the boys were inspired of talk that you had to reel in the fish quickly or the sharks would get them being heard around the camp. Conditions were perfect, a full moon, slack tide, no noisy container ship, set to go. Three hour later,no A THREE HOUR TOUR, nothing nothing nothing. We could see schools of gar, tons of baitfish, a ray 4 foot wide, big flashes and splashes but nothing biting. Actually Jonno got one good bite that snapped his line almost immediately. By the end of the night we couldn't even get the baitfish. Sad faces of defeated fishermen. Whoever said a bad day fishing is better than a good day working has never had a job in his life.
There may have been another day of bumming around and sitting on the beach, yes there was as Phil cooked his famous never before tried camp oven birthday cake. The coals might have been a bit too hot, but Tye loved it anyway and the crunchy bits he didn't eat and left in the sand, well the stray dogs that roam around at night, well they didn't eat them either!! But his damper was a treat and so was the sunset.
Around Seisia
Phil, netting for bait. Postcard material if I do say so. Week 19 OK We've been here long enough. Time to go to the top. A pretty easy run, as long as you've got a good map, since signposting has not yet caught up with this neck of the woods. Arrival at Pajinka Wilderness Lodge - closed for the season. Well, it's been a talking point with whoever has been there. Given back into Injioo Council hands it consisted of an unusable campground affectionately known as the 'tip' (get it?), 4 over flowing green bins, paper and crap everywhere, washing machines abandoned in place, the ripped pool table in the middle of the games room and still food stuff on the shelves. Eerie. Lots of opinion given about the potential of the place, overseas (and local) tourist's impressions, offers to get it back up and running, where has the money gone etc. etc. Whatever, it's generally agreed that it is a disgrace and from there the views digress on the solutions....... A hop skip and a jump and we're at the top. Frangipani Bay.
I place my rock on the pile. At the top, crack open the champagne, or XXXX, whatever you've got to share with your mates. A swim at the top, currents were vicious, look at me swim!!
The end of week 2 attempts (one in 1992 on the bike!) 4 months, 2 cars numerous incidents and I MADE IT. That's North South, East and West done. What's next up and down??
That night a great site at Somerset Beach but not before getting lost and ending up at Fly Point and another pristine beach.
All set for a peaceful solitary night and up rolls 2 old Dutch couples and plop themselves right beside me. Oh well, they were n A scramble over some very slippery rocks to see some paintings and then go have a look at Punsand Bay. Another great spot!! I had to drive into town to get some food. 3 shops I went to to get food a newspaper and ice. Then on the way back I had my first bit of serious fun.
Look - a 3 wheel drive!!! Someone changed tires last night and did them up to Falcon driving around Melbourne specifications. On closer look, both back rims were buggered and the front ones needed a tap as well.
What the hell do you do ? Then, I couldn't believe it a voice from the dashboard.... "We're in a tight spot!"
What was that? I have a look and it's my old mate Knackers the Magic Moose!!! Haven't seen him for ages.
Put the wheel back on ya Dumb #@%*!!!!!!!! Good idea. Some digging, some sweating, some cursing. I had one snapped stud and had lost ALL the wheel nuts!!!!! Figuring I'd have to borrow a couple from the other wheels I walked back down the track to find 5 of them within about 20m. Lucky! Almost an hour before I had the wheel on and the nuts done up. Rolled into camp looking a sight for sore eyes. Some fitters camping beside me reckon that the wrong wheel nuts are on it!!!!! Glad to know.
A bent mudguard, some strange scraping noises and 20km later I made it to a shop at Seisia. Leave it here and call back later. I did a load of laundry and had lunch and it still hasn't moved. They did say later. At least Phil and Amanda are still here so I had some shade and company. Hope to get it back today or early tomorrow to head back down. To be continued.........
Car is done. 6 studs and confirmation that they are the wrong
wheel nuts but it is advised that you check them EVERY NIGHT on these roads. OK.
Thunderbirds are go. Ready for the trip back down. Left earlyish and caught up
with Benno and Jonno at Fruitbat Falls. What do I find - a wheel stud!!! It was left in the drum and had broken off park of the hand brake lever!!!!!!!! Bush Mechanics!!! I wasn't about to drive back and complain, that will have to wait. Was I happy. Anyway we're rolling and we pushed through to Bramwell Station for a nice meal, a great fire and a blues jam with 1 harp, 1 didge, 2 guitars and 3 assholes that went for 45 minutes entitled They Weren't Afraid of the Corrugations. A hit. Benno reckons we should have recorded it. Yeah! Goodbye everyone. It's been an absolute blast. A night shot and a day shot of Team Toyota. Thank you very much to Phil for getting me up here, Amanda for some great meals and company, Tye for some good tantrums and Steve Irwin jokes, Mia for waking us up teething at 5:00 a.m. and Benno and Jonno for some magic times and swims. Travel safe guys!!!!!!!!!
2 days and 3 hours later from Seisia to Cairns!!! I'm getting a handle on the dirt and the dips. Love this stretch, note the tree colors and guess the direction of the prevailing winds.
Now the dips, each one is a creek or gully and they are endless but the comedians have done this trip before and almost every sign has been grafittied. So as an amusement between the corrugations we had dip stick, dip shit, bbq dip, cheese and dip, guacamole dip, we're in dip shit, dip throat, dip down, etc. etc. But the best one was the last one...
Back to Cairns (AGAIN) and time to book a room and stay the night. Messy room but.
Week 20 So Knackers arrives in Cairns and we watch the footy with Mo and Trudy at my old haunt, Trinity Beach BRISBANE LIONS VS. SYDNEY Another Lions - Pies Grand Final. Hmmmm.. But, what's Cairns with out (another) reef trip.
I was on time this time and the conditions were very good. It's starting to get
to the end of the tourist season as the boat was half empty. I went for a dive
at the first reek so Knackers had to partner up with a buddy. Who did he choose,
the guy from the motel next to us (affectionately known as 'Socko' or the blonde German tourist? Tough call. In the end I think it was the hat that swayed the decision, observe
without hat (with socks) with hat (without socks). I rest my case. Hello Sonia, Desiree and Kathleen...you are now famous and I told you this is a family website!!! So the rest of the week was taken up with putting the truck back together, the damage list tallies so far 2 shocks 4 springs 3 speakers 1 battery holder 1 air conditioner hose 1 driving light 1 CB antenna 2 rims 1 tire 1 toolbox mount (you know the big bolt down toolboxes? Well it's not bolted down anymore) 1 lower dash cover 1 handbrake lever 6 wheel studs 5 wheel nuts So far. Knackers reckons I shouldn't be allowed to own a vehicle. So where do you start. First thing ..................................................................................................put on some seat covers!!!
And doesn't she look good!?!? (this is not cosmetic, the dust is everywhere and the covers cost all of $10)!!! Well we should be rolling by Thursday and it may be a while before the next update so remember J. and I love u and....................................................................................................................enjoy your shitty jobs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who do we run in to?
Finally left Cairns on Friday. Knackers asked, "is this all you do, wait around for the car to get fixed?" But not before a quick, very relevant picture.
Knackers insisted on this one.
Did the legendary Bloomfield track. How times have changed. 17 years ago, when I was up here I signed a petition against putting the track through, now I'm ripping it up with a 4wd. Some spectacular scenery, shame about the track though. We passed a 3 ton moving van, a Falcon station wagon which we had to help out and an HD sedan on the way in. Very steep in places but no longer a real 4wd track.
I like this shot The night before the Grand Final we had our pre-game preparation at the Lion's Den Hotel. It would have been appropriate to stay but we had to move on.
The big day. At Mareeba, stinking hot, even too hot to wear my Brisbane Lions 2001 Grand Final shirt!!! A 3 km walk to the pub and I forgot my wallet. Knackers is already smelling a rat. Hardly anyone around (we watch league up here boy!!) and the Lions were SENSATIONAL wooping some serious Collingwood butt. Some nice text messages from Ronnie and Mo who were, to their credit very gracious Collingwood fans in what must have been a devastating loss. Can I reciprocate as a gracious Lions winner?
NO WAY!! STICK IT UP'EM!!! IT'S COLLINGWOOD THEY DESERVE IT, WHAT BETTER THAN SEEING EDDIE CRY, MICK YA SOOK AND LET'S NOT FORGET GOOD OLD BUCKLES EH!!! BRISBANE LIONS HAT TRICK WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! Let's see the picture again
As I've been known to say "It doesn't get any better than this". |
.............................oh.
Lunch and a swim in the Laura River. Up or down?
The facilities at camp.
This must be the way. Past
the Wenlock River, note the sign up the tree....
Close up 
....and
no hot water until the donkey gets going and then......no hot water.
is
he gonna jump? 
He did.
Twin
Falls, some interesting shots taken at night yet to be developed by Jonno. It seems like
there was more than one full moon out that night. 
Now my turn.
Fantastic I say!!
Nolans Creek
What
do I do Knackers?
A
great swim and some lunch but there was a strange grinding noise from my damaged
wheel. I had been checking it on the way down (we took the bypass road this time
- hereby referred to as softies track) and I was checking the wheels regularly.
So off it comes, no obvious damage but still noisy and I insist on taking the
brake drum off to look.
Yay!!!!!!!!
and who do I meet? 
.To
be......
Careful Knackers!!! The only picture of the motel, RIGHT under the flight path to
the airport. Hello Bluey!! There's more teachers in Cairns than at a
regular staff meeting!!!
