Cape York Report August 2012

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

That night there was a dingo hanging around near our camp site. It was howling like mad and someone else's dog was going off it's nut at it. The dingo hung around for a bit and then disappeared. Unlike the Fraser Is dingos, the Cape York ones actually fear humans and don't rummage through people's sh*t.

The next morning we fueled up and then made our way towards the Tele Track. It was exciting seeing most of the other campers doing some last minute preparations before leaving the campground to head north on the OTT. It was almost like the calm before the storm type thing. There were no "G'days" that morning between campers, just silent nods or a simple flick of the head.

We were one of the last ones to leave Bramwell that morning at 10am. And off we went not really knowing what to expect and quietly nervous but super excited at the same time.




We filled up with petrol first and then waited near the entrance of the OTT for the GU to fill up afterwards. And we waited, and waited, and waited.... The tension was driving me nuts. I already needed to go to the toilet again only a few minutes after going before.



The GU joined us and then we headed for the Tele Track and seemingly had it all to ourselves because everybody else had already left.



And finally one last photo before we head down the Tele Track.

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

The track quickly narrowed and we traveled slowly, soaking it all up. Making sure nothing went by unnoticed. I expected Palm Ck to be about 2 minutes away but ended up taking us about 20 mins to reach it.





Most of the creeks were signed which I wasn't expecting.
En route to Palm Ck there was a sign saying to not place any logs on the track because they cause damage to vehicles. We did place some on the track in the left hand wheel track to help level the cars out a bit because it was pretty cambered. But then we threw the logs to the side afterwards again for someone else to later if they needed them.



We quickly made our way down into the creek on foot to inspect the track, and man was she a doozy. The decent into Palm Ck didn't disappoint. But not once did we ever think about turning around. We decided we were doing it. This is what we came up here for.

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

That's me running down the hill after inspecting the exit. It was steep and rutted and I wanted to make sure we had a tree we could winch from.



Doing some quick track building for vehicle preservation before we take the plunge. There was an exposed rock on the L.H.S of the cambered drop-in which the side step grinds on as you steer your car around it and into the creek. I wanted the cars to ride a couple of inches higher next to that rock to illiminate the risk of panel damage.



It was time to take the plunge. I was officially crapping myself. We had a retired couple rock up and watch as we were driving into the creek. They turned around and went back after we drove the creek.
They did the Tele Track in 2008 and said the entrance into Palm Ck looked much easier then compared to now. I could only imagine what it would've been like that the start of the 2012 dry season with all the reports of how slippery the exit was & everybody having to winch out of it.

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

The exhaust tip got flattened on the bottom a bit where I dropped into the mud at the bottom. I bent it fully open again later on.

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

I've done plenty of steep hill driving & treated the exit as such. 2nd gear low range to minimize wheel slip and up I went at a snail's pace at 1200rpm approx. At the crest of the hill I even got the front left wheel a few inches off the ground I was told. It was a bit cambered at the top of the climb. I'd hate to think of anyone strapping their car up here at blistering pace when it's dry because with a little common sense you really don't need to.

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

It's the little things like this that add to the Cape's notoriety. A radiator and exhaust suspended in the fork of a tree 12 feet high... Wtf haha. Further north we even saw a 6ft tall termite mound dressed in a high-vis vest, had a hard hat on and and ID tag on a string hanging around it's neck.



Ducie... Before arriving here I was expecting it to be deep. But at this time of year it was only 3/4 tyre depth. The right hand side of the deep hole seemed the best option.



We checked out the exits and the two on the left required lockers to do them safely because they were deeply rutted and cambered... We were fresh out of lockers so we took the steep exit to the right and expected to winch out of it. YES!!! We get to use the winches!!!

[derek11 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close derek11]

The exit from Palm Creek has changed alot from May this year, it looks like a piece of cake now

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

You're spot on Derek, it was easy. I saw pictures and video footage of it in May and it was slop with a big bog hole halfway up.

Parked on the sandbank while we walked the crossing & the exits. Plus we had this track to ourselves so we could take call day. I let the GU go first because with those massive brand new MTZ's he was going to be the one to make it up the hill out of the two of us. But I didn't really expect any of us to be able to drive up that hill successfully.

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

Now it was my turn. The GU had the rope, but I opted for the steel cable.
A group had just rocked up while the GU was winching out. During that time they had repeated attempts on the 2 tracks to the left and it was proving difficult for them because they were getting a front wheel nearly 2 feet in the air at the crest of the other tracks. Eventually somebody got up and over the top & was able to snatch their mates up.



Once I winched out I had to snatch a Mitsubishi Triton up from a group of two well decked out matching Tritons who had buckleys of driving out of the 3 tracks to choose from. They were getting their cars at scary looking cambered angles trying to get over the crests. Neither of them had winches, but wouldn't have had to wait long for somebody else to help if we weren't there. We kept running into these two blokes probably another 8 times on the trip in different locations. They were really nice fellas & always up for a laugh.

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

Some more of the OTT at the easily missed South Alice Ck. There were a few groups pulled over here for a lunch time break on the wide clearings on the side of the track.



When we approached Dulhunty we got a little lost because of the several tracks going off to the left and right. We ended up in the major camping area on the left which was fairly empty and spotted 100 series boy's cruiser. The guys in the GU quickly said on the UHF, "quick, get out of here!" 100 series boy had all his undies and some other clothes hanging on a long bit of clothes line string tied between two trees 5 meters apart. When I saw the heaps of jocks I thought his mouth got back up from the constant flow of sh*t and it must've bypassed to his backside. Anyway, we weren't hanging around and quickly found the track across the river. 100 series boy was nowhere in site so he must've been squatting in the bush with his shovel by his side. That's all I could assume. We stayed at Dulhunty for two nights on the way back so more on that later.

This is Bertie Ck. 5 minutes north of Dulhunty. At this crossing we had to hook right on the bank and follow it for 20m or so and then cross the creek to avoid the large holes in the rocky creek bed. It's a beautiful little fast flowing creek and the water is ice cold. We pulled over here for about an hour for a break because it was such a nice spot. It was 2pm, pretty hot and the cool water was a welcome relief.



While we were stopped here for an hour we met "old mate." The guy we dubbed old mate was a man in his late 40's from South Australia. Now this is the clincher... He traveled alone all the way into the Cape. He was driving a 60 series Landcruiser & had no recovery gear whatsoever. If it weren't for us jumping up, waving our arms like crazy and yelling for him to stop he would've driven a straight line across Bertie Ck and cocked it up big time. He would've dropped his car into a deep hole and probably wouldn't have been able to get out without assistance. With the deep water in those holes and the volume at which it flows, it wouldn't have been pretty. Me and my mate stood as human witches hats showing him where to drive his car through safely. He was very thankful and got out for a chat afterwards.

Old mate stayed at Bramwell Station the night before, not to be confused with Bramwell Junction for those that haven't been up to the Cape before. He drove to Palm Ck following some others he met the the night before at the camp ground. After the others got their cars through Palm Ck he was hesitant to drive his down into the entry. Old mate then decided to double back to the PDR turn off at Bramwell Junction and re-join the OTT a little further north... And that is where we met him next to stop him from making a BIG mistake.

Some of the holes are thigh deep and big enough to swallow a wheel, a front or rear end and if it goes really pear shaped, half your car.

Old mate admitted he would've just driven straight through because it was deceiving and looked fine. He had a bit of a chuckle when he stood over one of the deep holes and realised that his car could've been stuck in there right about now. He was heading up to the tip he said he didn't really have any plan as to where he was going to camp that night. He'd play it by ear he said. After a 10 min chat he hopped back in his car and continued north. We left 5 mins later and then caught up with him again at Gunshot a little bit up the road.

[Mark from Brisbane Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark from Brisbane]

We had a bunch of "young guns" in front of us...pretty good guys actually and they were very helpful to us as we didn't have winches either. There was a GU Patrol amongst them, front and rear lockers and he just charged through each crossing at a gazillion miles an hour. Also a young guy, in what I reckon was a "farm ute" 76 V8, again charged through everything...that's one way to do it I suppose.

They actually commented to us that after seeing us go through a few crossings that they had never seen 4WD's put though so "daintely".....well in my opinion my Prado 150 is also mine and my wifes personal car, so I had no thoughts of wrecking it just to be a show off!!

So we probably had a different experience to you Brett, we searched for the easy way on every crossing and never had to use recovery gear once!! (BUT remember we didn't do the Northern section either).

Anyway loving the photo's and brings back even more memories of a great trip we had just 2 months ago!!

[Mickmick Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Mickmick]

Hi
We are planning to head around Australia soon, including Cape York. Not sure what modifications we need, and I mean need, for such a trip as you are showing. 120 series D4D. Snorkel? Do I need to lift it? Etc etc. Your experience and advice much appreciated.

Mickmick