Our Cape York and Gulf Country Adventure

[pradogang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradogang]

Not yet Steve, but I will get around to it.

Cheers

Jim

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

Great report Jim, keep it coming.
And you will have to start one for Fraser as well now

[pradogang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradogang]

We continued south passing through the quarantine station north of Coen, then Coen and onto Musgrave Roadhouse for lunch. The road between Musgrave and Laura was a new track for us as we had come north via Battlecamp Road. It was much the same as further north with a combination of corrugations, smooth and bitumen although the sandy patches became less frequent. There are plenty of straight sections where you can see ahead for many kilometres.

Most of the creeks are like this, they need some rain up there.



The Hann River Roadhouse is a good place to have a rest. Like many of the places on the Cape you meet backpackers who are doing a few months of work in regional places to gain an extension to their visas. We chatted to a couple from Wales who were already feeling the heat, they are there until the end of December!


Then onto Laura where we caught up with our group. Brett in the GU had headed back to Brisbane so it we were down to three vehicles, (2x200series and the Prado).
Lots of stories were exchanged, the Frenchman's track had been challenging but they got through ok.

We were glad to have our vehicles and not have to battle the Cape tracks in this, which is a replica of the first car to make it to the tip.

[pradogang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradogang]

With the rugged roads and tracks of Cape York behind and bitumen ahead we set off on our Gulf Country section of the trip.

Just south of Laura is Split Rock which has some great Aboriginal rock art. It has a spiritual feel about it.





We really enjoyed the Palmer River Roadhouse, it has a great atmosphere with lots of interesting information inside. It would be a good place to spend the night.

[pradogang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradogang]

Just north of Mareeba is the Golden Pride Winery, which produces wines made from mangoes. We enjoyed the visit and after sampling a variety of wines we left with some wine. This place is well worth the visit.
It was strange to be back in civilization with traffic lights and roundabouts. We decided to spend a few days at Granite Gorge Nature Park, which is about 10km outside Mareeba and offers both camping sites and cabins. The rock formations which are fascinating allow for a variety of walks around some massive boulders.

These rock wallabies are everywhere and are quite tame.


Our next stop was Chillagoe where we wanted to visit the limestone caves.




The outside temperature was 35 degrees so during our tour we were enjoying the coolness of the caves.

Chillagoe has an interesting mining history and a very well set up tourist information centre called The Hub, it's well worth a visit. It seems every outback town is claiming a link with the dinosaurs.

[pradogang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradogang]

There is a great guy called Tom who has an amazing collection of Ford vehicles just outside of town at Chillagoe so we spent a bit of time having a look.







The Falcon GT is his pride and joy.

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Now that's protecting what you have, wow never seen anything like that before.....Looks sweet though...Cheers Steve

[pradogang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradogang]

We travelled down a well maintained dirt road to Mt Surprise. The Bedrock Caravan Park is a good place to use as a base when exploring the surrounding area. The pictorial history of how they developed the park from scratch is great.
We took advantage of their guided tour to see the Undara Lava Tubes.


The tubes are huge and run for many kilometres.


They are well worth visiting.

[pradogang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradogang]

We continued on our westward journey on the Savannah Way to Georgetown where at the information centre you can view an amazing collection of rocks and fossils. Again well worth the visit. These little towns all seem to have well presented information centres which give you a chance to chat to the locals and find out about the place.



The Gilbert River. They sure need some rain.



Next stop was Croydon, which is the end of the line for the famous Gulflander train which runs between Normanton and Croydon. The heat was oppressive so we managed to find a shady spot for lunch and have a quick look around. The history of this place is very interesting and you could easily spend a day or two just looking around at all the sites.

A tiny speck in a "land of sweeping plains"


Some say banks are taking us to the #%$@house

[pradogang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradogang]

Some pics of Croydon.







Yes it gets hot there!

[pradogang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradogang]

The drive from Croydon to Normanton is only 155km but it would have to be one of the most boring I have done, thankfully the Prado covers the distance smoothly and comfortably.

By the time we got there Chris was a bit stir crazy!






Normanton hasn't changed too much since I was last there in 1974. On the other hand Karumba has changed, it had been terribly damaged by the 1974 floods. I have a vivid memory of having to drive around a house that had been washed out of the town.



Our plan was to chill out for a few days and enjoy some of the local seafood.

Some local flora!

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Looking pretty dry out there.....Cheers Steve

[pradogang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradogang]

Karumba is famous for its seafood so there is nothing better than sitting in the beer garden, enjoying a beer, some prawns and a Gulf sunset.



After a relaxing stay in Karumba it was time to head south towards home.
Going back through Normanton we checked out some of the sights.


Unfortunately the Gulflander was on its way to Croydon, but this is where it lives.


Next stop was the Burke and Wills Roadhouse enroute to our overnight stop in Julia Creek.
Not the most attractive camp ground we saw on the trip!

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

Nice trip & pics!

[pradogang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradogang]

The forecast was for a hot day.


The northwest of Queensland is in severe drought, we didn't see many cattle at all and those that we did were in poor condition.

You have to give way to these big boys!

It was good to see the "Creek" again. We enjoyed the air conditioning in the newly refurbished cabins at the caravan park.
Next day we headed east along the Flinders Highway towards our next stop at Hughenden. It was a bit nostalgic for me as we were going to see my first one-teacher school at Maxwelton, it had been 38 years since I left.
It was a bit sad, the post office, pub, railway station and my living quarters were all gone and the school itself, having closed in the 1990's was in poor condition.


The small building in the background is the toilet block. When it was opened in 1975 we had a big party and people came from miles away to inspect how "septic toilets" worked. So sad to see these little communities fading away.

Richmond has built a good tourist industry around the dinosaur fossils found in the area. Kronosaurus Korner is a must see!