Northern Territory

300 clicks of corrugations later, we took the turn off to 7 Emu Station. As we neared the homestead we gained on an old Land Cruiser that was averaging 40kms per hour, it obviously belonged to one of the station hands so you would expect them to successfully cross the river directly before their own homestead. However, we discovered that this was not the case. After snatching our indigenous friend out of the river, we finally found ourselves at the homestead/ reception area where we were given some very vague directions to the camp. The camp site was amazing - it was on a steep cliff which overlooked the pristine Robinson River Valley, we even had a loo with a view.

Finally made it to the border........

cute camp dog at 7 Emu - reminded me of Tess

we love long drop toilets....



After a few days we noticed that supplies were dwindling so we decided to take a day trip to Boorooloola which is an infamous NT Aboriginal Community. We originally had planned to spend a night here after we departed 7 Emu Station,but very quickly changed our minds. We did our grocery shop at one of the local stores and stocked up on the basics (poxy vegetables, overpriced meat and long life milk) and visited the local art gallery. As takeaway alcohol sales weren't available until 2.30pm we decided to drive the 50kms to a seaside town called King Ash Bay and enjoy a nice lunch by the water. When we arrived in King Ash Bay we were greeted at the Fishing Club by an unwelcoming old bag who informed us that we couldn't get lunch NT style (Not Today, Not Tomorrow, Not Tuesday or Not Thursday). So we filled up with petrol and made our way back to Boorooloola for some surprisingly good takeaway grub. It was now 2.30pm so we made our way to the supermarket to buy ourselves a carton of beer. $65, a breathalyser test and an ID check later we had ourselves a carton of Carlton Midstrenghts - what an ordeal!!!! We do not plan to visit Boorooloola ever again.

We really enjoyed the rest of our time at 7 Emu Station even though we didn't land a decent fish the whole time. Frank (who is the indigenous Station owner) took us on a tour of the property and taught us a lot about his family history, bush tucker and bush medicine. He also told tales about kidneys and ball sacks being ruptured, his father swimming across flooded croc infested rivers and he even pointed out a few of the trees under which his mother had given birth to his 9 siblings.

Sadly we had to leave 7 Emu Station, but we knew that another adventure was just around the corner. We thought that we would treat ourselves to a night in a cabin with some internet access and electricity, so we made our way to Cape Crawford for a night before we arrived at our next 'bush camping' destination. We checked into the 'Heart Break Hotel' which is the only thing in Cape Crawford. It was a lovely little park and we were able to do a few loads of washing, eat a pub meal, play a game of darts, stock up on booze (still overpriced, but no breathalyser was involved) and talk to lots of other travellers about road conditions etc.

The next morning we packed up early and drove to Lorealla Springs where we met our friends Carmen and Kev. We had a quick dip in one of the hot springs (it took away all of our aches and pains) and made our way to Rosie Creek Fishing Camp. The campsite is located 80kms down a dirt 4WD track, and we only got stuck once. We were in awe when we finally arrived (3 hours later) as we were once again able to set up camp directly in front of another beautiful creek. The fishing was pretty awesome, it's not too often you throw back a 39cm Mangrove Jack because your esky is all ready full!!!! We also caught some decent Cod, Trevally (Giant and Golden), QLD Grouper, Queenie, a Sickle Fish and a stinking Baracuda. As we sat around our camp fire of a night we could hear the crocodiles splashing around and would even catcht a glimpse of those creepy red eyes.

carsales.com.au????

Waz and his cuda

Belle and the cod that is bigger than the one Waz got (fishing isn't a competition)

Waz and Jack

 Belle and Jack

After a few days of fishing and relaxing we made our way back to Lorella Springs with a quick stop at 'Nudie Springs', which remains heated at 38 degrees. Luckily we were the only people there so we did not see any 'nudie grey nomads' - what a relief. We stayed overnight at Lorella Springs to soak in the hot springs and wash away all of that dust before heading to Limmen Bight Fishing Camp.

 Springs at Lorella that soothed our aches and pains...

We had heard mixed reports on Limmen Bight from other travellers and weren't sure what to expect. John Hall (who we bought our boat from) raved about the place, but others had complained about the stinky toilets and lack of facilities. We were greeted with a detour sign (spelt detor) at the gates to the camp which was a bit confusing as there was no detour. Through the gate and past the rusted out vehicles we found ourselves at the homestead/reception where we were greeted by the owner and his son, they were pretty rough country Territorians, but both had hearts of gold (as long as you never crossed them).

During our Limmen Bight experience we weren't overly energetic, and enjoyed sleep ins and afternoon fishing sessions for a couple of days. We caught plenty of barras but they were all undersized, we also got a few Jacks and Groupers. We spent some time with Steve the owner and his sons who told us lots of stories about the camp, people who had stayed there and a heap of local information. He had lived in the area for 46 years and had married a local indigenous girl. When Waz noted his interest in a mining proposal in the area he then showed us some awesome maps of the indigenous history of the area which was a real privilege. Although we had no cash on us we bought a book from him on the basis that we leave the money for him at the 5 Star supermarket in Katherine. If we could function on this level of trust on a day to day basis the world would be a much better place.

Rampy the crocodile (a croc as big as our boat who hangs out near the boat ramp)

a shark ate Waza's barra

Another pack up and we were on the corrugated road again - we weren't really sure where to though. We thought about staying at Roper Bar but when we saw the hoards of grey nomads we decided to keep going to Mataranka which is famous for it's natural hot springs. After 3 weeks of bull dust, long drop toilets or shovels, dribbly showers and no phone or internet access we were very happy to arrive at campground with all of the modern amenities. Belle enjoyed an hour long shower and we both enjoyed catching up with family and friends on the phone. We also realized that we had got our first flat tyre of the trip, which is a pretty good effort after 11,000kms of corrugated, dirt, sand and rocky tracks. Waz was able to change the tyre with on a grassy patch with a cold beer in hand - it was awesome.
One of our favourite pass times is to watch other campers set up their tents, and giggle while they fight and swear at each other - we would never do anything like that........ All of the grey nomads even cleared out this morning - we are in heaven. We have even been able to enjoy a restaurant cooked meal which was a real treat. Tomorrow we are going to pack up again and head to Katherine and Daly Waters which should be lots of fun. Then off to Darwin to catch up with Lorimyers and Rob......

Quick dip at Bitter Springs

Barra feeding at the campground

Why can't we catch a barra this big??????

Aye Karumba

We spent a few days in Cairns getting bits and pieces sorted and catching up with SidRock. We took our trailer to a mob called "Cape York Trailers", and they were absolutely fantastic. They were really helpful (the complete opposite of Weipa Auto), so if you ever need any work done on your trailer you should go and see Ted and the boys.

We left Cairns on Thursday and hit the Savanah Way - what a drive. Even though the weather wasn't great the view was amazing, we drove through Atherton and Ravenshoe (pronounced Ravens-Toe). We were going to stop in at Undara and see the caves, but the tours took over two hours and they had no food (it was 2pm and hadn't eaten all day) so we jumped into the big rig and made our way to Georgetown.

Georgetown was a sleepy little town and we booked ourselves into a Motel for the night. We also decided that we would eat at the Motel Restaurant. When our entree (garlic bread) came out microwaved we should have fixed up the bill and made a run for it, but we were famished and lazy so we ordered our mains. I have eaten some pretty terrible meals in my life, but I probably have to say that this meal was one of the worst so far.

Waz found a DTMR branch at Georgetown.... should he transfer????

The next day we departed early (without stopping for breakfast at the Motel Restaurant) and made our way to Normanton. We only stopped in briefly to take a photo of the gigantic crocodile and the purple pub. For those of you who do not know the story of Kris The Savannah King I will tell you now. Back in 1957 a tough bird by the name of Krystina Pawlowski shot dead a 28ft 4in (8.63m) crocodile on the MacArthur Bank of the Norman River just downstream from Normanton. All of the photos were lost in the 1974 floods, but they created a popular tourist attraction with a life-sized cast which sits outside the Normanton Council Chambers.

payback for eating those crocodile springrolls in Cooktown

Waz ate most of the spring rolls

the purple pub



72kms later and we arrived in Karumba. Initially I thought that we may have taken a wrong turn to a retirement village, but quickly realized that we were just seeing the hoards of Grey Nomads who annually visit Karumba with their 20 foot caravans. We also noticed a sign at the entrance of the caravan park which informed us that there had been chlorination issues, and the water was unsafe to drink. Luckily we had stopped in at First Choice in Cairns so we had plenty of beer and spirits, so dehydration would not be a problem (just winding up our parents now).

It was a slow start to our fishing adventure, but on our second day in the water our luck improved. Between the two of us we caught about 20 Grunter, but only one was legal and a nice queenfish. Unlike the GMs (grey nomads) we threw the undersized ones back and were happy to only take back enough fish for our dinner that night. If you feel strongly about sustainable fishing I would urge you not to go to the filleting table of the Karumba Point Tourist Park, it is unbelievable how the GMs disregard bag limits and minimum sizes. When we weren't fishing we were chilling out at the Sunset pub enjoying a cold beer (remember the water was unsafe to drink and it has one of the best aspects to watch the sunset in Queensland if not Oz) or riding our fold up bikes around the town.

sigh............... another sunset....

Waz enjoying the bike..........

After four days of hearing the GMs moan (Waz got chipped by a cranky old fart at the boat ramp while doing nothing wrong) we decided that it was time to leave. The big lesson learnt from our Karumba experience was, do not, under any circumstances visit Karumba between May and mid August unless you like mixing it with gray nomads, packed boat ramps and camps with absolute road frontage. Would be an awesome spot any other time.

might bring a puppy home with us....

The crowded rocks at Karumba

Didn't have a wide lense to capture all of the boats at the ramp....

Our friends Kev and Carm (Kev Carmody) had arrived a few days earlier so we arranged a nice little trip out to Kingfisher Camp (about 100kms from the NT border) on our way further north west towards Boorooloola.

Leichardt Falls

watch out for those angry cows........

The drive to Kingfisher was an interesting one and we were finally back on some dirt - we love corrugations!!! We were flagged down by some German backpackers who had broken down on the side of the road just outside Burketown (what a dump but nice pub - dont expect food though). While Waz and Kev tinkered with the car we learnt that their old petrol 4WD had got stuck in a river crossing at 3pm the previous afternoon. Unfortuantely for them, no cars passed until lunch time the next day so they had to spend 12 hours in the croc infested river until they were rescued. The boys managed to fix the car, and they were on their way again.

Waz got an icebreak in Burketown, but broke his last pair of pluggers

We had planned to stay at Kingfisher Camp for 2 nights, but as soon as we arrived we knew that we would have to extend this by at least another night or two - there wasn't a caravan or grey nomad to be seen. King Fisher Camp was located on a beautiful 5km waterhole on the Nicholson River which happened to be home to squillions of fresh water crocodiles. On a typical day we would get up when it was warm enough, slowly caffeinate and breakfast ourselves and then head out on the river for a bit of croc spotting and fishing and head back to camp for late afternoon snacks and beers followed by dinner around the camp fire. We tried to extract local information from Young Mate (he was temporarily running the camp ground) but he was a couple of B52s short of a tackle box and hadn't been blessed in the brain department, all the same he was a nice bloke but wasn't able to offer us any local knowledge. He also had weird googly eyes and freaked me out a little bit. The fishing was a bit slow, but lots of fun. We caught archer fish, sooty grunter, mouth or mighty, long toms and a big stinking cat fish. There were barra there, we saw them every day and Waz hooked one that was over a metre but was unable to get the mongrel. After four nights at King Fisher it was time to make a move so we hit the road early and headed towards Hell's Gates, our final destination being 7 Emu Station.

fresh water croc - isn't he cute

sooty grunter

waterhole at KingFisher Camp

The Bloomfield Track

Cooktown
Cooktown was windy and cold, we didn't do much fishing - those fishing charters nevered happened. Instead we focused on sightseeing and relaxing. We climbed Mount Cook (which tested our non-exsistent fitness levels - that triathlon was a looooooooooooong time ago). We went out to the spectualar Archer Point and visited Keating Lagoon. We also dined at the 1770 restaurant and sampled some crocodile spring rolls (they tasted like chicken - but chewier). We also read books and drank a few beers. Cooktown is a beautiful spot and we wouldn't mind coming back one day.

View from Mount Cook

Mmmmmmm..... crocodile spring rolls

Keatings Lagoon - ACHTUNG!!!!!

Captain Cook

We left Cooktown bright and early and were ready to tackle the infamous Bloomfield track which is the costal route from Cooktown to Cape Tribulation. Due to the 'big wet season' work was being undertaken on the Bloomfield River Causeway which resulted in a 20 minute wait. Waz met a former collegue from DPI and they enjoyed a chinwag while Belle enjoyed chatting about camp kitchens with his wife. Once over the river the going got pretty tough and we drove through some of the steepest country we ever have. It is kind of scary driving down near verticle slopes with over a tonne of trailer behind you. Regardless - it is a beautiful drive through the rainforrest, and while stopping for a widdle stop - I managed to see the elusive cassowary. It took us three and a half hours to drive the 110km from Cooktown to Cape Tribulation, which gives you an idea of how tough the going was.

We checked out a few places on the coast, but decided to stay at the Daintree village. We got a bit sick of absolute beachfront campsites, so we decided that we would like an absolute river campsite instead - while we are writing this blog we are overlooking the Daintree River (with a cold stones gingerbeer in hand). By the way it is probabaly about 27degrees celcius........... How's Brisbane?????

The Bloomfield Track - very steep

View from our campsite on the Daintree River

Property bordering the Daintree

Mossman Gorge

The Yowie in his natural habitat

Nice tree

We did a bit of sighseeing around Cape Tribulation and explored the Daintree National Park. We sampled some of the famous Daintree local ice cream, and walked along many of the walking tracks. Ever Friday night is Pizza night at the Daintree Village Camp Ground, it was an experience that we will never forget. We gathered around the communal camp fire with our fellow campers while we waited for our pizzas to be delivered. Our fellow campers wer certainly a mixed bag. There were a group of young French Backpackers, drunk yuppy Sydneysiders, strange German fuddyduddys who played the harmonica, grumpy old men who moaned about their lives and the the gay properietor who wore t-shirts that were at least 5 sizes too small that exposed his hairy pudgy gut.

The next day we drove to Port Douglas to visit our friends Kev and Carmen (who own an impressive dive boat), they had invited us to spend the night on their boat. We went for a cruise up the creek in one of the tenders and got up close and personal with a big crocodile. Instead of driving into town for dinner, we drove the boat up to the yacht club and enjoyed a boozy dinner and a game of pool.  The next morning (with a slight hangover) we climbed the Bump Track.  This was a very steep exhausting climb, but the views were amazing and it was good to get the heart rate up.

Another bloody croc......

A little bit close if you ask me.....

View from the Bump Track

We are currently staying in Cairns for a couple of nights. We needed to get some work done on the camper trailer, rods repaired and the car and boat are both due for services. I also think that I will book myself in for a service (haircut, pedicure and manicure that is). Wednesday morning we plan to jump into the big rig and make our way up to the Gulf.

Lakefield National Park

While Weipa Auto were busy fleecing our bank account we were busy fishing, filleting fish, croc spotting and enjoying camp cooked beef roasts with our new friends. One afternoon we were fishing for Coral Trout out on a close inshore reef right near the camp ground and we spotted a huuuuuuuuuuuuuge croc about 50 metres from the boat. Not only was this croc big - but it was bigger than our boat. Luckilly the Crocodile wasn't intersted in us - and he swam out to sea. We had plans to camp out at Stones Crossing, but were unable to actually get there - the road was almost impassible (unless you were an experienced red neck pig shooter) so we continued to sit tight at Weipa. Due to the severity of the problems with the brakes, and the 'island time mentality of the staff at Weipa Auto' we didn't leave Weipa until the 14th of June.

 Our kitchen intruder - the neighbours got a vicious brown snake (we were lucky)

Waz with dinner - beer battered cod, chips and salad.

couple of crocs sunning themselves at Roberts Creek

We packed up the trailer and headed South, it was Origin night and we were pretty keen to watch the game. We decided to stay at Laura for the night (a small town with a population of 80). We set up camp and then headed to the local pub for kick-off. The bar was tended by 4 young pommie girls who could have been mistaken for some of the patrons teenage daughters. When the crowds arrived (the indigenous folk from as far as Bamaga which is roughly 600km away) the girls looked like they had seen a ghost. Initially the crowd was barracking for QLD and when Thurston kicked a pentalty goal they went wild. However when the blues started to take the lead half of the pub had suddenly become blues supporters. All in all it was a great night and an experience that we will remember for a long time.

 

Filling up at Musgrave Station



Glad we didn't need to use the telephones.

 The next morning we drove to Lakefield National Park and set up camp at Kalpower, which was a really pretty spot along the banks of the Normbany River. We spent a couple of days fishing the river, but didn't land a single fish. While we were cooking up steak and vegie patties for dinner, our neighbours were filleting massive barras every afternoon. This didn't sit too well with us, so we packed up the trailer and headed off for the next part of our adventure.

White Lilly Lagoon

why you should always camp at least 50metres from the river banks....

Waz not catching any fish....

We decided to take the Battle Camp Track to Cooktown. The road climbs up and down the Iron Range and the views are pretty spectacular. We stopped in at Lake Emma (reminded me of you Charltone) and then stopped at Isabella Falls where we dipped our feet into the saltwater crocodile free water.

Isabella Falls

We arrived in Cooktown early in the afternoon and did a fairly dodgy job of setting up the trailer. We wanted to go out and check out Cooktown and have a dinner on the waterfront. While at the 'Top Pub' we had a heated discussion with some of the local bar flies. We were interested to know exactly where they consider Far North Queensland ends and Cape York begins. We didn't really get a straight answer but the bar fly did call Waz a yowie (Waz is now sporting a thick beard and a bigger fro than me). We are going to hang around Cooktown for a while and spend a day on a Reef Charter (maybe a River Charter one day too). We then plan to take the Bloomfield Track down to Cairns