Sunday August 31st - Top of Cape York

"We made it!" We have officially made it to the northern most tip of Australia.
 
We are camped at a place called Loyalty Beach, only 30km or so from the top of Cape York, a west facing beach with a beauitful outlook and plenty of water to wash off the red dust. The trek to the top was completed yesterday when we clambered over a rocky range, down to a little outcrop on the water that is the geographical tip. A small sign marked the official spot, stating the longtitude and latitude and reassuring us that we were in fact at the northern most point.
 
It was a great feeling, and after a gruelling second day on the Old Telegraph Track, it was a pleasure to see what we had come all this way for. The 4WDing was fantastic and non-stop. Our day was filled with river crossings and steep eroded banks, as well as washouts and incredible holes, both in and out of the water. We did two recoveries, one after our rear diff got hung up on a massive bank exiting a river, and the second from deep sand on the track to the Jardine River.
 
The car and trailer managed magnificently and some of the angles they were on was amazing. Big name crossings like Gunshot and Nolan's Brook were conquered with no worries, as well as the dodgey old log bridge crossing at Cypress Creek (that a car had put a wheel thru a week prior). The kids loved the whole episode and Ella spent a lot of her time sleeping on the roughest parts...bizarre!
 
All up, the trek up the Cape via the Old Telegraph Track was everything we had been hoping for and more. We will now hang about enjoying the gorgeous environment and perhaps move further south to another beach on the western side of the Cape tomorrow.
 
Three Tawny Frogmouths (owls) have been roosting in the tree next to our camp for the last two days, disappearing at night and appearing again in the morning. They're not as interested by our presence as we are by theirs. This morning the kids have been playing with a large but dead mud crab. I guess at the end of the day the world is a playground right?
 
 

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Thursday 28th August - Cape York (Elliot Falls)

 

It's funny how when you are in the warmth it feels like the whole world is too. It is hard to imagine the 4 to 12 degrees that Melbourne is in, as we enjoy another balmy 32 degree day.

 

Reception is an elusive stranger out here so I attempt to write the goings on bit by bit. I will post these pieces when we once again hit the bright lights….or at least a telecommunications tower.

 

We are now well and truly on track to the 'Tip'. We are on Cape York at a place called Elliot Falls, a well known place to wet your toes on the trek to the top. Gorgeous waterfalls (Twin Falls, Indian Head and Fruit Bat Falls included) that allow a rare opportunity for Croc-free swimming this far north. We are only a hundred km's from the tip and up here the peninsula is less than 80km across.

 

It is dry and arid, quite different to how we both pictured it. The trip east to the coast at Chilli Beach was a voyage through the more familiar rainforest as we travelled through the Iron Range. However that is apparently the only true rainforest on the Cape.

 

Chilli Beach was blowy and a bit stinky but also quite interesting as you realise how far up the east coast you are. The tide came in and out and bought with it the inevitable rubbish that blows up the east coast of Australia. We can only blame ourselves for that one! The place however was quite beautiful with stark white silica beaches, meeting the frenzied growth of the rainforest.

 

On our way back to the development road from Chilli Beach, we took the lesser known Frenchman's Track, which turned out to be a fantastic decision. The track was great fun, with heaps of washouts and holes to negotiate, not to mention that it ran along the top of the Iron Range before dropping down into the Pascoe River. The Pascoe River crossing, according to our reference books, is a notorious crossing on this track and can be not only deep but extremely hazardous. Being quite late in the season the water level was acceptable, just coming up to the sills on our cruiser, but the approach and departures from the river were more than challenging even without a camper trailer. With an extremely steep descent from the southern side and a long rocky climb over boulders out of the river, it would definitely be the toughest thing we had been through as yet.

 

The Frenchman's Track is not recommended for trailers and right in front of us was the reason why. However with a good walking of the river and a discussion about our best line, we decided the car was capable of pulling the trailer out the other side. The convenient positioning of a couple of cruisers with winches (having smoko) on the other side, certainly cemented our feeling that it was now or never. We made it through. The rest of the track was just as interesting and challenging as we drove through to meet with the development road and continued heading north to Bramwell Junction and the start of the OTL (Old Telegraph Line).

 

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July 12th - Palm Cove

Still here at Palm Cove in case anyone was wondering where we had escaped to. We wish we could be bringing you more dramatic news but our stay around Cairns has been delayed until this friday at least as we wait for Ella's compression bandages to arrive (which will control any scarring of her burn). It has been a bit of a challenge for us as we are always keen to keep moving. However the first priority is getting Ella sorted.
 
Living in a caravan park has been an adventure into the wierd and wonderful. The wonderful being the friendly smiles, the elusive bronzed body, the nods, and the sharing of pegs at the clothesline. The weird being the strange pot smoking, white wine drinking neighbour that refuses eye contact, or the bizarre family of 'Christian Soldiers' with seven kids all decked out 'cult like' as father overlooks camp on his cushioned deck chair, his wife pursuing her wifely duties. Ha! All in the name of diversity I say.
 
It's actually quite entertaining watching the comings and goings. Sometimes you're up, sometimes your down. But overall it is all a bit of fun and of course there are worse places to be in the world. I just laugh to think of what they make of our kids waking at 6.30am and announcing to the world that they have wet their pants.

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August 5th - Palm Cove, QLD

Looks like we will be calling Palm Cove home for another ten days or so after visiting the Cairns Hospital today. We had organised to do a video conference with doctors at the Brisbane Children's hospital at 12.45pm. So after a bit of peering and prodding, and gazing through computer screens, it was decided that Ella would have dressings re-applied for three days and then measured up on friday for a compression bandage that will manage any scarring. The wound is nearly healed and although it is still pink and rather delicate, they think it will be Ok in 10 days to manage just with an elastic compression sock.
 
As Cape York is not full of hospitals, as everyone knows, we all decided that we are better to wait the ten days and get the compression bandage fitted before we head up the Cape, as opposed to waiting another couple of months till we hit Darwin. Ella doesn't care either way. As long as she can wear her yellow boots and have a chocolate bicky every now and then, she's happy.
 
So with all the ins and outs the moral of the story is that we will wait in this seaside paradise until our work is done!

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July 4th - Palm Cove, Qld

Well certainly alot has happened over the past week and I feel like we have looked on, walked on, or splashed in the waters of most of the beaches this upper east coast has to offer. Some better known than others, but most with pretty much the same things on show, crystal torquoise waters and long, curved beaches. Some with palms and some without. We have been lucky enough to find some lesser known places like St Helens beach (north of Mackay) and Bramston Beach (south of Cairns), where we have pretty much been able to camp on the foreshore overlooking the water. As well as others like Mission Beach and Airlie Beach which have had their own individual vibe to enjoy.
 
We loved Mission Beach and would definately return in the future. It is a very cruisey little town with plenty of hippies and wide open spaces to allow relaxation to come easily.
 
We are now in the gorgeous little town of Palm Cove, just north of Cairns. We have been here before so we knew what to expect and although it is a little busier, it is still as enjoyable as always. Have secured a little corner of the Palm Cove campsite for five days, a beauitful position opposite the beach, with huge palms and fig trees. All secured for the grand price of $17 a night.....ahhh the serenity.
 
Anyway we will now get Ella's arm checked out at the Cairns hospital and change the CV's in the Landcruiser before heading up the Cape.
 
Alex and Scott are holidaying up here till wednesday, up from Melbourne, so it's nice to have some time with familiar faces. Beautiful weather, the beach, few bevvies and some old mates ......what more could you want?

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