Chris & Shirley's 2015 Cape York Trip: Chapter 5 - Cape York

Monday 17 August

6-7-8 was working better each day (or maybe with less stress) and we headed off for our walk at 7:30 am. We checked out the “telegraph lineman’s hut” and the quality of the water in Canal creek.

Telegraph Linesman’s Hut

Once back on the bus we headed off to Fruit Bay falls, another great swimming and photo location.

Darryl, Fay, Kay, Shirley & Chris stretching their legs

Onwards we travelled, via a class of road that had become common to us.

Another Cape York Road

Another pastime was trying to count termite mounds that constantly changed colour and size and characteristics such as shape.

One of the larger termite mounds

We visited another linesman’s hut and then Sheldon Lagoon, which is a home to many birds and turtles.

Sheldon Lagoon

Sheldon Lagoon Resident

We had an early lunch at Cockatoo Creek, probably our first serious water crossing. Another good lunch was prepared by Kristy. Then some of us walked across the waters, while others stayed on the bus as it crossed the creek.

Our Bus Crossing Cockatoo Creek

Our next stop was Bramwell Station roadhouse, where diesel was $2.10 per litre. The purchase of ice-cream was a popular activity.

Andrew soon pointed out the property that was the ambition of the late Steve Irwin to have declared a conversation area. Although Steve did not see his wish come true, his family has succeeded in gaining that recognition. Click here for more details on The Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve.

After that Andrew pointed out Bertie Haugh station – another conversationalist – then stopped to let us feel the smooth texture of the cycads that had suddenly appeared in large numbers.

Cycad

The weather was very warm and humid as we traversed terrain and vegetation that was constantly changing.

We camped at Morton telegraph station for the night and Kristy cooked another lovely dinner, this time spaghetti bolognaise.

It was a pleasant place to camp.

Andrew took us for a nature walk to the Wenlock river which apparently has barramundi and crocodiles. We saw neither.

Morton Telegraph Station Camp Site

The site included a pre-loved raft that was used to ferry vehicles across the Jardine river before the bigger option was commissioned.

Fay & Shirley on the Pre-Loved Raft

Tuesday 18 August

6-7-8 occurred and we walked to the causeway over the Wenlock river, and noted the very high levels of floods in years gone by. The roads were very good as we crossed Batavia Downs station – now a National Park. We then passed York Downs and moved onto land that is leased by Rio Tinto – thanks to the large bauxite deposits.

Scherger Air Force base was the next property of note as we headed to Weipa. The story goes that many Pakistani refugees were held here in days gone by who decided to enter a cricket team in the local competition. They were good enough to get into the grand final but failed to win as their team was decimated by five visas being granted and half the team was transferred interstate.

We arrived at Weipa and saw our first traffic lights in a time long. They were ensuring that Rio Tinto vehicles did not clash with crossing traffic from the general public. We visited the Cultural Centre, which had plenty of indigenous history and culture to view. The following wall sculpture was impressive.

Mural depicting the totems, places and rivers of the Eleven Traditional Owner Groups who signed the Western Cape Communities Co-existence Agreement

We set up camp in time to wander into the (small) township and purchase our own lunch. A lovely hamburger was enjoyed by a number of us. The afternoon was spent in the pool, writing postcards and generally relaxing in front of a view of the beach. Happy hour occurred as scheduled.

Happy Hour

The View from Happy Hour

Dinner was roast lamb and vegetables. Dessert was fresh fruit salad and ice-cream. Bed was 10 pm.

Wednesday 18 August

Australasian Yellow Figbird

6-7-8 was modified slightly with no post-breakfast walk, as we had a long way to drive. However I was able to get some birds photos before we left. They were mostly water birds with the following little guy the exception.

Birds seem to be the feature of the morning.

We drove past Merluna Station and noted the large man made dam/lake that is now a great bird habitat.

Piccaninny Plains was next on our journey.

We were soon at the Archer River roadhouse where we stopped for “smoko”. We were amused by the chair that was specially (in a jovial sense) built for Russ Hinze, a very large politician from some years ago. Russ was the representative from this region.

Self Explanatory

Soon after than we stopped at the quarantine station where our fruit (with an imperfections) had to be handed over.

Coen was our lunch stop and we had a small town to wander around. One popular attraction was Heritage House/Museum. Another place that was checked out was the (S)Exchange Hotel, that had its name changed by some disgruntled customers.

A couple of magnificent kites threatened our lunch as they hovered over our stopping point.

We headed south and then turned east at the Port Stewart turnoff. We were now in Lama Lama country, the traditional owners of this land. Andrew provided a lot of history and information about the Lama Lama people as we crossed their land. Significant efforts are being made by these people to reintroduce traditional customs and improve the quality of life of both the people and the land.

We completed our wood supply and camped for the night at Port Stewart.

Our Supply of Wood

The Lama Lama people traditionally dug for water in the dry river bed, as they knew that there was water under the surface. Now more modern pumps are used to collect the water from the same location – an example of old and new cultures joining for a good result.

Andrew took us for another nature walk and illustrated the qualities of the kapok nut/flower.