Cairns

Wednesday, Sept. 30

We spent a week in Cairns catching up with friends and the like and preparation for our attack on Bundaberg.
Not too many photos for this spot.

Thursday, Oct. 9
Alex and Natalie have arranged a day on the reef snorkelling. We set out on the Silver ???? Snorkelling was excellent.



That evening we celebrated my birthday at the Thai Lotus restaurant in Cairns. Speed, Sam,
Steve, Mike, Jan, Sally and I all enjoyed an excellent Thai Banquet.


Friday, Oct.10

Speed visits.

Jude, Colin and Speed

Saturday, Oct. 11

A day trip round Cairns visiting Stony Creek and Chrystal Cascades.

Sunday, Oct. 12

V8’s on TV.

Monday, Oct 13

Steve arrives from Darwin to travel to Bundaberg with us.

Babysitting Robbie and Pearl.

Tuesday, Oct. 14

Dinner with Jude, Leah, Johnno and Steve.

Wednesday, October 15

A day of preparation and a swim in Jude’s Pool.

Back to Hann River

Monday, Sept. 29 (Cont.)

We drove back to Archer River to meet the two trucks that had offered to backload our excess gear to Cairns.

Lockhart River Road

As they said, they drove through Archer River but without even looking at the roadhouse. I tried to contact them on the UHF but channel 40 was unusually quite for a period. After panicky call to Darwin and to an alterative trucking company, we arranged a truck to pickup our stuff and transport it to Cairns on Wednesday. With all the arrangement complete, we managed to leave Archer River just after lunch and headed South-East. The trip from Archer River to Cairns required an overnight stay on the road.

We decided to return to Hann River were we had stay on the way up. We were pleasantly surprised when Mike and Jan jumped up from the bar and made their presence known to us. They too had decided to stay at Hann River again on their way to Cooktown. Preparing dinner that night turned out to be quite entertaining. As Jan was removing the veggie container from the back of their car, Jan noticed a large piece of plastic missing from the washing basket they were using as veggie storage. Somewhere in the last couple of days, they had picked up a hitch-hiker. Jan appeared quite upset with Mike as she had complained to Mike that morning something furry had brushed the back of her leg as they were travelling. Mike had brushed of the comment at the time, and now Jan was pulling all her shoes out of the car in search of the perpetrator, revealing more then the six pairs that Mike had asked her to limit her self to. Sally and I were quite amused. Preparing our temporary accommodation (Jude’s Tent) and settled into a pleasant evening under the stars.

Hann River Campsite

Chilli Beach

Saturday, Sept 27

We left Archer River on route to Chilli Beach. Shortly before crossing The Wenlock River, things went awfully pear shaped. While negotiating a windy and corrugated section of the Lockhart River Road, our trailer got all out of shape and after sliding off the road and hitting a fallen tree, turned turtle and ended up on its roof. Sally was amazed as after the trailer stopped fish tailing, she saw it in the rear vision mirror sailing through the air up-side-down. The damage was severe and after removing the electric brakes from one sad looking wheel hub and replacing the exploded tyre and bent wheel, we righted the tailer and limped back to Archer River to lick our wounds and evaluated our situation.

Broken Camper Trailer

Righting the Trailer

We returned to Archer River Road House in time for the AFL Grand Final telecast. Setup the camper and used it for the last time. We discussed our delemor with Mike and Jan and we decided that there was little we could do until Monday so we decided to have another assault on Chilli Beach tomorrow. We arranged for assistance from two truckies who we at the roadhouse to stop in on their return to Cairns to collect our excess equipment. We found some budding rocksitters at camp that night so joined them for a drink.

Archer River RockSitters

The late night entertainment was interesting we one local searching for a gentleman called “RICHARD YOU @#%$@” at 2am waking everyone in the camp in her quest. Sunday, Sept 28 We headed out early this morning not knowing exactly how long this trip would take. As we were told, after we crossed the Wenlock River, the road conditions did, indeed, improve. This, however, didn’t prevent Mike from getting another flat. This time the rock tore a hole in the wall of his tire.

Mike’s Flat

We arrived a Chilli Beach and lucked on a excellent campsite right on the beach. Very Picturest under palm trees and old shady trees. Even to the extent, that later in the day, another couple pulled up with no campsites remaining. We spoke to them and told them we would only be in ours for a night which suited them fine as they planned to say a week and agreed our site was excellent. They slept in their car in the car park that night and would claim our spot tomorrow.

Chilli Beach

Weather Beaten Tree on Chilli Beach

Monday, Sept 29

We woke up early this morning to stroll down to the beach to catch the sunrise. Well worth the effort.

Chilli Beach Sunrise

Elliot, Twin and Fruitbat Falls

Thursday, Sept 25

Plenty of swimming at Twin Falls and Elliot Falls and walking.

This has got to be one of our favorite camp spots on the Cape.

Eliot Falls

Colin Prepares Campfire

Elliot Falls Campsite

Friday, Sept 26

This morning we decided to stop in at Fruit Bat Falls for a quick dip before heading south to Archer River Roadhouse. Excellent choice as Sally had missed swimming here on the way up.

Colin Under Fruit Bat Falls

Jardine River and Nolans Brook

Wednesday, Sept 24

We stopped at the Croc Tent to stock up on trinkets and then to Bamaga for some supplies. Then onto the Jardine River Crossing and down the development road back to Elliot Falls.

Jardine River Barge

We stopped at Nolans Brook for lunch and to check out this crossing that we gave a wide berth to on the way up. One car crossed while we were there showing that it could be done, but the brook itself provided a excellent swimming hole. Sally and I remained so I could take this opportunity to enjoy this brook after lunch at the river bush camp on the river bank.

Nolans Brook Crossing

Nolans Brook Old Alternative Crossing