Oz Blog # 20 Weipa, Rinyurri National Park The Lions Den, the Bloomfield track and Cape Tribulation

So after getting to the tip of Cape York the only option was south back along part of the road, however I took a more devious route. Below is what you come across when you head into Weipa.

It’s quite big place with a huge Bauxite Mine. This would be the only traffic lights in at least 500 kilometers and is where the road crosses the huge dump truck road that heads to Port Weipa.

 As you can see the red dust of Australia is everywhere on the machinery





I happened to be there on a Sunday before a Monday holiday and the whole place was shut.

Except for the Weipa Bowling Club...this is in the foyer...it’s a Crocodile skin

It was only 11am on a Sunday and I joined the custom in Australia, the one that it’s never too early to have a beer. However the TV was on a Melbourne kick boxing event and the extreme violence, even when a man is down, was simply too much for me to watch. That, and the 30 deg heat, saw me heading south again.

I returned to the Archer River Roadhouse, to have another one of their huge veggie burgers, real jaw stretchers!

These were very old pumps, which had to be attended by staff for every customer.

A commemorative rock to Toots, the legendary truck driver who always got her truck through with supplies for the people of the Cape after the wet season.

This is Old Laura, a unique historic station which is, shall we say semi preserved.

There were pictures of this truck at work as a then brand new truck.

I then headed off the main corrugated track/road into Rinyurru National park, which was no less corrugated.

Quite a different landscape in this area.

No trees, or ant hills, but there were birds.
Self service, where I booked my own campsite at Kalpowar for the huge sum of  $6.20.

The sign says Achtung: Crocodiles in this area, so here I chatted to some guys (with a beer in their hand and feet in the water) on the Cape York Motorbike tours who are riding on the much rougher 4 wheel drive tracks, heading for Cape York.
They ride all day and drink beer at night, a perfect biker combination.

They invited me in for a chat and a beer.

I rode into their camp on my unicycle and earned my beer by giving them a juggle and a whistle performance.

Some of these guys were from Tasmania and WA and were loving the tour.

A lot more safety gear is in use compared to when I used to ride dirt bikes back in the day.

The first two bikes are the leader’s Husqvarna and tail end Charlie’s KTM,

the rest are Suzuki 400’s with long range petrol tanks fitted.

As I headed towards the Daintree area the countryside became so much greener, it was starting to feel much like NZ.

I was heading down to the infamous Bloomfield track which in earlier days was extremely difficult at good times of year and impassible in the wet.

Nowadays there is only 39 kilometers of dirt road, with some sections steep at 31% gradient, and those sections are concreted. However it is still a low ratio 4 wheel drive.

This is the nearest I got to seeing a snake, although I did see a 4 meter croc well out in the middle of a river.

Crocodile infested water - they are in there, but am not prepared to test it out.

Onward to this beautiful beach at Cape Tribulation, so named by Captain Cook because he hit the reef around here and had to jettison a lot of weight to become afloat again, eventually finding the area now called Cooktown to complete repairs.

This might have been the first unicycle on this beach, who knows.

Certainly not the first tanker passing this way.

Back in Cooktown catching up with the outside world via Telstra connections.

Cooktown as the signs show, does have quite a story.

20 km south of Cook Town is the Lions Den Pub, which has a great little campground attached.

Outside the pub this road train with its load of hay heading north towards drought stricken FNQ farmers.

My last night’s swag camping was only 30 km north of Mareeba at a free camp called Rifle Creek Camp. I unusually decided to move on without breakfast and to have that in Mareeba. During breakfast and reading the local rag I found out about an upcoming (in a few days) Intaglio Printing Workshop in Cairns. Got onto the web site, found they still had places and enrolled all from the cafe in Mareeba.

With an immediate change in plans I headed for Cairns.

While browsing in Cairns I found these aboriginal paintings inspired fabric pieces.

And also got my hair cut in line with supporting the All Blacks Rugby World Cup efforts.

Heading ever so much closer to home the rest of the journey will be reported in the next OZ Blog #21.

So till then stay safe, have fun and be creative!

Cheers

Jimu