THE TRAVELLING GREGORY'S: Our Cape York Trek!

We're off to see the Tip the Wonderful Tip of Oz

Finally the time was here & we were going to live our dream or i really should say Marks dream of driving the old telegraph track

up to the very most northern tip of Australia!

Now us being us we started packing & getting organised 3 days prior to our departure date!

Food fridge packed, grog fridge packed, drawers full of food & my clothes, tent in, mattress in, porta pottie in, 2 spare tyres, fishing rods, shovel all on the roof & everything & anything else, we thought we would need, so as to be semi self sufficient for 16 days!

Day 1~~~Wednesday
25/08/10
Cape York

Here We Come!
Yeeha!

All prepared & the day was here, we met up with friends of friends

whom we had never met before, six of us & three cars.

One couple had been up to the Cape before, which is why we wanted to tag along with them, it was nice of them to have us!!!

The other couple were like us virgins on a maiden voyage!

With all our C.b's on channel 38 we set off from Cairns at about 10 am & headed for our first stop for the night at the Lions Den Hotel.

Along the way we crossed the Daintree River by ferry, then we stopped

off at Cape Tribulation to over look the beautiful Daintree!

We drove the Bloomfield Track through the Aboriginal community of

Woogil Woogil, where no photos are to be taken & alcohol is only allowed if driving straight through the town without stopping!

Well what did stupid Sharon do, aimed the camera straight at an aboriginal man standing over the river!

Husband didn't tell me, till it was too late~~~Ooh ah!!!

Glad we made it out of there alive!!

We arrived at our first camp site the Lions Den about 3pm.

All tents up & it was off to have dinner in this well known iconic pub!

The walls in this place are absolutely covered in so much paraphernalia, graffiti, & whatever else passing travellers wanted to hang on the walls, it's all there!!

Our good friends John & Dianne also came up in their motor home just for the night, it was so lovely to see them & enjoy their company,

we all had fun & Lot's of laughs!

Bellies full & it is good night to our first day!

Jamie, who with his wife Beryl, had been to the tip before, informs us that

we will all be taking it in turns of being trip leader for the day, which when our turn, includes me on the two way warning of passing cars & anything else i see that

might be of interest!

Also who ever does this, puts on the nibbles at the end of the day!

Fancy giving me total control of a microphone!!

This could be disastrous!

I feel that is exactly what i will need

Total Control!!!

Day 2~~~Thursday
26/08/10

Mark & I are trip leaders for the day & it's off to historical Cooktown.

This is where Captain Cook stopped off for repairs in 1770, after putting a gaping hole in his ship The Endeavour, as a

result of hitting rocks on his travels through

The Great Barrier Reef.

He needed to lighten the load on the ship so he chucked over board the

anchor & cannons!

A team found these items in the 1970's & now they sit in the

James Cook Museum!

After a milkshake & a walk around the waters edge, over looking this beautiful bay full of yachts moored, we headed out to

Endeavour River Escapes to set up camp for the night.

We drove off the beaten track for a couple of km's & there we were,

at this working property!

Out comes the owner Terry, with a very friendly greeting of

"How ya going, would you like a cuppa"

His home sits on the edge of the prettiest pond, filled with flowering water lilly's, jumping fish, stunning birds & the most beautiful electric blue

Ulysses Butterfly's, apparently they are the hardest butterfly's to photograph as they flap so fast, so Terry tells us!

You can see them from long distances, as their colour is just so vibrant!

They are Simply Stunning!

We sat out the back enjoying the scenery & Terry's colourful stories, the whole time wondering where Mrs Terry was?

Anyway he went on to tell us of the big Croc down in the river & his littler mate & of the tragedy that had happened there a few years ago!

Ray our fellow traveller who is so hilariously funny, pipes up with

we wondered where your wife was!!

Terry ignored our laughter & continued on with his very serious story!

Apparently a family man was too close to the river & very quickly

before he knew anything about it...... Gone!

Oh My God, i do not want to stay here!

He then said he has since made these triangle steel barricades to carry around & place in front of you when fishing down by the river!

He also went on to say that a Croc wont exert himself to find you, he will just wait until you are in easy reach & bingo!

That could keep him going for up to 2 years, with the odd barramundi thrown in!

Back at our camp site & well away from the river,

we enjoyed a BBQ, then sat around the camp fire & shared

lots of stories & laughs galore,

our 2nd day coming to an end, it was now time to

Zip up Tightly our Tent Door!

Day 3~~~Friday
27/08/10

We left E.R.E & headed for Musgrave Road House to spend the night!

We drove through Lake field National Park to

Old Laura Homestead for a look around.

From there we drove through Isabella falls, then we stopped for morning tea @ Horseshoe Lagoon, where

Sharon saw her first Croc!!!!!

Now get ready cause this is exciting!!

While i was Croc spotting through the nocies (that is short for binoculars)

I got fixed on this small lump floating in the lagoon, i patiently watched it for a couple of minutes, trying to see if it was moving up stream & next second it went under, at that moment i was definitely convinced it was a Croc!!!

I ran off to Husband to tell him!

Well he proceeds to deflate

my excitement with

" It was probably a Turtle"

I Don't listen to him! How would he know?

One of our fellow travellers who are much more Crocodile wise than some!

Said it was probably a Croc's nose!

Well that is exactly what it was & i saw it!!!

You Mark Gregory were just very lucky

you didn't get too close to the edge!

That is all i have to say!

Day 4~~~Saturday
28/08/10

From Musgrave we decided to head to Meluna Station for the night!

Off we set via coen, where we stopped off for milk & frozen bread, this place is very small & chockers full of Indigenous people!

The pub being the main attraction!

Whilst i was taking photos of the famous sign above the pub

which started out it's life as

The Exchange Hotel until someone decided to put an S in front & it became the

Sex Change Hotel!

One of the local fellows who was drinking out the front, said to me jokingly

don't take any notice of that sign we are all man in here!

I thought at first he was going to have a go at me for taking photos!

Phew Lucky!.......They were nice!

From there we headed to Archer river, where stopped off for one of their famous

Archer River Burgers!

We rated this Burger as about a 7 outta 10, it was good in the beginning &

then it just seemed to die off in the flavour stakes!

So far The Causeway Kiosk is still coming

2nd at 8 outta 10

And

The Gregory's burger, is still in the lead at

9 outta 10

Now we are on a mission to find the perfect

Australian Hamburger on our travels!

We arrived at Meluna Station & set up camp, yet again,

we are getting good at this by now & are so lucky our tent goes up really fast!

I loved it there so peaceful, we woke in the morning & headed around the property for a morning walk, we spotted 2 pigs who looked ready for the table, as they lazily sat in their sty, unaware of what this day would bring to them!

When we got back to camp the workers were boiling the water in readiness for the big slaughter!

Yummo!

Mark & Ray

Checking out the Wilbee's

That is
Will Be Pork

Will Be Bacon!

Day 5~~~Sunday
29/08/10

Today we are off to Weipa to spend 2 days, this will be so good,
as we wont have to do the pack up stuff, it will be nice to stay in one spot for a bit & a catch up on fishing & shopping!!
Weipa has a Woolies & a couple of other shops!!!
Yeeha Shazza is in her glory & Shopping here come!!
Now there is not much at Weipa, plenty of mining though going on
Rio Tinto everywhere!
The Park we stayed at was OK, it had a built in pool, which Mark put to good use & was
right on the waters edge, along with the ever present

Achtung Signs!

Day 6~~~Monday
30/08/10

Jamie, Ray & Mark & I all set out early for a fish this morning.
Well seriously as usual we should'a slept in instead!
Fish count so far between the lot of us?
Yep you guessed it
Nil!
Oh apart from a little Bream Jamie caught which was used as bait & a baby Whiting i caught which was thrown back.
Oh well not to be defeated we will keep on trying!
Now that we do, do well!!

Back at camp

& there will be no fish fry up today!

Looks like it's jaffles instead!

Day 8~~~Tuesday
31/08/10

Today is really what our whole adventure is about & it is about to begin!!
We are headed to Bramwell Station via Batavia Downs.
Bramwell being the start of the
Old Telegraph track!
We are the Trip Leaders for the day
&
Husbands dream was about to begin!
How Exciting!

The roads along the way to this point, have gone from bitumen to red gravel, to red dusty gravel, to red dusty gravel corrugations, then on to sand & bull dust & then if you are lucky back to a small patch of bitumen just in time for a bit of relief!
The country side so varying, from millions of termite mounds growing into termite steeples, some covering the tall trees, some active, some inactive, but no matter what, they are there everywhere
all the way up!
I have never seen so many in all my life!
I said to Mark it is a wonder we have any trees left at all!
They could do with a visit from Master kill i feel!!
The Flora along the way is very pretty & again ever changing,
from black boys, or to be politically correct
Indigenous Boys?
(Well, that just doesn't sound the same really does it!)
Anyway then there are the most beautiful wild flowering grevillias softly dancing in the breeze, & so many different varieties of palms, elk horns,
eucalyptus, white flowering ground cover, to the softest looking lush green ferns, & beautiful bright orange & red foliage on the trees, to burn black tree trunks & suntanned brown leaves, caused from earlier fires!
Then through to sparse land of low covering scrubs!
I must add, those beautiful sights were only visible on one side of the road! That is the side the wind didn't blow on,
for the other side was covered in nothing but thick dirty red dust!
Our Beautiful Sun burnt Country
Ever Changing & Forever Spectacular!
A Sight to Behold!

Now back to the track!

With every one ready, we set off.

Jamie said previously, that if you get through the first crossing,

the rest should be easy!

Wow! That put my mind into panic mode, wondering what the

heavens the first crossing going to look like?

Well it didn't take long before we were to find out,

as only a few Km's after getting on the track, there she was

The Doozy!

Palm Creek Crossing!

Oh Boy Oh My God is all i could mutter!

This is big & looked like a massive 45 degree drop down into it!!!

The boys got out, so as to navigate how to actually do this,

Jamie went on to say, that it was a lot shorter & much steeper than when he previously crossed it 5 years earlier!

Well seeing as we were the leaders it was time to do it!

I stood down the bottom, so as to try & capture this most anticipated moment on video as well as try & take stills!

Seriously as Mark came down the feelings that washed over me were incredible!

Firstly i am thinking oh my god

Mark, please get it right!

That car is worth a packet & one wrong move, well, i didn't even want to think about that!

As he approached the drop, i couldn't look & started to cry!

Then so so quickly it was over!

Wow

He did it!

Not that i didn't have all the confidence in the world in him, it was just such a bloody big drop!

Too good & our baby glided down so effortlessly!

You are a good boy husband you did it!

Wacko the Didlio!!

Now this photo does not do this drop justice!

The video is better but, i used a few expletives at the point where the car was nearly standing up vertically & thought it not a good idea to show it

Next came Ray & Jamie & they also did it!

Well that was the beginning of many crossing to come &

The Old Tele Track was becoming more fun filled by the minute, although i should say hour, as some parts of that track,

we were travelling only 10 kms per hour!

Our first night up the track, we spent at Delhunty River

A very pretty spot!

Brave Husband swimming in the rapids!.......No way me!!!

Day 9~~~Wednesday

1/09/10

Today we are off to Fruit Bat Falls & then on to

Twin Falls!

We decided from here to give Gun Shot the miss!

That is one hell of a crossing, & there was no way we were going to do it!!!

We took the Gun Shot by pass track instead!

After numerous more crossings!

We arrived at Fruit Bat Falls for a quick look!

Very pretty!

But it was the next stop we were most keen to see!

The Famous Twin Falls!

The walk down to the falls was not so good though,

hundreds of dead bats lined the track, why they were dead we didn't know it looked as if hawks or something like that killed them!

The stench was disgusting!

This place should be renamed
Dead Bat falls!

These were some of the lucky ones!

Once at the falls & it was incredible, we all went in!

We were so lucky, as we were the only ones there at

that particular time!

It was all ours to enjoy & soak up!

Fascinating & Stunningly Beautiful!!!!

A definite highlight for me!

I loved it there!!

It was like nothing i had ever experienced before!!!

We set up camp, after our invigorating swim & settled in for the night!

Day 10~~~Thursday

2/09/10

We are finally getting so close now!!

We crossed the Jardine River by ferry & continued along for about another hundred odd Kms, headed for Punsand Bay Resort.

I love the names of these camp sites they make them sound so inviting & fancy, when really they are just sandy, fairly primitive camping grounds!

With a pub, above ground pool & bistro thrown in, it then becomes a resort!

Aah.......That's the beauty of

Our Cape York!!

We will stay here for a few days!

We plan to drive up to the Tip for the day tomorrow & then off to Thursday Island for the day on Saturday!

Yeeha!!!

Day 11~~~Friday

3/09/10

We woke with great anticipation & excitement!

Today was the day & we struck the jackpot!

We were the trip leaders, leading our expedition to the

Northern most point of Oz!!

Parts of the drive up there was full of pretty rain forest,

scrubby bushland & a dirty sandy track which was similar to the tele Track, but not quite as harsh

We arrived at the parking area & headed off not really knowing where to go, Mark, Ray & I decided to walk along the beach as it was low tide & the others took for the hills over the rocks.

Once we were on the beach, i really wished i had gone the other way!

What on earth was i thinking??

Even though it was very very low tide, all i could think about was those bloody Croc's laying on the bank hiding among the mushy vegetation, just waiting for me to come into their path!

So with those thoughts etched in my brain, all i could do was

RUN!!

And run is exactly what i did!!!

The whole time my feet were getting stuck in the slippery sand, my heart was racing, i was starting to really panic & in the distance behind me,

all i could hear was the faint laughter of

Mark & Ray!

With the rocks in close view, i bolted to them for shelter & safety!

Crocs don't like Rocks!!!

We proceeded along the rocks & there she was in all her glory!

"That Famous Iconic Sign"