Laura to Weipa

We arrived in Weipa a couple of days ago. A lot of dust to get here, but really worth the trip. Weipa is a mining town. Bauxite is the stuff dug up. Which looks like mountains of red dust.

There is not a lot to see, you can drive around and see the sites in 10 minutes. But Weipa does have a good Woolworths and 3 fuel stations. 

Weipa is the largest town on the Gulf of Carpentaria It has population of justuner 4000; the largest community on Cape York Peninsula.

  

The camp ground is on the coast with large shady trees to park under. As it is so late in the season the camp is only about half full. A lot of campers are workers from the mines. There appears to be a fair bit of casual work available. Even the tip is looking for a truck driver for a few weeks.

I booked in to do a fishing charter with the local Tackle World shop, run by a lo0vely family. They take a maximum of 4 out for a full day. I was the only one to put my name down so they unfortunately had to cancel.

They are really slowing down now, as most people are heading south, as the weather heats up – 35 degrees every day and down to high 20’s at night. The humidity is running just over 50% and rising, absolutely perfect!

Tomorrow we are heading off and will try to leave reasonably early to beat the heat during “pack up”. We will head for Bramwell Station, then the next day to Loyalty Beach right nest the top of the Cape.

We are thinking of doing a trip over to Thursday Island, and do a tour of the WW2 relics. It is meant to be very interesting, as well as a beautiful place.

The car and van have been behaving extremely well, with a few stretches of corrugations. It all comes down to tyre pressure and speed on these roads. There are plenty of DH’s up here, and you can see why they have a roll-over every few days during the busy season.

On the way up we stopped at a quarantine station, one of the staff said it has quietened right down with only about 190 cars a day going through, and mostly heading south. During the holidays and the high season, they are lined up for kilometres. You can take anything up the cape, but on the way back, unless you have a receipt it gets confiscated and chucked out. They are pretty serious about letting diseases enter Queensland’s fruit growing area.

See yas

Camp at Laura (Glenn & Susan)

Cazza

 

Hann River roadhouse

Mmmm, a mob of mouth watering 4 'n 20's

Archer River roadhouse

Any crocs in there?

A magnificent Weipa sunset

And anotherie

Weipa Beach

Great swimming, if you want a couple of artificial legs

And they keep coming every day

A jetty

View from our camp

Home

Nice spacious sites

Magnetic to Laura

We arrived back from Magnetic on Saturday morning and was met by our friend Glenn, who drove us back to the 7DA park, where we partook in numerous "cups of coffee".

After a big shop, we set off the next day heading for Brampston Beach, which is south of Cairns. Brampston has been highly reccomended by numerous friends as a great polace to stay, just pull up on the grass they said, looking over the water.

It could not have been more different, for a start there is only one caravan park at the beach, which was "sorry mate, we are full, but if you want to come in and have a look at a couple of sites, we could squuze you in there. As it was late in the afternoon, and there are not many free camps around, we took a chance.

The sites we had were uneven, in a slight gully. The fact that they have had 7 days of rain with an inch a day, did not make it very pleasent under fooot.

Not the sort of park we wuold return to, as every spare inch of dirt has a camp on it

Ther next day we discovered there used to be a second park an other kilometre up the road, where you could "drive in and park on the grass overlooking the ocean"
Unfortunately the park was purchased by a chinese based consortium who immediratly closed the park and have let it deteriorate. Jusyt another case of people wanting to get money our of the country and buy up land.

Hi
We leave Magnetic tomorrow, which will be sad. We have had a great time here. The weather has been very mixed, from windy (every day), rain, sun an earth tremor, that we did not even feel.

We have walked the length of the island, up and down mountains (a couple of times). Sure couldn't do that if it was really hot. And yesterday spent the day swimming and reading on Alma Bay Beach.

Yesterday i went on a mission. As i mentioned in a previous Blog, my parent bought me to Magnetic when i was 3 or 4. One of the memories was a ring set into the rocks where the old style shark net was connected. Dad carried me around the steep rocks to look at it.
When i was here in my early 20's i walked to the exact spot and showed my mates. No-one was more surprised to find it than me.

With quite a few years under my belt, i set off yesterday climbing over the rocks, and sure enough there it was. Well the remnants at least. The years and weather has taken it's toll and all that is left are rusty marks in the rock, however, the ring almost at the water-line is still there.
It was a bit too slippery and dangerous to get to it, so took a photo.

Magnet is a great place to holiday and walk, and a great familt destination. There are 3 pubs strategically placed, one at either end of the island and one in the middle, and it's only about 12 klm end to end.

Tomorrow back to Townsville where we meet our friends Glenn and Susan, they have booked into the same camp They arrive today, as they were told they could not get in on Saturday as it is their day of rest. Lucky we booked early.
Cheers Timbo and Cazza

Alma Bay Rocks

On the track

What a handsome couple

Nelly Bay

A bird (you can tell as it has a beak and wings)

What i see every night

Disgusting Toad

Toad Racing to raise funds for the LSC

All that is left of the rings in the rocks

The last ring (30 metres below me)

Amazing root system (the tree)

Well i thought it time for another update after a few days off.
We left the Sunshine Coast, heading north. We covered a bit over 1000 klm in 3 days, so not too bad.

As we had booked in for a week on Magnetic Island, i phoned around to find somewhere we could leave the car ans van. The only place seemed to be about $35 per day.  We were talking to another traveller one night, who told us about a camp run by the Seventh Day Adventists, so after a phone call, we booked in for 2 nights camping and one weeks van and car storage for the princely sum of $50.

When we arrived and checked in, the lady said, "have you heard about our no alcohol policy?" "Ahhh, no" i said. Well it turns out the SDA's do not drink alcohol!!! However, as we are non believers, we were told we" can have a sip as long as we are in the caravan".

It was very funny watching Cazza, cowering in a corner with the blinds pulled down whilst supping on her Yalumba Autumn Brown.

When i came out of the van, i noticed every other camp sipping a cup of tea in their favorite mug. So the next night i joined in and had a "cup of tea" sitting in the warm afternoon sun, i did omit to tell Cazza, so she locked herself in again, ahhh the peace!

However the last laugh was on me, as i got slaughtered by sand-flies, with over 40 bites. Only one thing to do, fess up and invite her out, where she ended up with a 100 or so bites. Sweet justice.

Had a bit of a laugh the other night, i was cooking out-side and Carolyn was peeling stuff inside,i could hear a lot of swearing and complaining. She poked her head out and said, that bloody $9 peeler i bought is useless, i have to go over the sweet potatoes at least 3 times to get the peel off. I told her to show me and this is what i saw.

As Cazza used it

Ahah, is that how you use them, with the plastic peeled off?

The SDA camp site

It was a really nice camp area, we chose the un-powered section, the toilet/showers were clean and the whole place had a great feeling.

The dress code up here is thongs, a skirt and a colorful blouse, Cazza wears much the same.


Today we caught the ferry to Magnetic,where i had booked into the Arcadia Village Motel, as a birthday present for pensioner Carolyn. Nothing but the best for her! Don't tell her there is a Peppers resort just around the corner (at $1100 per night, i don't think so).

This is a family run place, which has great reviews on Trip Adviser. The place is magnificent, and really does live up ti it's reputation.

Camped the night a Bowen

On the road

At last, we are now in the tropics

The old Alma Den at Arcadia, now just ruins

Alma Bay

Fat boy on the beach

Our coffee place at Magnetic

Alma Bay

The pub for tea. $12 roast, couldn't pass it up.

The exact spot my world changed 47 years ago. This is where i proposed to Carolyn.

Rock Wallabies        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

first visited Magnetic with my parents, when i was 4 years old. I have 3 memories:  old shed and a guy named Nicky who wore overalls and had a geasy rag hanging out of his back pocket. He started the old diesel generator. Swimming with dad and, dad taking me around the rocks to look at a ring in the rocks, where they tied the shark-net to protect the swimmers.

When i came up here in my early 20's, i was able to walk straight to that ring and show my mates. So in the next day or so, i am off on a mission to find and photograph it, if it is still there.

The other event on Magnetic i remember (which was also a life changing experience) was in 1970. I was living in Townsville, and spending a lot of time living on the beach at Alma Bay (Magnetic). I knew Carolyn from back home, and knew she was coming to the island on a Teachers College Trip, well the rest is history.

Today was a bit of an emotional roller-coaster. As usual we met Jer, Nick and kids at the place they were stying in, spent an hour or so in the pool with them, then loaded the car and off to the air-port, where we said a teary farewell. They were returning home and we, about to head north on the next part of the adventure.

As they landed in Melbourne to a cold blustery day, we were sitting on Dickie Beach enjoying the late afternoon sun.
We had the van serviced today, where they fixed a few things, and gave me a spare bearing set (just in case). I must say North Coast Campers have been really good.

We are camped tonight, with the car hitched up and ready to go. We have 3 days to get to Townsville, which should be o/k. We plan to put in a big day tomorrow, and then ease off a bit for the last 2. It is just over 1000 Klm, so should be o/k. We think we have found a camp in Townsville for $10 per night, and we can store the car and van there whilst we are on Magnetic.

On the way up, we hope to meet up with Pete, a friend from Coffin Bay, who has a converted bus and is coming back down the coast. It will be great to meet and swap a yarn or two.

Oh yeah, to close off, yes, we have completed the census, although had to do it by paper,, as the site kept crashing, or maybe it's the public free wi-fi we are using.

And we went to the Dickie Beach Surf Club for dinner, where we are members ($20 for 3 years), received the discount on dinner and drinks, AND won the raffle - a meat tray, AND won a bottle of wine.

Life just does not get any better!
Cheers, until we next have coverage, where i can upload a few pickies.

Here we are and it's Friday, so been here in Maroochydore for nearly a week.
There is not too much to report, as most days are the same.

We have been spending all day with Nick, Jer, Will and baby Ella, which has been great. Day starts with breaky overlooking the beach at the Surf Club outdoor cafe, where they serve great coffee and freshly squeezed juices, a play on the beach, the skate park for Will for an hour or so, the playground for Ella, then the arvo around the pool. Damn hard life.
We have a wedding today, and into the night which will be fun.

For logistical reasons we have deferred our leaving for an extra day. We will now leave next Wednesday, giving us  3 full days to get to Townsville, which should be easy as it's only just over 1000 klm. Then we have a week on Magnetic Island.

It'll be nice to get back on the road! 
Cheers

Contemplating the hill

It look very big when you are 6

Cazza, Jer and Ella

Part of the pool where the kids are staying

Pool lights