Aug 29-31 (Day 211-213) - Coen to Karumba via Dixie Rd (Artemis Station)

Saturday August 29

The next section of our travels were going to take us through some fairly remote parts of the Cape. So we stocked up on food, filled the water tanks on the van to capacity, emptied the toilet and got everything as ready to go as possible. If you didn't read about the different options and why we took this track, check out this post near the bottom, in the section about Dixie Rd.

The three route options. We ended up taking Route 3 - Dixie Rd

Fuel tank at Musgrave Station

The first part of the drive was pretty straightforward, just more red dirt road and more corrugations. Our first stop was Musgrave Station to top up the fuel tanks - fuel here was $1.50/L, compared to $1.75/L at Coen. Though interestingly while we were here the tanker truck was refilling the station's tanks and he said he was on his way to Archer River and Coen after that - so it's the same fuel, but Coen charges an extra $0.25/L. You may remember we stopped here on the way up a month ago and saw dozens of cattle scattered across the air strip!

Musgrave Station. The friendly white cow STILL there!

Fuelling up!

... but not at this ancient pump!

So we left Musgrave Station and headed down in the direction of Laura, until we reached the turn-off to Artemis Station.

Between Coen and Laura we came to the turn-off to Artemis Station.

Here is a video summarising some of the key points along the road:

The road was in excellent condition! Far better than Peninsula Development Road!
There were a few large, long dips, like roller coasters almost, but
very few corrugations, and only minor ones.

We stopped at Old Truck Lagoon as a potential camping spot -
it was good for a play but we decided to drive on

We stopped for the night about 20km north east of the Mitchell River

Next morning we packed up and prepared to get on our way, but not before the kids took the opportunity for a driving lesson! This time rather than just letting them have a random drive, we had the caravan attached and they had to reverse a couple of hundred metres along a winding track. They all did very well, especially Bek considering she'd never done anything like that before!

If you're in our Facebook group I'd recommend you look at this post for the overview, and some info on Magnetic Termite Mounds!

This part of the country is probably about as remote as it's ever felt on this trip. I think the reason for that is that, in here there simply are NO towns. You're essentially on a service road that runs between four different cattle stations (at least) - Artemis, Dixie, Oriners and Dunbar. The paddocks aren't fenced, so cattle roam freely across the road. You also from time to time come to a gate where one station ends and another one begins.

Typical! These roads are unfenced so stock just wander around.

Just another gate - one station ends, another one starts!

But the real highlight of this section of road was going to be the crossing of the Mitchell River. I'd mentioned in the earlier post on this that there was some uncertainty about the river crossing, however from the information we'd heard from others the river wasn't very deep. Nonetheless, we didn't know quite what to expect.

The access road to the Mitchell River crossing

The start of the river crossing

Clearly with water this deep, we had little to worry about!

We stopped about half way across to check the depth and grab a few photos!

Parked in the middle of the Mitchell River!

Deep enough to give the wheels a wash, but not deep enough to trouble anything.

The crossing has this plastic bed all the way across, so washouts aren't an issue.

Having made it across the river, we stopped at Dunbar Station for lunch, which had a beautiful 1800's homestead!

The homestead at Dunbar Station

Not long after Dunbar Station, Dixie Rd ended and we rejoined the Burke Development Road, which is the road we would have taken if we'd driven one of the other routes. Yuk! It was so much worse in condition than Dixie Rd! Maybe no-one takes Dixie Rd because no-one's sure of its condition which is why it's so good (although we did notice some road crews maintaining it), but whatever the cause the Burke Development Road was considerably more corrugated. Although not as badly as Bamaga Rd up to the tip.
 We drove the rest of the afternoon from Dunbar Station and decided to stop for the night at Karumba, and then go onto Normanton afterwards. By this time we'd decanted the last jerry can of diesel which we'd filled at Weipa.

In goes the last can of diesel - but only 30km to go to Karumba.

We made it to Karumba!

We stopped at a caravan park in an unpowered site for the next couple of nights. This park was a "TAWK" member park (Travelling Australia With Kids), where kids stay free if you stay there for two nights or more. Since we did this, on an unpowered site, it only cost us $30 per night for the five of us - or $6/night which is brilliant for a caravan park!

We had a swim, then had tea at the Sunset Tavern on the beach. What a beautiful sunset!

The next day (Aug 31) was, apart from the 23rd anniversary of Princess Diana's death, largely a day of swimming and getting some school and business work done.

It was also our record so far for the amount of power the solar blanket got into the caravan batteries - 62Ah! We had full sun all day, and I kept cooling the panels down with water to keep them running as efficiently as possible. Also, despite being an unpowered site they still gave us water hook-up for our van.
This caravan park seemed to be taking the COVID restrictions incredibly seriously! When we checked in, the receptionist asked Mim about three times for her border declaration pass, which of course we didn't have because we crossed into Qld before there was such a thing. She didn't quite seem to get it! At the pool there was a sign limiting people going in to 4 people or one family group. The toilets, you could only have two people per toilet, someone seemed to come in and do a serious clean each time you left, and there was an incredibly complex rigmarole you were to follow after using the toilet or the shower!


Back at Woodgate when I dismantled the original caravan power supply after it failed, Jude had wanted to keep the old fan for a bit of fun. Well while we were here he discovered a new form of entertainment - sticking a square of masking tape on the fan, then turning it on and decorating a pattern of concentric circles with art textas! The kids did most of them, but we all had a go and some of them came out very well!

-- Greg