Monday Aug 3 – Bramwell Station
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| 'Les' the mechanic hard at work on another traveller's car! |
We were woken suddenly from our semi-consciousness at about 7:50am by Les the mechanic calling out and asking if we were awake! Pyjama-clad, I stumbled out of the van bleary-eyed, trying to look as awake as possible, while Les detailed exactly what specifications he needed on the springs to be able to phone Weipa to see what they had. After quickly dressing, taking requisite measurements and swilling down my morning coffee, I sat alongside Les while he spoke to a few people in Weipa, the upshot being there were no suitable springs (in fact no leaf springs at all, it seemed) in Weipa, and nothing suitable in Cairns.
While there is no phone signal here, it is possible to make calls through wi-fi, so I spent the morning on the phone making close to 40 calls to various people including the RAA in Adelaide, various mechanics in Weipa and Bamaga, spring manufacturers, air freight companies and several Jayco dealerships in Queensland. There were a few springs available but they were all in Brisbane, so after many options and lead times being discussed, we purchased a set from Jayco in Brisbane, had them couriered to the airport, and Qantas Freight will be flying them up to Weipa via Cairns over the next couple of days. The springs cost just over $300 for a pair (so we have a spare), and for a 2-3 day service the cost was about $230, which was pretty reasonable I thought. So to come out under $600 considering how remote it is, well it could have been a whole lot worse. The RAA were willing to have the van trucked down to Weipa and put us up there for 5 nights, but given the RACQ mechanic there had three weeks’ work booked up there didn’t seem to be a lot of point, especially since the process of changing the spring is probably a very simple hour’s work.
While I was doing this, Matt made pancakes for breakfast and did some
school work, Mim made toasties for lunch, while Bek did some art and
Jude played with cars in the dirt. The boys are really into that at the
moment. One activity they were doing today was creating ‘sinkholes’ for
their cars – this involved digging a hole in the ground, putting an
inflated plastic bag in the hole covering it with dirt, putting their
cars on the smoothed dirt, then puncturing the bag with a knife and
watching as the bag deflated and the cars sank into the sinkhole!
The rest of the day was pretty quiet. The kids did some school work and I did some work editing a video I'd shot a few months ago and not gotten back to.
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| Our abode for the next several days! This is looking north west. The roadhouse shop is at the far left of the photo; next to this is the mechanic's home, and behind the van is the toilet block. |
So we're stuck here for at least the next few days. It's not a bad spot really - it's flat and there's drinkable water nearby, and the staff have been very hospitable. Les realised our predicament and ran a power cable out to us so we could have power in our van, while they also let Mim do a load of washing.
We are camped next to a small shelter with a picnic table in it. So we have outside, undercover space for eating, and just at the edge of this is where the boys have been working on their car tracks!
Tuesday August 4 - The Old Telegraph Track!
Of course..., we had never planned on driving on the Old Telegraph Track. I keep saying we're not avid four wheel drivers, so the idea of driving up a bumpy, slow, uncomfortable track isn't something which ever ticked any boxes for me. However ... given we were stuck here at Bramwell Roadhouse, which is literally about fifty metres from the start of the Track, and with little else to do, we decided it might be worth a look.
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| Us at the start of the Old Telegraph Track! |
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| This inconspicuous bespoke wooden sign is the only marker for the start of this iconic track! |
The condition of the first part of the south end of the track wasn't actually too bad really. There were some ruts and bumps but nothing a normal car probably couldn't have made it over. But we then came to the first real obstacle which was Palm Creek, and this is what greeted us!
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| Eek! Not going down there! |
Yikes, what a drop! Most of the difficult parts of the track have 'chicken tracks' where you can bypass the difficult entries and exits and find another way through. So we checked this out, but the chicken track was still just a bit too much for us to be confident about. There were a few other casual 4WD'ers also scouting out the track and we all decided to give it a miss. The photo below is Mim making her way down the 'chicken track' exit. I figured we might have been able to make it, but would have wanted either a winch or someone else to go through before us as insurance policies.
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| The 'chicken track' - still looks pretty serious! |
So with some resignation and a slight sense of defeat at the first obstacle, we turned around and followed the others back to Bramwell Station.
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| Travelling along one of the bypass tracks |
Our plan was to take the main road up to an access road about half way along the southern part of the Old Telegraph Track where there is a bypass of 'Gunshot Creek' which is one of the most difficult crossings. We ended up spending the day with this group - there were two people who knew each other (Brian and Leanne, and Nick and Lisa), with a Toyota Hilux and Nissan Patrol respectively, both with camper trailers; there was also another family (Darren, Mel and their daughter Issy) with a 200 series LandCruiser, and us, and we were all just at Palm Creek crossing at the same time and ended up travelling in convoy together. It was a nice experience to travel with some others for a while, and made the subsequent creek crossings a lot more comfortable!
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| Back on the OTT between Gunshot Creek and Cockatoo Creek |
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| Making our way towards Cockatoo Creek |
We all stopped for lunch at Cockatoo Creek.
After lunch we faced the challenge of crossing Cockatoo Creek. It had a bit of a rocky track going down, and then the creek itself which was about knee deep.
But we crossed without too much hassle.
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| Lunch just by Cockatoo Creek |
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| The OTT Team! Greg, Matt, Mim, Jude and Bek; Mel, Darren and Issy; Brian and Leanne; Nick and Lisa |
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| Fruit Bat Falls - what a reward after a dusty day! |
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| Eliot Falls - probably even nicer! |
Once we were done here we headed back to Bramwell Roadhouse as it was now about 4:30pm and we really didn't want to hit another 'roo! Darren and Mel in the 200 Series Landcruiser went ahead of us as they were staying at Bramwell Station, acting as roo spotters! The southern half of Bamaga Road is being graded and rolled, and the very southern part is really good, but there's about 50km of really bad corrugations so it was a rough ride! Also our air conditioner belt was squealing as it was a bit loose so we had to run with no air con - but since we were behind the others, and close enough to not hit another roo it meant we were travelling in their dust the whole way so couldn't open the windows most of the time either. Not the most comfortable journey, but we arrived safely.
Wednesday August 5
This was a pretty quiet day. The kids did some school work, I did some business work and shot a short video. I'd checked the progress of our caravan springs and they had departed Brisbane for Townsville, and then done Townsville to Cairns the same morning. So they were moving forward nicely.
Given we had stayed here at Bramwell longer than expected, our food supplies were getting low and we intended to do a shop in Weipa when picking up the springs. So we treated ourselves to a roadhouse hamburger for lunch so it was one less meal we needed our own supplies for!
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| The 'number plate tree' at the roadhouse - presumably from all the plates fallen off cars on the track over the years! |
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| Some old photos inside the roadhouse |
During a (slightly extended!) lunch break, the boys worked more on their track. Now they'd been on the Old Telegraph Track themselves, everything in their game took on a new meaning and the track was further developed!
Later in the afternoon we drove a little way up the track to collect some firewood.
Thursday August 5 - into Weipa!
We woke to a bit of rain and this lovely rainbow ringing the roadhouse!
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| Morning rainbow over Bramwell Roadhouse |
I rang Qantas in the morning and they confirmed the springs would be loaded onto the midday flight from Cairns to Weipa and we'd be able to pick them up this afternoon. This was the best case scenario and worked well with our need to get some more shopping done. So we drove for about an hour and a half into Weipa. We took a shortcut past Batavia Downs Station, which basically chops two sides off a triangle and saves a bit of time.
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| Wait for haul trucks! |
Weipa
seems to be largely a ore export town for Rio Tinto. The first sign you're
in a 'different' sort of town is as you pull in there is a red light and
boom gates come down, but it's not for a train! The main road crosses a
mining road where haul trucks have right of way, so everyone has to
stop there regardless of whether or not trucks are coming. You can only
proceed once the lights have presumably determined that no trucks are
coming and the boom gates are raised. You then drive past the mining
facility where they push the ore out to the port and to be taken off to
wherever it's going.
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| Whistling Kites soaring and diving for food scraps! |
First
up we went to a bakery for lunch. It was very strange being in a
shopping centre again! Some whistling kites flew around above us so we
threw them some food scraps - we just love watching them all circling
around and then one swooping down as a bit of meat pie or sausage roll
flies up and the kite grabs it in its talons! We did this a few years
ago at Camoweeal and it's a great memory.
After
this Mim and Matt went into the shops while Bek, Jude and I went to the
local library, the kids to do some reading and me to do some work.
We
went back to pick up Mim and Matt, then off to get some fuel and a
spare air filter for the car given we'd had so much red dust. All the
while I was checking the tracking on our springs, which were due in
shortly, and was growing slightly more and more concerned that the
status was 'Replanning - CNS' i.e. it looked like it was still in
Cairns. It now being about 3:00pm, well after when the plane was
supposed to have landed in Weipa with our cargo, I rang Qantas, and they
confirmed my fears - the springs were still in Cairns! They had been due to be shipped today, in fact they'd been loaded onto the plane, but the
plane was overweight so some cargo, including ours, had been offloaded
in Cairns and would not now travel until tomorrow morning about 8:45am!
This
left us in a pretty pickle! We'd driven 150km for a couple of hours
on pretty average roads to collect these springs, and now they wouldn't
be
there for another 18 hours. We had a long drive ahead of us back to
Bramwell only to drive back first thing the next morning. Staying the night in Weipa was a possibility, but of course we'd brought nothing in terms of toothbrushes, pyjamas or anything. Caravan park
cabins were expensive so we considered sleeping in the car but we had a
bootful of shopping, some of
which had to be refrigerated, so that option was out.
Eventually we decided to stay in a cabin at a caravan
park. It ended up more expensive than driving there and back, but not
by a whole lot once you add in wear and tear on the car, and I was just
not feeling like another long drive. Plus I had plenty of work to do,
having had very limited internet for the past week, and there was plenty
in Weipa.
So we headed to the Weipa Camping Ground for a lovely evening swim, fish and chips, and then after some work headed to bed.
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| Evening swim in Weipa |
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| Oh bed! A luxury! Actually our caravan bed ended up more comfortable than this metal springy thing! |
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| Our cabin in Weipa |
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| No toothbrush. So use a bit of stick or a palm frond! |
Friday August 6 - the springs at last!
We woke about 5am feeling pretty warm because the power had gone off and the air conditioners had gone too. After finding the circuit breakers were all intact and wandering around the park trying to work out what had happened, it turned out the power to the whole park and indeed parts of the town had lost power. This seems to be a fairly common thing in Weipa but it came back after a bit. By then of course we were all wide awake, so we made a fairly early start.
One of the trickiest things about not having brought any overnight things was that I have to take my contact lenses out each night and put them in fluid. I simply had nothing to put them in last night, so had to resort to just plain water (the cabin didn't even have any salt). They were horribly uncomfortable when I first put them in but once the tears equalised the salinity of the water they felt better. I tossed these lenses when I got back though.
As we were packing up Qantas rang from Weipa to say the springs had arrived, but they needed to go and do something so they'd leave them on a counter somewhere for us to collect. They described how to find the relevant spot. It all sounded a bit of a sketchy arrangement, but we moved promptly out of the caravan park and to the airport.
We got to the airport and ... well it was a very small affair! I guess when the lady was describing where to go I was picturing Adelaide Airport. This is the arrivals hall at Weipa airport! It reminded me of Ceduna Airport which I visited as a child on a family holiday in the 1980's!
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| The main arrivals hall in Weipa airport. Blink and you'll miss it! This is taken from the FAR end of the building looking to the other end! |
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| Red Dirt! Driving north along Telegraph Rd just south of Bramwell Station |
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| The entrance to Bramwell Station |
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| Yay! The new springs at last! |
But the main thing was, the elusive springs were there!
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| The old broken spring |
We headed back to Bramwell, had some lunch and then got on with the job of installing the new springs. It's usually a pretty straightforward job...
... which was only made difficult by the fact the threads on the u-bolts
holding the springs in place were damaged, and needed a LOT of force to
get off! There was also a bolt whose head had been welded in place which needed cutting off. Les brought his ute over which had an air compressor and a
rattle gun, and even this struggled to move them, causing a barrage of unmentionable phrases to be uttered each time the rattle gun failed to budge the stubborn nuts!
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| Cutting loose the welded bolt head |
But eventually they came loose, the new spring was installed and the job was done!
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| A new shiny spring! |
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| Me with 'Les' the bush mechanic! |
While we were doing this there was some other drama. A rescue helicopter landed just across the road and came across. It turned out a motorcyclist who was riding on the Old Telegraph Track had come off his bike about 20km up the track and injured himself. He was supposedly going too fast trying to catch up with others in his group and his handlebar clipped a tree and threw him off. An ambulance had gone up to collect him and the roadhouse was the point where they'd bring him to be taken off by helicopter. It was there for a few hours as the ambulance presumably had to go pretty slowly on the corrugated main road, but it arrived eventually and he was flown away.
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| The chopper awaiting its next patient |
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| Loading the injured motorcyclist onto the chopper |
-- Greg
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