Bramwell, Archer River, Musgrave Stations, Endeavour Falls–10 to 14 August 2011

We were sad to leave Seisia, but the time had come to take the long road south. 

We again crossed the Jardine River by Ferry, admiring the grammar correction [“there are/is loose gravel”] on the sign, and chatting with the ferry driver.

We visited Fruit Bat Falls. This is a lovely place but totally overcrowded and with very limited parking so we didn't stay. You and 100 other people are getting away from it all.

We had lunch in a pulloff and drove on to Bramwell Homestead which offers camping and accommodation. It is sited on Bramwell Station, Australia's Northernmost cattle Property.  There is a large shady grassy meadow to camp in and fire circles for fires. It has a kitchen and meals can be bought. The couple running it have leased the area from the Station owners and are hard working and enthusiastic.  Facilities are basic but there are clean hot showers and toilets.

From Bramwell we drove to Archer River Station which is a lovely place to stop.  We had a swim again in the crocodile free Archer River and enjoyed our campfire. It is always pleasant and relaxing there.
 
The wife of the owner of Archer River, who we had met again in Weipa, told us of a very bad accident near Archer River the day before we arrived.  A 4WD traveling close behind in the dust of a Road Train failed to see the left hand curve in the road and went straight into an oncoming 4WD.  He was killed outright and the occupants of the oncoming 4WD were severely injured.

This is a dangerous road to drive on.  We were told of  four fatalities in the previous two weeks. We observed quite a lot of speed and bad driving in our time on the road.  The Road Trains are huge, but with good professional drivers they can travel safely and fast on these roads.  To quote from the  Queensland Government publication, “Driving the Peninsula Development Road” - ‘Overtaking a road train – Firstly ask yourself, ‘Is it really necessary to overtake, and can I see through the dust?’, like the dust shown in the photo below.

We had our first blow out on the van between Archer River and Musgrave Stations.  The van did not sway at all and John managed to pull up within four meters of the outer casing of the tyre, only because he felt the Landcruiser was not pulling as well as it should have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Archer River we stopped off at Coen for lunch and to pick up our email and then drove to Musgrave Station where we were pleasantly surprised to see our Bushtracker friends Sylvia and Colin, who joined us for dinner.

The next day we traveled through Rinyirru ( Lakefield ) National Park to Cooktown. There were lakes and River Crossings, but these were not too difficult. John and Tricia remembered how excited they were by the first river crossing. Tricia  feels the Landcruiser always smiles when it does a river crossing as if to say, 'This is what I was built for' .  We saw a lot of white waterlilies and one lake with rare red water lilies.

We lunched at Breeza Station, now a collection of tumble down outbuildings and mango trees. Tricia imagines the person planting them dreaming of the shade they would bring.  Now Breeza is a National Park and the Station and its owners long gone.  We then travelled through the Nifold Plain with its various termite mounds to Old Laura Station.

The Old Laura Station is the most complete Station building left in the North. One can imagine it in its hey day, bustling with many people coming and going.

The last leg of our drive was glorious with wonderful views round every corner as we descended the Great Dividing Range. We spent the night at the Endeavor Falls Holiday Park on the Escarpment just out of Cooktown.  In the morning we visited the Endeavour Falls, before driving on to Cooktown.