Cape York to Portland Roads, Top End Road Trip - October 1997

Peak hour on the Old Telegraph Track.

With visiting the tip of Cape York Peninsula now ticked off our thoughts turned to where to go next. Our first plan was to slowly make our way back to Cairns and then reassess the situation when we got there. Having come up the Old Telegraph Track Sam and I were planning to head south along the easier but boring Bypass Roads, before cutting across to check out the Iron Range National Park. Our plans changed a little over dinner last night though. As I eluded to at the tail end of the last post Sam and I had met up with a young couple who were up here for their honeymoon. Lani and Ollie were travelling around in an old 45 series Land cruiser and hadn't felt confident enough to tackle the OTT on their own on the journey north. So to cut a long story short over the course of dinner and a few drinks we decided to head south along the OTT to give Lana and Ollie a chance to experience it. 

During our stay at Pajinka we are lucky enough to see a big Scrub Python up in the trees.

Scrubbies can get pretty big, this one was a medium sized specimen.

So leaving Pajinka we now headed south as a little convoy of two. After crossing the Jardine River on the ferry we travelled a bit further south along the Bypass Road befor hooking east to re-join the OTT again. We were now revisiting spots that we'd been to a few days before so we had a bit of an idea what was in store for us as each water crossing approached, although having shaken my compressor to bits on the journey north I was now heading south with no diff locks so there was still a bit of trepidation involved. Thankfully we successfully negotiated both the deep Nolans Brook and the dodgy bridge over Cypress Creek without needing the diff locks or resorting to the winch, although Ollie did have to winch up one steep slippery section. After numerous photo and swimming stops it was late afternoon when we pulled into Twin Falls Camp for the night after a fun day.

Waiting to cross the Wenlock River on our journey south.

Nolans Brook

Giddy up.

Back on the OTT Ollie got to use his winch.

Cypress Creek

The Troppie suffered a battle scar on this crossing.

Leaving Twin Falls Camp next morning we headed off south along the OTT again. Today was stinking hot day and even more than normal we found ourselves stopping at the creeks to get out of the trucks and soak in the water. At one stage we were heading south along the sandy, rutted track when I noticed something big lying in the ruts ahead, getting closer I could see it was a motorbike with his rider laying in the dust beside the bike. Jumping out of the 4wd we soon established that he was alive as he tried to sit up. After giving him some cold water out of the fridge he recovered enough that we could move him under the shade of a nearby tree. Our motorbike rider was Japanese and his English was as good as my Japanese so we were having a little difficulty communicating with him however it appears that he'd come off the bike in the soft sand and was so exhausted that he couldn't get up again. After sitting him under the tree with some cool water Ollie and I managed to move his loaded bike off the track and after ensuring that everything was OK with him and his bike we set off south again.

Heading south on the OTT.

Each creek crossing provided it's own issues.

I was having to push a little harder without the diff locks.

Lunch, literally on the OTT.

Just like on the journey north Gunshot Creek was the crux of our journey south along the OTT. Where as when heading north Gunshot was tough heading south was going to be crazy hard I was thinking. Arriving at Gunshot my fears were quickly confirmed today, the best option was going to be the creek traverse that I'd used on the way north, however even on this easy option the climb out of Gunshot looked dubious, especially as I was now travelling without diff locks. Well I did manage to negotiate the water and mud OK and I also managed to get the front wheels onto flat ground above the creek bank, however after two or three goes at getting the Troopie all the way up that resulted in a lot of pig rooting and flying dust and sand I had to admit that it wasn't going to happen and deploy the winch. After winching Ollie up too we continued on down the OTT again through the late afternoon heat. Arriving at a sheet of corrugated iron leaning on a tree beside the track that had Frenchman daubed in paint on it we left the OTT and swung east along the rough Frenchmans Track towards the Iron Range National Park and the east coast. We didn't make the Iron Range that day though, arriving at the Wenlock River crossing we found ourselves a nice shady and sandy camp beside the clear river and settled into another beautiful Cape York camp.

Back at Gunshot.

This was the easy bit.

This bit proved to be the problem....in the end I winched up the last bit.

Ollie had his go but had to winch too.

Heading south again on the OTT.

Exploring one of the many creeks.

This crossing was shallow enough, so long as we avoided the pot holes of which we were swimming in one!

Our Wenlock River camp on Frenchmans Track was another Cape York classic.

Wenlock River

Chilling out in the Wenlock River after another hard day on the cape.

Setting off next morning we continued heading east along Frenchmans Track. Like the OTT the crux of Frenchmans Track was another water crossing, this time it was the Pascoe River. It was only an hour or so after leaving camp this morning when we suddenly started a steep descent... I guess this'll be the Pascoe. Arriving at the river we jumped out of the vehicles and went to suss out the ford. The Pascoe River was fairly wide and fast flowing on the ford itself, however both upstream and downstream looked a bit dodgy as far as Saltwater Crocodiles go. I had to walk the crossing though as I knew that the bed of the river here consisted of big sharp rocks and with the water fairly deep I wanted to know where the sump crushing rocks were at. After convincing ourselves that salties don't tend to hang out in fast flowing water we waded into the river, I say we as even Sam and Lana waded the river so they could give us directions from the far bank to help us avoid the rocks. Thankfully with plenty of team work we managed to get both 4wd's across the river safely, I even braved a quick dip on the ford after getting across to wash the sweat off! Once across the Pascoe River, Fenchmans Track was all pretty good and we soon found ourselves turning left off Frenchmans Track and heading through the lush rainforest of Iron Range National Park to meet the ideal tropical coast at Portland Roads. 

The Pascoe River crossing is the crux of Frenchmans Track I think.

The ford itself was reasonably deep and fast flowing over a bed of large uneven rocks.

The Dirt.

I've already waffled on about the Old Telegraph Track so I won't go into too much detail again suffice to say it's tough. Frenchmans Track is also fairly hard, although travelling late in the dry season meant that at least it wasn't super boggy. The Wenlock River crossing was fairly long and sandy crossing on Frenchman's - but not too bad, the Pascoe River was deep, reasonably wide and fast flowing so it needed a little caution. We mostly used Hema paper maps on this trip.

Relevant Posts.

Wenlock River to Cape York, 1997.

Frenchmans Track approaching the Iron Range and Iron Range National Park.

The idyllic Portland Roads... have I ever mentioned that I love Australia?