Bramwell to Seisia

No brakes so we had a get-away line onto the Jardine barge.

An Injinou family.

Kids everywhere loved Daisy

1 July Before setting off Lang had to fix the accelerator cable and then we went 10km to Bramwell Junction Roadhouse and refuelled. We are getting 17kms to the litre so Daisy is proving very economical. She has a 20 litre tank and we are carrying two 10 litre jerry cans. During the day all brakes failed so Lang is just reading the road and using the gears, emergency stops are achieved by turning the ignition off.

We called in at Fruit Bat Falls which are lovely but over-run with 4WD's and people so continued on to the Jardine River Ferry crossing. Again there was a huge line up of vehicles and it took about an hour and the help of Tina, who was driving the car in line behind us, to cross. We tied a rope from her front to our rear so we didn't get away and go down the steep slope, across the barge,  and end up in the Jardine. We had considered trying to reenact the 1928 crossing and even brought a large tarp with us to float the car across. Unfortunately there did not seem to be anybody who was willing to wade across the river with the crocodiles, Lang probably would have given it a try but this little duck certainly wasn't going to.

The roads again range from OK to awful and we eventually hit bitumen just out of Injanoo and headed through Bamaga and onto Seisia. This is a tiny but pretty seaside town with a very nice caravan park. What it also has is Mark the mechanic at Top End Motors. We organised to have Daisy looked at the following day and booked a donga at the park for the next three days..

Coen to Bramwell

30^th  We are off by 0700 with very few cars on the road through to Archer River. The road conditions vary from OK to downright awful. After refuelling at Archer River and having some breakfast we made the decision to not side-track into Weipa, and put Daisy through another extra 200kms of corrugations.

Turning onto the Telegraph Road we decided we had made the right decision as this part of the road seemed to be in much better condition. We called into Moreton Telegraph Station for lunch and continued onto Bramwell Station for the night. During the day we struck quite a bit of rain which made it fun when cars passed and the windscreen turned red. As the wiper does not want to work we found we could tilt the whole windscreen and wipe with paper towel each time someone passed us.

At Bramwell Lang with the help of Les, a volunteer at the station, again worked on the brakes which continue to give us problems.In the evening though, we were able to relax and enjoy a very nice meal and live music until 9pm.

A chance meeting with Alan and Jan Pike and a quick coffee in the bush.

Typical termite mound - no, they don't all face north!

Les and Lang fixing brakes.

Fruit Bat Falls. Great spot but too easy to get to for the herds travelling north.

Jardine barge on a busy day.

Cooktown to Coen

Crossing the Normanby River

On the 27^th we set off from Cooktown in the rain.but the weather cleared once we were over the range. We forded the Normanby River on the Battlecamp Road with no problems and then struck out on the gravel which had a few corrugations but the car handled it well.

We arrived at Laura late morning and set up camp behind the pub. Daisy had her photo taken with the Austin 7 parked at the Laura Store. During the afternoon Lang worked on the brakes removing each wheel and adjusting each one in turn. Seems all brakes were seized - something we had not spotted before leaving home.

In 1928 Hector and Dick in Emily put their Austin 7 on the railway that ran from Cooktown to Laura but this fell into disuse after the gold and other local demand finished shortly therafter. Laura's big weekend was on with Picnic Races and bull riding but all the crowd were camped well away from us at the show..

Leaving Laura on the 28^th we had no oil pressure. The thin wire from a bread wrap-tie from a motorist parked at the roadhouse to clear out the oil jets soon had us on the way again.

We then headed for Lakefield National Park on relatively good roads. We arrived at our pre booked camp site at Hann Crossing on the North Kennedy River before lunch and enjoyed a very relaxing afternoon at this idylic spot totally out of sight of any other campers on the banks of the river.

On the 29^th we continued through the National Park calling into Lotusbird Lodge – a beautiful resort 28 kms out of Musgrave where Sue and Gary the owners treated us to morning tea. We stopped at Musgrave Roadhouse and topped up with fuel and as we were leaving we passed Jan and Alan Pike returning from Weipa. Alan boiled the billy and we swapped tales of our trips. They were travelling south so were able to give us some clues about the road ahead..

Now we are on the main north-south road the conditions are fairly horrendous. The corrugations really make poor Daisy do a merry dance, and there is a lot more traffic to contend with.

We have been having trouble with Daisy overheating and during the afternoon she just stopped dead and Lang found the points closed. Despite a daily dab of grease, the new points are wearing their rubbing block very quickly and will need checking regularly.

Not many water crossings this time of year.

The Austin 7's at Laura

There were several different styles of termite mound.

Leaving Lakefield National Park.

We arrived at Coen at 3pm and were able to get a room at the hotel for the night. In 1928 Hector and Dick talk about what once had been a thriving inland town dying because the high cost of labour had forced the gold mines in the neighbouring mountains to close.