traveling to Cape York on the Development road

[Lofty56]

Well, we did it, 10 days of magic country, and great people, would recommend it to any, seen many jayco,s and other vans up that way, Musgrove Station, , Bramell Homestead tourist park, were real highlights of the trip, but Hann River, Archer river, well there all just bloody magnificence,

We lead 3 vans, one track master, one Halen, and one Jayco Dove, camper, all made it, there and back, with minimal Damage,

Dropped the tire pressures to 25 pound, and sat on about 50 klms, or less, most of the way or even much less if the corrugations required it, as the sign,s say, drive to conditions, and they mean it.

Fruit-bat falls, Elliott falls, just no words describe them. took the vans to the carpark at fruitbat, but un hitched for Elliott of corse.

The TIP, and the PIC was done, and all were excited about the bucket list thingy, Pusand bay, Seisie, WOW, we stayed at Loyalty beach, $32 a night for a powered site.

the only Damage l suffered on the tracky was a flat tire we discovered,(slow leak) the night b4 we started back sth,
A big thanku to RACQ Bamaga, they fixed it on turn up at 8pm the nex mornin, and charged me $44 , great value and service.

So much l could say, but that will do, l would post some pic,s but, l forgot how to downsize the pic,s to make them fitt on here lol

Regards Kev & Pam

[dieseltojo]

Well done and great to not do damage. No way my Avan would do it though. Too close to the max limit weight wise.

[jock]

Hey Lofty56...How did you go weather-wise?? ...We were up at Elim Beach (Nth. of Cooktown) a few weeks ago and had almost nothing but strong winds and squally showers. Folks, we met at the camp, had been further up and reported similar conditions. Judging by the mud all over their vehicles, road conditions must have been pretty bad.

Jock

[Lofty56]

Not a drop of rain jock, the sunburn was more of a concern, road conditions were great for the majority, and when it wasnt it was just good vibrations, (Corrugation), all l can say as a negative, is tighten down the hatches, for if there is a screw loose somewhere, lam sure the road will find it for u

We did come across one tragic story, of people who had excepted poor advise on the trac and were stuck in Weipa for the last 2 weeks getting there van repaired.

Seems a fellow traveler had convinced them, that the only way to run the, in some places, very serious Corrugations, were to make sure all your tires were at-least 45 pound and to b a minimum speed of 80 klms, hence they pretty much broke everything inside the van including most of the fittings, and some serious suspension damage as well. last l seen they were still waiting for the new fridge from cairns to arrive, but were getting close to resuming there run to the top.

They were in mess, and were extremely upset with themselves for being so ni-eve, but it was good to c the fellow travelers pitching into help where they could, IE:: Tools, Spare Parts, Knowledge, advise on the proper way to travel out these parts, very heart warming.

from wat the locals from Musgrove Station, Bramwell Homestead and Bamaga had said, there had been some rain around the east and west coast of the the tip, but nothing of any concern on the main PDR, or OTT for quite some time, nor was any expected, , alot of travelers we had seen with mud splatted 4wd,s had been out on the coastal trac,s jock

Biggest issues we faced were Corrugations and DUST, DUST, DUST


Hope that helps

Regards Kev

[Lofty56]

there r plenty up that way now, with the right attitude, tire pressure, and slow speed approach to the trip, its getting alot easier to achieve now

[Lofty56]

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our intrepid group about to start the beach walk to the tip on the beach

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the final trip to the tip, crossing the Jardine, one of our troup

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Our final Camp site at Loyalty Beach,

[Lofty56]

there r plenty up that way now, with the right attitude, tire pressure, and slow speed approach to the trip, its getting alot easier to achieve now

, the dips can be wet ones on occssions as well

[Lofty56]

just beautiful, the walk across the sand to the tip

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the Tip, yeah

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[dieseltojo]

Hi Kev & Pam,
How far toward Weipa does the bitumen go these days? Years ago when I went up to Bamaga the turn off to Cook Town was about it.
I was in a pretty new 89 Patrol, (Maverick) and the corrugations were that bad that the air con radiator tore out and I sheared a left side engine mount.
But I later found that the engine mounts were known for that up there.

[jock]

Great Photos guys. Suprised to see you had such great weather. I believe it's bitumen all the way to Laura now (travelling the inland route via Mt. Molloy, Lakelands, etc. etc.....
Would imagine that the roads (tracks) will worsen, corrugation-wise, as the season wears on. Must be like Bourke St., up thataways now..
Ivan Deemal at Elim also told us that the road will be sealed all the way to Weipa within 4 years. It seems they have the funding approved for the project....Seems a shame in some respects...Would imagine that now would be a good time for someone to invest in land in Weipa to build another Caravan Park.

Jock