The roads are pretty remote out here, but every now and then there’s something you don’t expect.

What the?

Miles from anywhere.

Next stop was Coen. This is a small place of about 300 people. It used to be a service centre for gold miners and pastoralists, then it also got a telegraph station. Today it was a good spot for lunch. Then we headed off to the west to the mining town of Weipa and the Gulf of Carpentaria. The road gradually improved the closer we got and then we hit the bitumen. Just in case you weren’t sure you were in a mining town, we came across the only set of traffic lights since Cairns.

This must be Weipa.

There’s a great camping ground right on the beach you can’t swim in. The crocs spoil all the fun up here. John went for a run and ran into (not literally) a bloke he knew from a couple of decades ago (apparently John’s running style hasn’t changed) so we had a nice cuppa with a local before heading up the coast a bit to a place called Pennefather. The track is soft sand along the dunes until you arrive at a bunch of shacks and tents filled with fishing enthusiasts. The boys fed the fish again just to make the drive worthwhile and then we headed back to Weipa. We had “Harry’s good school report” dinner out at the local Albatross Resort (it’s a pub) that night. No cooking. Yay!

Before leaving Weipa we did the town and mine tour. They took us out to see how the bauxite is mined and watched a fair bit of the process. Rio Tinto has been mining here since the 60s (formerly as Comalco) and they say there’s another 50 years left here at this site. It’s an enormous project and the environmental protection measures are extensive.

A hauling truck filled with bauxite

It’s a “live in” mining town – no Fly In Fly Outs work here. It can take months to years to get a job here, working your way up the ladder. You have to wait till some one retires or dies apparently. There’s a bloke driving one of the water trucks who is 83. He loves it! This is considered one of the best jobs at the mine. And that might be the reason why I didn’t become a miner.

Did I mention it was a lovely 30 degrees today?

Travelling in the bush means you meet many like-minded people. And then there’s the peculiar ones. We met such a fellow the other night camped by the North Kennedy River at Saltwater Creek in the Lakefield National Park. It was a bush camp and no one was around – or so we thought. Out of the bush come a late model converted Holden Colorado (very clean) driven by a character who stopped to say G’day. By the time he left 45 minutes later we knew all about everything he owned. Although his trailer was unhitched back at his camp further down the river, he showed us photos. Great. Even better, he showed us his fishing photos. Then we got to hear all about the boat. Horsepower, stuff like that. He told us how much he’d increased his GVM (gross vehicle mass) by doing the conversion to 6 wheels. He knew the Torque on his engine, how many kilowatts of power he has. He recited his fuel capacity, water capacity, solar panel set up and maximum amp hours he achieves, ground clearance, towing capacity and stuff I can’t even remember. Did I mention the Croc safety briefing? We got a good 10 minutes on winch maintenance then he gave us the full run down on why we should boycott Big4 caravan parks. He had the latest dash mounted GPS and a rear reversing camera so big he could see better out the back than the front. A man and his castle. He and the wife are doing the Big Lap. Planning to take 5-10 years. They’ve spent 18 months just getting from Sunshine Coast (or Sunny Coast as he calls it) to here.

It was an entertaining interlude.

Musgrave is on the map as though a town would be there, but it’s just a big old house. It was once a telegraph station. When technology left the overland telegraph behind, it became a homestead for a station. It now operates as a welcome stop on the long haul north or south on the uninspiringly named Peninsular Development Road (PDR).

Musgrave

There’s parking space the size of the MCG in front of the building and I don’t doubt that it’s sometimes full. The cool green grass under the shade of the huge tree is pretty appealing. They have a bar, serve food, offer public toilets and showers, there’s a (busy) mechanic, a shop and an airstrip. You just have to share it with the cattle.

Musgrave Airstrip

An early start for the boys. They rode the bikes out the back of town to the start of the walk to the top of Mount Cook. It’s 431m high on a six kilometre hike. Luckily the weather had cleared a bit and they could see Quarantine Bay and further.

From Mount Cook, looking east

They were back for breakfast before we headed out of town. We took the 4WD road rather than the bitumen. You shouldn’t be surprised. It’s called Battle Camp Road and takes you through to Musgrave on the main road – and I use the term “main” loosely.

There were heaps of river crossings, some with water and some without.

We stopped at Isabella Falls where a rock shelf next to the road make a cool waterfall.

Isabella Falls

All the vehicles we passed heading south on the Bloomfield Track were covered in red dirt. It’s the differential diagnosis for those that have been to the Tip and those that are on their way. And here was our first dose of the red world up here.

Battle Camp Track

There’s a few abandoned homesteads along the way. It was a tough life out here for the early Europeans and many failed and left.

Old Laura Station Homestead

We passed many of these waterholes (below) where the lilies were in bloom and white ibis flew around. Just like a movie!

Lilies everywhere