Just before getting there on the Telegraph track we met a small group of 4wd's for the first time and stopped them to check how the river was up ahead. It turned out that they had been camped for 5 days on the opposite bank waiting for the river to drop. They ended up getting a large 4wd truck from this side and borrowing some very long cable to stretch over the 60 meter wide river from the homestead and swimming across with it to the other side where they then towed the whole group one by one across the river without the their motors running. They showed me their soaking wet seats they were sitting in and thought we would be mad to try it on our own and should turn around. Well seeing as we had come this far we pushed on to at least to look at the crossing. We got there just on dusk and my wife was not keen on swimming across this one so I stripped off and started walking to the other side. It was up to my chest and I could not stand up for long before being swept downstream. If you cant walk across without this happening then you can't drive across as it means it is too deep or flowing too fast. When I got to the other side I read a sign saying BEWARE OF SALTWATER CROCODILES! Great I thought and still had to swim back by what was by now moon light. Well I marked the bank at the water level to see if it was coming up or down and camped up on the bank for the night. We woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of an engine and jumped out of bed to see a Landcruiser Ute driving down the opposite bank and straight into the water. In no time the headlights were underwater but they just kept on going with the water now up to the windscreen. They missed the exit up the other side because they couldn't see but just gunned the thing even harder to get up the bank. I was amazed that they made it but with a snorkel and a diesel they had a better chance then most. Once on the bank they simply just opened the doors to let the water out without stopping and just kept going! It turned out they were Aboriginals that had stolen the Rangers truck and were heading to Weipa for more beer!
Crossing the flooded Wenlock River, Cape York
Well by the morning the river had dropped a foot and was up to my waist now when I checked out the best route to take. I sprayed all the electrics and inside the distributor with WD40 and put a blind ( 6'x4' tarp ) over the front held in place by just closing the bonnet and letting it stop just below the skid plate underneath. I also blocked the front airbox intake and un-plugged the rear hose that stops at the top of the firewall ( see here for pics. ). Managed to help the wife across the river first so these picture could be taken and then swam back to head across. With it in low range I headed in at about walking pace to keep a small bow wave to keep the air pocket behind the blind and made sure the vents were closed. With my heart in my mouth, I kept up the same pace and with a bit of getting pushed down stream made it across without a drop of water inside ( had glued the seal joints closed ) or most importantly in the airbox.
Out the other side with much relief. Termite mounds are tall here!
The route to the top has two ways with the Old Telegraph track going in a straight line but is very hard with heaps of creek crossings and a longer easier way that avoids a lot of that. We choose the easier way for the first half and then switched to the old track for the second half. On the way back we did the reverse which ended up being a bad choice as the Gunshot ck. was impossible to cross without winching up the bank that others normally come down. Having no one on the old section for over 3 weeks had its problems as you will see later on. The most scenic on this whole trip are the waterfalls which are normally crowded with people but we had to ourselves and spent sometime enjoying a good swim under them.
First on Old telegraph track for 3 weeks! Twin Falls free of people.
After visiting Fruit Bat falls and the others the track suddenly gets very bad as most people turn back to the easier track. The problem we faced that others don't is that because no one had been over the track since the heavy tropical down pours that happen at this time of year is that water collects on the road and then runs down to the many creeks cutting huge ruts in the track and the swollen creeks cut the banks vertically making crossing them damn hard.
Elliot Falls Child swallowing ruts at Mistake Ck.
We often had to cut the top off the vertical banks and place logs at the bottom of them just so we could get up them as once they're level with the bumper there was no other way. The photos show what we often faced and was glad about the coil rear end I had fitted to this XJ.
Bank erosion not getting any better!