Well we made it to the top and did the short hike out to the very tip of Australia only to find the sign marking it surround by water from a king tide. So off with the shorts I carried my daughter and later my wife across for the been there done that photos. We couldn't stay long as the rain was going to make getting back very hard as the wet season was now in full swing and would not stop for another 6 months. Not wanting to extend the holiday for that long we turned around and had managed to cross the whole of Australia from south to north and 4000 kms in a week exactly but knew we still had to get south of the Wenlock river before we could slow down the pace.
Well this is what is at the top of Australia with only islands further north!
On the way back down we did the bottom half of the Old Telegraph track that we had bypassed on the way up. It may be shorter in distance but it took five times longer than on the way up! The many creek crossings were running hard because of the rain earlier in the day made it interesting and sometimes I had to zigzag across to avoid the deepest holes that would have been over the bonnet with a wrong turn. Used the wife and daughter as makers to keep out of the worst ones. Damn it's good being the driver at times like this!
Into Gunshot was easy but not out!
I had seen many photos of people coming down the 'Gunshot' as the steep bank at that creek is known and was hoping we would be doing the same. Well it wasn't to be and to make things worse was it was like quick sand at the bottom of it as well. I knew that if I couldn't even stand without sinking I would do the same when driving across it. There was a several km bypass around it but what would be the fun in that! So set up the winch on the other side on a nice big tree that showed the signs of idiots who do not use tree protectors ( a 4" wide strap with eyelets ) when winching and ring barked it. Was surprised that I made it across the quick sand until the front wheels started to climb the bank and with all the weight going to the rear it promptly sank until the bumper bar was touching the ground. Was happy to get this far and did not sit there spinning the wheels to dig it in deeper so it was winching time.
With it down to the bumper, winching was the only way out.
Running it through a snatch block to halve the effort but double the time taken, I slowly winched the car and trailer out until I could drive it up the rest of the way and took a good soak in the creek as the sun had come out and was now a steamy mid 30*C day. Fortunately it had not rained as far south as the Wenlock river so it was a little easier to cross than on the way up. Decided to take a 'short cut' on a little used track to get across to the Weipa road and camped by the side of it that night. In the morning decided to re-pack the whole car and dry a few things out only to get a flat battery from having the doors open! Now what were we going to do as it was 40*C or 100*F and we were on our own. I remembered passing a homestead the day before so filled the rucksack with as much water as I could carry and spent half a day hiking back on my own to it hoping someone would be there. As luck had it they were about to leave for 2 weeks to check the fencing ( we have stations over a million acres here ) so they agreed to give me a lift back and jump start the Jeep so I gave him plenty of beer money for his trouble.
May Town gold digging and snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef.
On the way back from Weipa we decided to go to the old gold fields at May Town and considered by most to be a lot harder than the track to Cape York that we had just done. Had trouble getting a permit to get in as a 4wd had recently been swept downstream and wrecked as they hadn't checked the crossing for a couple of hours and it had come up a meter since then. Showing them the map of everywhere we had been over the last few years on our own they let us in and it was pretty hard in places but we didn't have to winch anywhere. After having a good look around we headed back to Cains to do the Kuranda Railway and snorkel and dive on the Great Barrier Reef which was fantastic and not to be missed.