As we leave Alau Beach and begin the drive back from the tip we notice a whole lot more of lost bits and pieces that have fallen off peoples cars, caravans or campers. 

We see more tiedowns, a mop, a tyre, more solar panels and assorted dust covered metal fragments.

Before too long we are at the Jardine Ferry again, and once again we have no waiting time at all before we are called on and now start feeling a little sad, knowing that the adventure is coming to an end, for this trip.

A few living critters cross our path as we’re driving, more little wallabies, a snake and more cattle feeding on the roadsides. There are also heaps of broken roadside posts that get covered with dirt and just provide another hazard to watch for, with parts sticking out of the dust, waiting to spike a tyre.

We drive over the worst corrugations again just near Bramwell Station and once again get off the road and into the gutter for a smoother ride.

We make our next stop at Moreton Telegraph Station which is very green, thanks to daily watering from the Wenlock River behind the park.  We set up our tent in full sun but there is a huge shady tree nearby where we set up our tables and chairs to escape the worst of the heat.

Moreton Telegraph Station is on 15 acres of bushland and has powered and unpowered sites as well as some safari tents. Being on the Wenlock River there are also spots to try your hand at catching fish.  The river is quite low when we’re there but we make the 750 metre trek to the ‘Barra Hole’ to have a go. No luck for us but we are constantly scanning for any sight of a croc too, it looks typically like somewhere they’d like to be.

Also at the telegraph station there is a small museum with information about the place and they have a food truck and tables to eat at, so we join some new found friends and travellers, a group of four from WA, for a dinner of terrific burgers and drinks.

Unfortunately for us that night was the cook’s last night on before his days off and he decided to wind down by sitting in his cabin just across from us, and playing guitar ALL NIGHT LONG!

Never mind, you will find all sorts of people on this trek, some you gel with, some you definitely don’t but we found the great experiences far outweighed the bad.

Our next stop is a detour off on a shortcut road to the mining town of Weipa. We had rung ahead to book a powered site at the caravan park and being in a tent they promised us a ‘nice shady site’ – which sounded wonderful. It wasn’t!

We had expected there to be more at Weipa to keep us occupied, so booked for two nights, waiting patiently in the office for a couple of minutes for the clock to actually tick over to 12 noon, before they would take bookings. This should have been a sign of things to come, and it didn’t take us long to realize that we wouldn’t have much to do here, and added to that, our shady site was a patch in full sun with one tall tree that wouldn’t be throwing any shade until probably on sunset.

So in 33 degrees, with high humidity and full sun, we decided to do a basic set up and look for somewhere cool to escape the heat.  We also advised reception that we’d only be staying for one night and checked if we could possibly get a refund for one night.  We were told it was their busy time of year and there should be no problem selling the site and then we would be refunded. (This saga will continue)

Weipa does have its good points, the cultural centre is very informative, there is a bar and restaurant that people recommend, The Albatross Hotel, and there is a great supermarket, some small shops and a really good bakery.

Back at the caravan park there is an onsite café ‘Barra-munchies’ where you can buy food and watch another beautiful Cape York sunset in the evening. Overnight there was a fair bit of traffic noise and other industrial noise but we set off the next morning to a new destination.

As for the one night refund, well after a few emails we did eventually get it – begrudgingly. This all just added to the reason why Weipa is probably not a town we will revisit in future. Normally we would put episodes like this down to experience, but it seemed just a bit too rich to walk away without appealing for a refund, having paid $110 for one night on a full sun site in a tent!

We continue our journey back down the track and still keep seeing bits and pieces on the rough roads including caravan plumbing pieces and the foot off a stabilizing leg of a van or camper trailer. We pass road trains that look like they’re standing still, they are going that slowly over the corrugations.

On one section of bitumen, just as we think we can relax and drive at a steady speed, there is a mob of cattle just standing on the road and in no hurry to leave.  A quick toot of the horn and they scatter off into the scrub.

We finished up arriving at what we thought may be our last night’s destination on the Cape around lunchtime, so after a short snack and a break from driving and taking into consideration that the sky is looking quite overcast and rain is possibly on the cards, we decide instead to push on and make it to Lakeland where our van is stored.

We have one last stop on the way to drive into the town of Laura which sadly lost a community member just a short while before we started this trip.  The publican was tragically taken by a croc while fishing in the river behind the hotel, and sadly for the community everything is still in limbo at the moment.  In the past you could leave your caravan at Laura next to the hotel, but with the business on hold until further notice, it’s unknown what will happen in the future.

Finally after our longest driving day of 530 kilometres, we arrive at Lakeland and give our Jayco Silverline a big old hug. We loved the adventure of camping with a tent on Cape York but are so glad to have a comfy and spacious home to come back to. The bonus is no dust, no dirt, and no bits and pieces broken or rattled off.

Next Blog – Some of the stats from our trip.

Glenys