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VK4EA |
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VK4EA |
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                           01/27     |
We choose to go the last week of the June/July school holidays, thinking most travellers would be returning. Didn't quite go to plan, it is a not a place to get away from people :-). Plenty of travellers on the PDR heading South which made the drive North very interesting with lots of thick, thick, red dust.
Our itinenary ended up like this ->
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1. Brisbane to Marlborough (stayed behind the pub, reasonable food, OK facilities) |
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2. Marlborough to Ayr (Caravan Park) |
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3. Ayr to Daintree (Caravan Park) - We were suprised by the amount of roadworks, which really slowed us down |
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| 4 & 5. Daintree to Cooktown- via the Bloomfield Track - very scenic. Stopped at the Lions Den for lunch. Spent two nights in Cooktown. | |
| 6. Cooktown to Archer River (Camped at the roadhouse, had the Archer Burger) | |
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7. Archer River to Dulhunty River (OTL) - nice campsite on the Southern Bank. First night on the OTL, we succesfully traversed Palm and Gunshot Creeks with no troubles (chicken tracks) |
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8. Dulhunty River to Mistake Creek (OTL) - good camping on the Northern Bank. On the way visited Fruit Bat and Elliot Falls, fabulous |
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9. Mistake Creek to Loyalty Beach (2 nights)- TI day trip - Pajinka, Pusand Bay, Croc Tent |
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| 10 & 11. Loyalty Beach to Bramwell Station - highly recommended, good food and entertainment | |
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12. Bramwell Station to Lockhart River - via the the Frenchmans Track Traversed the Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers, only needed the winch once. |
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| 13. Lockhart River to Musgrave | |
| 14. Musgrave to Cairns - and the long bitumen drag home commenced | |
| 15 & 16. Cairns to Cape Hillsborough (2 nights, wonderfull!) | |
| 17. Cape Hillsborough to Ayr | |
| 18. Ayr to Marlborough | |
| 19. Marlborough to Childers | |
| 20. Childers to Brisbane |
Can't speak highly enough of the Landcruiser, Truck-a-saurus just kept on going. The Toyo Open Country M/Ts performed well, and nothing major happened. The only vehicle failure was the air conditioning compressor drive belt, which was replaced at the next camp. However, need to do something about the fuel consumption. Best we got was 15l/100km, does not bode well for more remote trips we have planned. The Foxwing did fall off going into Fruit Bat falls, crappy welding thanks to MW Toolboxes, luckily a couple recognised it and let us know, so we did manage to retrieve it.
The camping setup, we nailed it this time, it's only taken us 15 years to get right. All we going to change is the location of the food containers so Jayenne can reach them. I will be moving the vehicles solar regulator closer to the battery, but other than that, not much will be changing.
Oztent
We have owned many tents over the 20 years of camping together, I first camped in the mid '70's under real canvas. Started with cheapie from KMart, that lasted for a considerable period of time. Being a little small, mainly not able to stand up inside we moved to a larger dome tent made by Sportiva, which lasted about 10 years until the UV finally got to the fly. Another Sportiva was purchased, but that one only lasted a few years. Time for a rethink. We had seen the Oztents in our travels, but had not considered it as was had the double swag for desert travel, and a small dome tent for when we wanted privacy. Rooftop tent was considered, but discounted as the ladder would be challenging for height adverse users. A local camping show allowed us to buy a RV3 for a reasonable show discount, we are now convinced it's the only way to go. We can be fully setup, ground sheet down, tent up, swag in and unrolled, Fox Wing deployed and zipped to the tent in about 15 minutes, without the Fox Wing or ground sheet it's down to 5-7 minutes. We figure that's good going and appropriate for trips where we are moving everyday.
Jet tent
for longer stays, we invested in the Jet Tent, also by OzTent. It takes about 10 minutes to setup, it's heavier and larger than other comparably sized tents. However the room inside and the quality of materials should last longer than the lighter dome tents. We use this tent for stays of 1 week or more.
Tarps/poles
For longer stays, which as generally in the warm times, shelter from the sun and the inevitable summer storms is important. A good quality tarp is essential, along with the extendable poles, ropes, pegs and spreader bars. The hour or so needed to put this up is time well spent.
