Day: November 13, 2018

 

Old Laura Homestead – Hann River Crossing 0.2

Lots more dust, dirt, corrugations, fords and lilly pad and lotus flower filled lakes and water birds. Casualties on the drive today none to report of.

On to Hann River crossing for our second night and a two night stop. Ken had selected this spot cause we were right on the river but with very steep banks safe from crocs.

No shade here and the heat was pretty uncomfortable. We set up and just tried to stay cool. The heat just zapping our energy. Ken is keen to catch himself a barramundi and has a new little Barra rod so was straight into it. No joy, but we did have a visit from two little tortoise.

Being distracted by the barra Ken was late getting the fire set and coals burnt down for our second go at the wood fired pizza oven. Massive improvement! No burnt bases tonight and brown of top. Winner winner, pizza dinner or pizzeeee as Lulu calls it. Followed by a mixed berry and banana sorbet whip up in the thermi. Yum.

The evening again bought out the wildlife. Little micro bats are always present, a couple of toads but not sure they were cane toads as they were smallish and yep a croc cruising the river. Our torch is not a great spotty so while we could clearly see it’s reflective eyes coasting up and down the banks of the river we couldn’t make out any size.

Day 2 at Hanh River was quiet domesticated catching up on school work, cleaning as pointless as it is in all this dust, bread making as the freezer is full of meat and meals, and being on tight water rations laundry needs to be done by hand or in my cleaver little wash bag. Which has been one of my favourite items on the trip.

Ken and Charlotte went for a little drive and returned to swelter away in the middle of the day. Sooooooooooo hot and not much breeze to speak of. In the cool of evening we took a wee walk to try and spot the Brolga Ken had seen earlier and more fishing, we all got in on the action this time. And while no one caught anything we all enjoyed it and the girls did really well at casting. The cute little tortoises were back and being playful.

No crocs tonight but stars galore! Astrologically we have totally jagged it with the moon not rising until midnight so we get to gaze in total darkness till we go to bed. Perfect. Talking of perfect – perfection is no midges or sandflies and we have been spared from those ravenous buggers the last 3 nights.

First days drive – Cooktown to Old Laura Homestead. We’d received some intel from the local fish man (Nicko!) that the main road, the Penninsular Developement Road (PDR), was not in great condition and Battlecamp road was a good alternative. So with this advice Ken planned and booked our first four nights up the Cape staying in various camp in Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (CYPAL).

We were looking forward to our first ford crossing (the Normandy) and it was fantastic but we made a rookie mistake. With me in the drivers seat and Ken on the banks filming us with the drone. All went well until we were across and realized Ken was left on the wrong side.

Crocodile Ken being more focused on the shot and not the practicalities was just going to walk across. Never one to be too worried about the rules, I was putting my foot down, “nar mate, not this time. Stay put.” We’ve got these rules, not in the water, not near the water, not over the water, and I can see I’m gonna have to remind him a few times.

With there not really being anywhere to turn the van around and never having backed the van before, some kind folks packed up their lunch preparations and went and picked him up. Note to self – fly drone from the car.

The remainder of the drive was pleasant but bumpy. Corrugations pretty much all the way with a few more smallish fords and a number of dust bowls (large sandy holes in the otherwise hard corrugated compacted gravel). These can be really tricky to spot and to hit at speed can do some serious damage.

Arriving at our camp spot by 1400, we first drove on and checked out the Old Laura Station which operated form the late 1800 till 1946. It was only a kilometer down the road but it was hot and dusty and this is winter! The dust is noteworthy, as you first touch earth from the car and every step thereafter a cloud of fine powdery dust engulfs you foot before settling again. Immediately your mind goes to imagining this may be what moon dust is like and you start taking slow large moon walking steps. Or maybe that was just me.

Entering the van after the days travel, there was few causalities, upholstery edging on lounge seating, kitchen draw off runners, kitchen window blind retracting spring gone. We had let our tyres down to 25 psi but after seeing this carnage I was convinced we needed to go lower and we did the next day, down to 20 psi.

Our camp site was shaded and lovely. Camp was made, wood was collected and fire was set. Then the kids enjoyed a bit of down time reading and doing puzzles while Ken, Lulu and I explored the nearby dry river bed of the Laura River.

Evening brought out the stars, camp fire and the wild life. After dinner Ken got up to light the fire only to be spook out of his wits by an owl jumping out of the tree nearest him to grab its dinner of the ground. It landed only a meter from him and with a thud and flurry of flapping feathers took of again while we all went, WHAT THA!

That wasn’t the only wild life, Roos at dusk are a given but in addition in the complete dark with a torch you could scan low to ground and spot a million reflecting eyes peeping back at you. Spider eyes and then we had the company of some largerish animal rustling the bush for hours but not revealing itself. Maybe goat, wild pig or cattle. We heard it push over a few small trees so something strong but not the slightest bit interested in us.