Cockatoo Creek.
Trip Start
Mar 25, 2011
1
24
32
Trip End
Ongoing
Cockatoo Creek, Queensland, Australia
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Well, Geoffs fishing idea was a good one BUT the barge from Cairns had arrived and we couldn't go on the wharf until the boat was unloaded. This boat delivers everything needed up here, from meat to cars, you can drive up here and then have your car loaded on board and have a cabin on board for the voyage home, sounds like a nice plan sometime…we ended up doing a bit of shopping and looking around Seisia and Bamaga…ohhhh, "Bamaga Bakehaus", will we??….oh OK then!!! The “Bakehaus” does make the best pies and cakes but they sell out of EVERYTHING by about 11am. Luckily we were there at 10am and assisted in the depletion of stock then back to base camp for a relaxing vino on the beach…oh what a hard life!
We had another meeting of the General Council to see where to go on the way south, Geoff wanted to go to Gunshot Creek, we’d never been so we all decided we’d go there…however we had some doubt about camping sites in the area as it was a real popular place… the meeting was adjourned and the minutes of the meeting have been destroyed to protect the adage “what happens on tour stays on tour”!!!
By the way…not sure if anyone knows this but Trish has a fixation with “Zip Lock Bags”, her cure for everything, once something is opened or cooked where will you put it? In a zip lock bag of course, even had some left over beans and where would you put them? Zip lock bag, ye eejit…or as Geoff called it a “bean bag”. Trish also had a recipe for some scrambled eggs camp style…yup ye use a … zip lock bag and one morning she gave it a go and those in the know thought they looked and smelt lovely, you break some eggs in the zip lock bag, mush 'em up add what ye want, cheese, mushrooms, seal the bag and drop in a pot of water, bring to the boil and Voila, scrambled eggs camp style….so when ever you can’t think of what to use…think “Zip Lock Bag”, works for Trish!
Day 9: Cockatoo Creek
Off we set for Gunshot Creek but this time we went on the “main road” and wow the Old Telegraph Track is smoother, the corrugation were so bad that I lost another spotlight somewhere along the way, we met a house, yes that does say HOUSE heading north (as you do) it was going to McCurtin Street, not sure which town and not really sure if it would arrive intact!
There was a “Reduce Speed” sign too showing a bad bend…we were doing about 20kphm at the time, not sure what speed we were supposed to go, the road was atrocious! Thank God we were heading for the OTT again, and it was (as we’d expected) smoother than the main road. We arrived at a crossing before Gunshot Creek called Cockatoo Creek and WOW, this was THE spot to camp and here we are in the middle of nowhere and what’s there? Toilets!
You’d expect them to be a bit grotty but no, clean…in fact cleaner than the toilets in the Punsand Bay Resort Park. Geoff found a good camp site and we set up camp, right by the river and yes…more “Actung Crocodiles”…must be just Germans who are attacked by Crocs… We went down to the creek for the ubiquitous glass in the water – oh, did I mention that all during the trip the riff from Smoke on the Water had been going through my head, which I of course shared and now everyone has it stuck in their heads…words changed to; Croc in the Water, Car in the Water, Glass in the Water etc…VERY annoying! When we got back from the creek, someone had cleaned the toilets…I kid you not!
Anyway we lit a fire and Lou made some Damper . amazing stuff, hot out of the camp fire, sensational.
Day 10: Cockatoo Creek & Gunshot Creek.
Another great nights sleep, waking to birds calling for various people…the cockatoo’s sound like they’re calling “Hank, Haaaannnkkk, Hank”, lots of other birds looking for “Marrrrrrrrrrie”, crows looking for “Maaaark”, chickens looking for “Book, booook, booook, book” Lou even heard one calling “GeoFFRRREEYYY”, guess you had to be there…mind you one bird sounded like he was looking for “Bwian”, wonder if birds have speech impediments?
We headed off to Gunshot Creek and as we had to cross Cockatoo Creek, Trish was on photo duty, we’d walked the creek the day before and had worked out a safe route for both cars, a bit rough and wet but no problems.
Gunshot Creek – this is regarded as the worst crossing on the Telegraph Track, many cars have been lost in the attempt and we even heard of a 4WD with trailer in tow that had landed on its side a few days prior.
They have a way around it called “The Chicken Run” which is really the only way out, unless you’ve got winches and lots of people to assist in digging!
We set up chairs in the stream to watch the fun… but no cars around so Geoff thought he’d give it a go and off he went up the hill, made it on the second attempt, me poor old Nissan is too long and low but maybe next time!
Time for a drink…and then we heard cars coming…3 in a row, young chaps, check out the terrain and off they go, nice but easy…next a Land Cruiser coming from the opposite direction this is the HARD way, will he? Won’t he? He will! He does! He makes it! Woooohoooo, great excitement, he was so excited he went around and did it again…no more cars coming so we decided time to get back to camp, gather more wood and relax, after all it was a VERY strenuous day. We got the fire cranking and Lou made some scones for afternoon tea, how good were they? So good the “kids” never got near them
