Cape York - the way down

The way down from the tip of Cape York was adventure filled!  We decided to travelled fairly quickly back down to civilisation, so that we can push west before the wet season.  That plan was going well on the first day and we made it from the top down to the beautiful waterfalls and creeks around the northern bypass road.  We spent the afternoon splashing around in the water and being entertained by people who got bogged taking the tricky route across the creek we were camped by. 

The next day we were feeling quite intrepid and decided to do half of the southern section of the OTL, before hitting the bypass road.  This was going really well and both Troopy and Luke were performing well in 4WD.  We decided to pop our heads into Gunshot Creek, an infamously steep creek crossing on the southern OTL that hard core 4WD’ers attempt and sensible people drive around.  We were feeling quite brave and decided that it really wasn’t that hard core at all and we would just do it rather than going back and around.  Big mistake!!  Troopy got herself stuck on the way up the far side of the creek and no matter how much we manoeuvred, she just refused to drive up the hill.  So out came the winch.  The winch performed admirably and dragged Troopy up the hill without any dramas.  Phew!  We then packed up the recovery gear and went to get on our merry way … but, we’d turned the car off, forgetting that the winch is powered by the car battery, and now had no juice to start the car again.  Stuck again!!  So we waited, and waited, and 2½ hours later some people appeared on the other side of the creek.  Luckily they were also intrepid (and had a lighter weight car than Troopy) and were willing to cross the creek to give us a jumpstart (using both their car and second battery).  So what was meant to be a half hour diversion ended up taking over 4 hours – so much for a hasty trip south!  The silver lining of the story is that as Luke and the rescue blokes were jumpstarting Troopy, I was chatting to the woman about our respective adventures.  She mentioned that Moreton Telegraph Station had some semi-resident Palm Cockatoos and immediately my ears pricked up, since Luke still hadn’t seen his favourite bird.  Luckily, Moreton was only about an hour and a half from Gunshot Creek and so at 5:30 pm we pulled in.  Finally, after two weeks on the Cape, Luke (and I) saw a Palm Cockatoo – what an impressive bird.  We decided that it was fate that got Troopy stuck (not us) and went to bed happy after an eventful day.

The rest of the trip back to civilisation was uneventful, except for getting a big chip in the windscreen.  We arrived on the Atherton Tablelands happy and a bit weary after our Cape York adventures. 

A few photos of the trip down the Cape are on flikr, including Troopy’s adventures at Gunshot Creek.  Click here for photos