To sum it up, today was friggin awesome!!! Another "best" day in the Cape!
Have now named this convoy the 'Frenchmans Track Convoy"- consists of Dale, Kerry and kids, Mick, Angie and Rod, Martin and Barbara and us. A convoy of 5 cars- 2 GU patrols, 100 series Landcruiser, 76 series Landcruiser with a Kimberly Kamper and a Jeep.
We headed off around 8am to do the Frenchmans Track- meant to be an awesome serious 4WD track, only 52kms. Well it proved right, took the five car convoy 6 hours to finish it. It was obviously slow going with alot of varying conditions such as ruts, corrugation, steep inclines, and two major river crossings.
The first river crossing we tackled was Pascoe River. It had a steep entry and exit with the actual river being a bit rocky but was shallow. Everyone did an awesome job of crossing it but Barbara was the gun. She's a 19 year old German backpacker who showed no fear to driving her standard Jeep across. No one believed it could be done but she proved us all wrong.
The second river crossing was the Wenlock River was easier in and out but a little deeper, non eventful really.
We went thru Moreton Station after getting off Frenchmans Track and had a toilet and drink stop. Cool little place, interesting photos of past floods of the Wenlock River.
We got to Bramwell Junction and fueled up. Diesel was $2.20/L, we put in 66.59L and it cost us $133.31! Starting to get pricey, that's 50c more per/L than at Coen. We decided the grounds were a bit boring for camping, just a grass paddock, so we decided to push on.
We drove onto The Old Telegraph Track and everyone was excited!!! You could really tell from the start that you were on the OTT, it narrowed and was full of ruts. We hit the first creek crossing, Palm Creek, it was easy. Shallow water with steep exit but Marty was getting to be a bit of a pro. We pushed on to the next creek crossing which was dry and we pulled up saying "holey s***". It was Ducie Creek. There was no chicken track so we all had to tackle it if we wanted to keep going and stick together. Dale, Mick & Marty did it well with not much scraping. It was really Rod and Martin that had it difficulty with the entry point, being so steep and filled with deep ruts. It was great viewing and an excellent crossing.
We all decided that it had been a long day, it was 5:30pm, so we found a place to camp for the night. While setting up Angie heard the screech from a palm cockatoo, only found in this area of Australia. So Rod and l ran thru the bush chasing Angie until we came upon two of them, they are 55-60cm in length and gave a beautiful whistle sound.
Barbara and Martin had had such a fantastic day and wanted to thank everyone for helping them. They cooked a vegetarian rice dish for the whole convoy of 15 people, it was delicious.
We ended this fantastic day with rice pudding that Angie made and a camp fire. Martin and Barbara got their guitar out and sang some Johnny Cash and also some original songs. All the kids loved it, so did the adults too!!!
Awesome day!! Do feel dirty though, been a few days without shower and has been pretty dusty. Our standards of cleanliness have certainly dropped, but this is what campings all about. Still a wash would be great lol......
Bell Xx