A Top Time in Northern Queensland

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A Top Time in Northern Queensland Daniel Moore Like the many hardy, early Australian adventurers before us, we were facing defeat in the harsh outback conditions. We had been pushing our mountain bikes along a road the consistency of a sandpit for most of the day, and had capped the afternoon off with a 9 km ride through an area of Lakefield National Park undergoing controlled burn-off Tired and stinking ofsmoke we debated ifv we should admit defeat and catch a plane to Bamaga. el had something V the early Australian adventurers never had Musgrave Road Station, supplying "The Lot Burgers" and as many cans of Aussie beer as we could manage. Naturally, after a day's relaxation, Jon and I were refreshed and ready to continue our journey up the Cape York Peninsula to the northern-most point of Australia. We'd arrived in Musgrave after travelling for a week up the northern Queensland coast from Cairns. At first, we raced along on sealed roads watching trac- Twin Falls not a crocodile in sight! Daniel Moore tors bring in the harvest from the surrounding sugar cane fields. A tiny old train went up and down the tracks piece of old rubber, cloth and string which had been which hugged the main road; it would take the cane to keeping the tube inside the tyre for the last few days was Cairns. Stopping at a big supermarket in a small town finally failing. Luckily he managed to find a pair in the along the way, we had our first encounter with the strin- local bookstore and we reached Endeavour Falls in time gent quarantine measures in place on the Cape York for a quick dip before sunset. Peninsula. It came in the form of a certificate for the bananas, which allowed us to take them out of the zone. As soon as we goti into Lakefield National Park things got worse. The road became rutted and sandy with the eu- As we passed through the Daintree National Park we calyptus trees offering little shelter from the sun. The first entered an area of tropical rain forest. It was invigorat- night in the park we camped beside a lily-covered ing to travel along the hard-packed dirt roads with the billabong, straining the murky water several times cool air refreshing us as we searched for a glimpse ofa through our silk sleeping bag liners before boiling it to cassowary in the dense vegetation patched with sunlight. make a drink tasting like green tea. At night Ihardly slept. In spite of the numerous road signs which seemed to The sound of what assumed to be frolicking crocs came indicate that any lapse in concentration would turn an- from the billabong and my mind fixated on all the snakes other of these rare turkey-like birds into roadkill, we rushing out of the bush to escape the controlled burnnever saw one, and were left wondering at the cause of off only a short distance away. the many rustling noises we heard in the bushes. Day two in the Park was a lot better. Cockatoos and Always heading northward we spent the next two days parakeets flew about in abundance and the view of huge getting to Cooktown, a town full of grand old buildings termite mounds arranged uniformly between us and the and history. James Cook had stopped here to make re- horizon was vast. Thousands of termites in every mound, pairs to the Endeavour in 1770; it had served as a sup- thousands of mounds between us and the horizon, and ply town during the 1870s goldrushes and now it was Isuppose thousands of views like this in Australia. Man scoured by Jon searching for new tyres after the master- they must have a lot of termites here. It soon turned to Tramping and Mountaineering 1997 crud again, and at the end of the third day we arrived at Musgrave Station. We moped into town exhausted and almost defeated by the sand, ruts and fires which burned a few metres away as we pushed our bikes along the track. Thel leader ofa a group a CHECKBEFORE of motorcross riders who were heading south assured us that it was the same the whole way to the top, and in our frame of mind we weren't hard to convince. As we lazed about in Musgrave the next day, eating drinking and giving the crusty old pool table more Crossing Cockatoo Creek in style Daniel Moore use than it had probably had in years, we rang boat and aircraft companies searching for alternative means Cape and had passed our time surmising whether one of transport. A phonecall to Andy in New Zealand con- leg would be much bigger than the other. It was most firmed that he couldn't give us more time and that he'd disappointing thatl his lower limbs seemed the same size. be pissed offi if we didn'ttry to make it. The more we. ate Most of the other travellers we met were in conventional and drank the more our sense of adventure returned, it four-wheel-drives and always seemed willing to help and was going to be a do or die mission to the top. make a fuss of us. We made great time after our day of rest and on the next We were ahead of schedule when we pulled into the night arrivedi in Coen in the same healthy condition that Twin Falls campsite. At last, a crystal clear swimming the stowaway Ingham twins had been in when they area that we could actually swim in without the ever turned upin that town earlier in the year. Locals seemed present fear of crocodiles. That night the full moon rose as sceptical about their story as we were. behind Indian Head Falls as I sat on a rock promontory in the cool night breeze taking in the peace and timeless- At the Archer River roadhouse the following night we ness of the place. stocked up with supplies of non-perishable staples for the four days along the remote red dirt Telegraph Track We made Bamaga late the next day. On advice we folwhich cut a route from here straight to the tip. Rice, lowed the Telegraph Track to the Jardine River, many bread, pasta, sardines, baked beans and the occasional kilometres upstream from the ferry crossing. We should vegetable to ward off scurvy got tucked away in our supposedly have been able to cross quickly before the panniers. That night we, learned our bush law from a very crocs had time to zero in, but the river was up and I wired local truckie as hel instructed us in the art of sepa- doubted being able to cross with a bike, even disregardrating the diet suppressant from the speed in diet pills. ing the crocs. Luck was with us, however, when two Itwas an interesting ideal but our bodies had performed young Australians we'd met earlier on appeared in their perfectly unlike our bicycles and it would have aluminium dingy and ferried us one at a time to the other been silly to risk this now for the sake of making good side. Bamaga here we come. First a quick nutrition stop time. though, as Jon never went anywhere on an empty stomach. We made Bamaga after dark, numb from the cor- We were heavily laden when we left the roadhouse but rugated road surface which was even worse than usual. doing it a lot easier than some of the other travellers we After some quick soft-drink binge sculling, we made it met along the way. There was the American who had to the Seisa campground and marvelled that we'd actubeen walking for five years and asked how far it was to ally done it. Brisbane the same way you'd ask for directions to the local supermarket, plus another walker pulling some- Here at last. Amazing. A week to sit around in the tropithing like a carriage, and wait for it, Pieter the Czech on cal sun on white beaches straight off a postcard, visit his kiddie's scooter whol had scooted from the southern- islands in the Torres Strait, and take in some leisurely to the northern-most points of Aussie in a few short rides in the tropical forest before a spot of diving on the months. We'd heard all about Pieter on our way up the reef. The adventure had only just begun. Tramping and Mountaineering 1997