Tommy222220_0's Cape Adventures

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tommy222220_0

Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2008
Messages
597
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Location
Airlie Beach, QLD (Paradise)
Here's just a quick summary of my trip to the Cape.

Left Airlie Beach 1st Sept, stopped in Cairns to party for 2 nights. Then Cooktown via Bloomfield + Lions Den.

Stayed at Hahn crossing then Palm creek. Busted an over centre latch on my spare carrier back to bramwell stn and back to palm creek around midday. Up the tele to Eliott falls.

Now the real fun/adventure started. Spend 4hrs pulling 2 campers out of mistake creek, then heard a Nav had drowned at nolans. Spent until 3am to get it going again, got it to idle then died. Cooked the computer :( towed him into bamaga but being a saturday RACQ said come back monday. Camped at loyalty beach. stayed 3 nights then 1 at Punsand bay. Say a local catch a 6 foot gummy shark off the jetty at seisa. Went to the tip and in the arvo did the 5 beaches run (hilux with dual lokkers got stuck)

Checked out mutee head then headser for Vyrila point, camped 1 night.

Back down the tele, camped sam creek with the secret waterfalls. Lunch at bramwell, then frenchmans to iron range, camped at sometrhing hut campground. Went pig hunting round 3am, no pigs so had a flex session on the beach, troopy ute got stuck after wheel fell off tree we were using as flex ramp needed winching off log.

Back to cooktown for a night on the booze, then CREB track to daintree for beer and prawns, stayed at mission beach then back to airlie.

Details and pics to come tomoz....
 
looks like a ripper of a trip. good stuff. im heading up there mid next year with some mates and brother etc. any tips?

better off with 2spares tires or 1?

i would like to get a hold of that navara lol. bullbar and everythign would be nice off it :D.

cheers
Rusty
 
looks like a ripper of a trip. good stuff. im heading up there mid next year with some mates and brother etc. any tips?

better off with 2spares tires or 1?

i would like to get a hold of that navara lol. bullbar and everythign would be nice off it :D.

Yeah, was a great trip. Was a bit apprehensive on how hard it was, but really the watercrossing weren't to hard. The biggest tip I can give is to take your time. Walk each crossing and go easy through the crossing itself. I saw one guy in an 80 series go through Logan creek at about 30km/h. The wave went about 2 foot above the windscreen, rolled over like a wave at the beach and put a dint in his bonnet. :dong: I started off in 1st low but nicked the radiator with the fan in one of the crossings, so switched to 2nd low 1000-1200rpm. Only got some water in a Nolans cause the towel was hanging out past the seal. (stupid, but barely wet the carpet)

Didn't touch my spare, I put a roofing screw through a tyre in Yarigur National Park. used one of those temp plugs to fix it. You should be sweet with only 1 spare and a plug kit.

IMAG0079.jpg


Paul's Navara was barged back to cairns, insurance got paid out. FYI The tele track is a gazetted road. He has already put an order in for a Patrol wagon.
 
Paul's Navara was barged back to cairns, insurance got paid out. FYI The tele track is a gazetted road. He has already put an order in for a Patrol wagon.

what happened to his nav?
 
Full Trip Report
Starting from Carins, after 2 nights of partying (woolshed is awesome) met up with an English guy Arj. Drove into Mossman Gorge, Daintree NP, had lunch at the picnic area. Nice crystal clear creek with plenty of swimming holes, continued onto the town of Daintree for the night, stayed at the camping area right near the boat ramp. Drove the 10km up to the Upper Daintree River Road to the start of the CREB track. Crossing looked easy but it bucketed down rain that night . Saw a nice 4m Croc about 1km from the crossing, so be careful if you’re walking it. Next morning, did a croc cruise on the Daintree river, then continued onto Port Douglas for the night.
Decided the CREB was way to wet, so crossed on the ferry and up the Bloomfield. Turned left after the new causeway to the Bloomfield Falls, amazing. Had a coldie and a game of pool at the Lions Den Hotel then continued onto Cooktown for the night. Walked up the lookout, in town and also up Mt Cook in the morning. Both had great views up and down the coast. Stocked up with all the necessities (food, beer + fuel) in town and stopped at Isabella Falls for a sausage sizzle lunch on my way north. Great place, had a quick swim then continued through Old Laura homestead, red + white lily lagoons and camped up for the night at Hahn crossing. Bit dusty but great sunset over the river.
With an early start, got to Musgrave roadhouse about 10ish for smoko. (fuel $1.75) Hit the corrugations for another 100 clicks and fuelled up at Coen ($1.77) last of the cheapish fuel. Had lunch down by the Archer River. Had a quick swim, continued onto Moreton Telegraph station for a drink. Great camping area (watering the grass) but after talking to a few other travellers continued onto Bramwell Junction (Fuel $2.00). Snapped the over centre latch off my spare wheel carrier somewhere on the corrugations. secured it up with fencing wire and continued on. The locals were in town on a bender, so continued to Palm Creek and camped on the northern side. Entry (sthn side) was steepish and looked fun so had to give it a go. Next morning, drove back to Bramwell Station to find some welding equipment to fix the carrier. Big thanks to Dick, within 30min I was on my way again.
Arrived back at Palm creek (midday) to find a cruiser (Barry and son Jordan) checking out the entry. After a quick chat we decided to travel together. I left the frying pan at palm creek in the morning as it was still too hot, but drove right past it. I remembered about 10mins up the track, so turned around to pick it up. Cost us 20min but caught up with Barry soon after. Plodded along, went down the furthest left track at gunshot creek (easy), saw turtles at Sheldon Lagoon and stopped in at Fruit bat falls for a swim/shower. 1.5hrs later it was starting to get dark so made some more dust on the way to Elliot falls for the night. We swam all morning at the saucepan, Elliot and twin falls. Left around midday then the trials and tribulations started. Got to mistake creek where 2 oncoming cars with campers were stuck blocking both tracks. Spent at least 3 hrs winching ‘em out. Had to take the trailer off the 1st car and drove it up, I winched its camper up. Next car with heavy right foot made it up the sandy exit. Coming up the other side my bulbar looked crooked. Had pulled the 1st captive nut out of the chassis (along with some of the chassis) on the LHS and stripped the rear nut as well. BUGGER! Took all the broken parts out and replaced with a stick to act as a stud. We continued on cautiously. Met 2 other vehicles travelling the opposite direction at Logan Creek (speedy Gonzales read above) and heard that a Nav had sunk at Nolans (next creek). They had turned around, chickens. Got to nolans around 5.30 to see a white nav parked up on the bank. Paul, Lee-ann and daughter Molly were happy to see us. Cracked a few beers, then decided to see if we could get the Nav going again. Spanners were spinning in record time and the beers were going down just as quick. About 10 o’clock all the intake, turbo, intercooler and glow plugs were out. Kicked her in the guts and water sprayed out from the pots  Pumped the water out from the cylinders and got all the water out from everywhere (intercooler on stove steaming etc) and slowly pieced her back together. Got it to idle around 2.30am but Pauls daughter was asleep to didn’t want to rev the nuts off it to dry it out. She died after about 30 seconds, so we decided to try it again in the morning. No luck in the morning, so the decision was made I would tow him into Bamaga and Barry would tow his camper, but 1st we had to make it across Nolans. Walked it for around 20mins dropped my tyres to 20psi, bra’ed up and made it across easy as. Hooked up the snatchie to Barry for safety but barely even got it tight. We were about to tow the dead nav across when a hilux (Simon and Tiff) turned up, then a patrol(Dan and Millie) and (Dona and Jan)another cruiser. Since Barry and I were on the other side, the hilux (twin lockers) towed his own camper(CT) across then returned back to get Pauls CT across and Jan’s cruiser towed the dead nav across. We arranged trailers and towing vehicles and headed north for the bypass road. Simon + Tiff in the Hilux + CT decided to help us out, so they lead letting us know the road conditions, me with Lee-ann + Molly towing Paul in the middle, who being only 10m behind in my dust cloud and showed by rocks wasn’t very comfortable. We worked out a system where he could pull out to the right of the dust cloud but it wasn’t the best for my Nav. The extra air resistance could be felt at every rise but at least Paul could breath. Across the Jardine river Ferry to Bamaga, where being a Saturday were told at the RACV to come back on Monday. General consensus was to stay at Loyalty beach. Arrived to some weird looks but all camped up together. Plenty of well deserved Cold drinks were consumed that night. We left their CT’s at the ‘Caravan Resort’ and made the final leg to the Tip. Cracked a coldie and got a few happy snaps of the sign and quite a large turtle some 20 foot from the tip. Saw the mobile welder in the carpark so orgained him to come round on Monday to fix the front of my bulbar/chassis. Continued back round to do the five beaches run From Fly point. Hilux got temporary halted by some soft sand but easily backed out after reducing tyre pressure. Got some great Photos on the beaches at sunset, and returned back to the caravan park restaurant for a few bundys and fish and chips at the bar. It was so nice to have some real grog after just drinking mid strength beers.
We started stripping some parts off the Nav the next morning, before it went into the morgue. Got a new UHF aerial, 60l fuel, replaced my broken console and pilfered few spare bolts off it. Towed her in to the RACQ and left her to the mercy of the insurance assessor. After a quick funeral (paul didn’t want to know about anything, “lets just go” we headed off in the direction of the airport to check out the plane wrecks. The engines are massive and well worth the quick drive. Tiff and Simon in the hilux were on a schedule and needed to continue on their travels so left us on Tuesday. I stripped the bulbar and winch off the front of my car ready for the welder. Just had time for half a beer and he turned up. Welded the nut and peice of chassis back in and re tapped the rear captive nut. Re-installed bulbar and all was fine for a few days....(saga continues later) Paul + family organised filghts and flew back to cairns that afternoon. Barry offered to tow their CT back so it was loaded up with roof racks, draws etc off the dead car. Barry and I camped another night but this time stayed at Punsand Bay, right on the beach. He left early the next morning heading for Chili Beach.
 
I did a few of the other 4wd tracks around the tip, then back south across the ferry to Vrilya Point, via Mutee Head. Got stuck in the powdery sand on the beach (to busy looking at the view instead of concentrating on where i was going. Dropped the tyres to 12psi and tried to reverse. [email protected]/h, 3000revs dragging the rear diff the whole way, thank god it made it to hard ground as I hadn’t seen anyone for a few hrs. Decided to stay off the beach, and went for the easier option, climbed the headland to the old WW2 radar tower. Continued south to the Vrilya point track, which was the worst of the roads for corrugations, didn’t matter what speed, it shook the shit out of everything. It took around 2 hrs to cover the 35 odd km. Met up with (Dan + mille and Jan + dana) who had previously towed Paul across Nolans. We drove down to the wreck 8km down the beach. It had changed heaps from Jan’s guide books photos, the crows nest had fallen over and almost buried in sand. We camped up together, I slept under the shelter shed and low and behold next to the cruiser who dinted his bonnet at Logan creek. I decided to do the Tele on the way back after hearing stories about the horrendous corrugations on the bypass roads. I met up with Paul (troopie tray back w/ 35’s + coil rear end) and Jeff, Karie and son Brock 7 months) (105 series w/ 35’s) at Nolans. A quick chat and we quickly worked out we all knew what we were doing.
I was sick of recovering other people, and they had a long recovery a few days back and we all just wanted to enjoy the drive. We gave everyone the slip at Nolans (one guy wanted me to walk the crossing for him, “is it solf here, is it soft there” Get real buddy. All three of us continued quickly down the tele, didn’t bother walking any of the crossings. Passed quite a few vehicles and stopped at Fruit Bat falls for another swim. Continued to Sam creek, with secret waterfalls and swimming hole for a fantastic Camp oven roast. Great work Jeff! After a few bevies everyones plan was the same, try and get to chilli beach via Frenchmans the next night. It was going to be a big drive and we didn’t get the earliest of starts. We smashed it down to Bramwell for lunch, junction burger and beer, bloody beautiful. Stopped in at Moreton tele’s payphone so Paul could let his pregnant GF know when he was expected home.
Found Frenchmans track was nowhere near as bad as I thought. The Wenlock was just a creek, steep entrance but relatively easy. The Pascoe was a very rocky crossing with a large boulder right in the middle of the crossing. Few guys/spectators were camped up on the bank before the crossing. Went round the left of the boulder and almost made it up the eroded exit. Was temporarily haulted by the navs lack of flex in the front end, stacked 3 small rocks and she was up. A celebratory can was had after successfully making the crossings. It was getting late in the day, so we continued on. Single lane track, corrugations with shrubs flicking both mirrors the whole time for 20km or so. Corrugations weren’t that bad and once you got up to speed (60+km/h) you could smooth out the ride. We made it all the way to Cooks Hut camp ground, after a quick side trip to the ranger station towards Lockhart River, finally rolled out the sway and stubby coolers. My bulbar had stripped the rear captive nut (re-tapping didn’t work) and bent the front bolt at 60 degrees.  I replaced the bolt(with 1 nicked off the dead nav) hoping it would last the few hundred km’s to Cooktown or Cairns. The others were on a tight schedule so after a big night on the rums, they left around lunch time. I drove out to chilli beach and tried my luck at chilli creek to catch lunch. Had a few casts, but a 4m lizard emerged from the depths, so I didn’t hang around to find out if I was on the lunch menu. Thought I should make a start on the journey home. Went into Lockhart River to top up with 25l of fuel ($1.87) Took some happy snaps at Tozer lookout, then continued onto the Wenlock River on the Portlands road track. Old mine site with heaps of old relics, so decided to camp up under a nice shady tree on the river. I was so knackered after 2hrs sleep the night before, so as soon as the sun set, I hit the swag.
With the bank account looking pretty sad, and still having a fair few km to travel, it was time to head back to Airlie Beach find a place and start my new job. Drove to Musgrave station to get some juice for both me and the car, 30 odd litres ($1.77). The fuel light came on about 20km before Musgrave and not long after so did the engine check light. Though I might have got some bad fuel, but I think the fuel may have become aerated by the corrugations and was probably quite hot due to the Musgrave tank being above ground in the sun. Also the fact there was only a few cm in the bottom of my tank and with the corrugations the pump was probably sucking up some air as well. (Fuel sloshing a fair bit I imagine) On the bitumen sections I stitched the car off while going along (60km/h) and clutch started it to clear the light. It would come back on after 20km or so of corrugations. Bloody thing kept doing this all the way to the Lakefield Servo.
The bulbar had worked even looser and was making the car look like it had a stroke. So I decided to drive the extra few km to Cooktown and get it fixed on Monday. Stayed at the Big4 on the outskirts of town, was really nice to have a hot shower and a swim. On Monday, sneaked round the corner to the local fab guy, borrowed a drill to fix up the bulbar, just drilled right through to the other side of the chassis and bolted it up with some 100mm HT bolts with nylocs to they can’t come loose. Only took about an hr, slipped the young guy some cash for his smoko, brimmed the tank full of diesel and returned to the lions den. Picked up a few shirts, stubby coolers for presents and got some info on the CREB. They said its been dry for a while so should be fine, You ripper I though after I got rained out on the way up. I drove right through to Daintree village via the CREB track, amazing views with some steep clay climbs. I can see why it would become impassable after some rain, some of the ruts are huge. (see Sims story on outerlimits about people being chopper’ed out) Had the best Prawn and avocado Roll at the Daintree takeaway, then put the pedal to the metal and made it to Mission beach on sunset. Really nice place, but I was so tired. After a sleep, had a quick look around then back on the road again. Managed to get back to Airlie round 5pm ish after a long day staring at white lines on the bitumen.
Was a Great Trip with plenty of Adventures, Fishing, pig hunting, creek crossings, corrugations, dust and great people. Hope to get back up that way soon. Maybe May/june next year, just after the wet so its still all nice and green. Anyone interested???
 
what happened to his nav?

Brand New 8000km old 2.5cr. Dealer installed snorkel and didn't seal it at all. Air filter was soaked. I had a spare and almost threw it over my head as it was around 1/5th the weight of pauls wet one.

After getting most the water out and getting it to idle that night. Nothing the next day (batteries starting to die as well) The relays were going mental, still heaps of water in 'em. I'd say there was still some water droplets hanging around in the intake, that wet the glow plugs the previous night, and thats why she stalled.

The computer was also full of water, so we think she has melted some wires/blown relay somewhere and the computer wont inject any diesel. Essentially one of the critial sensors the computer needs for the engine to start has died. MAF, glow plug relay etc) We didn't have the knowledge to do anything else. I thought if we got all the water out and put fresh oil in it we should be ok, but being computer controlled and the fact the computer was under water for an hour or so, i was above our collective skills.

Essentially it was towing a hard floored CT maybe 1.5tonne and was fully decked out with 15 grand worth of extras, roof racks draws probably close to the 3 tonne GVM.

Pauls wife, Lee-ann, said she saw some people leaving just as they arrived. They have probably spun a wheel or 2 getting through and stirred up the really soft sand.

Paul didn't wait for the sand to settle and went through on slightly the wrong line (softest and steepest part) The camper floated taking weight, and therefore drive, away from the rear wheels. I'd say once the CT started floating the rear wheels started spinning and the front wheels just dug a hole. Game over :(

Shame it was a Nav but at least he didn't get towed to bamaga by a toyota.
 
For anyone going up late in the season here is my fuel usage.

fuel.png


L/R tank defonately helps (put 125l in returing to airlie)

It had been corrected for the tyres im running (285/75's)

7460km @ 11l per 100km with plenty of low range and beach work (sydney - cape - airlie beach)

Quite happy with that, but would love some more power round 2000rpm and some extra torque down low to make up for the 33's (unichip from northside4x4 maybe)
 
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I took:
oil + air + fuel filers (but it was over 5000km, so I needed to do a service at the top.
spanners, sockets, screwdrivers, plyers.
Silicon sealant, contact adhesive and metal fix-it.
Bra is not really needed, I got one from the drowned Nav, only used it at Nolans.

If it was me, I'd get rid of those hiclones and put on a snorkel and make sure its sealed properly including the drain valve on the bottom of the airbox.

And just the usual recovery kit to help others out :p Some Maxtrax would be a good idea 'cause there's a heap of soft powdery sand driving.
 
11 / 100 isn't too bad and with 285's

Was in Musgrave about 14 yrs ago. DOn't know what we saw more of - toads or croc's

sounds like a good trip
 

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