Friday, June 18, 2010

Day 5

Day 5
Teddy stayed to watch the State of Origin last night, all the locals complaining that the Cooktown police are booking everyone because the local copper has gone on holidays. Apparently a few have been reminded that you need to register your vehicle every year...
I actually slept better than I thought I would, but it was still a long night. Every time I have slept on a thermarest, I have woken feeling 20 years older than when I went to sleep. Bones that I didn’t know I had suddenly ache madly, and it takes an age to actually get into a standing position, with blood flowing to all necessary parts fully.
I made Teddy and I a dreadful cup of tea that tasted like I’d used water from a frog pond. Ted was a great help in getting the trike ready to take-off. It was a close run thing, as a bank of cloud approached from the SE, with rain falling not too many K’s away from us. I willed the 912 into warming up quickly, and we took off at 6.43am. Straight into the forecast 20knt SE, we climbed to 2,500ft and settled in to a lovely smooth, fast flight to Musgrave. The GPS read 80 knts at one stage, and even cross wind we still managed 70knts.It is sobering to realize just how many trees there still are on Cape York, but also re-assuring that we were within glide of the road (PDR) all the way. As easy as navigating gets, just follow the road!
 Tracey, Steve and Tania gave me a weather report from the strip when I gave my 10 mile inbound call. It had just finished raining there as well, and Ted and I could see the shower passing to our left as we approached Musgrave.
We attracted quiet a crowd as we circled over the strip, looking for animals and obstacles and anything that was going to spoil our day. Neither of us could spot anything, so I descended to 1,000ft over the camp ground and set up a downwind, base and final on 36. A nice landing about half way down the strip.
Musgrave is a nice stop-over. It has facilities for camping, as well as cabin style accommodation. The shop also sells stuff you might have forgotten or has fallen off your truck on the way.  Steve filmed us tying the trike down for his video, our tie-down times are tumbling. At Laura it took nearly an hour, here around 20 minutes.
Ted was keen to get going, so a quick pack-up and re-arrange the gear (again) and they were underway around 10ish. They are trying for Chili beach tonight, but it depends on how tired they get, they may try  to camp early as that makes a long day for them (over 400ks).
Trace and I watched the mail plane come in, rang Dee(our designated responsible adult)  to let her know what was happening (after being given instructions by the local road gang as to how the Telstra cards work…who uses public phones anymore?)
The day has been spent eating and people watching. An amusing time was had when we went for a walk down to Saltwater Creek, taking photos along the way. The local fish population sees the causeway that the road crosses on as no barrier to getting further upstream. They leap manically out of the creek and swim like mad in the 2mm of water that is flowing over the causeway. Some don’t make it, and get washed back into the pond, but others get over in only a few seconds. Amazing to watch fish up to 10cm long, thrashing across the cement. I actually caught the first fish of the trip, using my bare hands! Who would have thought that a road train could be a threat to the fish population up here?
A nice meal under the house and a spot of TV viewing (Imparja) rounded out the evening. A few tours in tonight as well as road crews. Football was discussed and examined in great detail and then the weather (the bit we wanted to see) took about 15 seconds. Oh well, we’ll find out in the morning. The mail plane pilot shrugged his shoulders when asked about the weather. I suppose he isn’t as worried about it as we are!

Bob & Tracey

4 comments:

  1. Good stuff Guys, keep it up. How about some more photos?
    John

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  2. Lucky fisheries didnt pull you up for that undersized fish ! lol at the shennanigins,. Chilli Beach is beautiful too so I look forward to the next report. Have fun, Andrew

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  3. Dee as your responsible adult - you had me in tears. :-)

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  4. Enjoying your posts. We have had patchy showers here in Cairns over the last day or two, but nothing like the wild winds you are experiencing up at the top of Australia. I bet you will be glad to get the breeze between your knees again!
    John

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