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Cape York Report. Pic Heavy Part 1


Luvit

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Our journey to the tip of Australia is over, although I wish it wasn’t.
There was so much to see we had to skip a lot which gives us an excuse to go back there sometime in the future.

We left our plans very loose, so we could take things as they presented themselves. I can not go into too much detail otherwise it would never end, and I tend to waffle a bit.
I will let the photos do most of the talking.
Our trip took just over 3 weeks and we covered over 6,000 km. On the way up we stuck to the coast till Cooktown and then headed to a few stations before finally getting to the start of the Old Telegraph Track (OTT). The trip didn’t really feel like it started till we arrived at the OTT sign.

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We met a nice family along the way and we decided to stay together for safety and assistance if we need each other. They had a Holden Colorado without a winch so we happy to have some company.

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The rivers were low being the end of the dry season which was one of the reasons we picked it do at this time. Many of the crossings were dry but there was still enough to provide some excitement and heart pounding moments. 
The southern part of the track was not what we expected. The track itself was not difficult until you arrived at the river crossings, which was to be expected. The northern part of the track was just as we expected, with slow progress and crawling through the bush over rocks and tyre ruts. I enjoyed this section the most. 


We wanted the car to come home in one piece, so we took the easiest routes through the rivers where possible.
We had been speaking to people on the way up and a story of a guy seeing a Prado sinking at one of the crossings days before had us a little on edge. Never the less we were able to negotiate the whole track with only getting water in the car once earlier on because I didn’t go through quick enough to push a big enough bow wave and the carpets took 5 days to dry out. I have a very minor dent in one door and had to empty the starter motor of water which caused us a minor setback.

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It took us 4 days to do just the OTT camping at streams along the way. The threat of crocs was less with not as much water around. We did hear of a story where a croc took a horse at one of the crossing we camped at but could have been just a story.

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The scenery was spectacular, and I even managed to flick a few soft plastics around in crystal clear streams. I could see clearly with the polaroid sunglasses, so I waded up the stream never going any deeper than my shorts just to be sure. I was rewarded with my first ever Sooty Grunters which was exciting, and a highlight was hooking 4 Saratoga and landing 1. Crushing the barbs down for catch and release didn’t help my cause.
The normal tourist areas were the standouts, Fruit Bat Falls, Twin Falls and Elliot Falls. There were times we were there by just ourselves and that was a cereal feeling.

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Once the OTT was conquered we still had the tip to look forward to. Many hundreds of KM on the corrugated PDR (Peninsula Development Road) was ahead of us. 

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Don't know what has happen to quality of this photo ATM will have to find the original.

It certainly felt like an accomplishment getting to the tip via the OTT. It doesn’t have to be that hard if you take the PDR though. We looked on the map and on the return trip we took the PDR and the same distance on the OTT that took 4 days only took 3 hrs on the PDR. Most caravans and non 4 x 4 take this route all the way to the top.

Gunshot. We did the chicken track however another Prado rolled there hours later with kids in the car. We saw it on at the repairers on a flat bed truck days later.

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Collateral damage from the brave that try it.

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To change it up a bit we came inland on the way home and one of the highlights was visiting the Stockmans Hall of Fame in Longreach. We spent the 5 hours there and then went back for the dinner and show.  We also did the Qantas Museum but in all honestly it not my thing and I could have skipped it.

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There was so much other stuff that I haven’t covered but a good time was had by all. 

I"ll post more picture tomorrow night.

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