Day 10 Weipa to the River by Emmy

Bill forgot to to add some photos yesterday so here they are…

Paddy falling asleep with Dad’s music, and us standing in front of the Weipa sign as we arrived.

What we thought was meant to be an early start was now going to be later in the morning at around 11:30 because Steve had an appointment. While we were waiting for Steve we all opened up our swags and started putting in the clothes and stuff we needed for the night because there would be a lot of mozzies. We then put the swags on the back of donk. Steve came a bit later because he spent 20 minutes searching around on his hands and knees looking for his clear hearing aides. They fell off when he was taking his mask off and he flung them away. Turns out they fell out in his pocket.

Dad decided to fix the spring on the float again properly this time because last time it was only a temepary fix. While he was doing that Paddy and his new best friend Harry, (a dog)were playing.

Paddy teaching the dog to lay down….

Paddy cracking the whip with Harry….

We then got ready to hop on the barge and Steve’s boat.   To get there we took two cars, Steve’s and Mum’s car, I went with Mum. When we arrived at the place where the barge was, we loaded it up with all our swags, water, Dad’s guitar and more. Everyone thought we were tourists due to the amount of photos we were taking and the gear that we took for 1 night. A man towed us into the ocean and dropped us off into the ocean and a man called Jake drove us through the ocean which lead to a river thing. On the way to the hut in the river bit we saw 3 crocodiles which gave us all a shock but Jake was used to it. We saw 2 of them on the river bank and we watched them hurry back into the water and then we saw another crocodile with it’s eyes above the water swimming towards the trees. About 50 meters away from that crocodile was the hut.

We soon went fishing where Steve just kept pulling out rods and we all had our own rod. We didn’t catch any on the rod but Steve caught a few mullets with a net because we saw a huge school swim past us.

A while after, Steve then showed us how to work the quad bike and he let us ride it on our own while he did his own thing in the hut. There were only 2 quad bikes so we but 5 people on Dad’s bike which was Jess, Tilly, Adelaide, and Paddy and the rest of us went with Mum.

We rode them for a while and Dad and Bill mucked around on them and, we all got a turn of driving them. We planted ourself under a shady tree and we put 1 or 2 people on a bike at a time.

As we were driving back to the hut Bill saw something hopping along the beach, as we got closer we realised that it was a kangaroo before we could get a photo is bolted into the bush.
After that we went back to Steve and he told us to get some fire wood so we can cook our tea. Four of us went to collect and cut the wood, dad and Steve drank beer on the sand and Paddy, Addy and Mum walked along the beach.

We headed back to the hut and kept an eye out for the sunset because Jackie told us that it was really good. We started a fire and cooked tea.

We took photos of the sunset that we half missed.

Us eating tea….

Bill and Tilly went to go throw the chop bones in the river,  (which they were pretty nervous about) and then they came sprinting back down the track and said there was a crocodile. We waited a while and went back down to the river to try and get it or see it, we stayed behind Steve. We shon the torch on the river and we saw about 30 fish jumping around in the air as if they were on a high, Steve said that they don’t like the light on them. They were salmon.  We waited for the crocodile and threw the bait in, then Dad pointed to  2 red eyes looking at us and it was fairly close to us. We kept looking at it and it was massive, after that we all scattered off to the hut. We sat around the fire for a bit and went to bed.

GOODNIGHT.

Day 9 - Archer River to Weipa by Bill

This morning we woke up at our reserved special camping spot from a late night watching the State of Origin at the Archer River roadhouse.
Then we thought about going down to the river for a bit but you had to jump fences to get there so we sat there for a bit watching the Brahmans eat.
Then on the way back to the float Emily found a tree with flowers on it.
We got some toasties from the roadhouse for breaky then got ready for what we thought was going to be a long hard 204ks to Weipa. The first 50ks was sealed road but after that it was mainly dirt. After tightening all the nuts under the float and letting the tyres down a bit the vehicles held up well and it was a nice drive. Because there was so much corrigation on the road we spent most of the time driving outside the reflectors where it was smooth.




We made it to Weipa safely and we saw the ocean for the first time in a while. It sucks that we can’t swim in it though because of the crocs.

Also at Archer River the lady who owned the roadhouse gave us a yellow suitcase that had fallen out of someone’s Ute and landed in the road. They worked out that he went to Weipa and they asked us if we were heading that way and if we could drop it off to him. So when we got there that was the first thing we did. After that we went to Steve and Jackie Fairbrothers house and parked the float in their driveway. We packed their boat getting ready for tomorrow and Dad and Steve had a few beers.

Mum and us kids went to have a look at the town and we went to woolies and we found a ringers western shop there too. While we were doing that Steve and Dad went into town to buy some spare bolts in case we need them again for the float.

When we got back we had a talk to Jackie and Steve and Steve showed us all the things he had shot and he showed us his bows and guns. They also made tea for us too. Because it is Jackie’s birthday on Wednesday we had a cake. While we were sitting down having tea their Jack Russel dog ate a cane toad so Steve had to shove the hose down his throat and flush him out before he died.

Now we are all tired and getting ready for bed.

Goodnight

 

Day 8 - Mount Molloy to Archer River Roadhouse, by Tilly

This morning when we got up, there was a lady with a stall selling dried mangoes and slices. We went over and bought some slices, then had a look at some cool flowers that shrivel up when you touch them to hide. Then a man called Steve got talking to Dad and Bill and said that it was a good fishing spot in the creek, so Bill went down and had a go and reckons he’s full of it.

After we had packed up, we got in the cars and headed towards Weipa. I was with Dad and it turns out today was going to be a long drive due to the bad roads. Siri was telling us it was 600kms, but she was also saying it would take 9 1/2 hours to get there. We were soon to find out that it would take us longer still.

We started on a normal road, but the sign said take the road with caution, which made Mum a bit nervous. Dad couldn’t work out why people were saying that it was so bad … and then we hit the dirt. There was over 100kms of dirt road before we were to get where we were going. We averaged about 60kms/h, but had to nearly stop whenever there was a creek crossing because the potholes on the other side were so bad, and Dad was worried about the springs on the horse float (there were a lot of creek crossings).

Our first stop was to get fuel at a roadhouse called the Hann River Roadhouse. When we were driving into the town, we went over a bridge and saw a nice spot on the river that wasn’t deep enough for crocs, even though the sign said no swimming because of crocs. We only went on the 4WD track part of the river.

Then we kept driving again until we got to our next stop where we got more fuel and something to eat at the Palmer River Roadhouse. Mum and Dad remember coming here together 18 year ago. I bought a shirt with the money that Nan and Poppa gave us at the start of the trip. As we were going through a crossing to get into this town, they was another good swimming spot. I didn’t really trust that there weren’t any crocs, but Dad did, so we all went in a bit.

After that, we were going again. The road started getting really bad, and we did a spring on the float. It turns out we only dropped a hangar, but Dad said we should replace the spring anyway. When he started to undo the nuts and bolts it was getting really tough, but he didn’t want to angle grind it because there were no spares to replace it, so we eventually undid the nut far enough that Dad could cut it off and get another nut on. The locator for the spring and the axle that was welded on had also snapped off, which meant the the axle would just be swaying there and there was nothing to hold it into place, so Bill had to cut off a bit of one of the plates to use as a new locator. When we were putting the nut back on the bolts with the new spring, we couldn’t, so we drove 70kms (1 1/2 hours) to Archer River Roadhouse with the nuts only half on. Whoever wasn’t helping with the spring had to stand at Dads legs to make sure he didn’t get run over. He was under the float and nobody coming could see his legs dangling out on the road, which wasn’t that wide.

Once the spring was sort of on, we kept going. There were a lot of people that stopped and offered us help, and when we were driving, it was getting dark and someone waved us down because he needed help. Turns out he was a black man that just wanted a lighter. So Dad lit the cigarette that was hanging out of his mouth, then we kept going. He told Dad that he had his bonnet up because he was trying to put wires together and make a spark to light his cigarette. Mum thought it was a bit shady how he only wanted a lighter, tried to wave her on and she didn’t like the look of the people in his passenger seat. A few minutes after we left him, he overtook us and kept going ahead. After that, we saw the mans break lights on the side of the road and realised that he was trying to wave us down again. Dad ignored him and kept going, then again he overtook us and went ahead. As we were crossing a creek and needed to slow down anyway, Dad told me to hop out and get into Mums car. I didn’t like that much, but Dad didn’t trust the black people. When I got into Mums car, they were all a bit scared too because it was very dark and we couldn’t see much. We kept going until we got to Archer River Roadhouse, where we found their car again. Dad went in and asked where we were meant to park, and he saw the black man and thought he was nice because he shook his hand. We parked the float and went back and got sausage rolls for tea while we watched the State of Origin. After that, we came back, had a shower and are about to go to bed.

Goodnight,

Tilly

Day 7 - mount surprise to rumula by Jess

This morning dad, bill, tilly and I woke up early in mount surprise to go watch a few runs at the campdraft down the road. Here’s a pic dad took but didn’t like cos there’s a pole in the way.

We went back to the float with brekky and said happy bday to Adelaide cos it was her birthday, then dad went and fuelled up while us kids got on a bus. We went for a tour to see volcano stuff and mum and dad drove behind us in their cars, but got in the bus when we got closer. We went for a walk up a volcano that doesn’t work anymore, here’s a pic.

Here’s a selfie I found of bill and dad as well

After that we ate then went to a lava tube and walked through it. Here’s a couple pics of it

Addy and paddy were listening 

Dad had to help me 

Then we got dropped off at the float and drove for a bit then stopped at mount garnet for some fuel and food then drove then stopped again at maccas in Mareeba, then ended up in rumula I think. 

We went to the pub for a drink then came back and lit a fire and gave Adelaide her bday present which was an iPod. 

Nighty night