Cape York Dreaming

Pajinka

As Cape York is named by the traditional owners is an awe inspiring  place. Although, as you can see below, it is very picturesque, what left the deepest impression on me were the plaques like the one pictured, that are placed in the rocks of the headland. Trevor dreamed all his life of visiting the Cape but judging from the inscription, he and many others never got around to it. I may be reading it wrong and I hope I am.

I must admit that Pajinka was never high on my bucket list but reading there memorials made me think about mine. Will I ever get around to visiting Machu Picchu or cycle around Tierra del Fuego?

How about something much easier, Angkor Wat? I have been a few hours drive away several times and have always had something more important to do. How many times have I been to New Delhi and not made the effort to see the Taj Mahal?

We are not immortal and living our dreams must be the first priority. 

Cable Beach

But let me start at the beginning. Due to our extended swim at fruit bat falls we didn't get to Bamaga until mid afternoon. I hadn't booked any accommodation and decided just to drive to Punsand  Bay camping. Surely they would have something. Nope, but the owner was nice enough to direct us to a Bush camping spot not far away. Since there were no signs, just a red rag tied to a tree, there was still a spot vacant. School holidays.

The camping was rough, no facilities, but the location was quite special.

Dawn the next morning.

A few hours later we arrived at the tip.

The most northern Trees in Australia?

We were told not to swim anywhere around the cape as there is a 19 foot Crocodile called Gary who patrols these beaches. Nina just accidentally "fell" in the water and it took her a while to regain her footing.  

And this is the photo which cost us two magnificent fresh Crayfish. A local man had sold them to us just a few minutes before. I placed them on our esky when the sunset was pointed out to me. I rushed to take the photo and in the few minutes I was away from our tent a dog pinched them. It is a nice picture but hardly worth the Cray's. 

We are now back in Laura after spending a night in Coen again. The Car suffered a broken rear spring and we had to wait until the next afternoon to get it fixed. Wrong part, long wait, exhorbitant price but we got back on the road and made Laura just in time to have dinner before the State of Origin decider which ended in humiliation for NSW :D

I may add more pictures at another time and a faster connection. Meanwhile we need to check out of the Laura Hotel and visit Split Rock, another rock art site. 

Toodles!

Coen to the Jardine River Ferry

Archer River

Coen is a funny place. The vibe is different from Laura. Firstly it is more "multicultural", whatever that means. The "Sexchange Hotel" is a meeting place for all with a rather chaotic but friendly camp ground ("wherever you want" ),some rooms. More on this den of iniquity in a later post. We experienced little of it on the way up as we arrived late at night, pitched our tent after finding a place with some difficulty and making dinner. Then I wrote my previous post and it was time for Bed. 

We got up quite early as we were still dreaming of reaching the ferry that day. We were warned about the Archer river roadhouse. It has the most expensive petrol we came across on the peninsula , well over $2 a litre. The coffee is....well, not coffee as we know it.

Just past the roadhouse however is a free camping spot and this nice little river. We took a dip and took some pics.

Archer River

My favourite feature was this tree, growing out of another tree of another kind. Never seen that before!

If we had had more time we would have stayed here. The Lockhart river was on my wish list.So much to see, so little time.

These huge termite mounds are everywhere.

Bramwell Station

By now it was clear we were not going to reach the Ferry in time and stoppped for the night at the Bramwell Station. To our great surprise the annual festival was taking place. There were lots of kids activities taking place so we stayed so Nina could take part in the Foot race, the Egg and Spoon race  jelly eating...

Nina did not do well in the jelly eating because her french palette clashed with the jelly and the foot race was 8-12 year olds (4th anyway) but the shone in the Talent quest (U10 div) coming 2nd. This meant she was in the final and we had to stay another day. She finished 3rd winning $50

Fruit bat Falls

We finally got back on the road on Sunday morning. The show was fun but after a weekend where Dagwood dogs were the best commercial food option....

One of our fellow campers (who made us a nice dinner on Friday night. suggested we should stop at these falls. Words fail me so just the pictures will have to do.

Nina didn't want to leave even after more than three hours but eventually we got back in the Car heading north.

Jardine River Ferry

Next: The Cape

Quinkan spirits

I'm sitting under a tree in Coen drinking wine out of a plastic cup trying to piece my thoughts together after a particularly emotionally jarring day. We nearly didn't end up going on the guided tour of the spectacular rock art gallery because of my impressions of the town the night before.

We decided on Motel camping again due to our late arrival in Laura and my laziness. There were no cooking facilities in our room so we walked across the road to the Hotel. What first struck me was the stark segregation of this town. All the businesses, Motel & Store, Roadhouse and Hotel were owned by white people, their employees were all young Asian girls (backpackers) with average to very bad English skills, while all the Aboriginal people I saw bought groceries at the store with some transaction not involving cash or card.

I was later told that most had been banned from the Pub, some for life! Is that even remotely legal? One lady informed us that even their dogs were "bad". I still can't believe that such blatant systemic racism exists in Australia. Even worse, I suspect my impression only scratches the surface.

Francoise had similar feelings and we decided to just get out of this place after quickly visiting the Quinkan Cultural Centre. We walked around the centre reading about the history of the area and our mood only got darker. We read how in the past the first people were rounded up to do forced labour (aka slavery) and if they "misbehaved" in any way their families would be sent to Palm Island from whence 25% didn't return. I'll just leave you with that little taste. I'm sure you can find information of other atrocities by yourself. Francoise by this point was crying and I needed to go outside to get some fresh air.

There I met Lex, the gentleman who runs the centre and who was just having a ciggie break. We got to chatting and I decided we should do the tour.

Lex got on the phone and rang one of the local guides, a fellow who goes by the name of Steve and who's grandmother coincidentally originates from Coen, where she raised 13 children in a tin shed. He is a very friendly, extremely knowledgeable and talkative fellow and he immediately put us at ease.

Lets get to the gallery.

This is the first cave where animals and good spirits are drawn. Steve was the first to admit that the exact meanings are now lost in the mists of time.

Many paintings show animals that were revered or eaten or both. Below is a river eel which is native ti the Laura river.

Human forms if I remember right (as opposed to spirits)

To me this looks like spirits pushing from inside the rock (no hallucinogens :-)

Across the top of the animals and people runs the rainbow serpent.

An Alien surfing? Calling Von Daniken :D

Lastly we got to the inner sanctum. This is where the healing was done. I will resist the temptation to retell the story poorly, rather I encourage you to come and hear it yourself from one of the people like Steve who has a connection to this land going back to before the last Ice age.

I cannot resist one last picture, who I will name the Venus of Quinkan. As soon  as I saw her she reminded me of the Venus of Willendorf . Francoise and I went to see her in Austria many years ago. Funny how "sexy" has changed in the last 30,000 years.

I hope this taste of one of the worlds oldest and most magnificent art galleries inspires you to come and experience it for yourself.

Another advantageof going with a (talkative) local guide is that he/she can tell you about the local flora and fauna. This is a Blackboy bush which was used for food, water making spears and fire.

The Geology is fascinating as well, unless you believe Steve that he placed the rock on top of the other one this morning.

Lastly Francoise couldn't resist being photographed next to a good looking man for a change.

Well, my bottle is now empty and it is time for me to sleep and let my brain try and process the day. It is clear to me that I live in an occupied country with a very dark history. The few pieces of legislation we have passed in the last few decades have not removed the injustice that is an enduring stain on our national identity.

My appreciation of Aboriginal culture has crystallized coming into such close contact with this inestimable human cultural heritage. I recommend you watch first footprints to see just how awe-inspiring the civilization that inhabited this country we now call Australia was. 

Then come to Laura

Good night. 

Mt Garnett to Laura via the Misty Mountains

Innot Hot Springs

Australia is a huge country and every few Km's there is something to see. Although we have been selective it has still taken us 11 days to reach this point. This are some of those that we couldn't drive past.

 

Just 15km's after Mt Garnett we came upon a treasure in the form of the Innot hot springs. They were all the rage when discovered about a century ago. The water was said to have magical healing properties, was bottled and transported all over the world. I'm sure it was just as effective as Homeopathy although that's not a high bar to jump. 

We all got our feet wet although in some places the water was way to hot.

Our next stop was Atherton, but on the way we noticed a tourist drive signposted the Misty Mountains. For an old Led Zepp tragic it was irresistible. I cannot remember the name of this waterfall but it was glorious. Will cheat and edit if I recall.

The Curtin Fig was another attraction too good to miss.

Why am I thinking " Hippy Ent"?

By the time we got to Atherton I was ready to relax a bit and the rain was a good excuse to book a room. Unfortunately most things locally were booked out due to the beginning of school holidays but bookings.com offered a special "suite" for $85! in Cairns. Oh well, again I did not manage to avoid driving at night so off we went. Not exactly according to plan. I guess "suite" means different things to different people but the New Chalon, adjacent to the Bruce highway was at least clean and comfy.

This morning we drove to Cairns esplanade wandered around for a while, met a friend in Port Douglas and made sure that our 4 hour journey to Laura which started at 10am somehow took almost 9 hours, which meant more than an hour driving in dangerously dark conditions again. Will I learn before I hit a Roo or Cow (without a bullbar) ? I guess we'll find out.

 

I finally got my Telstra sim working, Telstra being the only carrier with a significant rural presence. I am now tethering from my Ipad. I can now go weat again with confidence :-)

Anyway, now we have made it to the area where we can pursue our main two objectives. To see the worlds oldest art and catch a Barra. Wish us luck :D

Sapphire to Mt Garnett

Ralph & Outbike

I met Ralph Jackson very early in my chess career when I was just starting out and Ralph was already a strong Junior having significant results under his belt including an Albury open. My first memory is hitching a ride with Ralph to Albury in 1979 (i think) when I was rated 1560, my first rating. I had the cheek to beat him early but he was just one of my victims. Others were Phil Viner, Colin Morris. I also drew IM's Ian Rogers, Guy West and one other losing just one game to Craig Laird. A fantastic result considering my rating and experience.

Anyway, Ralph went on to found the Wayward bus company while I continued with chess. We ran into each other sporadically since then, more often since I moved back to OZ a few years ago. When I met Ralph a few weeks ago and told him of my travel plans he mentioned he had a bike tour in the same area and invited us to join him for a few days. After this long introduction here are some pictures.

We were support vehicle 2 and our mission was to stay behind the riders with a sign to alert motorists to the bikers ahead.

Our first stop outside Charters towers was Balfes creek. Francoise and I had a quick beer and chat with innkeeper John Smith (his real name)  

One of John's artistic creations.

Homestead? Not sure, some of the "towns" along this road are just a tree, a dunny and a sign.

This creek has been waiting for water for a while.

When we got to Prairie Ralph pointed out a chess set he had noticed driving by. Keen eyesight is all I could say.

There are a lot of windmills drawing water up from the bores in this area. Our esteemed leader Mr Babblealot considers them eyesores but I'm not sure the people who depend on the hopefully still unfracked bore water would agree.

Wow! Good luck catching all that while driving by.

Prairie was the most interesting stop on this two day journey. Next time through I would like to saty at this pub.

Just one of the old exhibits lining the side of the pub

No less interesting inside.

It soon got less interesting.

We camped in Hughenden on the second night. The bikers who were not spring chickens anymore (one lady was 70) had done nearly 300km on their own steam in two days and deserved a rest. On Sunday we accompanied them to Porcupine Gorge which is 63km from Hughenden going north. For their rest day these "silvertops" hiked a few hours down to the bottom and back up. I am impressed

This is the view from the first lookout. 

The Pyramid Rock. No explanation needed. the stream was cool and crystal clear before i got in and stirred up the algae

Ralph and I playing dueling mobiles.

If you want to join one of Ralph's tours go to outbike.com.au. Some like this one are not too tough and others...well look for yourself.

We said our goodbyes and continued our journey north with a view to visit the Undara Lava Caves. After a long day driving mainly on an unpaved road while concentrating on not hitting Roos we somehow missed the sign. Oh well, maybe on the way back.

We got to Mt Garnett and checked into the local Hotel. The food is great but give the rooms a miss if you require a modicum of hygiene. Finally after three days my phone has reception again so i can bring you this enthralling report. If you plan to go anywhere west of the Great Dividing Range get a Telstra chip. Nothing else works. 

I actually did buy one in Hughenden but haven't gotten it to work yet. sigh....