More Station stays, National Parks and beaches.......

Leaving Weipa the next morning we made our way straight down the PDR and arrived at Archer River roadhouse mid afternoon.  We booked in for two nights and set up in the quiet campground, just one other camper there.  It wasn’t long before more people came in and by nightfall the campground was full.  Even the birds love it here!

Same the next day, all left early and by mid afternoon the hordes descended.   This time a tag along caravan tour came in.  A motorcycle tour and a walker raising funds for cancer as well as us regular folk.  The quiet morning gave me a chance to catch up on the washing and cooking while Bill took the camera for a walk.

Out the front of the roadhouse we found the Toots Holzheimer Memorial.  The monument commemorates "Toots Holzheimer", a long haul female truck driver who was killed in a trucking accident.

"Toots" was one of Australia's best known truckies and her sparkling Blue Man prime mover has pride of place in the National Transport Hall of Fame at Alice Springs.  Toots and her truck were the lifeline for the communities the length of Cape York, wet or dry, until she was killed in a loading accident on the wharf at Weipa.

Next morning we continued our journey south to Coen.   This part of the road had just been graded as we came up and already it was rough with corrugations and sand holes.  The increased traffic certainly makes a difference on these roads.  We stopped at the quarantine station where the ranger checked all the fruit and vegetables against the docket from Weipa and then we continued on into town.  We caught up on emails and social media here while we made a coffee and then had a look at the museum which was open today.

Leaving Coen we made our way to Musgrave Station and stayed for two nights here as well.  Busier here than at Archer River as it was game one of the State of Origin and Musgrave had big screens and a bar!  What more could the travellers want.  We left them too it and had a quiet night in!

The next day we walked down to the water crossing and found this cute little guy had come in for a drink.  He didn’t mind his photo being taken.

Later that afternoon I went over to the dam and watched them feed the seven or eight freshwater crocodiles that live there.   Lots of turtles too and quite fun to watch.

Leaving the next morning we only had a short drive, just 24 km, down the road to stay at Artemis Station for a few nights.   Owners Tom and Sue are wonderful hosts and we really enjoyed our stay here.

The Golden shoulder parrot is said to be found here.  Unlike our years of looking for the Hooded Parrot we found these beautiful birds straight away on a bird feeder a short walk from the campground.  Just beautiful but all immature so no real color showing.  We stayed for three nights hoping to find more and did so on the third day when Bill explored a little further away.  He came home a very happy man having seen both a mature male and female.  Stunning birds and beautiful pictures of this gorgeous male.

The next day we said farewell to Sue and Tom and headed back to Musgrave Station where we had coffee and rang QPWS to book a site in Rinyirru, Lakefield National Park.  From here we drove the 81km to our camp site at Hann Crossing.  It was some of the roughest road we have traversed so far!

All good though and we enjoyed a peaceful afternoon and evening beside the North Kennedy River. Lots of birds here.

Off to Kalpowar Crossing the next morning via the ranger station to book a campsite there.  It is a lovely space beside the Normanby River.

The actual crossing to Kalpower was open but I’m glad we weren’t going that way today.
That afternoon a White Bellied Sea Eagle kept Bill busy as it flew overhead.  We found out later that it was waiting for it’s share of fish from the fishermen camped a bit further along.

Before leaving the next morning we saw two gorgeous Papuan Frogmouths in the trees nearby.
We stopped at the New Laura ranger station to make coffee and thought our van fitted right in with the termite mounds there.

We left the park via Battle Camp Rd, another very rough ride, and drove into Cooktown to shop before heading back to Elim Beach on the east coast.

We stayed here at the campground for two nights.   Owned and run by 94 year old Aboriginal Elder Eddy it is such a great place to stay.  Totally relaxing, beautiful sunsets and just a walk along the beach to the amazing ‘Coloured Sands’ cliffs.

Our walk to see the cliffs at low tide took us through the mangroves and mudflats.   There were lots of old shacks along here too but most looked derelict now.

We left the next morning and started what was to be our last drive on Cape York.  We have had an amazing time here over the last five weeks.  We have checked out the Cape York Peninsula well and truly from North, South, East and West and we’ve enjoyed every last moment.

For now though it is time to sit still for a little while and we are going to do that by returning to our favourite campground and visiting Linda, Trevor and Gracyn at Birds on Barron in Biboohra.

Perhaps we can even clean some of the dust off and out of the van.

until next time.........