Marina Plains Kenedy River

Tuesday 27Th July 1971
Started at9.00 posted mail to mum & aunty lemay at Jim Kings place.We then journeyed 16 mile from Portland Roads to an old abandoned gold mine 100 yards off the main road, a fellow by the name of Jack Gordon owned it, it has been said that he got at least $300.000 out of it & he employed 12 men. It had a Babcock & Wilcock ball mill & Gold stamper about the 1930's.Took a photo of a Water Gum, we then drove onto the Pasco River 47 miles away,took on some water and on another 22 miles to the Wentlock River We had trouble there getting the cars out of the river bed up the steep sand banks, while doing so we busted the handle off the trailer coupling so we had to wire the coupling onto the car it would present a problem on the way back to Coen. We made camp & cooked a damper.
Wednesday 28Th July 1971
Damper was great although a bit burnt on the bottom. Started at 9.00 photo a red lizard. Drove down to the Archer River reached there at 12.30, then onto Coen by 2.30. I phoned mum reverse charges cost $3.00. Nevile decided to go on to Port Stewart for a day and then meet up at Marina Plains in 2 days time. We left Coen at 3.30 and proceed to the Stewart River where we made camp.At 8.00 we gave Nevile a blast on the National Panasonic walky- talky but we could not pick him up as they were approx 30miles away over mountainous country. There is a tremendous amount of bird life here.

Thursday 29Th July 1971.
Started at 8.30 drove southwards to Musgrave, the road had been graded since we drove north on it 2 weeks ago. We reached Musgrave Station & took on petrol & coke a cola.We also met Collin Costello who owns Marina Plains Station approx 40 sq miles he runs cattle . Collin had a snake in a drum in the ute so he showed us it,he was a bit drunk as well. Apparently he catches small crocodiles & takes them to Laura pub under his shirt & sells them for about $2.50 inch.
We left Musgrave and drove on a very good road to a large lagoon with hundreds of water lilies on it. It is 19 miles from Musgrave. We also saw birds that walk on the water, & plenty of emus. We then drove on to Marina Plains Station, where we took on water at the wind mill and had a look at a crocodile skull he was about 16 feet long. We then drove down to the to the wharf near the homestead were we met some people from Sydney.While we were taking a trawler came in, they told us that the fishing was no good as some men had been netting Barrumundy in the Kennedy river close by, they took 5000lbs of fillets out that is about 25000 fish. We then drove 8 miles across country(because we had lost the track) to the Cattle Loading Shute on the Kennedy River, we had a fish but caught nothing, had tea with a billion mosquitoes then went for another fish and caught a salmon, bed by 11.00
Friday 30 July 1971
After Breakfast we went for a boat trip up the river for about 6 miles & set some crocodile lines, we also seen a tremendous amount of bird life & mosquitoes, we returned about 12.00 finished films 12,8. had lunch and drove back to the wharf to meet Nev we got there just in time to see the trawler fisherman flying out on a 10 day holiday, it cost $25 to fly to Cairns they left at 2.30. We drove up the road a short way but no luck we did not see Nevil, so we blazed a paper trail back to the cattle loader about half way across we got lost & ended up driving across country straight to the camp. We had tea & Bruiser went fishing caught 1 Salmon they also saw a 2 foot barra close to the river bank but he was to quick.We also shot a wallaby for crock bait.

Saturday 31 July 1971
after breakfast we checked the crock lines and pulled in a 45lb spotted code took 3hrs to clean him. that afternoon we drove across to the homestead & had a talk to Collin for a 1/2hr. We went down to the lagoon just behind the homestead & photographed some ibis on the way back to camp on a different route we drove through hundreds of ant hills. It took us 4hrs to cook the cod for tea it was to greasy and half raw did not like it went to bed and listened to crocodiles barking all night they knew we were leaving the next day and did not have the lines set cunning crocks.

Portland Roads

Tuesday 20Th July 1971
Rose from bed to find that we had a dingo in the camp. We decided to have a day of rest so we washed our cloths in the creek, made a good job of it to, went for a walk up stream got some good pictures of kingfishers . Bruiser set the net in the creek. I took some photos of ant that make there nest in the tree leaves and when you pass under them they jump on you and sting finished film17 with some flower shots. We had a shooting contest with all of the rifles then went to check the net we got one fish so we reset the net for the night.

Batavia Downs

Wednesday 21st July 1971
Packed up camp and went to check net, we caught a water rat,2 ells,2 small perch through them all back.
We started at 9.00 & drove into Batavia Downs we then continued on down the Coen road through bull dust & creek beds to the Portland Roads turn off and drove 14miles to the Wentlock River which runs to the west side of the cape and comes out at Mapoon Reserve where we were trying to get to but had to abort because of the extreme wet conditions, we made camp at 3.00 on the banks of the river. We then walked along the road 1/4 mile to the north then into the left for about 2mile & found the remains of an old gold mining town, got photos of the old steam winches & machinery there was an old pub there to. On the way back we saw an old International truck approx 1920 and also a grave marked The Power 1923, so the mine must have been working from about 1900 to 1930. Back to camp and a wash ,I had a bilious attack did not have any tea bed 6.30 finish film 19 old gold mine.
Thursday 22July 1971
Start at 8.00 drove through hilly mountains 7 through a lot of dry creek beds one of them was nearly 75deg because the boat nearly went through the back window, got photos, continued on to the Pascoe River had a look at the remains of the tremendous amount of water that has come down during the wet season. We filled up with water and kept going through the Tozer Pass & down the side of the Great Dividing Range through tropical rainforest, the ground was very slippery and it will present a problem getting back out we then went past the magnificent air field built in the by the USA it is now commercially maintained by Ansett. We then went onto the mission & saw the manager he told us we could not stay on mission ground or the old burial grounds South of the Claudia River so we went back and onto Portland Roads where there is an old wharf built also in the war, there are 10 people living here mainly gold prospectors , fisherman and others just exist. One bloke owns a small property of 3000 acres which he runs cattle on we had tea about 10.00 went to bed Weymouth bay is the area.

Suckor fish

Friday 23July 1971
Rose after a very restless night had breakfast, we then went fishing along the coast, Errol caught a perch and I caught a trevally we returned at lunch. In the afternoon we went back for more fishing once again I caught a trevally after a while we landed at dead low tide and had a look around the shores at the shells and marine life took a photo of a blue star fish and a sucker fish . Bob in the other boat caught a 10lb rock trout we had it for tea. That night bruiser went spotlighting along the mangroves & caught a lobster we returned and cooked it.
Saturday 24th July 1971
After a very wet night in which 73 points of rain fell we rose to a very cloudy morning, after breakfast a fellow by the name of Ted rode up on a white horse he asked the usual things ,what we doing and then invited us to stay on his 5000 square mile property on the Pascoe River, he said he would supply us with a boat and gun dog because there are a lot of pigs there.The Pascoe River is 12miles by sea west of Weymouth bay, It is hard to get used to north being out to sea were east should be.We told ted that we would take up his offer, the rest of the day was very quite.
Sunday 25Th July 1971
Rose and pulled up net which we set the night before & found that we caught 4 sharks a small barramundi I then walked south around the head land and photoed some tiny yellow birds and the coast watch lookout post boxes that are dotted along the coast line.That night we set the net again while Errol and Bruiser and I went to visit Ted King who is the caretaker we had a yarn & a cup of tea and then came back to camp.

Monday 26Th July 1971
The guys went spear fishing and caught 2 lobsters the rest of the day went quietly. We decided to try & get out tomorrow so started packing that afternoon, got to bed early.

Portland Roads Whalf

Coen to mapoon mission

Saturday 17 July 1971

Started at 7.30 overcast day and continued to Coen, posted mail to mum. Took on 60gallons of fuel cost $30.00(that is 227litrs at .13 cents per litre) and 15gallons of water, had lunch wound speedo back to start so we could keep a check on our fuel and distance and headed north not far out of Coen we met up with the Leyland brothers going south they told us that it had been a very heavy wet season and the roads and crossings were not to good . We continued on over some very rough crossings & onto the Archer River where we went for a swim it was Beaut. Bob & Henry went spear fishing & caught about a dozen yabbies, they look like a prawn only with big nippers & live under the rock ledges as they were swimming Bob came face to face with a water dog they are like a goanna only live under water. We made camp on the sand in amongst all the boulders in the riverbed then cooked the yabbies they were nice to eat, the river is about 100 yard wide. We had only covered 70 miles that day

Sunday 18July

We got away at about 9.00 an drove 50 yards and got bogged trying to get up the sandy bank, we had to join the 2 rovers together to get them out , we also had to pull another guy out of the river an took us 2 hours finally getting away at 11.00. Four miles away Nevell stalled in a mud patch about 50 yards long. We then drove on to the Portland Roads & Iron Range turnoff 60 miles from Coen we got to the Weipa turnoff at 12.45. The Nikon packed it in at Archer River and had to use the Rollie all day. We drove on and saw wallabies and went along a road that we should not have gone on took 15 minutes to get 3 miles. We made camp on 9mile creek a few miles from York Downs station a very spooky place there were snakes and plenty of mosquitoes finished film 18 & 15 camped near a small lagoon plenty of bird life, also got Nikon working.

Monday 19 July 1971

Got away at 8.00 we passed hundreds of kangaroos in packs of about 20 or 30 while driving to old York Downs homestead had a look around and found an old clay fireplace. we left there and drove on for 7miles at 10.00 we got bogged had to use the chain puller to get out. We kept on driving an met some aboriginals who told us we had missed the turn off so we went back to the blue tins, drove for 3/4 mile and got bogged we had to make a new crossing 100 yards up the creek took 2 hrs drove a short way then Nevell shot a pig with the 303. we got going again and headed for the west cost north of Weipa to the old Mappoon Mission,we were driving ourselves into a massive swamp and decided it was not the right track so turned back, found another road marked IWS and followed it till we ran out of road so again we turned back and went back to a small creek that ran out of a swamp saw plenty of dingos and pigs . The ground is tremendously wet the surface has a crust on it and when the rover goes over it the 6inch crust breaks and reveals pure mud. Made camp had tea and went to bed had a good sleep.

Whitsunday's to Cape York

Wednesday 14th July 1971
Woke to find it was drizzling rain so we decided not to go on a cruise out to the islands. We packed up & got ready to go, while I was waiting i went to the souvenir shop & bought a tea towel & a bird ornament for mum. When we were ready to go we found that the draw bar on the no.2 rover's trailer had cracked at the weld, so they went to get it welded while we went for a drive around Shute Harbour & had a look at the site seeing boats. We also saw the Whitsunday passage which was all misty with rain it would be a good place if the sun was out. We then went a joined the others at the welding shop at Cannonvale ,it was a good business the wife was the ironworker & she did welding to, they lived on site in a very unclean shed but they had a lot of money tied up in machinery . He did a good job it cost $7.00 for 1hr15 min.I posted a card to Mrs Brown and left CannonVale at 1015 & drove though rain to Townsville had lunch and onto Cardwell were we stopped for the night about 5 mile north.We are about 50 yards away from the main train line we are looking forward to an interesting night.It is very hot for July despite the overcast conditions. The other rover is having trouble with its boiling radiator.

Thursday 15 July 1971
Start at 6.45 after a rainy night and no trains, arrived in Cairns at 9.30 and went to post office to ring Cheryl found out she was sick so started to worry so posted a letter.went to the tent shop and bought a fly for the tent cost $10.00.We went shopping for provisions cost $44.00 including 12pkt of sao's. left Cairns at 12.30 drove north to Mosman then inland to Mt Molloy then onto the Palmer River where we made camp at 5.30 on the fresh water river.That night we all went up the pub where to our surprise six nice girls were working. The Palmer river was a gold mining settlement there is a story about the settlement and Dead Mans Pass. It is said that the Chinese used to walk through this pass to the gold workings and the aboriginals used to ambush and spear them as they went through .We got to bed about 10.00 it was a very mild night.


Friday 16 July 1971

Got away at 8.30 after looking at the fantastic bird life on the river finished no. 13 film. Drove through & had a look at the aboriginal paintings just south of Laura .Drove through a lot of creeks and finally got bogged in one , so we made camp about 40miles from Coen. I got sick that afternoon . Three fellows travelling south in a Toyota truck pulled up they told us the Geraldine river was 7ft deep so this dulled our chances to get to the top, bed early

remminissing 1971

While we are waiting for august to come around I thought I would take a trip back in time to when I first went around Australia. It was 9th July 1971 the day before we left, I was working at the Newcastle State Dockyard as a boilermaker and one of my coworkers had planned a trip that would take us from Newcastle to Cape York then across to Katherine Gorge, down to the Alice and Ayres Rock(Ularu)onto Onardattar then to Broken Hill and home. I had to resign from my job as I did not have enough leave to cover the trip.
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHY 
Being a serious photographer this would be a good chance to photograph Aussie.So I bought enough 35mm transparency film and rolled thirty 36 exposure films into canisters, the films where developed by hand during the trip in a 2 man tent using the E6 processing chemicals it was extremely difficult to get the temperatures consistent using only the billy on a camp fire to obtain the correct temperature but some how I achieved a reasonable result. The transparency's have only been scanned and basic clean up and spotted due to mould from being stored in a box for 40 years, the text is from a small log I kept of the trip. 300 of the slides can be viewed in the Links box at the top of the page to the rihgt side under Around Australia 1971, it will take you to my Picassa Album

Saturday 10th July 1971

Started at 7.00 with a speedo reading of 4995 and met up with other Landrover traveling companions in Musselbrook at 10.00. I then put my first donation to the Kitty of $40,this was to cover fuel and food and spilt four ways myself ,reg,Errol,Gordon(bruiser). We continued over the Liverpool range to Tamworth and lunch at 1.00 then over the Moonbi range through Armadale to Glenn Innes where we made camp at about 5.00 approx 8 mile north of Glenn Inness.We are getting very little speed averaging about 45 miles per hour, the other Rover beats us up the hills due to its extra horse power it is a short wheel base landrover with a Holden motor ours is a long wheel base with the standard 4 cylinder motor. On the way we got a puncture in the trailer left hand side tyre at Scone so bought a new tube, after a steak for tea we retired at 9.30, with 348 miles for the day.

Sunday 11th July
Rose at 6.00 to find that there was ice everywhere even the condensation in my tent was frozen we took the temperature reading which was 22deg Fahrenheit on the ground. I took a shot of the moon through the trees and a shot of dew with sun on it. Packed up after breakfast of sausages and left at 8.00. About 30 miles had gone when the left hand wheel on the other Rovers trailer came off because the nuts had came loose. we continued on to Tentafield arriving at 10.05, we crossed the boarder into the sunshine sate and drove on till 5.30 and stopped 5 miles north of Miles. The ground was so hard we could not get the tent pegs in so we had to tie the ropes to rocks took half an hour to make camp. Bob from the other rover got sick and went to bed early. Did 322 miles

Monday 12th July1971
Woke to a cool morning had beacon & eggs and watched Rosella's & cockatoos fly past on the road at 7.45. Posted cheryl a letter at Taroom at 9.40 drove on & took a picture on 1000sec as the car was driving across the Dawson River Weir reel 1 no 17. we then drove on into a valley which looked all dead it was full of dead and dying trees about 4 mile across an 10 mile long, there were also a lot of bottle trees which suppose to be full of water(i think this area is between Theodore and Isla gorge). We proceeded to Rockhampton after going through the Mount Morgan gold mining town it is still working. At rocky we bought a new rim for the other rover & got some meat for tea. We decided to do another 100 mile & then make camp for the night. We drove on and then about 40 mile out of Rocky the other rover smashed a race in the transfer case so we made camp and had steak for tea covered 357 miles for the day.


Tuesday 13th July1971
Rose at 6.00 & had breakfast at 7.00 bruiser and Ridley went back to rocky to get new parts for the no2 Rover, meanwhile i went photographing Queensland Rosella's& bluies i walked for about a mile south and got about 15 shots while i was sitting in a gully. I had a bit of trouble focusing quick also the light level is ti low for 2xconverter you either have to use low speeds or low apertures,Magpie gully was the place we stopped at. Bruiser returned from town at about 11.00, while they put the new part in i went over to a gully & photo a red flower and finished the no1 roll. We then got rolling at 12.30 and continued on up to Mackay we then decided to go on to Shute Harbour so we drove on till about 9.00 and pulled into Island Traders park at Shute Harbour,so we went and had a chicken and a bear for tea got to bed 11.00 it was a very mild night cost us $5.00 for the unit

Nomad In Waiting

Well this is my first post ,I am a nomad in waiting because my wife sue and i have ordered a Bushtracker Land Yatch named Reality and it is expected to be born in august, after which we will start our travels around Australia. We intend to use this site as our travel diary bringing to you our experiences and day to day happenings along with stories about the Teddy Bears that we make and Craft shops and markets that we encounter on the way.