25th June Travelling South

Thursday 25th June travelling south
As we were packing up Gary who was next to us came over with his wife Debbie to wish us well on our trip back as they knew we were a bit anxious about it because the roads were really hard on the car and trailer. As he happens to work for Jayco caravans back in Brisbane he gave ours a check out to see if it was all OK. No problems so we said our goodbyes and set off for Mareeba planning to stop off for the night at Coen. The roads seemed to be just as bad despite the graders having been at work. Along the way we saw them burning the bush off, drovers on horseback driving stock along the road, cyclists!, motor cyclists, cattle and dead wild pigs ,cockotoos and the usual road kill of kangaroos and wallabies .We also saw eagles, snakes, abandoned cars,burnt out cars, and destroyed caravan shells .We crossed a few floodway’s, had stones flicked up at us and of course got covered in red dust. It was hot; however we made good progress and stopped at the various Roadhouses for fuel, toilets or to have a break and something to eat. We drank bottles and bottles of water as it was around 30 degs and travelling with the windows closed most of the time to keep the dust out, it
was even hotter. We decided to stop overnight at Coen which was founded as a fort on the river in 1873 and grew with the gold rushes that followed at the Palmer River. We set up in a small camp ground behind the local general store come post office. This place was like a time warp with the local pub and bistro having stayed the same for years. In the main street one of the original Repeater Stations has been preserved as the Cape York Heritage House.

The usual kids were running around the place barefooted and generally having a good time along with the numerous dogs that always seem to be roaming about. We set up our home for the night which didn’t take too long, though the trailer was quite dirty from all the dust which seems to get in everywhere. I then walked down to the general store which also sells the fuel, to have a look around and saw all the kids running around very excited pointing to a Ute which had a huge dead wild black pig on the tray at the back and with its head hanging over the side. The fun was who was going to be brave enough to go and touch it, which for these 5 to 8 year olds was quite daring and a great source of amusement. Pity I didn’t have the camera with me.