Cairns to Mt Isa (affectionately named Mt Scheize)
Trip Start
May 06, 2006
1
78
81
Trip End
Mar 23, 2009
Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia
Saturday, July 12, 2008
On our arrival in Cairns we decided it might be time for us to work. The backpacker word is apparently worth nothing 'cos the "yeah, there's loads of work in Cairns" line was total rubbish. It probably would've been okay for me to get some short term bar work or something but for German Kon it was more of a challenge. So, after exhausting all avenues on more seasonal work (yes, we were going to resort to fruit picking again) and finding absolutely nothing again, we made the decision to do what we wanted to do on the east coast and then begin our outback adventure.
After a night in Cairns and a quick catch up with the girls I shared a room with in Bundaberg, we made our way north to Cape Tribulation. For some reason I had assumed that being a country with most of it's population along the coast, the roads would run along the sea providing eye treats along the way much the same as New Zealand's roads did. Well, I couldn't really have been more wrong! These are real highways with more than one lane with not much to see and some pretty bad drivers. However, the road to Cape Tribulation was a nice treat taking us along very windy (as in bendy, not the weather!) coastal roads with some gorgeous views (I was concentrating on the road, I promise!). We soon were back inland though and I think funny moment of that trip was when the sat nav just casually said "at the end of the road turn right. Then, take the ferry"... as if that's just the most normal thing in the world to do when you're driving a car! We were pretty low on petrol and the 'helpful' woman at the ticket station told us that there was nowhere to buy petrol on Cape Trib so we should drive about 25k back and get some petrol there. Clearly she had connections or family at that place 'cos there were 2 places to buy petrol across the water. All be it expensive but there none-the-less! Stupid woman.
The road after the ferry was like crossing into a different country. Cape Trib is a national park so it's well looked after and so far hasn't been ruined by tourists. I mean, there are a lot of tourists but they (or maybe I should say we being as I'm one too!) just haven't ruined it yet! There is an abundance of rainforest and I think it might even have the highest rainfall in Oz... don't quote me on that though 'cos I could well be making it up! Accommodation was expensive as it's seen as more of a resort than anything so we decided to camp again (groan). We did some beautiful rainforest walks (thank god we had the car to get there though!) and saw some stunning beaches - including walking along one where we saw our first "do not swim, crocdiles live here" sign and a jelly fish stinger station with vinegar incase you stung. Something I found fairly amusing was that these two signs were next to eachother on the same beach... "don't swim 'cos there are crocodiles... but if you are stupid enough to and then get stung by jelly fish then here's some vinegar and you'll be fine". How stupid would you really need to be? Then again, this is Australia and these are tourists! We collected and painfully stripped some coconuts from the beach to eat and mostly just relaxed and enjoyed our little paradise surrounded by snakes, crocs and got knows what else (we didn't want to look).
After 2 nights there we moved on to Port Douglas and more camping at Dougies. It was a sweet little town and with money would probably be a lot of fun - tourist overload and all (Larry's moving there next year by the way dad!). One of my main things I wanted to do in Australia and most of the reason I learnt to dive in Thailand was so that I could dive the Great Barrier Reef. After the inital disappoinment on the Whitsunday's I decided to go from Port Douglas - this being my birthday present from mum and dad! Sadly, I was more than disappointed with it. It was nothing compared to my dives in Thailand and due to the amount of dive traffic that goes through there the coral is broken and mostly ruined. Such a shame 'cos I'd imagine it was absolutely beautiful when it was discovered. I did meet an extremely large cod (I'm talking about half the size of me so no battering this one!) and a few interesting fish but it's not something I'd recommend or particularly jump to do again. It probably didn't help that it wasn't a great day weather wise and so we were surrounded by puking kids for the hour or so journey out to the reef! I did meet a cool guy, Ollie, from Tasmania though who has said I'm more than welcome to go and stay if I make it there!
After my dive trip we drove back to Cairns and got stopped for a random breath test along the way - quickest police stop I've ever had but we hadn't had a drink for a few days so I was more than safe! We stayed in Cairns a few nights while we sorted things out ready to travel inland and I had another quick catch up with the girls from Bundy! While we had enjoyed the sights and warmth tropical Queensland had to offer the fact you can't fully enjoy the beaches by swimming without a stinger suit or the threat of crocs meant we weren't particularly sad to be leaving. I also found the east coast rather overpowering in general. It's overpopulated in a lot of parts and there are tourists just about everywhere! I have to admit, I was missing New Zealand more than a little bit.
On Thursday afternoon (10/7) we made our way inland for our outback adventures. We drove around some amazing mountain roads which, as usual, brought back memories of treacherous journies in Sri Lanka and Malaysia before breaking out on to straighter roads surrounded by huge trees. Who says this place is dry and desolate?! We left late afternoon and took Savannah Highway arriving in Innot Hot Springs just as it was getting dark. They call it a town but really it's just a camp site with it's own petrol station, a bar and some very cool natural hot springs. While cooking dinner we spoke to a nice man in the kitchen. When we explained our route to him he asked what kind of 4WD we had... "why is he asking that?", we thought. Well, it turns out with our natural planning instinct we had stupidly overlooked the fact that one of the roads was not sealed. Well done us! He went and dragged his maps out of the car and helped us plan a new and much safer route which didn't really add too many extra K's to our journey. After the stress of all that we decided it was time to enjoy the hot springs... or at least we did once a slightly crazy German guy who kept talking to me about being a Viking (me apparently, not him) disappeared. Still toasty when we got into bed we didn't think the coldness of the night would bother. And boy, was it COLD! I ended up 'sleeping' in the car and it's possibly the worst night I've had since I've been here! Kon had borrowed a feather duvet from reception so he was nice and warm but my sleeping bag just wasn't made for those temperatures. Finally warmed by the sun in the morning I managed to get out of bed and survive the long journey ahead of us.
As we were leaving the 'town' we realised our outback adventure was truly beginning. Our first indication was another comical road sign. This time it was a simple "beware" with a picture of a giant cow pretty much eating a car. I mean, I've heard horror stories from the outback but man eating cows?! We wondered what we were letting ourselves in for! A few kilometres later we encountered our first car eating cow - on it's side with rigamortis firmly set in! It was all an exciting new experience to begin with but 10 dead cows and a million dead (and shredded) kanagroos later we were soon a little tired of it... and I won't even go into the stench a dead animal in the outback can produce. Let's just say we could smell a lot a long time before we saw them!
Something we weren't quite prepared for was the state of the roads. The one that heads inland from Townsville is apparently completely sealed the whole way... but of course we didn't take that route! So, we were faced with a lot of one lane roads - wide enough for two cars to drive on but only sealed enough for one! It can get a bit like playing chicken to see who pulls onto the unsealed part first! I got pretty good at it! With these roads and the cows (both alive and dead!) I decided that 80K was my safe limit... at least for the first few hours but I soon got bored of that!
Soon into the journey we got stuck behind a road train - these things are HUGE! They can be up to 50 feet long and are as wide as the one lane road. They can go pretty fast on a flat road but any kind of hill and they obviously slow down. Ever overtaken one of these things? Only then would you know how it plays with your nerves to start with! They recommend you can see at least 1K of empty road ahead before overtaking - not such a problem on those loooooong straight roads but on these roads we were on it was a nightmare. It was also on this journey that I recieved my first 2 windscreen chips. One taught me my lesson that I shouldn't get too close to roadtrains and the other taught me that people in 4WD's aren't bothered if they chip your windscreen - they can drive on unsealed roads so why should they care?!
Anyway, 7 hours after leaving the hot springs we arrived in the tiny town of Normanton, which incidentally had the coolest Westpac building I've ever seen! It was another one of those 'towns' although there was a bit more than a camp site and a pub (although it did have both of those!). We had a beer on the porch of the pub surrounded by country folk and aboriginies before retiring to bed for another cold night of camping.
Another nice man was helpful in the morning when I was trying to put what I thought was oil into my car. He kindly pointed out that it looked like transmission fluid and, after a little reading (which I possibly should've done in the supermarket) I soon realised he was correct! Doh! So, wasted money and on to the petrol station on the way out to buy the right stuff which, needless to say was about 4 times the price in this hick town! Better than paying to get sorted if we'd run out of oil though!
Back on the road and towards Mount Isa, stopping at a roadhouse along the way for pictures with road trains (Kon was a little obsessed!). This time we saw the routine dead kanga's and cows but added to this was a live but clearly completely crazy cyclist! Who cycles through the outback where there can be nothing (and I mean nothing) for up to 400K?! Seriously. Insane. We were now entering the red dusty hills I had always associated with the outback and after about 7 more hours driving through it we arrived in the mining town of Mt Isa. Interesting fact for you - land wise it's the biggest city in the world so I can tick that one off my list of things to do! To be honest though, I wouldn't recommend a visit but then that could've just been the job we got....
