Day 25 - Morton Telegraph Station to Dulhunty River

'It was an early morning start for two avid fisherman, Chris and Stu.  Head torches on and wandering off into the night at around 5am to try and catch the elusive Barramundi, this time from the safety of the Wenlock Bridge.  Picture of bridge is in the last post.

When we arrived it was an fairly eerie morning, lots of noises from things that you weren't quite sure of!  Having said that though, there definitely fish in there and given the splashes, sizeable ones!  We saw the little eyes on more than one occasion but the lures we had weren't attracting any attention.  Something to definitely fix in Bamaga for the return trip in a few weeks.  So no successful catch but a step in the right direction.

Having to only go 100 kms or so we weren't in a rush to pack up.  A heavy dew meant things were a bit damp and they gave us 240v power from the generator so a few things could get quickly charged.  We left there around 10:30.  We had 44 kms to get to Bramwell junction and the official start of the telegraph track.  A fairly rough road meant a slowish trip but got there around 11:30. 

At the famous sign

We started the track wanting to get a look at the first major creek crossing at Palm Creek.  The track was abut up and down but nothing to much.  The crossing was something else, steep, more gouged out than I have seen before (in pictures) certainly lived up to its reputation and the stories people are saying both in the forums and in person.  While we were there another person had attempted the other crossing 100m down stream, not as steep and the exit is at least winchable.  He was in the middle of winching his cruiser and trailer up when he stalled and couldn't get it started again. We watched for a bit but not for too long, there is no chance we would do this crossing unless our lives depended on it.

(Insert pictures of Palm Creek crossing fro Stu's phone)

We met another Trackabout camper going into Palm, a family with two youngings.  Their Trackabout was the one that, under a previous owner was washed away in the Brisbane floods.  Trackabout rebuilt the camper as an act of good faith.  In the end they decided to upgrade them as well, giving them a new one and auctioning the old one off.  This couple bought the camper at auction. Stu had heard about it so it was nice to close the loop.

We worked our way back to Bramwell junction to go around Palm via the Gunshot bypass road and Heathlands Ranger station.

At Bramwell junction roadhouse for a picnic lunch.

The staff at the roadhouse seemed rather unhappy and less than helpful.  Asking to buy a loaf of bread the reply was, "I guess so but I can only sell you one."  We wanted to see how many were on the tele track before cancelling our stay at Elliot falls.  We have heard that two other creeks just near by are just as nice, Canal or Sam creek and they are free!  But Bramwell doesn't have a public phone and they weren't exactly open to me using it unless it was an emergency.  Stu was less than a little pleased with himself for not looking properly at the map.  We may loose some money from the Ellliot booking as we have booked Sesia caravan park on some of the same days.

So off we went to see if we could rejoin the track, camping at Dulhunty River. From lush rainforest emerged the heathlands, which as the name suggests are low scrub areas.  The Heathlands as we found out is actually quite large, the land flat and the soil very sandy.  Quite surreal given we in the tropics.

The heathlands,you can see for miles.

The road was very corrugated and so it took us a while to rejoin the telegrah track proper.  To get to Dulhunty we had to go through a few twists and turns, Ernie did a feat job at following and the extra clearance in Both Charlie and Ernie helped handle the rocks and dips.  Our first creek crossing was  Bertie Creek.  A dog leg crossing, not deep but has a few holes that you wouldn't want to fall into fall.  The boys had a chance for a quick play before we moved on.

Insert pictures and link to video of Bertie crossing.

About 10 minutes later we arrived at Dulhunty, camping on the north side of the river seemed to the best spot.  An absolute magic spot, personally think that we got the pick of the camps.  The river was slow and sandy bottom with a waterfall just down the way.  Perfect for a relax for the cults and a swim for the kids.

 The view to the creek below 

 The creek

 The waterfall

So we setup and had a but of a look around before cooking dinner and settling round the fire for the evening.  Finished off there've bing with tea and the leftover scones from yesterday! Perfect!