The Tele-Track Part1

This is a post that most of Tim’s mates have been waiting for. The tele-track. Sorry, still getting around to all the updates! 🙂

So happy we could swim

For our mates overseas, the tele-track is actually called ‘The Old Telegraph Track’ and is the most famous 4×4 track in Australia. A track that anyone who loves to four-wheel drive and has a 4×4, dreams of doing one day. So this was his moment and what did he think… not much. Don’t get us wrong, the crossings were amazing and so was the drive itself, but we found the Starky track to be more difficult and required more 4 wheel drive capability, plus it caused more damage to our vehicle and gear than the tele. For those planning on doing the track next year, check out this website for details on the Tele-track – www.cape-york-australia.com as it has some great info.

Now, this doesn’t mean we didn’t have any fun. We did! Like I said, the creek crossings were amazing and the places we went to, simply stunning. You know, you don’t need a 4×4 to access this area as there are many tours that operate up here and do the tele track too! So there’s no excuse for you Aussie’s not to explore your own back yard.

We were so excited to start the tele-track. We went through Palm Creek, Ducie Creek and Alice Creek and were wondering if we left it too late to travel as the creeks were all dry. Thankfully the Dulhunty had some water so our hopes were restored. The Bertie and Cholmondey went off without a hitch.

Then came the Gunshot. Oh my, what a crossing. I can’t believe that people still do it and I wish we traveled during the busy time to see this happen, but we didn’t, and we had to cross. I was glad we didn’t have the patrol as if we were in the patrol, I fear Tim would most likely give it a go, but in the Ranger, no way! So we took the easy route, it was still tough to watch Tim do it, but glad that there was an easier option.

The beauty of travelling in the off season, is that if you want to stop and have lunch in the creek, you can. Which is exactly what we did at gunshot!

Not long after lunch we ran into a lovely couple at Fruit Bat Falls that became our travelling companions for the next 10 days. The Water Babies (Ammie and Nath) are a young couple from Perth doing what we are doing, but in reverse.

We heard the falls are very busy, but we had the place to ourselves! Even better, we could swim! There are only a few places in the cape where they say you can swim and you didn’t have to tell us twice. It was so refreshing. We could have stayed there the night, but the West’s(our Weipa mates) suggested we camp near Twin Falls, at a place called Canal Creek.

So after our dip, we decided to camp the night with our new mates and headed to Canal Creek. It was then that we came across our first difficult crossing. Not that it was hard, but for the first time, the water wasn’t clear and the boys had to walk it. The first thing I thought of was crocs, and thankfully Ammie had similar concerns. But not the boys. In they went, waist deep in muddy water. Thankfully Nath had been speaking to a few other travelers who told him the best way to progress as there were several entry points and some were very deep (as in over the bonnet) so the boys walked the suggested path and worked out when and where to turn and got through no drama.

We got to our camp site and were again relieved to be the only one’s there and we had our very own, private plunge pools. Life is grand. Needless to stay, we decided to stay an extra night!

As we didn’t have to pack up the following morning, we decided to walk to Twin Falls and for some crazy reason, we opted to follow the creek rather than walk the road.

At different stages we were walking by the creek, then in the creek and soon we ended up going bush. At this stage, us girls were getting a little concerned. I left the EPERB back at camp, with the sat phone and we were walking in the bush in only thongs… what the hell were we thinking?!?!? Thankfully Tim knew where he was the entire time and managed to get us through, and boy was it worth it. The walk itself was beautiful (except when we walked through warm mud), and twin falls was divine and yep, we had it all to ourselves!

We didn’t realise at the time, but we stayed out most of the day and after such a big day, it was great to soak in our plunge pool in the late afternoon and finished off with a camp over Japanese Curry! Yep, its a tough life alright, but someone has to do it!