The road less traveled is synonymous with taking the hard road and growing spiritually as a result. Goldsmith’s quote say it all: “Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.”
– Oliver Goldsmith
As adventure riders we are always seeking the road less traveled. There’s a lot of traffic on this road, especially over the last couple of days. After all it’s the end of the school holidays. But I wonder in essence, if for some people, this is ” the road less traveled”. A place to go that is difficult and challenging, but with great rewards at the end. It’s definitely part of the attraction for me.
If the road was sealed all the way to the tip, would it lose its character? Would the people making the trip today be the same type of people making it tomorrow?
I felt lucky to be doing this trip now when there was still difficult terrain to ride. We would attempt the OTT or at least part of it today. Not to say we rode the OTT, but because it is a challenge. For more information on the OTT check out the following web page: Cooktown and Cape York
Stepping out of my tent I could see the Bamaga Road leading north, bathed in the golden light of a new day. I wondered how many people have thought about doing the Cape trip. But decided not to because it seemed too difficult or remote. If you want to see how we got here you can read about our adventure at the following blog pages:Cape York Adventure – Part One Cape York Adventure – Part Two
Time to rise and continue on the road less traveled
It was time to get up and make a coffee. The light was soft and the colours harmonious, an ideal time to capture that special photo. There was a deep red tinge to the world, as the soft golden light reflected gently the burgundy coloured soil and reflected off the dust in the atmosphere.
The first birds were crying out their early morning calls and a loud synchronous snoring noise could be heard across the camp ground.
More good advice
Yesterday we had met up with a young couple Kyle and Deb and their daughter, Kirra. They had just come down the OTT and were going to make their way home today. Kyle and Deb were experienced four wheel drivers, so we asked about road and track conditions.
They assured us the creek crossings on the OTT were very low and we wouldn’t have problems getting the bikes across them. His only warning was the first creek entry at Palm Creek. He suggested it was a bit steep, but if you could get across that crossing the rest would be easy.
A little later we talked with another couple who had just driven down the Bamaga Road, they were less enthusiastic. “Mate, the bull dust holes will swallow you guys, look out for the big yellow patches, you’ll disappear into them” he said. At which point his wife Annette commented “Mate, the corrugations are hugh, don’t risk it if you can go up the OTT”.
During breakfast we discussed the idea of going up the OTT. After all if the Telegraph and Bamaga Roads were so bad, what did we have to lose?
It was agreed that we would ride to the first creek crossing and if we managed to get through that we would continue on to Fruit Bat Falls. We would then complete our journey on the Northern Bypass Road.
The missing rider
Rob had been found late last night. He had turned off at the Bramwell Tourist Park and booked in before any of us had arrived at the roadhouse. Apparently, he spent the night having a singalong with fellow grey nomads and had talked extensively about arthritis and pension plans. It’s a shame we missed out on that, it would have been fun:(
Rob arrived at the roadhouse just as we had finished packing our gear. He was on hand to assist with a new method Quentin and Nick had designed to get the ailing DRZ started. Have you ever seen those memes on Facebook where it says “why do women live longer than men”. Just saying….
Not just crocodiles, wild animals “beware”
As I walked to the shop to buy a drink for the journey I was molested by “Bottomly Potts”. If you don’t know it’s one of the characters in the children’s book “Hairy Maclary of Donaldson’s Dairy”. It’s about a gang of miscreant dogs. I’m not sure what I had done to offend the little fellow, but he was rather aggressive and persistent. He wouldn’t let me in the shop, until the owner came out, at which time butter wouldn’t melt in the little shit’s mouth. It occurred to me he might be a friend of some southern wallabies and that my reputation had proceeded me.
- Top: Bramwell Junction Roadhouse (Rob), Tree of Plates
- Middle: Bottomly Potts, Kirra, Kyle and Deb, Ken, Annette and daughter
- Bottom: Why women live longer than men
Termite Mounds rule
Just so you know, the bike didn’t start with this new technique and we ended up push starting it. It looked so easy on YouTube.
A feature of this part of the track is the giant termite mounds. There are some really good examples opposite and around the roadhouse. We couldn’t help but stop to get a group photo.
The Old Telegraph Track (OTT)
The OTT was once the only track up to Cape York. It had been regularly maintained up until 1986 when two bypass sections of road were built. These became known as the southern and northern bypass roads. Riding the OTT is still the straightest line to the Cape. But it is no longer maintained and subject to lots of four wheel drive traffic. Its condition has been deteriorating to the point where even gentle creek entries have become vertical challenges. No greater example than the legendary “Gun Shot”.
There’s something about the name “Old Telegraph Track” that elicits a feeling of adventure. We have all seen the insane antics of would be four wheel driving heroes dropping $80,000 vehicles vertically down narrow embankments into pits of mud. Only to be winched out scraping their side panels and bending bull bars.
Or where teams of bikers have waded neck deep in crocodile infested rivers to carry bikes across. If you haven’t seen these then do a quick search on YouTube or read Roy Kunda’s book “King of the Cape”. I did a review on this book, you can read my review at the following link: https://digitalswaggie.com.au/book-review-king-of-the-cape-by-roy-kunda/
What’s in a name?
I’ve heard people refer to the OTT as a single track, but it is really broken into two parts. The first or southern section starts just outside the Bramwell Junction Roadhouse. It’s where we intend to ride today. The second or northern section of the OTT starts at Fruit Bat Falls and continues onto the old Jardine River crossing. Which has been closed, due to people being eaten by crocodiles and or expensive abandoned four wheel drives choking up the pristine river system.
The first section of this track to the Palm Creek crossing is typical single track riding. I actually like this style of riding with its up jumps, tight corners and technical manoeuvring of the bike. Emu handled this well. Even though he was loaded with luggage and sporting a 16 tooth sprocket on the front for highway riding. For the sandy sections it took a bit of “feathering the clutch” and the appropriate application of power.
There were a couple of times in the deeper sand that I lost the front wheel but managed to keep the bike under control. The other team members were having similar issues and Rob unusually dropped the big Africa Twin. It took some heaving and pushing to lift it out of the sand and up onto a harder section of track. By the end of which everyone was breathing hard and sweating profusely.
Heat exhaustion is a real risk in this area
There was a significant increase in temperature due to the reduction is wind along the enclosed single track. It was also difficult to build up speed in the sandy sections. Riding the OTT is not a problem, but riding in these conditions was going to put stress on our bodies. Especially if we couldn’t cool off. The bikes were just too heavy to be able to throw them around on a single track for hours.
Palm Creek itself posed a problem for the adventure bikes. Getting the fully loaded adventure bikes down into and then out of the creek was not impossible, but it was going to take a lot of effort. Once we got them out we still didn’t know if it was safe to ride the track in this heat and humidity.
Putting safety first
Nick and Flemming had actually got the two DRZ’s and one DR through the creek and up the other side. In the end we all decided that our goal was to get to the tip and do it without crashing. The OTT had not been part of our plan for this journey. We decided that we would go back to Bramwell Junction and tackle the southern and northern bypass roads. It now stands out more as a road less traveled because it was unachievable this time round. But we all agreed, to come back with support vehicles and lighter bikes to ride the OTT in full, may be in the middle of winter.
The southern bypass road
Back at Bramwell Junction Roadhouse, we wasted no time continuing on our journey. We had lost a couple of hours at Palm Creek, it was now 10.0am and we had a fair bit of road to ride. The road had changed from the Telegraph Road at the Bramwell Junction Roadhouse, to the Bamaga Road.
The tar finished about 500 metres north of the roadhouse, from this point on it was all bull dust and corrugations. Our adventure to the tip had begun in earnest, we were now travelling the road less traveled. While the dirt was in good condition at the beginning and the riding was quite fast and enjoyable. It wouldn’t stay that way for long.
Unexpectedly, we were soon riding through rain forest on a deep red dirt road. Not only was it a pleasant ride but it was decidedly cooler. We decided to take an opportunity for a much needed break out of the direct sunlight.
Back on the road
Once back on the road it deteriorated more and more as we came out of the rain forest up onto the ridge line. The winding corners were full of sharp unforgiving corrugations. In between the corners and on the straights were deep bull dust holes. Again we were faced with guiding our front wheels straight as the bull dust covered the roads and hid our lines.
The bull dust holes were extensive, but they are were easy to see. They tended to be yellow and white and smooth against the corrugated terracotta soil. These must have been the car swallowing yellow bull dust patches mention by our guide at Hann River Roadhouse. Then later by Ken and Annette at Bramwell. They were easily avoided on a motorbike, but cars would have no way of avoiding them, especially at speed.
There were several roads ploughed into the table drains and yet again I found myself marvelling at the stupidity of some drivers racing to over take. It was here that I came face to face with a Toyota Land Cruiser and camper trailer over taking a car on the inside table drain.
We rode past the track to the Highland Ranger Station with it’s sandy path into “Gun Shot” . It would have been interesting to go in an have a look at the carnage. But we were focused on getting to Fruit Bat Falls and cooling off.
The falls at last
The road widened out and I could see the sign to Fruit Bat Falls. It also signalled the end of the southern bypass and the beginning of the Northern OTT. I felt an immense relief when the rest of the group were waiting at the turn off. We rode the sandy track to the car park together where we were met with bikini clad girls and boys in board shorts. It seemed a strange contrast to our dirty biker clothing, boots and body armour.
Fruit Bat Falls
We found a park near a locked gate and proceeded to get out of riding gear and remove our body armour. There was no where to store our riding clothes so we took them with up. It was short walk past the toilet block to steps leading down onto a rock flat. In front of us was the magnificent Fruit Bat Falls.
The water was cool, clear and turbulent, with a green tinge. It had a rocky bottom. I thought I should have brought my thongs to prevent foot injuries as I stumped my toe on a submerged rock ledge. The falls provided the perfect opportunity to wash off the dust from the Bamaga Road. We played in the water long enough to bring our body temperatures down. I could have stayed there for the rest of the day, but we had to move on. We had to get to the Jardine Ferry before it closed and then on to Punsand Bay for a few cold beers.
The northern bypass started off as a recently graded road, but quickly became the most horrendous collection of speed bumps so far on the trip. Trying to keep up some sort of speed to float across the corrugations was a constant battle. It seemed to take forever but eventually I made it to the Jardine Ferry.
Jardine Ferry
As usual the others were waiting for me. So I quickly went into to small office at the Jardine River park and purchased my ticket for the ferry. It costs $50.00 dollars for each bike that crosses and I think double that for cars and more again for cars with trailers.
When I first laid eyes on the river, I thought it should be bigger. All the stories I heard of drowned four wheel drives and waiting crocodiles didn’t seem to fit the small creek we were about to cross. I was anticipating something like the Daintree River. But realistically, if they had built the ferry about four metres longer at each end they needn’t have moved it at all, just lower the front gates.
We took the opportunity to get some photos at this iconic spot, while one of us used her time wisely to get some sleep. After which we saddled up and boarded the ferry. I had got off to take some photos when Emu decided it was time for a nap. Luckily, there were a couple of posts in the way or he might have slipped completely over the side.
Bamaga Road
The Bamaga Road gets progressively worse the further north you go. When I asked the guy at the ferry office what the road from the Jardine to Bamaga was like he just laughed, “It’s almost as good as the last 40 kilometres” he said with a cheerful grin. I was hoping that was a good sign, but I found myself disappointed. Roads in India that hang off of cliffs and long flat sandy sections of roads in Africa seem better maintained than the road from Jardine to Bamaga.
There was nothing we could do but just ride it. The final forty kilometres of the Bamaga Road was without doubt the toughest of everything we had ridden. About half way along I stopped to take the above photo and to pull my GPS off to store it. The vibrations were so bad I was concerned about losing the whole panel. My KLR dash had broken and the bolts were about to fall out. I pulled out my multi tool and tightened as many bolts as I could. That would have to do until we got to camp.
Time to check Emu for lose bolts
Walking around the bike I checked bolts, the chain, different components of the engine and my bags. When I was certain everything was OK. I jumped on the pegs and took off as fast as I could. There comes a time that you just have to dig deep and this was one of those times. It was getting late in the day and we had been riding bone jarring terrain all day. I resolved to just keep going until the end.
The road less traveled
Fifteen kilometres on I caught up with my compatriots, who had decided to take the road less traveled into Bamaga via the Airport. It was a small dirt road that went up into the hills. The rain forest and scrub made a welcomed change from the dry beach scrub of the Bamaga road. It was cooler and there were less corrugations. Eventually, the road came to a tee intersection and we were back on the tar. We formed into a riding group and coasted to the Bamaga BP station. We had made it.
Punsand Bay
Punsand Bay is about 25 kilometres north of Bamaga and slightly west of Cape York. We were aiming for the famous “Corrugation Bar” and a couple of very cold beers. But it required us to once again hit the dirt and for a period of time there were corrugations almost as bad as the Bamaga Road. Luckily these didn’t last long and we were winding through rain forest and beach side scrub again. There was also a small but deep creek crossing to add to the fun.
We came to the Crocodile Tent and turned left to Punsand Bay. If we had gone straight we would have gone to the tip. That would have to wait until tomorrow. For now we just wanted to get to a camp site, put up our tents, take off our riding gear and sit at the bar overlooking the Endevour Strait and Punsand Bay.
It was a great relief to have made it to Punsand Bay, we would stay here for a couple of nights before heading back. Tomorrow we were going to the tip. But tonight one more beer or maybe a red wine. I can now understand the allure to this road, it is clearly a road less traveled. But one that is traveled by those who truely seek adventure. There’s a kind of brotherhood at this camp ground. Those who made it to the top flock together.
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