It was about 10pm and Finally we got to the main road between Cape Melville and Cooktown, well graded and looking like a highway we managed to open up the throttle a little more, no sooner had we accelerated we found the rear of our rigs wanted to overtake the front, with trailers dragging behind we eased off the gas and lost traction due to what was apparent, a lot of rain dropped during the day, the track had no signs of this much rain and we definitely weren't expecting the main road to be this wet. This looked to be a slow trip down indeed, we sat on approximately 25kph and cautiously headed to Cooktown.

Neil proceeded ahead of us a bit but maintained radio contact while I sat back a little from Ken. Being late at night the advantage was that we could see any lights from oncoming traffic and could move over if needed (there wasn’t any by the way) so we actually took up the whole road to prevent us from sliding off and the camber wanted to send us that way, as we slipped along the main road.

With there being a little distance between us all, I came around the corner to find Ken and Lucy’s Cruiser sitting sideways on the road, my initial thought was “oh, Ken’s had a slide out and he’s gathering himself before getting going again!” as I slowed down and radioed to find out if everything was ok I noticed it the car wasn’t sitting quite right, with no response from the car I stopped and got out and as I walked up to the car was horrified at what I found.

Ken met me at the back of the car was unhurt but as he said, “that’s the end of the holiday” for the car anyway, Lucy and the kids were fine and we inspected the damage and what had happened. By this time Neil had figured out that something was wrong and returned to us.

Fortunately we were hogging the road or it would have been a lot worst, this main graded road had a washout that was 5metres long ½ metre wide at the inside end and 3 metres wide at the side of the road, it took up more than half the road and was 60cm’s deep at the tip. Situated right on the bend Neil drove past it, he didn’t see it as it was so dark. We calculated he missed it by 3cm’s judging by the tyre tracks, unfortunately, Ken dropped his front wheel into it, this caused the front wheel to drop and the impact into the sidewall of the washout pushed the wheel under the passenger seat. With the sudden drop and the Cruiser being catapulted into the air it came down hard on the driver’s side back wheel it pushed the rear diff forward. As the front came down it compressed the spring so hard that it recoiled out of the arch and found rest some couple of metres away from the car. The T-Van dropped into the washout and we believe it prevented the cruiser being rolled, there was minimal damage to the T-Van from the impact so we dug and pulled it out and hooked it onto Neil’s Patrol. The Cruiser was pulled off the road and we stripped it of all the family’s needs for camp.

Before hitting the road again, we considered the risk to anyone else travelling along the road so moved a guide post and placed it right on the end of the washout, This turned out to be a blessing to the others we left at the camp. They travelled down in the morning and claim that that would definitely have hit it also if it wasn’t for the post being setup.

With our car and trailer loaded up with Ken and Lucy’s gear (and Ken), and Neil towing the T-Van and Lucy and kids we continued along the road to Hopevale. The road worsened with washouts crossing the road at every hill and the thick mud flicking up and covering our headlights, we stopped countless times to clean them.

From the impact I led the rest of the way with Neil trailing behind, Neil pointed out that my trailer was dragging something so we stopped to inspect, “Oh you have to be kidding me” there goes on of my leaf springs! Neil suggested a couple of ratchet straps and it worked a treat, until he calls up and states he can smell burning rubber. We get out and have another look, sure enough, we tightened the ratchets a little too tight and the tyre had rubbed a huge hole into the guard of the trailer, loosening it off we limped into Cooktown. We actually got quite excited to be on the black stuff again as we approached the T section to Hopevale left and Cooktown right. Finally getting into the Peninsular Caravan Park at 4am, we quietly setup camp and had a couple of hours sleep.

Fortunately Ken and Lucy were prepared before we made tracks on our holiday with roadside assist and insurance, but I have to add, that when you are this remote, it can be just a daunting as the accident itself. We found out who the agent was and met with the owner of Cooktown Auto Repairs, who fixed my trailer up while I utilised the wash down bay, turns out the road was closed from the Cooktown end but not from the Lake Field side hence why we didn’t see anyone else on the road. We arranged for a recovery of the Cruiser and they got onto it pretty quickly as they didn’t want it to get stripped and pilfered. We made Cooktown our home for the rest of the week. Rob and Jo had a little adventure of their own; they lost a tyre on the way down that got shredded, quite amazing how the sidewalls give way like they do.

With the Cruiser now safely in Cooktown, my trailer repaired, which I have to add was good as it is also our sleeping quarters besides the tent, we managed to relax a little and search out some history on Cooktown, armed with our Canon camera’s we all took to the path that leads along the waterfront. The caravan park had all types of wildlife, with horrible noises coming from the tree canopy in the early morning, and pretty faced wallabies waiting for a feed it was definitely worth the stay. The amenities were absolutely immaculate, these were 5star grade for any caravan park we’ve stayed at, the owner was very friendly and understanding of our late arrival, but most of all the rainforest surrounds just topped it off.

Thursday we did a little more driving and checked out the Lion’s Den Hotel very popular with both tourist and locals we managed to mark our place on the wall of fame as well as to leave a “Great Aussie Road Trip” card for other adventurers to consider their family travelling blog. The feed was quite good and the relics were fascinating, definitely worth a visit. While we were here we learnt that the CREB Track was closed, probably a good thing as we would have been tempted and probably got ourselves into trouble again. Lucy and Ken had to take a hire car to Cairns with the T-Van and bring the car back to Cooktown because there was no one-way hire car facility.

With Ken getting back on the Friday morning, we hit the tarmac, but not for long, our nice clean car becomes muddy again, not as bad this time. We turn off and travel past the Lion’s Den and make head way for Cape Tribulation, The Rain made it a slower going but we soaked in the scenery, the rainforest canopy and walls either side were amazing, with the odd creek crossing to get through, what we didn’t expect was the steep incline travelling through, fortunately the roads were being upgraded and there was a concrete base laid for traffic climbing the steep range.  Jo rang ahead when we got Mobile Phone reception and booked us into the Big4 caravan park where we decided to treat ourselves to a little luxury and got a cabin each.

Jumping on board the ferry, we crossed the Daintree River and continued south. The Daintree was an amazing place to drive through and with all the sign of Cassowary crossings we were all on alert to see if we could view a wild bird.  It wasn’t until we got to Mission Beach and had a fill up of body fuel that we finally sighted one, it was on our way out of Mission Beach and it was quick, it ran in front of Rob, and nearly got cleaned up by another oncoming vehicle, we did see it but no photos unfortunately. Getting into Cairns the kids were relieved to be able to watch a bit of TV, this kept them busy while we adults had a chance to indulge in a little beverage and treat ourselves to a pizza or two.  

Not getting up too early today we hit the road again target, Townsville, we got going and started telephoning around for a site to setup camp, forgetting that the V8 Super cars were on, we managed to get a site at Bluewater Caravan Park 35km’s north of Townsville, the park offered a camp kitchen which we took full advantage of and stayed for two nights, We travelled to Townsville Sunday and took to Castle Hill to view the city, the sound of the V8’s was incredible up there and we could see them tearing around the track, being Lucy’s birthday, we thought it would be good to go somewhere nice for lunch and to catch up with my Nan, so we booked into Fasta Pasta and had a feed before heading back to the park. With full stomachs and tired eyes we hit the sack at a reasonable hour ready for our next leg home.

Monday morning, taking our time we packed up camp and hit the road again, destined for around Mackay we setup camp just a little south of Sarina, situated along the beach a place called Clairview. We decided not to cook again tonight and had a pub style counter meal, before the sun went down we wadded in the shallow pools of water around the rocks, until that was, the time an octopus pushed himself out of a rock and headed straight for me, well everyone thought it was funny to see the big guy walk on water. Fascinated by our new eight legged friend we observed him for ages taking photos from above and utilising Mel’s waterproof D10 Canon PowerShot. As the sun dropped down we headed back to camp and sat around our electronic camp fire (lantern) and sang and chatted until turning in for another night. As you can see our itinerary has now gone out the window, we didn’t let the accident ruin out holiday, but we did compromise by wanting to get home a little early, we all had a few things to sort out so the next day was our last leg of the journey.

Departing Tuesday morning we make tracks on the last leg of our holidays, we travelled south with very little stopping, our main stop was Rockhampton where we fuelled up the cars and stomach’s before hitting the road and arriving home later that day.

Although we had a change of plans we were well prepared for the incident. Preparation of supplies, vehicle reliability, and insurances proved to be worthwhile, sometimes we ask ourselves if it really worth all the hassle to do before you take to the road, I can assure you that preparation is the key to a very successful adventure. We look forward to our next journey which will take us to Lake Eyre via Big Red and hopefully experience the Birdsville Races. Will keep you posted of our preparation for this one, should be a beauty.