Bramwell Junction Roadhouse – 198 km

Had a leisurely morning getting organized before leaving Weipa. The receptionist at the campground had given us directions to the public library where we were able to access free wireless internet so made a post for yesterday. No internet here tonight or anywhere around. The only power is by generator to provide lights for the washrooms so we are relying on the camper battery to hopefully keep the fridge running and provide a little light for later as it does get dark around 6:45. We are going to miss the air conditioner for sure.

We had followed the Peninsula Development Road all day yesterday but after leaving Weipa via a shortcut we joined the Telegraph Road. Part of this road is very extreme 4X4 (the “Old” Telegraph Road) and our rental agreement will not allow us to travel it but there is a bypass road we will be taking tomorrow. There were three couples camped near us last night that are here tonight as well. They have just unhooked their bush trailers and headed up the Old Telegraph Road with their SUVs. Wonder how long it will take them. We did talk to a young fellow yesterday who had completed it and was disappointed he didn’t even need to use his winch. I guess it depends on how wet it has been and how full some of the creeks are.

Our lunch stop today was at the Morton Telegraph Station. They had a pioneer oven on display there (see photo).

It got to 30 degrees today but it is a drier heat and there is a bit of a breeze so we have all the camper windows open and are hoping it won’t be too hot tonight. This is our first encounter with the notorious Aussie bush flies and wonder if it will be like this further north. We sort of doubt it as it is closer to the coast. You can see everyone doing the “Australian wave”. They sell fly swatters for $8 and we do have our bug nets if it gets too bothersome.

We decided to stop early here at the Bramwell Junction Roadhouse as there are no powered camping spots on the next leg until we get to the top. Actually it is nice to have an early stop. We have a covered area and have our chairs and table so we can sit out there and swat flies! We were greeted by a real cacophony of sound with all the birds in the trees around our spot. This is one of the things we have not encountered so far.

Bramwell Junction Roadhouse has a licence plate tree, a mini version of the Watson Lake sign forest in the Yukon. A cattle truck with a working dog pulled in after we got there. As we write this we are actually having a short shower – it is cooling things off. Would be nice to have a bit of this tomorrow to keep the ROAD DUST down.