Cape York 06: Day 4 part I

Title:
Cape York 06: Day 4 part I

Description:
Four mates ride dirtbikes up Cape York Australia. Day 4: Portland Roads to Bramwell Station via Frenchmans Rd. With a big day ahead of us we get up early. We have a lazy breakfast then head south from Portland roads to the Lockhart river turning. Here we turn west and travel back toward Archer river for about twenty kilometers before turning north onto Frenchmans road. The storm last night has added more water to the puddles and creeks. As we tackle the first deep on of these Robs bike dies on the exit. He tries the starter to get no response at all. Upon inspection we find the main fuse has blown. We replace the fuse and keep going. We cross river and stream without further drama and stop for a picture at the turning to Frenchman's road. Robs bike refuses to start again! Another blown fuse. Seems that the bike survives the river crossings but the fuses don't. Lucky he was another spare, which he fits. Once his bike is running, Peter and myself take off to the Pascoe river crossing. What a wicked fun track on the southern shores of the Pascoe. The track is a high low rut, the high side some two feet above the low. Once it levels out it turns into thick deep sand. I'm starting to get the hang of my machine in the sand. I find myself using both rear brake and throttle at the same time to keep the weight on the rear wheel. This way I can turn the bike quite quickly and easly. Peter hauls up not long into this section of sand. I pull up and express some concern that both Rob and Craig may be struggling in these conditions. We wait for a photo oppurtunitiy with the splendid view of the lronrange forests as a back drop. Rob and Craig arrive and they are both looking a little strained, having fallen in the sand. We take a photo and then move on. The track gets less sandy with lots of rock showing through the closer we get to the river, which is a scant nine kilometers along the Frenchmans track. The entry is steep and muddy on the southern side. We carefully pick our way down to the river, and have a look. Both Rob and Peter agree that the river is running at least a foot deeper than last year. We start to unpack the bikes, taking all our gear off to keep what we can dry. Fording the river we try finding a good path to push the bikes and find the water is at least a meter deep. With our gear successfully ferried over we return for the bikes. We plug the airbox lids up, bung the exhaust pipe and start pushing them over. Peter goes first. Upon reaching the other side we take off the plugs/bungs and start the bike up. BRRRMMM. Yay! Peter rides the bike up the sandy exit, while Rob and me give him a push from behind. Rob and Craig's bike's clear the river without any drama. My KTM has a tantrum and I have to take the tank off to remove the spark plug. Cranking the bike over flattens the battery! Shit. The kick starter still works and the bike roars into life. The exit on the northern shores is a horrible sandy climb out. The track on this side of the Pascoe is fantastic fun, with a vast verity of mixed density vegetation hugging the track. The odd wind fallen tree altered our route at various times, but always the track continued west. I stop to film Rob coming down the track toward me at one such diversion. His machine is jumping side to side in the sand and proving a handful once more in the loose stuff. As he closes on me I start getting worried he has not seen the fallen tree blocking the path behind me. At the last minute he peals right and tucks the front end of the DRZ. It looks much worse that it is, we chuckle to ourselves and hit the road again. A brief stint further on we encounter more water and Robs bike eats another fuse! He is out of fuses, but thankfully I have some spare ones under my seat on the KTM. By the time we reach our destination for the night, Robs bike has dispatched six 20+ amp fuses. Its two o'clock when we join the Cape Developmental road and turn north. Its a short strop north from here to Morton Telegraph station, where we stop for lunch. Peter and Rob have been talking up lunch for a day or two now. A lovely crispy meet pie from an old cast iron wood fired stove... Yum! Unfortunately we get a horrible half frozen half cooked pie as the oven is out of order having been filled with mud from the previous wet season flood. Yuck! More than put off we carry on north to Bramwell station. We start riding into smoke from a huge burn off to the east, its eerie to say the least. Smoke turning the early afternoon into a twilight at barely three in the afternoon. Bugger me if the KTM runs out of fuel once more. I fix that this evening, pulling the main jet size down by 20 steps. We get to Bramwell well before dark and settle in for some beer. I do my carb while Rob ties to get to the bottom of his fuses. A shower later we are relaxed and settled into our air conditioned cabins. Two beds per cabin with just enough room for a wardrobe for all our gear. Bramwell station & Bramwell Junction Roadhouse Cnr Bamaga Rd and Old Telegraph Line Peninsula 4871QLD Ph: (07) 4060 3230

Author:
phillgray

Tags:
motorcycle, cape, york, australia, motorbike,