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July 23, 2001
Overland Australia - basecamp update 4
July 23, 2001
Mouth of the Starke River, Coral Sea
Cape York, North Queensland
Blue's View: Report from the Dash
from Jim
On the dash of x360's Mitsubishi 4wd Cantor truck sits our mascot, a small stuffed dog named "Blue." We like to keep Blue's floppy ears tucked up underneath themselves. On the first few kilometers outside of Cooktown where the bitumen ends, Blue's ears stayed nice and neat, right where we stuck 'em. The back of the truck was nice and neat, too, loaded to the gills with 44 gallons of petrol, 75 gallons of water, three months of food and supplies, freezer and refrigeration units, 12 mtn. Bikes, 6 B.O.B. cycle trailers, two generators and an air compressor, art supplies, three computers and heaps of electronic and satellite communications gear.
The x360 team was looking fairly nice and neat, too, after an evening's drive up from Cairns along the coast road past Cape Tribulation and a comfy sleep and shower in a caravan park, the last we'll see for a thousand kilometers.
Before long, nothing and nobody looked 'nice and neat', and Blue's ears were a hang-dog's length down the side of his face; his blue color began a slow change towards a Bull Dust shade of earthen red.
The plan was to 'slip up' to the Starke River outlet, a mangrove forested delta with good fishing and a few 'Salties,' salt-water crocodiles. We had three vehicles, a Toyota Landcruiser, a Toyota Hilux, and our Mitsubishi for the 10 members of x360. From this point, where Jason's trans-Pacific crossing ended, we will begin cycling Southwest towards the town of Laura and the infamous Maytown track.
Our road was a rough one, yesterday, real rough, and Blue witnessed a few skillful maneuvers to keep the vehicle upright and moving forward. The 130k adventure took about 6 hours, with about half of that on the 'main' road where we could keep up an average 60 kph. Darkness settled in when we were still well out in the bush, and overhanging branches, deep eroded washouts, soft sand and windscreen-high grasses down the middle of the track kept the winch and Bully Bar in use, and Blue's eyes wide open and ears un-tucked.
By starlight, with the new crescent moon setting in the west, Blue's silhouetted form led us into camp, our three vehicles circling-up for a camp set-up. Bush wood stoked the fire and within a few hours tents were set-up, dinner of salad, potatoes and roast chicken prepared and consumed, and Blue rested quietly on the dash, ears freshly tucked back into place as we all slipped-off to sleep.
Today is a final prep and organize day: bikes put together, a few transport damages repaired, the back of Blue's truck re-organized. The team has had several meetings to plan strategies for navigation and communication in the outback. Everyone is trained in using the three GPS units and finding their location on the topographical map. Strategies have been laid-out for morning departures, meals and communications during the rides.
In the morning Blue will watch the x360 team turn its back on the Coral Sea and begin the long ride leading to Alice Springs and Darwin. Keep your ears open for news of further adventures.
******
from Mike
As many hiking trips as I have taken in my home state of Utah, I have never been concerned about getting lost. Not just lost for a moment but lost to the extent to which food and water become major concerns. I have read a lot about Australia's terrain. The majority of the landscape is considered "remote", with tracks stretching for hundreds of kilometers and little or no sign of civilization. I have used the word "remote" in many descriptive stories and to do the word justice I have learned first hand today that the next time I use "remote" in a story I had better be talking about Australia's Outback. Next to Australia's Outback, getting in "remote" areas in Utah is the equivalent of getting lost in a downtown mall. Let me tell you how I know.
Day 1 was to be an easy day. We had planned to get up in the morning, take in the re-enactment of Captain Cook's landing on the Australian shores with the Endeavour and its crew in Cooktown, pack up our three vehicles and head for our expedition starting point on the mouth of the Starke River. It was to be a trip that should have taken two hours on rough Outback trails. Trails, not roads. However that was not at all how it went.
I was in the smallest of the three vehicles with Bel, Josh and our driver, Chris. We decided to go ahead of our support vehicle, and though Chris had traveled this route before, we still got terribly lost. We had shortwave radios among the three vehicles, but we were out of range by the time we tried to make contact. We were on our own. With no water, maps, 3 quarters of fuel and a box of breakfast bars we would enjoy a ride that was like being on the oldest, meanest Roller Coaster you can imagine for seven hours. From; racing against the tide on the 20 mile beach of Cape Flattery, almost getting stuck in knee high sand and waist high river crossings, driving in the dark in a pitch black jungle to stopping every so often to check for tire marks that may or may not be the tracks of our support vehicles dual rear tires, we finally found our camp on the Starke River. It could easily have been longer than that.
We discovered that the two other vehicles found themselves lost many times as well, however we made the most critical error. We left the group. They had the water, food, maps and fuel and in this "remote" wilderness even the most experienced guides will find themselves lost. To go out alone is indeed risking it all. Our lesson could have been more severe, but I can tell you that I will never venture away from the group again.
Posted on July 23, 2001 2:13 PM