Waking up in our dust bowl of a camp site at Palm Creek, we waved goodbye to the start of the southern section of the OTT. We dropped back to Bramwell to get stung at the bowser for $2.05 for diesel (least it wasn’t as bad as $2.20 at Archer!) Bypassing the southern section meant visiting a remote destination on the east coast, Captain Billy’s Landing. This was a long draining 45 min drive with continuous large speed humps every 100m. It was a sigh of relief when the road opened up and we’d made it to the lookout of our greatest beach camps ever!
We drove straight past the official camp ground, down a cliff and onto the beach. Technically we weren’t allowed to camp past the designated area but when hide tide came in, we were all alone! Being lazy at first lead to Buzz quickly becoming stuck in the soft sand. Taking the time to deflate the tyres to 16 psi we were cruising. Doing laps of the beach with no one around was freeing. Nay went for a burn as well loving every minute! Stopping under some palms we had some lunch before finding a more permanent camp. Disappearing into the dunes under some trees, we dropped into 2WD to bog our rear tyres to level out.
We spent the afternoon using the bait we caught at Brown’s Creek to try our luck at fishing. With no success it was still enjoyable to throw a line in. We’d heard the fish ‘didn’t like’ Captain Billy’s Landing and we’re sticking with that excuse. Even though we set up the gazebo for some shade on the beach, Stu still managed to find the sun while the radio was nicely protected!
Being so remote, a fire on the foreshore was a necessity. Kicking around the flames telling stories as the sun disappeared over the horizon, it wasn’t long until the stars came out. There were some great skies in the NT and we’d have to say this was right up there, absolutely stunning! Discovering plenty of small crabs along the beach another NMBWE was in order. This time after a few beverages, we ran rampage and chased after these little guys. Trying to catch them only lead to them nipping us. Relentless in our unknown goal, Mark even dropped his torch in the ocean to not let one escape. Finally grabbing the crab the torch then failed to work – a little drying out and it was back in business!
Departing this coastal paradise, we made way toward the northern section of the OTT. Arriving at Fruitbat Falls was the beginning of this adventurous 4WD track. Spending a couple of hours here, it was fantastic to cool off in the freshwater as we couldn’t swim at the croc infested ocean.
Before setting up camp for the night, we had one final river crossing to achieve, Scrubby Creek. We knew we were in for a challenge as the people before us had water lapping over their bonnets. With Woody leading the charge, the engine died about three quarters of the way, with water filling the car at a rapid pace. After a fair amount of cursing, we were lucky to have the blokes in front of us unhitch their trailer and pull him out! Watching water drip from his car and later Stu explained ‘My thongs were floating around my knees!’ showed how much water entered the beast. The same blokes that helped him explained tarping the front of his car and using WD40 on the spark plugs will stop this problem on future crossings. A gift of VB cans as a thanks left our saviours with cheers as they departed.
After what had happened, Mark was becoming very nervous as he was next with Buzz. With Nay’s head out the window there were frequent updates relayed to Mark and at one point the water was an inch from the window as we slipped into old ruts. Keeping momentum and a bow wave in front, Buzz kept powering through to the other side!
Finally making it to camp we set up next to Canal Creek. As it was a great spot, we spent a couple of nights here and went for a day trip to Elliot, Twin Falls and The Saucepan. These were amazing waterholes that could be walked to from the main carpark. Swimming up the main waterway at Elliot, we had torrents of water smashing on us, giving a great massage. At The Saucepan we did countless bombies in the ridiculously deep river.
Back at Canal Creek as night came, we all went on another Nocturnal Marine Biology Wildlife Expedition (NMBWE). This time discovering dozens of smalls yabbies and bucket loads of cane toads! Helping the Australian Wildlife, the cane toads did’t last too long with the shovel we had in tow. On our woodfire trip that evening we had goosebumps after peeling back some bark from a big log to discover a couple of scorpions! Back around the fire, Mark pulled a chisel out and carved a face and shredded rig in the log of Big Red, he was now a real boy!
After our two nights here, we continued through the infamous OTT. Hearing cars have been towed out in previous years on the final crossing at Nolan’s Brook, gave us anticipation of what was to come! Our goal to conquer this track would then lead us to the Jardine River where just on the other side, was the tip of Australia…
25/08/2016 – 29/08/2016