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Chris

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We have been camped at the Heritage Park at Biloela, West of Gladstone QLD, for the last two days, and heading West tomorrow to Carnarvon Gorge.  Our plans are to stay at the new Sandstone Park, just outside the national park.  The views are reported to be amazing....  I will post some photos when I can. http://wikicamps.com.au/site/174342/25074056

 

Then we head over to Winton and Boulia to cross the Plenty Highway to Alice Springs.  I think we should leave Boulia on about 30 or 31 August.  If there are any other Kedron's in our trajectory make sure you say hello.  Anyone who wants to travel with us on the Plenty is welcome too!

 

 

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We are heading the other way. Currently at Katherine, heading to Lichfield, Darwin, Jaburu then Savanna Way and south east. Came east from Broome via the Gibb. Was pretty rough. Saw a few Kedrons on the Gibb. When we were at Kunnunurra roughly 4 or 5 broken camper trailers per day where coming in to Metaland for repairs. Ouch. 

Carnarvon sounds awesome but we are too far north. Hot up here at the moment.

cheers

Stu

 

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10 hours ago, Stu and Jean said:

We are heading the other way. Currently at Katherine, heading to Lichfield, Darwin, Jaburu then Savanna Way and south east. Came east from Broome via the Gibb. Was pretty rough. Saw a few Kedrons on the Gibb. When we were at Kunnunurra roughly 4 or 5 broken camper trailers per day where coming in to Metaland for repairs. Ouch. 

Carnarvon sounds awesome but we are too far north. Hot up here at the moment.

cheers

Stu

 

 

We used to live in the NT (I come from Pine Creek) and know Litchfield and Jabiru very well.  I know you will enjoy these magnificent parks.  And we travelled on the Savannah Way a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed the trip.  I did a trip report on it somewhere on this forum....

 

The trip report is here, posted at the end of the thread.http://www.kedronownersgroup.com/forum/index.php?/topic/1456-departing-tomorrow-on-savannah-way/&tab=comments#comment-6269

 

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In Mataranka Homestead for a couple days. The park is absolutely full of vans but on the way here passed many going South. Hard to believe how quiet it is here with so many vans. The hot springs are very relaxing & not crowded. The night enterainment here is very good. The young 'whip cracking' bloke ,Nathan Griggs(Whippy) is world class & absolutely amazing. He has a web site, if interested. We're on way to The Ningaloo Park via Darwin,Kununarra,Keep River,Broome & Cape  Leveque. Hopefully we can find somewhere to leave our van in Broome while we tent up North to Middle Lagoon & Cape Leveque. Has anybody got any suggestions?

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Hi Ted & Hermy

 

By all reports the road up to Cape Leveque at the moment is pretty good considering the traffic that is up there.  When you get to Broome have a chat with some that have been up there to get a real time road report..

 

Enjoy your trip.

 

 

Cheers

 

Merv

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Hello Ted & Hermy,

The road to Cape Leveque is never really good, but it changes every day. There is only 86 kms of sand/dirt from Broome to Beagle Bay and then it is beautiful black top for the rest of the way.

If you let you tyre pressures down to about 22-25 on the van and take your time, you won't have an issue as it is only firm sand ..... not rocky dirt. 

You cant take your van to Cape Leveque as they only allow camper trailers ........It is over rated anyway.

The place to stay is Middle Lagoon. You can take your van no problems. The owner is Tammy (a truly lovely aboriginal lady and used to work for me) and the manager is Herbie. You will not regret going there....... it is spectacular. Ask her boys to take you crabbing and then ask Tammy to make Chilli Crab......................it is to die for.

When you do go to Cape Leveque, make sure to pencil in lunch at Cygnet Bay pearl farm. It is first class food (try the pearler's samplers plate and a bucket of prawns).

They also do a fantastic "Giant Tide" boat tour there. Try and do the "Out going" tide if you can as it is more spectacular then the "incoming" tide............. it is still amazing ....just not as much.

Cape Leveque has always been "hit or miss" when it comes to food but they do do a great pizza and it is a beautiful place to watch the sun set as is Middle lagoon.

If you do stay at Middle Lagoon, you must also go just down the road to Whale Song for a lunch. It to is a beautiful location and has fantastic food. There is also a whale research centre next door and they are always happy to see visitors as not many people know of it.

Make sure you have a good set of binoculars as if the season is right, you can whale watch from the shore at Middle Lagoon and Whale Song.

Plus, don't forget to visit the church at Beagle Bay and say hi to Father Hillary.

There is also a fish hatchery at Bardie (One Arm Point) worth a visit and call in to Lombadina Community and drive onto the beach. It is the most beautiful beach you will see in the area.

If you need any other info, just contact me as I lived at Beagle Bay for 18 months and managed the store there. I have dragged my van up and down that road about 20 times I recon and never had an issue

P.S. you will need minimum 100lb fishing line if you want to go fishing. Any fish under 18 inches you use for live bait

Cheers

Steve

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Wow! What can I say. We're aiming to get there in about 4weeks time. I've take careful note of your advice and  will give you some feed back after we do the "deed". Nothing better than getting real information from the actual person firsthand. Perhaps there might be other "Kedron" adventurous travellers out there who will also appreciate your advice. Thanks again.Take care. 

 

 

                  Regards Ted & Hermy

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Steve & Kez

We're heading up to Middle Lagoon , Cape Leveque & One Arm Point today for a week or so. Have taken your advice on board. Had a quick run out to Willie 's Creek the other day  to throw a couple of lures and the road wasn't too bad. We'll be taking the Kedron this time so will lower the tyres accordingly.

 

 

Thanks Ted & Hermy

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Hi Road Runner,

I am sure you will love the place. Please say hi to Tammy at Middle Lagoon for me.

I did forget to mention that while in either Broome or Derby, you must do the Horizontal Waterfall tour. At first you may think it is expensive, but I can assure you that it is worth every dollar and more. It is truly a "Bucket List" thing to do. 

It is a bit cheaper to do out of Derby but it is a shorter tour too. Seaplane adventures are normally the best guys to do the tour................ very professional, but i am sure there are others just as good. 

Safe Travels 

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You are right Merv we stayed overnight some years ago it was terrific.Something we will never forget including meeting the owner of the operation who had been out remote fishing with his helicopter which he landed on a barge behind the houseboat. 

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Those of you with eagle eyes will see I have changed the topic title of this thread to reflect how it has changed into a regular reporting of whereabouts of forumites.  As the original poster I reckon this thread has good value as a place where we can hear of current travels and experiences.

 

Right now I am in Alice Springs, at the Big 4 Macdonnell Ranges caravan park, and here until next Wednesday.  Then we head South back home to SA.  Anyone else around Alice?

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Hi again to Steve & Kez along with Stu & Jean. We're back from Middle Lagoon & Cape Leveque & enjoyed both spots .A boat is definitely a must at Middle Lagoon for the fishing. Didn't see Tammy but met up with Herbie who's easy to get along with. Parked our van at Middle Lagoon after 30 kms of narrow sandy road. All road users were very courteous & Passing wasn't a problem. We did a day trip up to Cape Leveque & ended up staying in a cabin overnite 50 m from the white sands & blue waters. A quite beautiful place although a little expensive. Like when we did the Horizontal Waterfall two years ago some things must be experienced at least once in your life. Money is replaceable but not good memories. What about the "Barra" lunch on the pontoon at Horizontal Waterfall.?? The very high speed boats fighting with the big washing  machine & missing the mountain walls by inches as they shoot thru the narrow openings.Fantastic!!!

 

Back to the road up to Cape Leveque. The non bitumen section of 90kms was in places rough sandy but not bogable,some sections aren't  much wider than the van but with sides at about45 degrees (gets curly when passing another vehicle & especially Kimberly Tours type vehicles who seem to like to get air born to soften their ride). Another curly problem was the porpoiseing dips in the road ,sometimes 6 together and one section coming back where the road profile appeared as one colour for quite a distance. Any dips ,hollows,bumps& even the angled sides all appeared as the one colour.(Like being in a small plane flying over the sea when the sky & the see joins. We only dropped our tyres to 30 lbs(ie about15-20 lb down). There's about 70 km of nice bitumen between Middle Lagoon & Cape Leveque so wasn't really worth going to low in pressure. Before you get to the top there is a 24hr card operated fuel bowser ($1.78/lit...?same as Barkley Homestead & not bypassed by regular fuel tankers)

 

We're now on th WA coast at Barn Station South of Broome .Been here few times ,the scenery in wonderful,whales go past ,heading South every day. Beach fishing is great.(Had my braid broken by a big Blue Bone yesterday. What a fighter) The Station bakes fresh bread everyday, big loaves  ,fantastically soft, smelly ,very chrunchy & wow with Vegemite.($7.00ea) Powered sites under the trees are $32.00/ nite & spacious camping with tap water ,toilets,showers& even a washing machine for $25.00/ nite. The big white sandy beaches,the red ochre cliffs & blue,blue water makes a picture. On Sundays they have a roast nite for $17.00 ea,byo?

 

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Thank you for this lovely detailed report Ted and Hermy.  It sounds like you are enjoying beautiful scenery in your van.  That is what it is all about, of course.  Great photos too.

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Hi Road Runner,

 

Glad to hear that you enjoyed your time in Middle Lagoon and Cape Leveque. It is a shame you never got to meet Tammy. You are right about Herbie, he is very easy going and is never in a hurry.

Did you happen to get to Cygnet Bay and do the Giant Tide tour.

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Hi Steve & Kez, 

Went into Cygnet Bay pearlfarm & enjoyed an informative tour of some of the farm. A bit of a shame they didn't show us some of hands on operations. Had lunch there ,which I can say was the best ever "salt & pepper squid" we've ever had. As to the boat tours the wind was quite heavy & I figured the waves a little too big to be enjoyable. The very knowledgable young lady running the tour carefully presented a rare showing of a $300,000.00 necklace of natural impregnated pearls( as to being cultured) collected over lots of years.Apparently These naturally occurring shiny pearls,although a little deformed (not perfectly round) are quite large by world standards. Sadly ,she suggested that these rare Australian wonders will probably end up being purchased by someone from a rich Arab country.

We're Still sitting at Barn Hill as it's beautiful here. Still haven't caught a blue bone fish yet. Not many people swimming today as a 3 metre black " salty" decided to swim beside the beach yesterday. Seemed to be heading south along with the whales & the Vic. plates.

 

Regards 

Ted & Hermy

 

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