Qld - Colonel Coleman's Convoy of Cape Crusaders

Col.Coleman · #1 (**permalink**) 9th June 2008, 02:11 PM

Ok Troops, let's get started.

Sifting through the information you guys have provided me I have sorted out some rough groups to make the travel a little bit easier. Please note that as I have not had the chance to travel with many of you before I do not know you're excact capabilities so please do not be offended where I have placed you, as I have tried to take into account geographical location, type of trip wanting to be undertaken, existing friendship groups, kids and camping types. My only concern is the lack of vehicle mounted winches in the middle group, but there is plenty in the group following if needed.

General travel I thought that a split of 2 would be sufficiant with a 3 group attack in the more tricky stuff.
So for general travel I thought;
1: Colonel Coleman 130DC Brisbane (Group and trip leader)
2: dm td5 D2 and camper Arnhem land
3: Treads D2 Armidale
4: ak D2 and camper Gosford
5: JohnR 07 110 and camper Brisbane
6: Mickashay D1v8 and camper Sunshine Coast
7: IceFyre D2 and camper Gold Coast
8: Dobbo County 110 Lake Maquarie
9: Greyknight 110 and camper Perth
10: Blknight.aus 110 and trailer Ipswich (Tec)

Group 2
1: Psimpson7 D90 Gold Coast (group leader)
2: OLR-067 County 110 Brisbane
3: pohm66 D2 Brisbane
4: Mojo 110 wagon Brisbane
5: xsiv 130DC Sydney
6: George130 130DC Yass
7: Disco Steve RRCv8 Canberra
8: Guy G RRCv8 Gold Coast
9: Outlaw 110DC Gold Coast (Tec)
10: Weeds 110 wagon Brisbane (reserve)

Then for tricky stuff
group 1
1: Col.Coleman (trip and group leader)
2: dm td5
3: ak
4: johnR
5: Mickashay
6: IceFyre (tec)

Group 2
1: Blknight.aus (group leader)
2: Greyknight
3: OLR-067
4: Treads
5: Pohm66
6: Mojo
7: Dobbo (tec)

Group 3
1: Psimpson7 (group leader)
2: GuyG
3: xsiv
4: George130
5: Disco Steve
6: Outlaw (group and trip Tec)
7: Weeds (reserve)

The placings and leaders and tec's are people who I know have done the trip before, have vhf and/or are easily accessable to me to organise. Please note, these are not set in stone, just the best combination I could come up with taking all factors into account. The camper guys will be the slowest travellers so if they go first, the tent guys take longer to set up and pack so in the middle is best for them and the roof tenters should be quick and travel pretty quickly. On dirt I thought about 30 min gaps between groups. Have lots of other reasons and ideas but will post these as time allows.

CC

Treads · #2 (**permalink**) 9th June 2008, 06:19 PM

I've got a 10,000lb winch on mine in second group

George130 · #3 (**permalink**) 9th June 2008, 06:46 PM

I'm listed in group 3 and have a 12,000lb front mount. Disco Steve has a 9,000lb

Col.Coleman · #4 (**permalink**) 16th June 2008, 12:01 PM

Here we go.

After many a sleepless night and constantly fiddling and changing every 2 minutes, I am about to post a planned Intinerary for CONSTRUCTIVE comments and to inform all participents of the intended journey. Please note that the proposed timetable has been constructed to try to be all inclusive. A couple of travellers have a delay in starting and some need to go early so the main bit is smack bang in the middle. I have also incorporated a weekend meet up with any-one in the FNQ area. We have been offered a property south of Cooktown to stay on by one of our forum buddies who would like to tag a long for a couple of days and thought we could have a get together on the Sat night. I am very gratefull for this offer. Keeping all this in mind, the way people expect the route to go and that most want to visit Weipa, here goes.

DAY -1:Sat 27th June 2009: Those in the southern region of Aus, make your way to either Brisbane where we will find you accomodation at one of our houses or meet up with the other NSW travellers at Molong, or if you prefer Orange, then head up to Moree for the night. Around 800 odd k's depending on starting point.

DAY 1:Sun 28th June: Main group head out of Brisbane, meet Gold Coasters and Blknight's posse for a rendevouz at Macca's Gatton. Convoy to Emerald. Exact route still up in air as I am working out advantages of going north from Miles and up the Fitzroy Development road from Taroom to Bauhinia or on to Roma and up through Injune to Rollston. The latter is a good road but the former is alot shorter. So the southern group would meet us for lunch in either Miles or Roma. Around 800+k's

Day 2:Mon 29th June: Emerald to Undara Resort where we can camp, via Charters Towers, Oasis Roadhouse on the Gregory Development road and Kennedy Hwy. About 840K

Day 3:Tues 30th June: Do the Lava Tube tour in the morning. 2 hour tour around $45 each or $85 for a 4 hour. Group discount will apply for those who want to see them. After lunch, head for Chilligoe via Mt Surprise. About 185k

Day 4:Wed 1st July: Do a Cave tour in the Morning and then head for Kuranda and look around. Do a bit of touristy stuff. About 180k

Day 5:Thurs 2nd July: head for Cape trib, possibly via Black mountain road and the Daintree. Overnight at Cape Trib.

Day 6:Fri 3rd July: Go up the Bloomfield Track, lunch at the Lions Den Hotel, Black Mountain in the afternoon and to our Base camp in Cooktown. Anybody from up north that can, meet up with us.

Day 7:Sat 4th July: Head south to Lakeland and mt Molloy, Mossman and the daintree, Meet any Land rovers not on the trip and do the CREB track, visit roaring Meg falls and a big bash that night at base Camp.

Day 8:Sun 5th July: Wake up with sore heads, pack up and a short days travel to Kalpower Crossing exploring as we go. 160k about 3-4 hours driving

Day 9:Mon 6th July: Kalpower to Archer River. 274k about 3-4 hours driving

Day 10:Tues 7th July: Archer River to Portland Roads. Hopefully camping on Chili Beach. 200k 4-5 hours

Day 11:Wed 8th July: Hang around and relax, visit Lockhart River, check vehicles.

Day 12:Thurs 9th July: Portland roads via Frenchmans track to Bramwell Station then camp Dulhunty River 150k 7-8 hours

Day 13:Fri 10th July: Dulhunty up the Old Telegraph track. Overnight in Seisia. 150k 7-8 hours

Day 14:Sat 11th July: Travel to the tip itself, explore the plane wrecks and beaches. <100k

Day 15:Sun 12th July: Seisia to Weipa via the Bypass roads. Maybe Bertiehaugh HS will let us traverse the old stone crossing track as we have a Jardine descendant in our group. Otherwise via Batavia Downs. 400k 7-8 hours

Day 16&17:Mon 13th & Tues 14th: Have scheduled 2 days in Weipa for the following: Full fluid change for all vehicles and check over. Do a mine tour and a bit of exploring.

Day 18:Wed 15th July: Weipa to the Hann River road house. Say goodbye to some. 428 k 6-7 hours

Day 19:Thurs 16th July: Those returning home, Hann River to Townsville.

Day 20:Fri 17th July: Townsville to Emerald

Day 21:Sat 18th July: Emerald to Brisbane or Moree

Day 22:Sun 19th July: Moree to Yass, Canberra or Sydney, Gosford

For the late starters or if doing 4 weeks

Day 19:Thurs 16th July: Hann River , Edward River and the croc farm to Kowanyama

Day 20:Fri 17th July: Kowanyama, Dunbar and Bush camp

Day 21:Sat 18th July: Bush camp, through Musgrave, Kalpower to Bathhurst head

Day 22:Sun 19th July: Bathhurst head, Wakooka to Cape Melville

Day 23: Mon 20th July:Cape Melville to Starcke River

Day 24:Tues 21st July: Starcke River to Laura

Day 25:Wed 22nd July: Laura via Old Coach rd to Maytown 90k 6 hours

Day 26:Thurs 23rd July: Maytown to Townsville

Day 27:Fri 24th July: Townsville to Emerald

Day 28:Sat 25th July: Emerald to Brisbane or Moree

Day 29:Sun 26th July: Moree to Yass, Canberra, Sydney or Gosford.

Derek if you leave on the 27th you will meet us at Undara, or if the 4th at Portland roads or Bramwell Junction. Treads, we will meet you in Cooktown.

I will edit in distances and estimated driving times.

Now. Enter your thoughts and keep this in mind. You have until the end of July, at which time if you are in I will need to book sites so will need money from you to do so. QPWS bookings allow you to pull out up to 14 days before and get a full refund, so don't panic, but it is a big group so we have to get the sites secured. It will be, NO MOOLAH, NO SAY.

Let's get started

Colonel Coleman

dobbo · #5 (**permalink**) 16th June 2008, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Col.Coleman

Now. Enter your thoughts and keep this in mind. You have until the end of July, at which time if you are in I will need to book sites so will need money from you to do so. QPWS bookings allow you to pull out up to 14 days before and get a full refund, so don't panic, but it is a big group so we have to get the sites secured. It will be, NO MOOLAH, NO SAY.

Let's get started

Colonel Coleman

Any idea how much to book?

Outlaw · #6 (**permalink**) 16th June 2008, 12:47 PM

All looks good Col. you've done well

Col.Coleman · #7 (**permalink**) 16th June 2008, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dobbo

Any idea how much to book?

Mate will try to negotiate a group booking fee. Currently the fee for one person per night in Queensland Parks is $4.50, so WORST CASE SCENARIO if we camped in a National Park every night would be $126pp for 28 nights. But, not all nights need to be payed for, family bookings are cheaper and as I said will try to do a group booking which should be cheaper still. Then factor in if you are only doing 21 nights. Still have to do some checking on where can realistically accomodate us, so when the comments on the route are finalised we can make the concrete plans.

Hope this helps

CC

Redback · #8 (**permalink**) 16th June 2008, 01:35 PM

OK with me, that route looks good too.

If the NSW guys want too meet up and travel together, that's fine with me too, i'd rather go via Moree than up the coast.

Baz.

dm_td5 · #9 (**permalink**) 16th June 2008, 04:53 PM

Sounds OK to me, but like I've already mentioned, I'm in the middle of planning getting ready for my holiday this July. I'll also be away from the forum a lot over July as I will be traveling, so I might miss messages etc until the second week in August.

dobbo · #10 (**permalink**) 16th June 2008, 06:06 PM

So I'm guestimating taking into account skyrocketing diesel prices and for me a roughly 8000km round trip we'll be spending close to 4 - 5k on fuel alone.

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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Col.Coleman For This Useful Post:
JohnR (10th June 2008), Outlaw (16th June 2008)

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The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to Col.Coleman For This Useful Post:
Blknight.aus (17th June 2008), dm_td5 (16th June 2008), GuyG (16th June 2008), JohnR (16th June 2008), mickashay (16th June 2008), pohm66 (16th June 2008), Treads (16th June 2008), weeds (16th June 2008)

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