Some photos for the CCCC crew - the Jardine

[Ferret]

Looks like the CCCC crew will be leaving shortly. I don’t know if any of you are planning to drive the Jardine or just going to take the ferry. If you are taking the ferry look what your missing out on.

The southern approach to the Jardine crossing point looking across about 100m to the northern exit point. As it was in 1980.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/318.jpg

A Range Rover emerges from the croc infested waters of the murky river. Nah, not really, there were no crocs there, too many people and back in those days there was no ferry either. The only way across was to drive across.

The water depth at the time was about knee height on the southern side gradually getting deeper to about groin height, maybe waste height in some isolated spots near the northern exit. The water current was running right to left and was reasonable strong.

As the photo shows the southern approach was easy but the northern exit was a bit of a drama. You could not just drive out the northern exit because the water was too deep and exit banks too slippery. Running under the water at the northern exit were two wooden ramps each about 2 feet wide, spaced at axle wide apart and running maybe 4 - 5m out into the water. When approaching the northern exit you had to line up the wooden ramps with your wheels. You only got one go at it. If you missed you fouled on the ramps and it was all over.

A hapless Toyota driver. This guy had almost made it across from the northern side, alas now sits with his sorry arse hanging out of the window. Well he was not the only one. From memory about 20% of crossing resulted in a ‘failure to proceed’ for one reason or another.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/319.jpg

Here’s an enterprising Ford ute driver, the one with the beard to the right. I meet with this guy several times at camp sites prior to the Jardine.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/320.jpg

He had converted his ute to 4wd using a kit that was available at the time. Best thing about getting stuck was there were dozens of willing helpers to get you out. You can see two guys here dragging out some wire rope. Some kind sole had left about 80 meters of wire rope at each of the exit points and there was always a bit of good natured jockeying around each exit point to see who would get to hook up and drag the latest victim out.

But this particular recovery did not go well. Rather than being dragged back to the southern exit he was dragged forward to the northern exit (because that’s the way he wanted to go) but did not line up correctly with the wooden ramps. Instead of driving on them he was dragged over them and ripped his exhaust system off near the engine manifold.

Another Toyota driver.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/321.jpg

I don’t remember people having intake snorkels back in those days but this guy had one on his exhaust. Can't remember whether he made it across with out incident but it looks like his trailer is floating. There were a couple of young blokes in a Suzuki attempting to cross that did float away and were washed down stream a bit, that is until the Suzuki filled with water and sank.

So how did this Toyota driver go?
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/322.jpg

Pretty good. Fan belt off, tarp over the front, a bit of grease over the diff breathers and up the bell housing drain, tyres aired down a little and I’m ready to plunge in.

As usual there is a good crowd on the bank to watch and laugh when it all goes wrong. Straight away I’m on my line heading slightly up stream.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/323.jpg

The most successful crossing technique seems to be to travel in an arc across the river. Head up stream initially to get above the line of northern exit point. As you pass half way begin to steer towards the northern exit and use the current to wash you back in line with the exit point, adjusting your forward speed up and down as required so that your lined up exactly with the under water ramps by the time you get there.

What’s best, big bow wave or small bow wave? Endless discussion about this at the river bank camp sites. I guess I opt for the big bow wave.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/324.jpg

I’m across.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/325.jpg

A pause here to let the water drain off before driving further up the bank, though I find out a bit later I staked a tyre on a piece of wood scrambling on to the under water ramps.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/326.jpg

The girl in the blue top coming down to meet me is the co driver of the orange ford ute that was stuck in the river the day before we crossed. At this point I learn they are disabled, up the top of the bank and need some help to piece the exhaust system back together, among other things.

A quick change of a tyre and after donning all appropriate safety gear I start to weld up the pipes but I remember thinking at the time it’s pretty hard to weld up rust.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/327.jpg

We got the exhaust sorted out as best we could and left them, They had some engine and electrical issues to deal with. We never saw them again but heard later on up the track they got mobile.

So that was the Jardine, 1980 and just to prove I got back some shots of the north / south crossing and exit.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/328.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/329.jpg

Good luck all CCCC adventures. I wish I was going with you. Just remember when you get to the Jardine ferry:

Don’t pay the ferryman. Don’t even fix at price.
Don’t pay the ferryman, till he gets you to the other side.

But I suppose if you don't pay him your going to have to drive across just like in the old days.

[Chucaro]

Thank you Ferret for nice photos and report

[V8Ian]

After the ferry was commisioned the 'locals' 'modified' the crossing forcing vehicles onto the ferry. Some enterprising 4x4 folk, and aren't most of them, found ways to avoid the ferry, so an excavator was left, permenantly at the Jardine. Also one used to pay each way, untill too many people claimed destitution southbound. A return was charged northbound, but you had to retain the ticket or pay again. I don't know what the situation is these days.

[Scallops]

Great photos of a bygone era - makes me think about lighting up an escort red again! :D (No,not really)

[DeanoH]

Looks pretty much as I remember it from Sept 1979. V8Ian is right on the money about the enterprising 'locals' wrecking the ford to make a quid. Telecom had a punt to carry their people accross, as they had maintenance crews hand clearing under the telegraph line. One two man team North from Coen, two teams one North and one South from the repeater station at the Wenlock and one team South from Bamaga. Seven days on five days off living under a tarp in the bush.

Here's me in the old SIIA starting to cross the Jardine from the South. Tarp on the front and vacuum cleaner hose on the exhaust.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/11/139.jpg

The protocol was to cross first thing in the morning after the overnight current had washed sand into the holes dug by the previous days traffic. There was a fair hole on exit at the North bank which stopped a few vehicles. Order of crossing was first to arrive from the previous day first accross.

Though the crossing was not without its hazards. This was sent to me from a mate in Brisbane shortly after we had returned from this trip.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/297.jpg

Deano

[cal415]

Wow, nice shots, its interesting to see how things have changed with the 4wd side of things, looking at all those cars crossing without snorkells but using exhaust extensions??!! :)

[Bushie]

I was offered a trip to the cape in 1975, travelling in a Jeep Wagoneer, however as I was in my first year of a survey degree I declined. Now I'm not surveying still haven't been up the Cape and continually kick myself for knocking it back. Would have enjoyed pull starting the DC-3 at Bamaga. :o


Martyn

[101RRS]

I am surprised there are so many people flopping around in the water - I know that crocs had not really started to recover however I was aircrew in aircraft flying patrols in the northern cape area around 1980 and we used to chase plenty of crocs in the rivers in and around the Jardine - and there were heaps and big ones.

Garry

[V8Ian]

Looks pretty much as I remember it from Sept 1979. V8Ian is right on the money about the enterprising 'locals' wrecking the ford to make a quid. Telecom had a punt to carry their people accross, as they had maintenance crews hand clearing under the telegraph line. One two man team North from Coen, two teams one North and one South from the repeater station at the Wenlock and one team South from Bamaga. Seven days on five days off living under a tarp in the bush.

Here's me in the old SIIA starting to cross the Jardine from the South. Tarp on the front and vacuum cleaner hose on the exhaust.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/11/139.jpg

The protocol was to cross first thing in the morning after the overnight current had washed sand into the holes dug by the previous days traffic. There was a fair hole on exit at the North bank which stopped a few vehicles. Order of crossing was first to arrive from the previous day first accross.

Though the crossing was not without its hazards. This was sent to me from a mate in Brisbane shortly after we had returned from this trip.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/297.jpg

Deano
An Aboriginal mechanic was also taken by a croc when he decided to swim from the northern bank to the broken down barge.
Ya don't muck around with them amphibious long-tailed, short-legged dogs up there:o

[Bundalene]

Our first trek to the Tip was in June 1978. We were told we were the first vehicles to cross the Jardine that year.
Our vehicle was the Series 2 ex mobile workshop below



http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3177/image1wyc.jpg (http://img29.imageshack.us/i/image1wyc.jpg/)

There was an alternative, this ferry was operated by a body builder, trying to make a quid
The vehicle on the ferry is not one of our group
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/9068/60266147.jpg (http://img29.imageshack.us/i/60266147.jpg/)

We camped on the beach right at the tip for a full week and didn't see another soul. The camp site is near where Pajinka lodge was.
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/9413/82867723.jpg (http://img29.imageshack.us/i/82867723.jpg/)

You can still see the old telegraph line. Up ahead is an abandoned Kombi.
[URL=http://img29.imageshack.us/i/25636179.jpg/]http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/5685/25636179.jpg[/URL

Hope all going to the Cape have a safe and enjoyable trip

Erich

[Ferret]

I am surprised there are so many people flopping around in the water - I know that crocs had not really started to recover however I was aircrew in aircraft flying patrols in the northern cape area around 1980 and we used to chase plenty of crocs in the rivers in and around the Jardine - and there were heaps and big ones.

Garry

Yeah it is strange about the crocs. I remember we were never conscious about the croc danger anywhere we went, camping alongside and in the beds of many of the creeks and rivers up that way. As did everybody else.

For instance, on the banks of the Jardine when we were there I reckon there were 80 - 100 individual camp sites spread along the southern side of the river.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/280.jpg

I think the presence of so many people and constant movement of so many vehicles in and around the water just scared them away. After all everybody on the Cape converged and passed through this one single point.

The situation around the Jardine today may be very different – maybe not so many people stopping there now since the ferry has been running for years.

[Bundalene]

Our group of 3 vehicles were the only ones camped on the southern bank of the Jardine in '78.

We walked through the full width -to check the bottom and depth, not being aware of crocs in those days as culling had ceased not long before, and there weren't too many big ones around at that time.
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/1659/57435173.jpg (http://img197.imageshack.us/i/57435173.jpg/)

One of our group had a small dog and let it swim in the Jardine....it survived to live another day.

None of our party had snorkels on their vehicles, but we did attach a hose to to the air cleaner and another to the exhaust pipe.

Erich

[Ferret]

Our group of 3 vehicles were the only ones camped on the southern bank of the Jardine in '78.
Erich

Well that is interesting. You say you were there in June. I was there in mid August. Later in the season may explain the presence of more people.

By the way, I have a picture taken in almost exactly the same spot as yours. You can even identify the same trees and other features of the northern side in both pictures.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/06/263.jpg

[Savanahkelpy]

WOW!, Its pics like these that take my back to my teenage years, when i was growing up in Weipa,,(69 to 79, aged 10 t0 20). The shot of telegraph track shows just why there were no corrigations back then, compared to now. Far too many washouts, gullies, creek crossings and since the track was for the maintenance of the telegraph line, it wove and deviated in and out of the scrub and was mostly just 2 wheels tracks with a mohawk of grass growing in the middle of it. By the time you made it to Cairns, you had the shiniest sump and diffs.
A family holidaytrip to Archer river, in a series 3, in 1971 took 16 hrs, and the road house didn,t exist, and you had to carry all your fuel for the drive, but the camping was magic as the cement crossing wasn,t there, either.
Now its done in a little over 2 hrs.
Laurie

[Bundalene]

Weipa has certainly changed since we first went there on that Cape trip in 1978. It did take a long time to drive in from the Archer River.

On that same trip we met a young fellow at Coen who was driving his Valliant into Weipa as he was starting a job there. We travelled with him from Coen to Weipa, to make sure he got there in one piece as it was a rough old track. He made it without too many dramas, as far as I can remember.

Erich

[Scouse]

I don't think the crossing as such exists anymore
I'm sure the Gall boys crossed the Jardine in the same spot in their latest DVD. They had some trouble with the van but the lead car made it across OK.

[Ferret]

I don't think the crossing as such exists anymore
When we were there in 1994 there certainly weren't any approach and departure points like that
and the water was over 6ft deep :eek:
We did the crossing in a tinnie and then took the ferry :D

I think the reason you may not have seen the crossing points and the water was so deep was because the roads locations are now so different.

Here's the old crossing point, the northern crossing point is clearly visable and you can see the sandy southern bank where everybody camped.

Old Jardine Crossing (http://maps.google.com/maps't=k&ie=UTF8&layer=x&g=-11.14025,142.361473&ll=-11.140277,142.361312&spn=0.004232,0.005053&z=18)

By contrast here is the ferry. They are miles from each other.

Ferry Crossing (http://maps.google.com/maps/mpl'moduleurl=http:%2F%2Fmaps.gstatic.com%2Fintl%2 Fen_ALL%2Fmapfiles%2Fmapplets%2Fpanoramio%2Fpanora mio.xml&mapclient=google&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=-11.103842,142.284075&spn=0.004232,0.005053&t=k&z=18)

Strange to be able to look at maps like this now. When we went the only map we had was a standard RQAC road map. While you stayed on the telegraph road all was OK but once you strayed from that you were pretty much on your own. Coming home we diverted through Lakelands and become lost for 2 days, ended up somewhere on the shores of Princess Charlote Bay.

No maps, no sat phones, no gps - how times change.

[Bigbjorn]

After the ferry was commisioned the 'locals' 'modified' the crossing forcing vehicles onto the ferry. Some enterprising 4x4 folk, and aren't most of them, found ways to avoid the ferry, so an excavator was left, permenantly at the Jardine. Also one used to pay each way, untill too many people claimed destitution southbound. A return was charged northbound, but you had to retain the ticket or pay again. I don't know what the situation is these days.

I remember when this was done. The destruction of the crossing to force the use of the ferry caused a lot of bad feeling amongst road users. A lot of (racist) name calling also. I gather the traditional owners will not permit the crossing to be restored or a bridge built. The ferry is probably the bulk of the community's income other than welfare payments.