Cape York - To The Tip and Back - Kutini–Payamu (Iron Range) National Park

Cook’s Hut Campground

19 – 22 June 2016

We stopped for coffee at Archer River Roadhouse and then drove on. We turned off onto the Portland Roads Road (that is not a typo - that's really its name). There was less traffic on this road, but still we saw quite a few cars – mostly towing camper trailers or laden with camping gear on the roof. We stopped for lunch on the side of the road near one of the creek crossings and arrived at the campsite mid-afternoon.

There are lots of these crocodile warning signs to be seen in the far north, this one came in handy for our Friday drinks.

After settling in, Mick did a little exploring and discovered the walk down to the creek – complete with crocodile warming signs. The campground filled up as the afternoon progressed and eventually was almost full. You have to book in advance, and signs on the road from Archer River remind travellers about this. There is a booking kiosk at the ranger station but it’s a long way to drive to on the off chance of getting a site.

My understanding is there are eighteen species of bird that, in Australia, are found only on Cape York. Of these, only two are endemic; the White-streaked Honeyeater and Golden-shouldered Parrot. The rest occur in Papua New Guinea and possibly other areas I'm not aware of. All but two of these species can be found on the Cape all year round. However, the Red-bellied Pitta and Black-winged Monarch migrate to Cape York during the wet season making them a difficult prospect. 

Not surprisingly, I didn't see the two migrants (I did see Red-bellied Pitta on a previous visit twenty years ago). I did manage to find all but two of the other Cape York specialties. Although supposedly common, I could not locate a Fawn-breasted Bowerbird or Spotted Whistling Ducks.

I did manage to see and photograph many of the Cape York specialties making the visit well worthwhile. The conditions were very challenging for bird photography due to the both the naturally low light of the rainforest and the overcast and rainy conditions. On my best day I added five lifers to the list so I'm not complaining. Mick.

Frill-necked Monarch

Red-cheeked Parrot male.

Tawny-breasted Honeyeater.

Tropical Scrubwren

Yellow-billed Kingfisher.

Yellow-legged Flycatcher.

Green-backed Honeyeater.

Northern Scrub-robin.

The very cute White-faced Robin.

Magnificent Riflebird. This appears to be a young male.

We set off in the morning for the ranger station to see if we could change our booking (again!) to have another night at Chilli Beach, but the self-serve computer was off-line. A notice in the window indicated that the campsite we had booked was available on Wednesday night as well as the Thursday we had already booked so we set off for the Lockhart River airport where there was mobile phone reception. We were able to add the extra night at Chilli Beach, but couldn’t change the existing booking at Cook’s Hut – not to worry, it only cost an extra $11.90 anyway.

Australian Brush-turkey race purpureicollis, looking miserable in the rain. This race has a purple collar.

We had the camp to ourselves for most of the afternoon, until a tour bus arrived with about 20 happy campers. They spent the afternoon sitting around talking, then went to bed at 7:00 pm. Makes our early nights seem positively late-night.

It's called 'rainforest' for a very good reason. Note the perennial puddles on the left. The tour bus is in the background.

In the morning we set off again for the ranger station and Lockhart River. The fridge had been playing up and we wanted to get some ice. Lockhart River is serviced by a good supermarket but their ice machine had broken down, so no luck there. We bought fresh bread – a very strangely textured loaf that made beautiful toasties, and fuel from the self-serve card pumps. Visitors need to be aware that alcohol restrictions apply in this area.

Lovely Fairywrens.

Graceful Honeyeater is not a Cape specialty but they were plentiful at Iron Range.

We stopped in at the ranger station and had a chat about a number of things including the new National Parks booking system. The ranger also gave Mick some tips about likely bird spots. We stopped at one on the way back to camp and the Ecletus Parrot was exactly where he said it would be.

Female Eclectus Parrot (the male is green). Often seen and heard briefly as they fly over, it's much harder to find them perched.

The sites at Cook’s Hut are fairly large (except for Number 3) so it never really felt crowded. There is only one toilet with water for hand washing only. This wasn’t a problem for us as we carry plenty of water for drinking and washing. When it had been raining we also collected two buckets of rainwater which we used to have a tub and wash our hair. This was a bit of a luxury really.

In the morning we had a leisurely start (we had this campsite booked as well as the one at Chilli Beach so there was no need to hurry). Our new neighbours told us about a place to buy ice on the way to Chilli Beach so we set off after an early lunch.

Chilli Beach Campground

22 – 24 June 2016

We found the signs to the place that sells fish and ice, but it was closed! Off to the campsite and set up with more rainclouds looming. We had been rained on for the last few days so weren’t surprised. Chilli Beach is a beautiful and very popular spot. Some if the campsites are quite exposed, but the one we had chosen was quite sheltered. This was good, but it also meant we couldn’t get any solar – that, and the ever present rainclouds, conspired to keep our fridge out of action.

Chilli Beach at low tide.

Our shady camp.

In the morning we set off again and this time the ice place was open so we bought a couple of (very expensive) blocks of ice to keep our food fresh and beer cold for the next few days. We then drove in to Portland Roads – with a stop at the rubbish tip (for birds of course!) We visited again later in the day too. There is a café in Portland Roads which we had heard is very good – but it too was closed when we visited. The sign out the front offered apologies as they had to restock.

Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo occurs from around the base of the Cape northward.

Fan-tailed Cuckoo.

Portland Roads.

There is a walk through the rainforest which is only about 720 metres – so just a pleasant stroll really. We walked it together then Mick went back later on his own. We also went for several walks along the beach. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that we could get a reasonable mobile (Telstra) signal just at the front of our campsite, and an even better one on the beach.

Rose-crowned Fruit-dove seen on the walk in drizzly conditions.

Small Brown Crow butterflies mating.

After 2 nights we packed up and headed back to Cook’s Hut for another two nights.

Cook’s Hut Campground

24 – 26 June 2016

We arrived back at Cook’s Hut to find the neighbours who had just set up when we left were still there, along with a few others.

We had some sunshine, but not sufficient to recharge that batteries enough to get the fridge going again so we were glad we had picked up more ice on our way back from Chilli Beach. We enjoyed another two nights here, with Mick spending most of the time with the camera in front of his face and chatting to the neighbours who were also birders.

Before we left, Mick took the neighbours down to the Eclectus Parrot nest site. The female was home again so they were very pleased. We finished packing up and headed off. Because it was now the start of the school holidays there seemed to be an increase in the traffic.

Northern Laughing Tree-frog. This is one of many frogs that tried to move into the camper over the course of our tip trip.

We stopped at the Mount Tozer lookout and discovered Telstra coverage (thanks to the worker who was in his ute on the phone when we arrived, otherwise we wouldn’t have checked). We phoned ahead to Merluna Station to reserve a powered site. The road seemed a bit wetter than when we drove along a week ago – and many of the creek crossing have more water in them, although it still wasn't a problem.

One of the beautiful rainforest streams we crossed.

Shot from Mount Tozer lookout.

We drove on looking for a suitable spot for a picnic lunch and found one just before the Wenlock River crossing.  That’s when we discovered the flat tyre! We weren’t sure how long it had been like that as the rough roads would have made it difficult to tell. This created a challenge as we had never changed a tyre on this car. I had to get the instruction manual out just to find out how to take the spare off the back. My advice – try this at home first before you head off into a remote area. Anyway, we had lunch and managed to get the spare on without too much trauma before we hit the road again. Back to the main road (Peninsular Development Road) and on towards Weipa. We found the turn-off to Merluna Station and arrived there after 3:00pm. Not bad considering I had said we would be there between 3 and 4.

Australian Hobby seen not long after fixing the flat tyre.