Palmer River Goldfields

We stayed at the Lions Den for an extra day so we could visit the Palmer River Goldfields, south of Laura, the site of one of Australias biggest and meanest gold rushes. There are two ways to get in, an easy 2 hour graded dirt road, or a rough and steep track, The Old Coach Rd. We took the former and it was worth the drive. Volunteers, 20 years ago, resurrected a few old mines and placed plaques denoting public houses, banks, brothels etc. There is even an old miners hut complete with old tools, clothing etc.

It was a great day and having just read a book, Rivers of Gold, documenting the history of the area, including the cannabalism of the Merkel tribe that were native to the area, made it better again.
Instead of back tracking we opted to travel the Old Coach Road north to Laura, despite the Hema map saying 'this section is extremely rough. High clearance and low range will be needed. Allow 4-5 hours to complete the 40km to Jobawinna Station'. Oops

Well we left at 3.30 and the Landcruiser had to use all its ammo to get us through. We had creek crossings, 2 foot rock ledges, descents that had Jo jumping out the door.....then it got dark! Then we came accross an unattended burn off with 10-12 foot flames, meters from the very rough, low range 2nd gear track. Did I mention it was dark? The fire really spooked us, me mostly, I must admit. It brought back some scary memories. Finally we dropped down a steep ledge into a creek crossing and there the track appeared to end. Did I mention it was dark? We tried going left along the creek bank, that ended in bush. We tried driving along the creek, that became river. Then just as we were contemplating sleeping in the car and assesing the situation at first light, my trusty navigator spotted tyre tracks heading out the creek up a short near vertical sand bank. After a cursory depth check we fired the cruiser at the bank and it walked it's way to the top. This led us to a more sedate 4wd track into the back of Jowalbinna Station. From here it was only 32k of easy track to Laura, and then 140k of mostly sealed road back to camp. Easy, except dodging wildlife, kangeroos, wallabies, cattle and wild pigs. We passed a sow and 3 piglets that had just been struck.
The cruiser impressed me beyond belief, easily conquering tracks that would have made me think twice in our heavily modified and twin diff locker equiped 80 series. the only damage being to the rear bumper bar and Jo's nerves!! We arrived back at camp around 10pm and enjoyed a shot or two of American Honey and a sandwich before passing out. What an adventure!! Looking back, we did everything I know you shouldn't do. We were alone, no recovery equipment, nobody knew where we were going or when to expect us back. But we did have beer in the car fridge!

This was part of the 'track'