Day 6 - Tuesday 5th July


This morning it was cloudy, cold and it was raining again but only light rain. The bus departed at 7:45am for the 400km drive to Weipa.

Most of the time, we were on gravel roads. Sometimes we would come across puddles at the bottom of a dip and the bus might rock from side to side as we drove through. Some roads were well graded and therefore a smoother ride.


At about 8:25, we stopped at Musgrave telegraph station for a break and to refuel. There are still remnants of the original telegraph line.

Morning tea was at Coen Town Hall at 10:30. This was the most basic town hall I've ever seen. It was not much more than a tin shed. A concrete slab with a corrugated iron roof and open at the sides. Nicola had set up the tables in the shed for our morning tea.

According to an electronic sign near the entrance, it was only 19C. Not very warm for this part of the world.


We left there at about 11:10 and arrived at the Archer River Roadhouse at about 12:10. This place is famous for its hamburgers and it is easy to see why. They are huge. Hard to get your mouth around. And delicious. Layers of meat, egg, pineapple, etc. Quite an experience.

By this time, there were patches of blue sky and some sunshine. We departed at 1:15pm. Because it was such a long stretch, Mandy stopped half way so we could go into the bush and find a tree to have a comfort break.

As we approached Weipa, we started to get some mobile phone reception at last. We reached the Albatross Bay Hotel at about 4pm.

Our room was very basic. It had a double bed (not a queen) and a single bed. So we ended up sleeping in separate beds overnight.

There was no reception for  Optus or Vodafone in our room but there was some Optus reception elsewhere in the hotel. The hotel's wifi was slow and unreliable. There was TV reception and quite a good choice of channels including Fox sport.

The hotel is located close to the beach but we couldn't see any path leading down to the beach. Then again, maybe that's a good idea because it could be dangerous because of crocodiles.

Dinner was at 7pm in the deck area overlooking the beach.

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