Oyala Thumotung NP

From Coen we couldn’t believe the 25k of tarmac – thought we were dreaming! But by 2020 apparently it will be tarmac to the tip so it will be a very different trip, so we’re not complaining about the roads. 

We turned left into Oyala Thumotang with the intention of spending a week here, fishing and birdwatching. At first the road was smooth and as wide as a 4 lane highway. After the first station it narrowed and after the second it had become a track with grass in between the 2 wheel tracks. Unfortunately we weren't able to get through 2 close trees to get into Mango Lagoon, which was a pity because it was beautiful and had birds. By the time we got to Vardons Camp the grass was high on both sides of the track and in between the wheel tracks. Disappointingly, Vardon’s (called a Lagoon in the Hema, but the NP sign said camp) was just a tiny bit of dirty water, and certainly not the birdwatcher’s paradise that I had expected from my reading. At this dash to our expectations, we decided not to go further to the far NW end of the NP (called Archer Bend) and we turned around to head to the mid northern section. After driving for 4 hours, we still hadn’t seen any other cars in this enormous NP.

And this is where Russ turned his hand to re-engineering 3 river crossings so we could safely get our van over. In the photo below, the back of the van in scraping on the ground and the front wheels of the van are off the ground. We used a shovel, some logs and our hands to build up the track in front of both van wheels and Russ tentatively and carefully drove forward and managed to get the van over on the second try without damaging it. We got to use it a second time that day, on our way out of the NW section of the NP.

A herd of wild pigs on the track in front of us. They make an awful mess of waterholes by digging up the ground.

Approaching another crossing

Which was beautiful but had to be re-engineered too.

I don’t have photos of the last crossing because it was very scary and I was too busy screaming and cleaning myself up to get the camera out. Plus it was too dusty for the camera. There was a sharp turn to the left after the crossing with high banks on the right. The left van wheels went up about 2 foot on tree roots in the bank and then scrunched down again in a way that made me think they were going to tear. Thank you Grabber AT2s! Russ was relieved the van didn’t hit the tree on the left. I was very shaken. Russ made plans for getting back over on the way out. He decided he would drive the car up high on the bank and that way the van would cut the corner and travel along the bumpy narrow cutting, hopefully!!

Our amended plan was to get into Old Archer Crossing Camp for the night. When we came to what looked like a steep creek crossing, we walked it as usual. It was borderline too difficult with a big drop after a tree root and in any case we wouldn’t have made it into the campsite. We were feeling a bit despondent and trudged further on. We were thrilled to find the delightful Jerry’s Lagoon – beautiful lush fertile fresh colours of white water lilies, white paperbark and a great stretch of water – the proverbial oasis in the desert of dry dustiness. Our late afternoon round of the lagoon in the tinny didn’t live up to our expectations of great fishing in OTNP but still, it was a beautiful place.

Early next day we took another turn around the lake but again, nothing. We drove further up the road to see Twin Lagoons which were similarly lush and verdant and then on to Ten Mile Junction. While Russ was chopping down a large tree that had fallen on the track I spotted a Palm Cockatoo. He flew away while I was getting Russ and his big camera. We walked up and down the shallow sandy river, flicking lures. It was a delight to have a couple of dips in the river, all the time being very vigilant about crocs. What looked like a grey blob in a tall gum tree, turned out to be the famous spotted cuscus. As we were driving out, we spotted a black cockatoo and then got lots of photos of him as he gently swayed on his perch. We were thrilled to have seen two icons of the Cape in one morning.

A wattle tree with very big leaves

Another steep crossing but as we didn't have the van, it was fairly easy

Its been surprising that so little maintenance is done in this NP. And surprising how a little shovel work on a crossing makes a big difference.

The famous and rarely seen Palm Cockatoo in silhouette at Ten Mile Crossing

 A sleeping Spotted Cuscus high in a gum tree on the banks of the Archer River

A nice big fat Saratoga. Not for eating though!

 
A party girl! The comb crested Jacana or Lily Trotter

 An oriole

Another sighting on our way out of Ten Mile Crossing.

After lunch while I was reading, Russ caught a whole lot of Saratoga (fish), as well as a very big one that got away. While Russ was fishing, the first people that we’ve seen in this whole enormous NP in 2 days, turned up and bluntly told us this was their campsite and we had to move. Russ chatted to them and said we were happy to leave. After he’d got the boat out of the water, they decided they would stay in the next camp site which was similar and called Twin Lagoons. An interesting interaction. He told Russ that he’d booked Sweetwater Creek in Lakefield and turned away 4 lots of people because the NP rules said max of 2 vehicles in the camp. 

Next morning as they passed our camp on their way out, the photographed us with their iPad – obviously wanting to be friends!

Our exit was eventful in that getting over the difficult crossing, was again, difficult. We’d hoped that by driving the chev up high on the steep bank on the left, the van would happily follow and easily miss the tree. Not so. Russ had to reverse and re-align many times before the right back wheel of the van skidded left against the tree root to allow the van to pass through undamaged, although . Again very stressful and Russ was named a genius again!

On our way out we fretted about whether we’d done something wrong in camping without booking but decided that we hadn’t.