Up to Coen Bend

We had hoped to get a newspaper and food at Musgrave Roadhouse but they only had fuel, drinking water (thankfully) and drinks and chips. It was lovely to see Kevin Skates but sad to hear that his camper trailer had been ruined when a spring broke in Lakefield – they had continued their trip to the Cape in a tent. We met some other people who had broken some structural part of their camper trailer and were looking for fence wire to fix it.

As we had heard, the next 50k north of Musgrave was quite rough and it took us 4 hours to do the 108km to Coen. Russ’s knee was very sore after that trip. Coen was a very welcome stop and I was surprised they had 1kg packs of Panko Breadcrumbs! But no newspaper. We stocked up for our week in Oyala Thumotang NP and headed off. The Bend was delightful and the swimming hole was much enjoyed by me and many others. Russ caught a red claw but they were getting through the holes in his net, so we weren’t going to have a meal of them, unlike another guy there.

 A dam on the way out of Lakefield NP

Musgrave Road House

The beautiful Coen Bend, just 3km north of Coen. Lovely big free campsite with a magnificent creek that you can swim in safely.

You can't beat a lovely cool swim near a waterfall.