72 Hours of Wet Season Driving Tales

I’ll tell you about Tuesday and Tuesday night. And a little about Monday. I’ve already talked about Monday night here .

But first. This was late Monday night & Tuesday morning in Mossman.

I sat at this table and watched time pass for most of Monday night,and the wee hours of Tuesday.

My morning view of the old Mossman Shire hall was revealing. Beautiful, yet slightly decayed.

I had breakfast at Daintree’s take-away. An excellent double flat white and a nomnom bacon & egg burger. I fuelled up & took a pic of the Daintree Inn (1896) where I”d stayed the night before.

It rained. It rained for four days. It’s the Wet. On Monday afternoon,I didn’t think we’d make it to Rossville, let alone South across the Annan. But the spirits allowed us through.
Then came Tuesday.
I woke at seven thirty or eight. It was still raining. I was intent on getting some photos & breakfast, then maybe running up to Daintree Village. Just for a photo.
I got to Wonga beach before the boss called & told me about the creeks being up on the road home. I was also going to visit the resort/spa where my niece and her man married. But then, I had a problem with the starter on the bus & lost nearly an hour.
I did get this close

I also took photos of Wonga on a Wet Season day.

Looking North toward the Daintree, and South to Mossman and Port Douglas.

I managed to get a somewhat blurred image of the Mossman gorge road though.

And the river

I went back to Mossman and picked up my passengers at two.
The boss had told me that Bushey Creek, near Jullaten, may be over but to run up and check it out.
The Rex range isn’t overly long. Maybe 19km? But it is steep, wet,and has many, many bends. I love the drive, but some passengers get nervous. I think these people trusted me though. They all fell asleep at some stage.

And still it rained.
Bushey Creek was indeed ‘over’. The bridge itself gets about 30 centimetres over it, but the flats on the other side have a metre of water running through. We pulled up at the wayets edge, over a hundred metres from the Bushey creek bridge. On the bridge was brand new Red Toyota Corolla. The water was up to the bumpers & I could see a small wake on the rear bumber. I told my passengers to stay comfortable and walked out to the car. Two Japanese tourists & their daughter had tried to cross the floodway and drowned the car.
I helped mum and dad get the car back to dry land,close to houses & then went back to the bus.
We decided to head back down The Rex,then head down the Captain Cook coastal highway to the Kennedy highway and the Kuranda range.

And still it rained.
By the time we got to the Cairns Northern beaches round-a-bouts, it was peak hour. I was surprised at how well I ‘re-adapted’ to city conditions.

And still it rained.
We continued on through Mareeba and North. The rain had eased a little in a few places. As dusk came upon us, we entered the unfenced country. We knew the wallabies,  &  especially the cattle,would be on the road. I warned about cattle in this post previously. We drove cautiously up the Mulligan highway, coming across random mobs of cattle keeping their feet dry on the bitumen.
We stopped for a feed and fuel at Lakeland, then continued on. By 8pm we reached the Little Annan crossing.
The signs declaring the road closed were still up, but only five centimetres of water covered the lowest part of the bridge. We headed over and then headed up the Rosville turn off. We hit the dirt and realised just how much rain had fallen up this way. Nearly every one of the dozen or more creek crossings between Mungumby Lodge and Wujal Wujal showed signs of flooding. The very last hazard we avoided was this chest freezer sized rock between the Middle Shop (4 sale) and Wujal Wujal.

I dropped everyone off by nine thirty & headed back to Cooktown.
The road is now more a four wheel drive track. Night time prevented the photos of the creeks, washouts and potholes.
I got home around midnight,but couldn’t sleep until five thirty am. Then I slept for nearly twelve.

And still it rains.