Weipa was our next destination – about 800K from Atherton. To get there we had to traverse the notorious Peninsula Development Road. Lots of horror stories about this road but we took our time and managed to survive it. Road conditions varied from 20 kph to 80 kph with some bone jarring corrugations thrown in for fun.

We took 3 days to drive to Weipa. First stop was Laura where we stayed in a local community caravan park. A bit basic but the worst bit was a house across the road – had their boom box going until 2 in the morning!

Next day it was off to Archer River Roadhouse where we had another camp. The boom boxes here were even worse! Two groups were having a sound war and they didn’t quieten down until about 11 PM.

The drive into Weipa was uneventful and we were glad to setup and get in contact with Dale and Leanne. They picked us up about 5 and then we were off to the little community of coastal Mapoon (about an hour up the road) for a Troy Cassar-Daley concert. Great fun and we were dropped off back at our van for our first decent nights sleep since leaving Millaa Millaa.

Next day Dale gave us a tour of the town and then we were back to their place for dinner and a few drinks (well, maybe a LOT of drinks!).

As we were all feeling a bit seedy the next day Dale and I didn’t go fishing until the afternoon. Not many fish but we came across a big school of Longtail Tuna rounding up baitfish with big sharks circling. I got too excited, my casting went to pieces and then they were gone! Ah well…

Fishing was tough for the time we were there as the tides were all wrong (my excuse!) but we settled into a routine of dawn starts and evenings at Dale and Leanne’s for delicious meals, G&Ts and the odd wine or two! By the end of the week I was exhausted and I think Dale might have been a bit as well. Must have been the dawn starts…

We had a lot of fun in Weipa and it was great catching up with family. All too soon though it was time to leave with overnight stops at the same places on our way back to the Tablelands. Luckily there were no boom boxes on the way back!