The Big Lap – days 153 and 154 | alison richards

DAY 153

20th July 2021

The day we started the Telegraph Track!

In the morning we drove up the Peninsula Development Road (PDR) to the Bramwell Roadhouse. We were driving along and a bird dropped a snake right in front of us too – this place is hardcore!

The road was so corrugated and there were loads of cars coming and going – far too many for the road as it was! We had lunch at Bramwell and got some fuel ($2.05), stopped for photos in front of the sign and started the track!

The first creek crossing was Palm Creek, not too far away from the Roadhouse. The crossing was horrible: steep to get in, muddy and the water was deep. We were OK, then Jayden had a go but he needed to be pulled out with a snatch strap! We continued on through a few more water crossings, however there was a helicopter flying around dropping fire, they were burning off a huge section of land!

We put the drone up to have a look – it seemed sensible to see what was going on before we continued on. We decided not to keep going and to actually go back to the Roadhouse to stay the night. Rachael wasn’t keen on the fire at all. We got back to Palm Creek crossing and it would have been a mission to get back across it so we decided to camp near the crossing.

What we could see from the drone. We later learned that this is how they do the fire management every year, but I’m glad we went back and camped where we did.

DAY 154

21st July 2021

We retraced our steps from yesterday in the morning. There were still some bushes smouldering but they were not really big or raging so it seemed safe to pass. There was quite a bit of smoke around though which made things look a bit eerie but beautiful.

We crossed the creeks again and got to Gunshot, the scary one, around 11:30. There were SO many people there, standing around, walking around the tracks, watching people drive. We did the same thing for a bit, seeing which way people were going for a successful crossing. No one took the hard line, a couple of people took the chicken track and others went different ways. It was our turn and we took the chicken track, but Josh hadn’t closed his vent properly and a whole heap of water came through the vent into the dash. Oops.

We got up the muddy other side, where all these kids and people were just standing watching people come up the track – it was a bit sketchy. Jayden then came across the chicken track too but got stuck going up the muddy other side. So Josh got out the snatch strap again. Honestly!

One of the many river crossings, this one is a bit clearer

The way up after the creek crossing. Getting a tow with an audience

We stopped at the corner 7km away from Gunshot where the detour started and had some lunch there.

We then drove to Cockatoo Creek, where we camped for the night. Josh and Jayden went to sit in the creek and help people cross, Rachael and I sat on some rocks with our feet in the water and chatted.

There was a scorpion in one of the logs left at the campsite that we added to the fire – first time I’ve ever seen one!