Cape York wet season slosh stands in between northern NPA residents and a trip to the shops. Photo: Greg Staader.
Most city folk wouldn’t dream of needing recovery tracks for a trip to the shops, but they came in handy for one Albany Island resident when his venture for bread and milk turned into a muddy mess.
With the Bamaga road still fairly sloshy from the recent cyclone, Dave Hartwell was bogged on his way to get supplies on the mainland on 7 April, and the recovery was about as Cape York as it gets.
“I did send out a mayday for help, but the guy I messaged was out fishing, so I had to tend to it myself,” he laughed.
“Every time I go to town, I pack the chainsaw and Maxtrax, and I’ve got a winch on the car, and I normally have a shovel.
“I always take recovery equipment just to get the bread and milk.”
Mr Hartwell said while the condition of the road was no surprise this time of the year, other means of getting into town were much more of a hit to the wallet.
“The road was worse last year, but that spot where I got bogged, I’ve never seen it that bad in that particular spot before,” he said.
“Other times, it’s washed the whole road away and you couldn’t even get in, so we get people to drive to the washout with our stuff, and then climb over through the road.
“Yesterday (8 April), I took the boat in, but the boat costs me probably $400 in fuel, and the car probably costs $40 to get to Seisia and back, so I’d much rather take the car, especially now that fuel’s $3.30 a litre.”
A Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council spokesperson urged motorists to adhere to the road signs and drive to the conditions, adding that remediation works would commence as soon as practicable.
“When the wet season’s finished and when they are safely trafficable, we will then go and repair them,” they said.
Until then, Cape York Weekly has it on good authority that many northern NPA residents will be fine-tuning their bread-making skills.
