The Cougar and Black Adder go North Part 3

Here we go, part 3 and some serious fishing.
The next leg of the trip is up one of my favourite sections of the Au coast. It is spectacular in so many ways and has to be seen, driven to really appreciate it's diversity and beauty.
Leaving an uneventful Prosperpine behind us, we drove to one of our favourite camp sites at Tully Heads, just a short 460 km.

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We stopped just north of Townsville for a much needed break, and on leaving found that the boat springs, which we knew where getting near their use by date, had started making some horrible noises, but the The Frost Mango was calling so we continued on out way cautiously.  This is a must stop and the ginger ice cream is just wonderful, even if it is breakfast time.

We set up camp as close as possible to out favourite spot. Two severe cyclones have been through this area since our last visit, so the landscape had changed quiet dramatically. The campsite has survived well apart from loosing most of it's bigger trees and had added a few permanent sites, one of which was right on out favoured corner.

The first day we had a quick fish on the Hull, just to get the boats out and check everything was still in working order, followed by a trip into Tully and the compulsory fact finding mission to the local fishing shop. We also enquired about springs for the trailer, but as we had feared there was nothing available as they are not standard and of course had to be ordered in, which would take far longer than we planned to stay.

Later Steve and Brad went for a bit of a reccy to find the bush ramp onto the Murray. We weren't sure we would be able to find it again as it has been a long time since we have been back to Tully and the old motel that marked the turnoff from the highway seemed to have disappeared, a victim of the cyclones we thought. However the highway had moved about 50 meters to the West and with a bit or driving around, the old highway was found, the motel still standing and the road in much improved with more black stuff and less bull dust. Even the track into the ramp was signposted and much wider than it had been on our previous trip. The only negative was that the bilabong was right up over the road and the water was deep, although the cruiser made it through OK. So that was our destination for the next day, after checking tide times as this is a high tide only ramp.

Luckily the water was dropping, as you can see it was at the cougars limits to get through without having to do some serious waterproofing of some sorts.

The drive in was easy and although the ramp has not improved at all, in fact I think the drop off is even worse than I remember, out boat went in without too much trouble.  This was Lou and Brads first time here so Steve is giving them a few pointers as to where to position the trailer, it's a bit tricky.

The photo doesn't show how steep the entry is, but I can tell you when your sitting in the boat, it's not too pleasant.

We were soon cruising our favorite creeks in perfect conditions.

And we found plenty of fish, the Barra were only small but the Jacks made up for it. Here are just a few of what we caught over the next two days.

Returning to camp, hot, tired and fished out.