Hi everyone,

Just a note from the Wet :-)

I mostly wanted to tell you that Archer Point is going to get a national parks camping ground, so enjoy it for FREE while you still can!

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In This Issue:

• The Wet Is Steady

• Archer Point Camp Soon Not Free

• Updates on How the Updates Are Going

• Feedback Always Welcome

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THE WET IS STEADY

The Wet has been steady ever since it kicked in, with a few sunny days in between the mostly rainy ones, but also some beautiful stormy skies.

The rivers are up and the road north is closed, as you would expect this time of the year.

It's also been really good fishing, we've caught some big fish and lots of it just very lately, without even taking the boat out. Mangrove jack, jewfish, garfish, reef shark, lots of grunter (sometimes 2-3 big ones per night), even spangled emperor, and of course barramundi - and the barra season has just started!

Well, we have also spent more evenings fishing, but still, we used to never have to freeze the fillets but it's now at that point :-)

The cyclone season has also been full on, you would likely know from the news if you live in Australia, but for the rest - it's been a lot of tropical lows and about five cyclones now, unusually many compared to other years.

Mostly category ones so far, but Dylan was cat two when it hit the Whitsundays 10 days ago. Hoping for the best for the rest of the season, still a couple of months to go.

ARCHER POINT CAMP SOON NOT FREE

And the news that first made me think of writing this newsletter - a ranger station is being built at Archer Point.

One of our most beautiful FREE camping spots is getting under the management of the national parks and the 'good' (NOT) old booking system will apply.

I cannot blame them for making us to pay a few bucks. There has always been a massive garbage container which is the only solution for rubbish management on that site, and fair enough - it's not free for them to manage.

It's just the fact that you have to plan and book it beforehand, which is such a pain on a Cape York trip.

A lot of FREE camp spots where we used to camp now cost money or have 'no camping' signs.

A lot of the time this is due to people littering these spots, which will obviously cost someone money to clean, so finally they get enough of it.

You will help to keep the FREE spots FREE by not leaving rubbish behind.

I always keep the Destination Guide updated on all the bush camping spots and whether they are FREE or what applies.
 
Some start costing money but there are always others ;-)

We get around a lot (during the right season), we love to find out what's in the end of every track, so we find them, and there will always be enough of them for your trip in the Destination Guide :-)

UPDATES TO THE WEBSITE AND THE DESTINATION GUIDE

I have been busy updating the website (I also update it as things change but this time I do a page-by-page overhaul), and the prices in the Destination Guide will be the next (I cannot do it before April because the business operators will announce their prices for the year by 31. March).

A lot of people have been saying to me that they are really looking forward to the new prices.

I want to say to you all that don't worry too much about that.

Don't leave deciding on a place to stay or visit until the updates are done - you can plan it now - by comparing the prices between the different companies.

Just expect them all to be a bit higher, but the price levels in relation to each other between the different companies are very unlikely to change.

No business will skyrocket their prices in one go, they all just put them up a bit.
 
FEEDBACK ALWAYS WELCOME

I really appreciate any kind of feedback on the Destination Guide.

Please let me know if you enjoyed it while planning before the trip, and while using the information once on the trip.

If you get any questions about anything, please feel welcome to contact me.

That's all for this time - happy planning everyone :-)

Katrin


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