Hi Everyone,

I have finally found myself on the road (very late this year because I have been busy making some major changes to the website - more on that below). 

So, below are the changes on the website, more great events to come, and a report of the road between Weipa and Bamaga.

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In This Issue:

• Bamaga - Weipa Road

• Changes on the Website

• More Great Cape York Events

• Feedback Always Welcome

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BAMAGA - WEIPA ROAD

While in the previous years we would have been driving to Cairns and back many times by now, this year has been different. First the wet season that cut us off for months, and then me being too busy with work - I had not been south of Bramwell this year yet and it is August!

Sorry that some wrong-doers have made this needing a mention: These newsletters are subject to the Law of Copyright - the only way to legally spread them is a link to this page or a proper Facebook share (cropping text and photos out of it to use them to build one's own Facebook post is ILLEGAL).

So, firstly - here is the road from Weipa to Bamaga (on the return trip as the road there got done in darkness):



The Weipa end was first good, with corrugations not too bad and then there is a new sealed bit. South of that though, there is a stretch with bad corrugations (photo above).



The Batavia Road - the shortcut from the PDR to Telegraph Road - was very smooth and was the best bit of all (understandably, as it would have had less traffic than the main road north).



The Telegraph Road north to Bramwell was probably the worst bit. I didn't get its worst corrugations on a photo but they were pretty bad and they were continuous.



Southern Bypass was pretty good in the southern end, until around the start of Heathlands. After that it started having more and more corrugated sections which were bad in places.



Northern Bypass was actually good most of the time. Except of course the northernmost 15km south of Jardine River, which is always the worst bit of the lot.


CHANGES ON THE WEBSITE

So what has stopped me from going on fun drives, is that this website and Destination Guide business has long ago turned into a year around full time work (yeah, for starters it was meant to be a lot more time on the tracks but these times did not last for long!).

As soon as the wet season (which I spend in the office and to write new books) ends each year, the idea is to go for a drive. But there are always some business maintenance tasks to catch up on (which I don't have enough time for during the wet), and some have deadlines, so this year it was a combination of things and deadlines that lead me to make the decision that while I do all these, I may as well change the domain name of this website.

Back in the day when the wesbite was first made, it was a good thing to have dashes in the domain name, for search engine purposes.



But I have later regretted it many times, because with the dashes in the name www.cape-york-australia.com it was difficult for people to recommend the website when talking to others. So I had wanted to do this for a long time, and now I had other reasons, too.

I knew it was a lot of work (as all the broken links need fixing and all the rest), but I decided to spend this "winter" to get that done, so the domain name has now been changed to - the same as it was but without dashes - www.CapeYorkAustralia.com

After also considering other decisions, it was the choice that was least confusing and easiest to remember for people who already know the site, so now when you talk to others and want to mention the website you no longer need to mention the dashes in the name - it is just www.capeyorkaustralia.com :-)



There is also more improvements to come, as the website is getting upgraded and updated page by page with better photos and information. I will mention in a newsletter when that is completed (I am hoping to have that done within a couple of months, before my yearly field work season starts - which is when the tracks get done for the yearly updates in the Destination Guide - you see how this is now a year around full time occupation :-)


MORE GREAT CAPE YORK EVENTS

So - it's not like I went for a drive because the work finished, but I finally felt I had to take time.

The main reason for going to Weipa was the Ruchook Cultural Festival in Napranum - which was just fantastic :-)



It is great that the indigenous festivals are getting bigger and better and there is more of them (there used to be just Laura and TI, but now there are many more and all are listed with exact dates, contact details, and admission prices in the Destination Guide).


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, and happy travels to those on the road!!

Have a great day :-)

Katrin.

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