Hi Everyone,

It's this time of the year when I am back from the tracks, right in the middle of the massive work of putting every detail into the next year's Destination Guide.

Below is the road report, the tracks, and what work is being done, and - the Free Pocket Guide 2020 is out :-)

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 In This Issue:

• Road Report

• This Year's Tracks

• Updates on the Destination Guide and the Website

• Pocket Guide Updated

• Destination Guide Christmas Gift Cards

• Feedback Always Welcome

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ROAD REPORT

The road was better than on a previous trip in July, a lot of sections had been graded and there is a fair bit of new sealing between Coen and Archer River.

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).

Laura to Musgrave was mostly good except some dust holes and a little more corrugation in the southern end.

Musgrave to Coen was really bad with corrugations on the way down, but better on the return trip.



Coen to Archer had at least two new sections of sealing, not surprised - in the areas where there were busy roadworks in July. The rest was also graded except some dustholes and some corrugation in the Coen end.

They have also got another $98 million funding added to the previous $190m, so they are really going to try to finish off the PDR (which is the road to Weipa, not to the Tip!), within this package (Archer River bridge they hope to start building in 2020 and finish off in 2022).



Telegraph Road was really good. The best section of all - graded, slight corrugation in the southernmost few kilometres but 99% of it like a perfect highway.



South Bypass was good from Bramwell to Captain Billy Landing turnoff (southern half), but was bad with some pretty bad corrugations in the northern half.



North Bypass was a lot better, there was still some corrugation in the northern end on the way down, but a lot better on the return trip.



Archer River was as dry as it can get, with no water in it at all. This time last year was full-on wet season, with monsoonal rains starting in early December. The year before they started in early January, which is more normal for the recent years. This year, the season's first storms have started to bring us showers, but not the monsoonal rains.


THIS YEAR'S TRACKS 

If you have been subscribing to this website for a while, you may know that each year in September, October or November I take off to areas that need revisiting for updates.

Rocky coast north of Captain Billy Landing

So while last year it was 13 outer Torres Strait islands and 2017 was the inner south and south-west of the Cape - this year the areas revisited were the east coast and the Cooktown area (on top of the usual of course, which is the tracks done at home in the NPA all year around and the Old Telegraph Track done every year).

Crossing of Orford Bay

Amongst others, it included the East Coast Drive from Ussher Point to Captain Billy Landing along with revisiting Sadd Point, Mutee Head, Jardine mouth, Larradinya mouth and other northern spots. And the OTT in its full length of course.

Coloured Sands

Further south, Elim Beach and Coloured Sands were revisited along with Kiters Cove, Cape Flattery and Cape Bedford.

Cape Bedford

North from there, Starcke Wakooka Track and Cape Melville were revisited, as well as Lakefield National Park in detail, all camping spots.

Cape Flattery

And finally, Palmer River and Hodgkinson Goldfields along with tracks through Palmerville and Mount Mulligan.


UPDATES ON THE DESTINATION GUIDE AND THE WEBSITE 

Ever since we finished the tracks, I have been working on putting all the updated information into the Destination Guide.

The 2020 edition will be out as soon as possible, trying latest the first days of January (there will be a newsletter as soon as it is out).

As soon as the 2020 Guide is out, I will spend most of the coming wet season on giving a big improvement to the website.

With the last three wet seasons spent writing the Doggie (2017), Caravan (2018) and Trailer (2019) Guides, there wasn't the time for the website that I wished I had.

For this year I had already decided that even though more Guides are going to be written in the future, I will take a break from writing a new one this year and spend the time on sorting out and putting up the last few years worth of photos and footage that I simply haven't had the time to put up on the website, along with improving and updating all the information on the site.


FREE POCKET GUIDE UPDATED

The Free Pocket Guide has already been updated, with the 2020 edition out :-)

If you don't have one yet, now is a good time to get it, and you can do it by subscribing to the newsletters on any page of this website.


If you already have one I am sorry I cannot replace it with the latest version like I do with the paid Guide, but what you can do is to subscribe again with a different email address (it could also be another member of your family), and grab the Guide :-)


DESTINATION GUIDE CHRISTMAS GIFT CARDS

And last but not least - because I have had many people asking over the years - since last year I have made it easy to buy the Destination Guide as a Christmas present.

The process is explained on the present page of the Destination Guide, please read and follow the steps there :-)



All purchases include the updated guide and so do the Christmas presents - if you buy before the 2020 Guide is out - presents included - you get both the 2019 and the 2020 version for the price of one :-) 

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.

P.S. If you cannot see the photo banner in the top of this page, instead of photos you only see photo texts, and instead of links you see url addresses throughout the text, you are using email software that only reads text. Consider getting an email account with Yahoo or others that can read HTML (and remember to change your email address, which can be done in the end of every newsletter.