A Cape York Blog

Cape York paradise at Portland Roads

Portland Roads

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Passing yachts and ships at Portland Roads

There is some quite interesting history in the naming of Portland Roads (Cate will write an a post on this soon). The ‘Roads’ is short for Roadstead which is an old nautical term for shelter.

We often have boats, yachts and ships moored in our sheltered bay. Everything from sports-fishing (Nomad Sportfishing), motherships from Seaswift, to passing yachts. We also have huge container ships further out to sea.

Some of our groceries are delivered by the Emu Bay – the ship moors every two weeks during the prawn season. We also can get gas and fuel.

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Portland Roads in the Wet

We are now experiencing “the wet”. It’s generally very humid but quite a few days are reasonably cool and quite pleasant. Mostly when it does rain it really pisses down, but we also get soft gentle rain.

Rain at Portland Roads

Rain at Portland Roads

Our daughter Zoe loves it when it does rain – it’s warm and fun and just fantastic just to play in. She found her own locally grown umbrella.

Zoe Water Nymph at Portland Roads

Zoe Water Nymph at Portland Roads

We have stairs up the side of our shack and then all the way up to the top shack (where our guests stay) – during a big downpour the stairs act as a wonderful waterfall.

The water just pours down the hill and then re-shapes our little front beach.

We also hear the frogs at night.

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Q. Can I visit Cape York in the wet season?

A. Yes, you can visit Cape York in the wet season.

Most people think that it is impossible to visit Cape York in the wet season. It is true that the major rivers flood, cutting off road access.

However you can still explore the Kutini-Payamu (Iron Range) National Park, Portland Roads and Chili Beach. Forget your vehicle and take a flight from Cairns.

1. Hire a 4×4 from Lockhart River Car Hire and stay at the Portland Roads Beach Shack, or

2. Hire a 4X4 campervan from Lockhart River Car Hire and camp at Chili Beach,  or one of the designated camping spots in Iron Range National Park.

Roads

The road from Lockhart River to Portland Roads does not cross any major rivers. It is graded and well drained, so the rains do not make it impassible. Occasionally Chili Creek may rise and make the crossing difficult, but it is tidal so will recede within an hour or two.

Flights

Skytrans flies in to the Iron Range Airport at Lockhart River 4-5 days a week.

Transport

Lockhart River Car Hire has a fleet of vehicles that are utilised by workers in the area in the dry season.
Paul and Laney Piva from Lockhart River run the local family owned business.

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Portland Roads Beach Shack holiday accommodation

UPDATE 1st Jan 2016.
Portland Roads Beach Shack has been sold. The new owner is no longer running it as an accommodation business.

 

This is the place we are were caretaking. We have the cottage halfway up the hill, and this is where the visitors stay. This video shows the stairs, the deck and the view from the deck

This video shows the bedrooms, the deck and the view

The Beach Shack accommodates up to 4 people with a double and two single beds. It is self contained with a bathroom and cooking facilities for self-catering. The living area is on a good sized deck with great views looking out over the Coral Sea. The house is set back from the road for privacy and sits high on the hill to catch the sea breeze. Portland Roads is in the Tropical Rain Forest of Far North Queensland, 600kms North of Cairns. Portland Roads is a great stop if you

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Rainbows and sitting in the rain – Sun 7th Nov 2010

Rainbow at Portland Roads

Rainbow at Portland Roads

Very cold today – had to put a long-sleeved shirt on when it got down to 25 degrees! Also rained most of the day and when it didn’t we had a beautiful rainbow.

I had 3 young men from Weipa staying (trying to fish but unable to stay out long in their boat because of the wind and waves)

They came back disappointed, and sat in the warm water of the bay, drinking and looking out at the rain

Boys from Weipa sitting in the rain

Boys from Weipa sitting in the rain

 

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Out to the MotherShip – Sun 17th 2010

Beautiful calm morning- watched the local croc float lazily up and down in front of the house.

Crocodile at Portland Roads

The mothership had arrived so I bravely went out where no Seamus had ever trod before. Used Alan’s penis err outboard extender for the first time. This is a clever device (a bit of plastic tube) that fits over the throttle thingy of the boat so one can stand up towards the centre of the boat and thus keep the nose of the boat down a bit on solo trips. Works quite well, although I did nearly throw myself overboard at one stage. So I loaded up an empty gas cylinder onto the trolley, wheeled it down in the water to the boat and put the cylinder in the boat.

Then out to the mother ship, where I had to wait in queue (ya know there’s no fucken handbrake on a boat!) – anyway bounced off a few boats, talked to Ian from Wattle Hills then moored and asked what to do? I had to go up to the captain’s quarters, introduce myself to Gavin, ask about my account and what the usual protocol was. He did not have our account on his computer, but was happy enough to write it down on a post-it note and give me a new gas cylinder.

This all got sorted and I headed back to shore – and actually went fast – I think I even had full throttle for a second or two!

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Arrival Portland Roads – Tuesday 7th Sept 2010

The tow major rivers on the road in are the Pascoe and the Wenlock. These are impassable for much of the wet. The Pascoe is longer and often deeper than the Wenlock.

Pascoe River crossing on the Lockhart Road on the way in to Portland Roads

Pascoe River crossing on the Lockhart Road on the way in to Portland Roads

We visited Lockhart on the way in. I couldn’t work the diesel bowsers, so had to ask some aboriginal kids. The local store wasn’t too bad and did have quite reasonably fresh vegies. Cate talked to the manager, who knew Alan quite well.

We then thought we might try the local doctor/medical centre. We parked on the road outside and were immediately accosted by a woman who basically told us to fuck off – until we said we were about to start care-taking Alan’s place for a year. Then everything was OK.

We were told later by Alan that she was a very nice person who was the head nurse (and I think administrator) but that she was very protective of her medical centre – it has been set up for the local aboriginal community and apparently tourists do often become a nuisance there.