By John Smallwood
Time
Early morning in April 2023
Location
About 25km south of Gregory Downs Hotel, at the top of a badly flood damaged and very rough track leading down to the (flat-ish) stoney river level bank of the rushing and roaring Gregory River in northern QLD for some off-grid camping and adventure.
The Challenge
To drive down the lumpy, bumpy, hugely potholed and flood damaged track, navigating exposed tree roots and uprooted trees, whilst towing our trusty Sportscruiser 1800 “Platinum” caravan.
A bit of background
A few months earlier, after very heavy rainfall, the Gregory River had risen some 18+ metres!!!!! It had overflowed its banks to spread out over many hundreds of kilometres of countryside to create a flood over 1mtr deep, as far as the eye could see.
The problem
By the time we got there, after traversing some badly flood damaged roads, the Gregory River had returned to nearly normal height, although it was still flowing at a tremendous, flooded rate.
With the car [a Mitsubishi Pajero Sport] in 4WD, using a low gear and diff lock, we cautiously and very slowly started down the tree strewn track, towing our Sportscruiser caravan. Once committed to the drive down, we had no alternative but to continue forward. Reversing or turning was not an option. It was pretty rough [an understatement!] but the Sportscruiser, with its ATX Airbag suspension and high clearance was handling the damaged track OK.
About halfway down we faced an “interesting” problem. The left hand side of the track was rough but “OK”. However, on the right hand [drivers] side, the track had dropped 30-40cm and this was going to cause the caravan to significantly tilt over to the right. Not a problem, EXCEPT that there were some large trees lining that edge of the track – perfectly placed for the roof-edge of the van to smash into them.
What to do?…. We couldn’t go back.
The solution
Using the ATX Airbag suspension I raised the RHS of the van to max, and then dropped the LHS to minimum height. The SportsCruiser, now well tilted to the left, was able to pass the trees as the wheel travelled through the dropped section of track. WHEW! After another 10 mins of very slow 4WD travel we finally reached the stoney area of riverbed.
Our Sportscruiser 1800 Platinum caravan is self contained and we can free camp, off-grid for long periods. It is fitted with lithium batteries, a multiple solar panel setup, and a large capacity inverter for 240v supply. Additionally there are 5 tanks – 4 fresh water and 1 grey water.
In the middle of the day, when the ambient temperature on the rocky riverside was in the high 30’s/ early 40’s, we just shut the door and windows and ran the aircon from the inverter/batteries for 3 hours while we relaxed, rested and read. The 5 solar panels kept the batteries at full charge.
Footnote
The Gregory River Canoe Marathon is a 45+km white/wild water race that has been run for 48 years. Unfortunately, in 2023 it was running so high and fast that the race had to be cancelled – Disappointing for all but just too dangerous for paddlers.
About the author
John Smallwood is the original founder of SportsCruiser Caravans (2009). Now retired, he enjoys having more time for his adventurous hobbies, including kayaking and caravaning.
PS – In 2022, this writer became the oldest ever competitor to have completed the full distance Gregory River Canoe Marathon.
