10th June 2026: Left Coen early to head to Weipa travelling along the Peninsula Development Road, 290km away. We stopped at Archer River, possibly because of the name. We had a dreadful cup of coffee for $9.00, and an even worse muffin! We didn’t purchase any diesel at $2.94. The road alternated between bitumen and gravel, with the gravel sections having some steep dips with water at the bottom of them but not as challenging as the Lakefield Road. The main issue was corrugations, such that sometimes we went on the outside of the reflector posts, many of which had been knocked down. We saw our 3rd largish lizard crossing the road and we managed to avoid hitting him. There were cattle mainly Drought Master and Brahmin. The termite mounds were different again to yesterday- this time pointy but fat. 

We headed straight to Mitre 10, but they did not stock leg stabilisers. However they recommended 2 places to try. The first Steady Contracting who couldn’t help either so we headed to the unpromising Junction Engineering opposite from whose factory deafeningly loud music issued! They were wonderful! Buggsy recalled seeing something out the back and he found us a stabiliser leg from a wrecked vehicle. However the skilled worker was Chris, and he had the practical skills to be able to cut the leg off the old frame and weld it onto ours! We need to bring the caravan in at 7 am tomorrow am and he will do it! In passing he also fixed a loose hub cap for us! This business is fully indigenously owned and operated! 

We headed to the camp ground where we are almost on the beach! We left the car connected to the van for a quick getaway in the morning. We had a hot shower, did a load of washing and I cooked us a Vegie pasta for dinner, during the preparation of which I was able to observe the renowned Weipa sunset! 






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