Pandanus
Trip 2002
 Pandanus
Park, the veteran’s retreat is located on Kalpowar Station, north of Laura
on Cape York Peninsular. Kalpowar Station extends north to Princess
Charlotte Bay, Bathurst Heads and Bathurst Bay. My wife Jen, Mal
Johnson (ex 104 Sigs, with whom I shared a tent back in the ‘Dat in 1969)
and myself made the pilgrimage for this years’ Long Tan Service on the 18th
of August at Pandanus.
There are two routes to
 Pandanus,
once you depart Cairns. We chose to travel the short way up,
via the Gulf Development Road up to Laura and then up into Lakefield
National Park to Kalpowar Crossing. Once you cross the Normanby
River you then proceed northwards to the old Kalpowar Station, now
occupied by local aboriginal stockmen. Driving straight past the No
Entry sign, you proceed along the southwestern side of the old Kalpowar
Airstrip and onwards along the track until you reach the first official
signage.
Proceeding through that gateway you will
eventually reach the river about 15Km from the crossing, where you will
find the makeshift HQ area, and from this point north, along the
riverbank, all the various campsites. Being veterans, we like our
solitude, and therefore most camps, other than the obvious gatherings of
various corps groups and the like, were well separated from each other,
stretching some 15Km up stream.
 By
the time we arrived on the 15th of August, the prime sites had
been taken, so we crossed the river at the northern-most camp (Bill the
‘Butcher’ and his mates) and proceeded to wander onwards in the search for
our own secluded campsite. See Photo for the river crossing.
Eventually we settled upon a large billabong where we established “Jimmy’s
Camp”, some 7.4 Km south of the last crossing.
We set up camp and were later joined by
Ian “Chips” Raferty and his wife Cath who set up camp further up our
lagoon. Chips was a platoon commander with 2 RAR 70-71. They
currently live in a utopian paradise on the Daintree, but are selling to
move down here to the Sunshine Coast. We further enjoyed their
company and hospitality on the southbound leg of our trip some four weeks
later.
  At
0630 hours on the 18th of August approximately 100 veterans and
many wives and family members assembled at the HQ area for our Long Tan
service, MC’d by Dick Schafer. The recently former Mayor of Cook
Shire, Gary Elms was welcomed and gave a short address to the gathering
both on the significance of the day and the place that he any a number of
others are still working to have set aside for veterans – Pandanus Park.
Les Hiddins spoke to the same theme and then the service concluded with a
wreath being laid by our traveling companion, Mal Johnson, on behalf of
the WA TPI Association. Vets from all states of Australia made the
trip for this occasion and many old friendships seemed to be renewed,
along with many new ones. The service was filmed by a crew from the
ABC and should be aired as part of the Australia All Over program on the 7th
of October 2002.
 Kalpowar
Station still has quite a number of cattle on it, and in Queensland, if
you find a ‘Clean-Skin’ beast, (unbranded live-stock) it is still legal to
kill and butcher it for your own immediate consumption. Thus the
“Hunters” went out prior to the 18th and located a suitable
beast, which was then dressed by the “Butcher” who then visited all the
camp sites up and down the river, delivering fresh meat to all. On
the 18th, a large pot of stew was cooked up for the post
service gathering at the HQ area.
 All
in all, Mal, Jen and I had a really relaxing time at Pandanus and
thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We would certainly encourage
other veterans to make the trip with their wives and family, as there is
abundant camp sites, good barra fishing, wild pigs to be hunted, if that
is your particular bent, or simple peaceful solitude without screaming
trail bikes and other yobbos beating up the bush in their 4WD’s.
Pandanus has no civilised features such as toilets or showers, but then,
that is part of the beauty of the place. There is plenty of
drinkable water, for those unfortunate enough to run out of beer, wine or
spirits prematurely… and it’s a long drive for resupplies, as the Laura
Pub burnt down whilst we were up there!
Pandanus Revisited
2003
 Some
of you no doubt have heard some of the negative comments about Pandanus
Park following this years gathering. It concerns me that one report
in particular was written by a bloke who arrived late on 17 August
2003. He and his mate then didn’t even
bother to attend the Vietnam Veterans Day service and the dedication of
the newly constructed memorial on the 18
August 2003. Then to cap it all off, they then left early on 19 or
20 Aug 03! Therein lies their problem… read on to understand why.
To go to Pandanus, allow yourself the
better part of at least a week to get there. You have more likely
than not, already admitted to your LMO or Psych the fact that you cannot
drive for extended periods of time. Look at the map..!
Pandanus is almost as far from Brisbane as is Melbourne. Those who
think that they can still jump in their car or 4WD and drive through the
night with others doing the relief driving to arrive at Pandanus in two or
three days, think again! You are no longer as fit and able as you
were thirty odd years ago. Plan to drive no more than 5-600klm per
day, and you stand a very good chance of arriving there in a reasonable
state of health. I strongly recommend that you make your first
overnight stop at Cockscombe Camp just north of Rockhampton.
North from Cairns, you can either take
the Cape York Development Road, or the far more scenic and enjoyable trip
up through the Daintree, Cape Tribulation, (great overnight camping on the
beach on the northern side of the mouth of the Bloomfield River. Do not
forget to stop at the Lions’ Den Pub on your left just before Helensvale.
Just north of Cooktown another good overnight stop is at Endeavour Falls
caravan park – your last chance for civilised facilities! Continue
towards Hopevale until you come to Battle Camp Road on your left, and then
you are on the home run through Old Laura, remembering to leave all gates
as you have found them. From Old Laura, it’s a short run to
Lakefield National Park, cross the concrete ford over the Normanby River
and then enter Kalpower Station.
When about ¾ hour later, you finally
arrive at the make-shift HQ area, look in the old webbing canvass satchel
hanging on the tree and retrieve the log-book, enter your details and then
set about finding yourself a suitable camp site.
For some unknown reason, a lot of blokes
last year decided to camp right beside each other – remember, there is
thousands upon thousands of acres up there… why camp on top of each other
and annoy others or be annoyed by the noises of their camp and more likely
than not, generators. Pandanus Straight as it was previously known
was to be renamed as Generator Alley, and yes, disturbances did occur when
some blokes simply disregarded the needs of others, generally those who
had been there before the others moved in and camped right beside them.
 When
you have found your small piece of Utopia (Jimmy’s Camp is some 7km from
the HQ area) take the time to set it up just as you want it. Next
chill-out for the next three or four days just by yourselves – you will
slowly start to feel the peacefulness of the place seep into you, you
realise that there are no phones, no TV, no newspapers – no sources of bad
news to detract from your retreat. You become relaxed, relearn how
to go for walks in the scrub whilst noticing everything around you – to
those who have not experienced the effect, the following will sound a bit
airy-fairy – shit happens; in this solitude you gradually start to
notice that you no longer stay awake at night, nor need to sleep during
the daylight hours. You become reacquainted with seeing minute
detail in everything around you, not just simply the quick scan for
threats or whatever. You hear various noises that puzzle you, as
they are totally alone without the background noises of civilisation, you
stop and listen, your mind questioning and reasoning once again, unlike it
has done for many years of switching out the trivia of day to day
existence, so that you can simply focus upon surviving. As Jen puts
it so well, you find peace once again for the first time in ages.
 Only
after you have reached this state, you then become curious to see more of
the place, to see whom else has arrived. You learn that there is a general
coming together of the troops mid to late afternoon for a happy hour or
two, at some suitably named location such as the RAP or the Tree of
Knowledge…. Think about the latter and the battle we are still having with
the State Government over Pandanus…
Early on the 18th there is a
really moving memorial service, in the middle of the scrub, as it should
be. When you see two to three hundred blokes come together, many
with their wives or partners, simply forming a rough circle so that we can
all hear the various speakers, blokes wearing bits and pieces of old
uniforms, gongs once more proudly pinned to their left breast, the
solemnity of the date remembered by all, blokes showing emotion quite
freely, no longer being embarrassed to do so, you know that you have come
to a special place.
 Last
year also saw the establishment of a memorial, comprised of plaques from
various veteran organisations, ballast stones from the Burma Railroad,
rocks from all over Australia with all manner of inscriptions to the
memory of mates no longer with us and even a ceramic tile that had been
souvenired from the swimming pool at the Badcoe Club at Vung Tau.
When’s the best time to head up there?
For mine, it is late July, when not too many others have arrived yet.
You can pick out
your camp site, make it liveable and enjoy your initial retreat into
solitude. Once you have rebalanced yourself, you then have time to
go exploring, do day trips up to Jacks Lakes, or back into Lakefield
National Park to see Hahn River Crossing (there’s just got to be huge fish
in those water holes – they just eluded me!). Do an overnighter up
at Bathurst Heads, or cross over into Bathurst Bay, the home of some of
the largest oysters on the rocks that you will ever see – although sadly
last year these were largely vandalised, we suspect by commercial
fishermen and pig hunters.
Well, there you go then, have I given you
enough incentive to check the place out this year?
Jen has just finished production of a
lengthy PowerPoint presentation, which we burn to CD with some other
useful information.
It is available simply
for the asking - Email
address below!
For further info try:
Pandanus Park
Website
Geoff Sanders
104 Sig Sqn, Nui Dat, 68-69
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