For years I've seen Nixon Station on the Cape York map and wondered what it was. I'd asked around a bit but no one was really clear on what it was any more or who I had to get permission off to stay there but I thought I might go in on quad and check it out for myself really quick on my next adventure. After the Frenchman's Track debacle I was ready for something new and fresh.
My beautiful friend and his daughter came with me and we parked the trucks and trailers near the PDR and quaded in. I packed my day riding pack and an esky and we were off. The track was fully overgrown and I could hardly see where we were going. Needless to say it was quad country and I highly doubt if you could get a car in there. The country changes dramatically every few hundred metres and the views from the mountains are breathtaking. The kids were on the back and we were cruising along when a stick came up under my mud guard and through my foot about 2 -3 cm deep. I was in the middle of nowhere so I had to pull it out and I washed the blood off with some of my beer as the water was still frozen. It didn't think it was too bad. I'd wash it off when I got to the homestead. It bled badly and looked worse than it was and blood was going all over my quad.
There were pigs EVERYWHERE!!! Big mobs of sows and babies. They were digging up the ground and were not frightened of our quads at all. They just stood there like "hey, how ya going?". We drove past them as none of us were capable of chasing nor were we prepared for hunting so it was their lucky day. We went through some thick undergrowth and giant spider web went across my face and I had a little panic attack and swatted my face as if it was on fire. I was thinking to myself, man this better be worth it. The whole trip took about an hour to get in.
When we arrived we saw the old cars and tractors abandoned many years before. The old homestead was now the castle for the local wildlife who'd made it their home under the mango and mandarin trees. The smell of pig was quite strong when Makayla spotted this big old black boar who was horribly drunk on mangoes and had no idea what we were or what to do. I doubt he'd ever seen a human before. Xavie started getting worried as he doesn't like being left behind on the quad when mumma runs after them and this one was huge!!! He kind of trotted towards us, stumbling and awkward. My friend gave him chase for awhile but left him be when he collapsed under the next mango tree in a stupor. He must have been over 100kg and fat as!
The property was amazing! The mandarin trees were not in season but they were healthy and gorgeous. We gorged ourselves on ripened, juicy, fat mangoes which were by far the best mangoes we've ever had. I filled my day pack with as many as we could carry and headed down to the creek. We were standing in ankle deep water and is cascaded down into the hole. I was thinking I should have brought my rod as there'd be huge untouched barra in there for sure when one of the kids spotted a brown looking snake wrapped around a rock next to our feet. Quick thinking, my mate flicked it into the hole. Thank God no one got bit. We'd have been gone for sure. I washed off my foot as best I could but by now it was throbbing and I knew it probably needed stitches. I haven't had much luck with sticks in legs as my family can attest so I knew I had to get back into town faster than I wanted to.
Nixon Station is an amazing place and I'll definitely go back to explore further. I'd love to do a quad mission all the way to the East Coast following the creeks. That'd be awesome!
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