ADVENTURE
To the gates of hell
Following the tracks of the Palmer River gold prospectors, a party of offbeat travellers and their donkeys take on the aptly named Hell's Gate, in north Queensland.
Story and photos Neal Sellars
Hell's
Gate: forbidding name, forbidding reputation. But it lured gold-hungry miners
as the quickest way to the rich Palmer River Goldfield from Cooktown. In
1874 it was easy to get to Cooktown; all you needed was the money for the
boat fare from a southern port. To get from there to the Palmer was another
story. Many chose to go through the aptly named Hell's Gate. The trip can
still be done – by donkey if you like.
Any visions of a quiet, idyllic stroll leading compliant donkeys are
destroyed on day one. Tim is trialling a young donkey, Wing Nut, as a pack
animal. All goes well for a while, but then Wing Nut is spooked by something,
who knows what, and takes off. After three destructive hours – destructive
of his pack, his saddle, Mick's calf muscle (unfortunately forcing his return
to Laura and leaving Tim in sole charge of the expedition), and the party's
collective calm – Wing Nut is lured back into the bosom of his family of
well-behaved donkeys. He has destroyed or shed most of his load, including
the only cask of port, which saturated the food in that saddlebag. Wing Nut
is surreptitiously renamed 'Screw Loose', but no one says that to his face.
The errant donkey seems traumatised, and spends the rest of the trip being
led along, unloaded
Full story Issue 33, Feb/Mar 2004.
