Pancake Creek assist !

[Lucky_Phill]

Any of you Ausfish folk been to Pancake Creek ?

I have been to the headland by boat but never took the tour up the creek. I want to take a trip there at Easter. I want to drive . I did say drive. I have an aerial shot of the place and it appears there is a road ( for want of a better word ) to the northern side of the mouth. I also have information that there is a causeway / boat ramp upstream. This is accessed by taking the Turkey Beach road and detouring to the right half way along.

I heard a tale from a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend, that you can drive there, but only on very low tides and also you'll be crossing lots of sand.

I will be travelling to the close offshore reefs / rocks and chasing the Flatheads in the creek ( and other stuff ??? ).

So , if anyone has done this trip, please pass on any info. thanks

[jaybee]

hey phil your request intrigued me ...did some surfing and come up with 3 sites..one says not normally accessible by vehicle and one says not accessible...here are the urls..best of luck..If i am up that way this weekend or the following, if I have time I will try and find out more for you if you like.
cheers

http://www.ozexplorer.com/Discovery_Coast/Central1.shtml#PancakeCreek

http://www.great-barrier-reef.net/Discovery_Coast/downrite/pancake_creek.html

http://www.greatsoutheast.com.au/c2c/archive/2000/2000-03-25/story04.asp

[Smithy]

There are two ways to get in by small boat. For both ways you need to arrive at dead high tide. The first way and the only way I have been in is through Middle Ck. Middle Ck campground is a National Park and you technically need a permit to enter here or camp here. You then have to load your boat with camping gear and run up the Creek, turning left near the end which puts you into Pancake Ck. Look for the power lines. You can also go across the Middle Ck bar and go around the front. I have done that in my 12' Stessl Eggcracker when conditions have been good. The main rocks to look out for are near the sandbar with the mangrove tree out in the middle. If you are on the plane and travelling at high tide you can hug the mangroves on the right hand side. If there isn't enough water and you have to go around the bar to the left look out for the rocks.

The second way is to come through Turkey Beach road and put in at the causeway. The causeway dries completely at low tide and once again you need to put in at high tide only. There is a gate on either side but it is only locked on the Middle Island side. Rich doctors/lawyers etc. have freehold land and nice house on Middle Island. You can see the houses from the Middle Ck launch area. At the causeway you have to manouver your trailer ready for launching then back about 100m across the sand flat to the causeway to launch your boat. You then have to park on the side of the road back about 100m above the high tide mark where the sand flat ends.

Rangers etc. have keys and access to all areas of this region included Rodds Peninsular, Pancake Ck (for lighthouse maintenance) and Middle Island. You can see headlights on Rodds at various times. I think they also do Turtle nesting research in this area. I have a mate that has been going here for 30 years and civillians used to be able to drive on to Rodds and camp on the north shore of Pancake. You often see guys doing maintence on the lighthouse and powerlines. I have also seen pro-crabbers with a quad in the region. There is a track up to the lighthouse.

Be careful this time of year because the creeks can run high and things can be boggy. The tides will also be big so park above high water.

[Smithy]

Are you trying to use the attached map. If you look at the track heading to Rodds Peninsular you can see you have to go across a sand flat. I have heard you can go by boat across this area on a large tide. I haven't been able to find it but I have heard boats buzzing around on the Turkey side when we are up the creeks on the western side of Pancake Jack fishing. Like I said I have seen vehicles on Rodds Peninsular.

Other things to note are it doesn't show the track to the Middle Ck causeway and another bit of trivia for you is you can go by boat from Pancake Ck to Jenny Lind Ck on a really high tide as well.