Cape York stories for 4WD Touring Australia mag

[Craig Tomkinson]

Yes you are right RP, I will find out how they want it I suppose, I only write one way as like it happened If thats not good enough well so be it. But over the years I have sent in a lot of photos and stories to different fishing and 4wd Mags , Just to have them say my photos were not good enough the story were lame, But its been a few years now scene I sent in an article, I just have to keep chipping away this time mite be different, If not I have been there and was going there anyway and my mob and I had a great time, I still write for BnB that is fun and my photos have not got to be great, And I can say what the misses lets me say as she edits my stories for me, Craig   

[woolgoolgaoffroad]

many of those glossy mags have a set format you need to follow to submit your article in for...I was approached years ago to do articles for a 4wd mag after they had seen a few trip reports I'd done on their forum, I just couldn't bring myself to write a trip report in the same sterile way all their articles are done....it was all about set info on the area, they don't want to hear about your actual adventures. Not saying that is how it is with the mag this thread is about by the way, just suggesting maybe why other mags brushed you.

when i was with that mag to Mal- i got sent the new format and it was bloody near impossible to follow and they just got too hard to work for, and lets not talk about the pay rate and getting sent cheques in the mail still.

At least with Pat and Carlisle they do email back with 14 days- the more unique the destination the better - pay ?....mmmm covers the beer

[Rumpig]

when i was with that mag to Mal- i got sent the new format and it was bloody near impossible to follow and they just got too hard to work for, and lets not talk about the pay rate and getting sent cheques in the mail still.

At least with Pat and Carlisle they do email back with 14 days- the more unique the destination the better - pay ?....mmmm covers the beer

yeah a mate that did a few stories for that other mag, was always complaining about trying to get paid for the stuff he'd submitted and had printed...seems like a common complaint.

[McGirr01]

Here is the story I did for the mag back in 2014.

Sorry about the ads.












Mark


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[woolgoolgaoffroad]

nice read Mark

[woolgoolgaoffroad]

yeah a mate that did a few stories for that other mag, was always complaining about trying to get paid for the stuff he'd submitted and had printed...seems like a common complaint.

i pulled the pin after they owed for 12 months and near 7k

[Craig Tomkinson]

Great Story and photos MG01, A friend of the family had a gold mine out around Maytown years ago,  Craig 

[KeithB]

I had a cartoonist, regrettably now passed away,  who did three strips for me every month for our trade magazine. On the bottom of his invoice he had printed in Latin (with an English translation): "Pay the workman before his sweat is dry". He also added a copyright notice.

Another motoring journalist mate, also now passed away, noted in all submissions that he owned the copyright and would allow a single use of the piece after he was paid. Copyright laws are very strict and I think allow damages for each copy of the piece which breaches the copyright.

I have always insisted that freelance contributors assign the copyright and always paid them before publication. Publishers who don't pay their contributors, or pay very late, have no place in the industry.

[3rd time lucky]

Magazines are still relevant and any trip to a newsagent will tell you that they are still popular. Canny publishers design their magazines to be read during two trips to the dunny.

I wouldnt necessarily agree...last few news agents ive been into have more and more empty shelves where mags used to sit. News agents seem to be more about lotto products  stationary and gift ideas....but off topic.
I think the future of printed media is grim.i believe newspapers mags etc will go the way of the video hire store within the next 10 years. Nobody i know under the age of 50 buys newspapers any more.  It will become more electronic subscription based. But please please please LESS advertising. Its the modern thing and its shoved in your face 24/7.
I think the OP is looking for an original / different slant on the stereotypical Cape trip report. I would be interested to read about that (on my PC mind you😁). Ive read quite a few and they all have the same photos and storylines...may as well just reprint one from 5 years ago. Mags r brilliant at doing that anyway already.

[Craig Tomkinson]

I am a fisherman and I love crabbing and hunting so my story will be about were I have been in the last 36 years of looking around the Cape for a feed and my 4wd just gets me to them great places, with some tracks are wilder than others I do not go to brake gear I go to get there and back and have a great time, Craig

[bkim]

my 4wd just gets me to them great places, with some tracks are wilder than others I do not go to brake gear I go to get there and back and have a great time, Craig

You're spot on Craig, when I first started working and driving on the cape in the mid sixties, particularly when going across to Iron Range airstrip or Morton Telegraph Station, once you got north of the Archer, you always had to do some roadwork, particularly on the Iron Range/ Portland Roads section.  The intention in those days was to leave the track in a more roadworthy state than you found it!

[Craig Tomkinson]

Hi bkim, They are great photos of yours, Yes would of been some wild roads up there after the wet season them days, that red scrub country on the Road to Portland Roads was so slippery I have camped beside my 4wd overnight till next day to let it dry out so I could get out of the table drain, The bitumen around the Portland roads would of still been there from the war when you were working up there, There is so much more to the Cape than just driving the OTL. Craig 

[bkim]

Hi Craig,

Those photos were taken in 67, when we moved an old wartime building across iron Range airstrip from the opposite end of the strip, closing the airport runway for the day, we relocated the building to it's present site near the terminal and built new toilet blocks and workshops as well as renovating the terminal and building.  Used to take about three hours in the truck (one way) to get to Portland Roads to unload our supplies off the Maluka (the coastal trader in the photo at Portland Roads jetty) used to come fortnightly on a sunday about midday.

Most of the wartime bitumen road from the airport to the jetty was almost untrafficable and the bridges had mostly collapsed which required a bit of work to open up the creek crossings if you were the first vehicle in after the wet.

[Craig Tomkinson]

Unreel Bkim, Thanks for sharing your memory's of a the Cape, Craig