CAPE YORK PENINSULA
11/05/09 TO 29/05/09
Well just having completed the Cape York section of our trip what can I say – fabulous, fantastic, great scenery, certainly one of the highlights of our trip so far and well worth it.
After the first couple of times of packing & unpacking the car the process became second nature. Everything had its place and, as long as things were stowed where they belonged, everything fitted back into the car and life was easy and all fell into a pattern with each of us having an order of process to follow. It was not a chore – just a process we had to go through most days – although it was always nice when we stayed in one place for more than one night.
Food supply was not a problem at all. In fact on our second day we stopped at the Hann River Roadhouse to discover they sold hot food – esp hamburgers which were great. This was to be the case where ever we went – you could certainly always but at least a hamburger & chips, tea/coffee, cold drinks etc. as an absolute minimum and, of course, every stop had souvenirs. Some of the roadhouses sell evening meals and even have a bar (sale of alcohol).
This having been said life is certainly different in many of these areas. No electricity available – power is generated by diesel run generators which are noisy and run between the hours of 7am and usually 9-10pm. Mobile phone coverage is mostly non existent but, at overnight stops where no mobile service is available, there was usually at least a public phone. The people living up here have limited shopping opportunities. Fruit & veg arrives weekly on the mail plane and large grocery shops for non perishable items might happen only a couple of times a year. They use on line shopping and mail order a lot. Yet the Cape is full of people from all over Australia who came for a visit and decided to stay. They just seem to love the area.
We managed to visit most of the usual places of interest. On the way up we stayed at Laura, Musgrave Telegraph Station, Weipa, Bramwell Station and then Seisia. On the way down we had to mostly travel the same road but stayed at different places being Morton Telegraph Station, Chilli Beach, Archer River Roadhouse, Kalpowar Crossing in the Lakefield National Park and lastly Cooktown. We also had short stops at Hann River Roadhouse, Coen and Bamaga. Unfortunately the roads into Punsand Bay and Sommerset (both right at the top of the Cape) did not allow access to these places – still being a bit wet after the wet season.
Weipa was the first town where we stayed a number of days. The major reason for tourists visiting Weipa is the fishing. The camp ground is filled with haphazard campsites mostly with boats and freezers for freezing their bountiful catches in readiness for the journey home. They come with caravans, pop-tops, camper trailers and tents. Fishing anywhere on this trip has not been easy without owning a tinny but here at Weipa we were told by a local to try our luck at Red Beach which was over the other side of the Mission River. We fished off the beach twice and only succeeded in feeding something all of our 2 packets of purchased frozen bait. However on our second visit to the beach area we did get our first sighting of a live croc which was swimming some distance off shore. It disappeared very quickly and just reaffirmed to us the fact that we should never get too close to the shore while fishing – something which we had already been practising.
A must do on the trip is a detour into Fruit Bat Falls, Eliot Falls and Twin Falls. We were told by a Park Ranger that all three falls offered safe swimming but the river flow at Eliot falls was too great to consider swimming. We did take a very welcome dip in the natural pool at Twin Falls.
Of course the ultimate ambition of all who do this trip is to stand at the top of Australia - ‘THE TIP’ as it is affectionately known. It is approx 10degrees south of the equator and 180km to Papua New Guinea and is the most exhilarating experience!!
The area at the top of Cape York, north of the Jardine River, is well known for having no directional signage anywhere. No street signs, no town signs and certainly no signs when you park your car in the car park at Pajinka about which way the track leads to ‘The Tip’. You simply rely on advice from other tourists who have heard from others before them about what to expect and what to look for as you try to find your way. I had mistakenly imagined that when you are this close to the top of Australia that the landscape would be flat (being close to the sea) but the track goes up and over a rocky hill and you just follow a worn path up and over the rocks. The views along the way are nothing short of magnificent over the coastline, Evans Bay and outlying islands, not to mention the magnificent blue/green colour of the ocean. We were lucky enough to experience our time at ‘The Tip’ without anyone else around which made the whole thing seem so much more special - we were the only ones standing at the top of Australia!!!!!.
We stayed at Seisia (about 37km from The Tip) for 6 nights. The camp ground there was right on the beach - we were camped right on the sand – and had the most amazing view. You could lie in bed and look out through the front of the tent to see the calm ocean which was scattered with many islands of the Torres Strait – Ross actually counted 24 islands. From Seisia we caught the ferry for the 1 ¼ hour trip to Thursday Island and did a conducted tour of the island followed by a further ferry to Horn Island for lunch and a tour of this island and its museum. Then a ferry back to Thursday Island just in time to catch the ferry back to Seisia. The colour of the water around the islands is truly the most amazing azure turquoise/blue and is just so crystal clear. The stuff that postcards are made of. This was a full day - but very interesting.
We certainly could not have timed our trip any better. Being early in the season there were not a lot of vehicles on the road and most of the roads had either been graded or were in the process of being worked on. The roads on the whole were free of corrugations and pot holes. Over the first section of the trip from Lakeland through to Coen I was amazed at the amount of bitumen road – in places with a centre line as well as white lines at the sides of the road. We experienced patches of water still over the road at some dips but most rivers have bridges or at least cement causeways.
At Archer River Roadhouse on our way back down we talked to a husband and wife who were doing the whole trip on PUSH BIKES!!!! They were riding from Cairns to the top and then taking the MV Trinity Bay back to Cairns before the set off on the next leg of their bicycle journey to Darwin. This was not the first such ride that they had undertaken. I was just amazed at how they could cope with camping with a very minimum amount of gear, considering that they had to carry it on their bikes, when we had the Nissan stacked to the hilt. They had posted food parcels in advance to various destinations but the next leg of their trip. Their ride from Archer River to Bamaga was anticipated to take 9 days and they assured me that they had 9 days worth of food with them and all this with tent, mattresses, bedding and clothing fitted onto their bikes. Total weight estimated at about 30km on each bike. Their biggest problem was water – not wanting to carry more than necessary if they could gather fresh water at rivers on the way up.
We nearly intentionally bypassed Lakefield National Park but were glad we didn’t. In fact Ross felt that this was probably the highlight of the trip for him.
The National Park countryside was ever changing and we soon found ourselves crossing the Nifold Plain – a treeless open plain dotted with termite mounds. There were large tracts of land in the park which had been burned for fuel reduction. We crossed the Hann River (2 separate causeways) – the widest river crossing we had seen and a little challenging trying to work out the correct track to take.
We arrived in Cooktown and it was so very, very windy. I have not known wind like that since we lived in Warrnambool. Of course you are on the east coast and the wind just blows all the time. We enjoyed exploring the many well maintained historic buildings and reading about the history of the area. The James Cook Museum was an amazing place to visit. Administered by the National Trust of Queensland it is considered one of the most significant Trust Museums open to the public. It houses fascinating collections of Captain Cook memorabilia, documents and records of the regions maritime, mining, indigenous and Chinese history. The Endeavour Gallery brings to life the historic careening of Captain Cook’s ship, HM Bark Endeavour, and features the original anchor and one of the cannons from the ship.
As we continue on this great adventure we continually marvel at the vastness and ever changing landscape of this great country of ours. We are constantly meeting interesting and friendly people both fellow travellers and residents of areas visited. With lots more ahead we look forward to travelling new horizons and experiencing many more great places.
Stay tuned …
