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Published: October 7th 2009
Trip to the Tip
We made it, to the tip of Australia, 1129 K's in 5 days.DAY 333
We were up early again this morning as it was our first morning waking up in Seisia it was 6.30am, Pronounced (Say-Sha) so we are reliably informed, but probably we will be proved wrong.
We are in Cape York and today is quite a special day, well not quite, but it is a special day. Not only are we in Cape York, the most Northerly tip of Australia, but we have been away from the United Kingdom 11 months today, WoW! That is quite a milestone in our epic journey, I cannot quite believe that we are only 1 month away from our 12 month mark that we left England.
When we came around the top through Darwin, Boraloola, then Normanton, etc, we knew that to finish our “Circumnavigation” then we would have to have “A Trip to the Tip.”
We arrived here late afternoon on Monday, and set up the Wendy house on wheels, which will be our base for the duration of our stay in Cape York, besides on arriving here we just completely relaxed into this fabulous tropical beach setting.
This morning was just a beautiful morning, quite, cool;
At the tip
Some Mongrel had nicked the sign overlooking the Coral Sea, sitting here doing some blog work, with a cup of tea was fabulous.
Though we are in Cape York, we still had to go to the tip, just so we could say that we have been there, and obviously satisfy Caroline’s desire to take photographs.
We had a light breakfast, and as we had mains power we had toast, a couple of cups of tea, then we hopped in the truck and headed out of Seisia in to Bamaga, to take the turning for the tip.
We knew nothing about what we were to encounter, all we ever knew was that the late great Steve Irwin used to come up to the Cape to do his conservation work on the crocodiles and other fauna of Australia.
It is very rugged country up here, not dissimilar to The Territories and North Western Australia, quite beautiful but harsh country.
The towns like Bamaga are small probably 100 houses and no more with 1 supermarket, 1 fuel station and a post office and I would have thought that their existence is based around the constant repairing of the roads or may be the mining,
perhaps enjoying the fishing or doing something with tourism.
We drive through Bamaga which by now you understand was only 2 minutes away, I am not being disrespectful just accurate, the Bitumen ends and the dirt starts, and we are on that bucking bull ride again on the corrugations.
We are so used to the corrugations Caroline has taken to winding the seatbelt around her left hand whilst holding her right hand in the air and gripping the Patrol with her knee’s and whooping like Bull Rider. The truck is dancing around all over the place, like Billy Smarts Circus on ice.
The bigger the corrugation the faster you want to go, we have found the optimum speed you can operate on the corrugations to make the ride as “Smooth” as you can, but there is no real way of getting away from them, however you have to be mindful that the faster you go, the less control you have as you then only drive over the very surface of the corrugations and of course, the concentration has to be harder to watch for pits, dips etc. Braking hard becomes obsolete, as you would lack control over
Caroline
Arsing about on the monument the vehicle.
With Caroline whooping and hollering we have got about 30 K’s of this each way down to the tip.
Caroline mutters something about a souvenir shop and wanting to get an item to remind her of our journey to Cape York, my lasting memories will be my loose teeth and the bill we get for having to “put the Patrol back together.”
At about 18K’s in we slow as we have seen some vehicles parked in the distance, we slow to a stop and park the truck behind a lovely 79 series Landcruiser that was fantastically set up, really just the way we would do it now. I’m not the jealous type but I did have a twinge.
Caroline in shopping mode went in, I was not that fussed, she got herself a new china mug and a sticker for the fridge. This place was called the Croc Tent but very catering for souvenirs nothing to do with Crocs, not my thing at all but hey ho.
I started chatting to the guy who owned the cruiser, well he couldn’t help talking to me as I was licking his vehicle, his name was
London
14300 K's away as the crow flies, but who wants to go to London Steve, he was up from the Phillip Island area of Victoria, and was travelling on his own.
He is a cattle farmer who “needed an adventure in his life, so his wife said “go”, and as he had a mate who did something with Bauxite sampling in one of the mines here he has been helping out for a couple of months and enjoyed it, we asked him if he would do it again and he said he would but not quite yet, as he had only 2.5 days off in 2 months, but it was good.
He finished with the gang at Moreton Telegraph station and headed up to Seisia where he was staying on the same camp site as us, I finished licking his truck, he thanked me and he headed off to the tip, which we also did about 10 minutes behind him.
The last 12k’s were hell, the road was a rough as guts, but we got there it was really pretty through the rain forest which was the last section and the driving was fun but hard.
You then have to guess the last kilometer as there is no signage, on
which way to go, Caroline was using her Hema Telepathy map and soon we found the other vehicles including Steve and parked up.
Jumping out we saw a lady sorting out the back of her wagon so we asked her which way to the tip and she said that the “Forest walk” was best as the sun is so strong and the tree’s offer good shade. She also said that the track would be fine for walking in thongs, we should have known better than that.
We set off, the first thing that strikes you is the board walk is in need of some quite serious repair, ok it will cost money but this is the very tip of Australia, people journey to here from far far away, we walk pat an information kiosk and the notice board glass is smashed, it just needed a bit a effort to get it back to being a nice information area, either spend some money to put it all good or take everything out and leave it back to nature, just leave a path and a sign in the right direction.
There is also the remnants of a campsite here,
you can bush camp here, but there is an old kiosk, a shed, what looks like it used to be an amenities block, it just all looks very shabby and not hugely welcoming to the visitor that is excited to reach Australia’s most Northerly tip.
We pop out into a clearing a hand written sign tells you to duck under the tree and follow the already worn track, so we do! The sign says its only “10 Minutes to the Tip.”
Up up up you walk, and you get to the crest of the very rocky hill the view is awesome, but you are still not there, you can see Eborac Island, York Island, Albany Island and lots of other small islands in the distance, far too many to mention, the water is turquoise blue and absolutely fantastic, we prayed we would see a whale, Dolphins, or sharks but nothing sadly.
In fact seeing this water is pure torture, you cannot swim in it safely as there are crocs that inhabit the area, people do swim, but there is risk.
We walk over to the stone monument, which has a bronze circular disk telling you how
far to London, Moscow, Adelaide or Papua New Guinea and of course some more local places.
We see that we have much further to go, however we are wearing thongs and this is not a good track to be walking on in thongs, there is loose rock and you have to careful try and find footholds on some of the sloping rock, which is not easy when your feet slip off your thong.
I see that Steve is heading up the rocky path toward us, but he is a fair distance back, he soon catches up with us as we are idling around the monument admiring the view. We all head off to the tip together, further we walk going down the rocky path and further down hidden from view we find Australia’s Most Northerly Point, however some “mongrel” has nicked the sign telling you that! How incredibly thoughtless, this is the very thing that people travel all the way up here for is that prized photograph!! However the good thing is that it looks like one of the tour buses that travel so frequently up here came up with their own sign, and have left it in
place for the rest of us tourists to enjoy.
Andy and I wonder if the recent film with Paul Hogan, “Charlie and Boots” has something to do with the signs disappearance, they made a journey from Victoria, through New South Wales and into Queensland with the intention of visiting Cape York. I wont say anymore about the film, as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone that has not seen it.
What we did have to do was make our own Kangaroojack Temporarysign that we held up for a photo.
We took photographs of Steve for his memories and he duly obliged by taking our photographs with the sign, success we have reached it, this is quite an achievement especially as tomorrow marks 11 months since we left England to embark on this adventure.
We see another chap approaching us, we find out that his name is Graham, he has driven up all the way from Victoria in a Ford Falcon, a normal saloon car but not four wheel drive, credit to this chap as he is also towing a boat.
He told us that mostly he travel sas night and has found it quite hazardous,
The Croc Tent
I couldn't beleive someone was selling souvenirs only 17 K's away from the tip but has done this as his car keeps over heating in the heat of the day.
We offer to take a photo of Graham which he is glad off, and he to comments about the sign being stolen.
Amazingly Graham has come across the Savannah way from Boroloola, via Hells Gate and Burk town, believe me, that is impressive. He did say that his boat trailer literally fell to bits on the journey and he had to have it all rebuilt some where way back
Our photographic memories are done, we have admired the view, the box is ticked and now it is time to head back to camp for a late lunch. There is another track or two on the Peninsula but we feel that we have done the important one so that is good enough, again we do not have to be compelled to see everything just because it is there.
We say goodbye to Graham and Steve and head back down the track, once again Andy’s concentration is written on his face, the steering wheel is tight in his hands, I make sure my seat belt is tight and we are back on our bull
ride.
In what seems no time at all we arrive back in Bamaga, we are back on the bitumen and heading toward Seisa. Andy turns off for the supermarket once we are in Seisa, I want some potatoes to accompany our steak for tonight’s dinner.
I was going to buy an ice lolly but the prices are not marked so I did not want to risk a huge outcry when it is rung up on the till. I look for inspiration on the shelves and did not find any so I just got the potatoes and left (after paying for them of course).
Back at camp we fixed a well earned cup of tea, we are sat in the shade of our “hut” the breeze is lovely and cool. Andy types up the blog while I have a shower, peel the potatoes for tonight’s dinner and then do some brain training (I am hooked, seriously I am going to have to go to Nintendo rehab when this trip is over). Andy says that he does not need to train his brain, he turned his off for the trip, he always has that funny look on his face
when I ask him a question.
We have a visitor again this evening, a dog appears at the entrance to our hut, she appeared last night also. We think she is just turning up for food, if she understood that she is in competition with Caroline then she wouldn’t bother coming back as it is no contest.
It is evident that at some point she has had a broken leg and it was not set properly and is at a peculiar angle, she is sweet, but she does smell, but then so does Caroline and her nose is not wet.
The afternoon starts to peter out and the sun goes down, another beautiful sunset in paradise, the early evening air feels cool against the heat of the day, the breeze is not so apparent as last night, the dark velvet cloak (that Andy has recently talked about) has swept right over us, time has slipped by we try to Skype a few people but no one is around.
Andy soon has dinner underway, while I edit the blog ready for publishing. In no time at all we are settling down to a hearty meal, which was great.
The rest of the evening was just doing some more blog work and a few important e-mails, it certainly isn’t the copious amounts of messages that you all send to our blog site, “now that would just be plain old silly”.
So we retire to bed shattered as usual, and bid you all a good night.
Our love Kangaroojack
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Rob
non-member comment
Well Done
Hi you two, just to say how much I like ur blocks, keep up the good work ! Been to aussi land 32yrs and 21 yrs ago , to NSW and NT , and still looking at it as a great time of my life, 4 sure will return and try 2 make a trip like yours, take care and enjoy! Rob from Holland