Exploring ‘The Tip’ and beyond.......

We woke up to a glorious morning and after a lesiurely breakfast decided that today we would make it to ‘The Tip’.  We drove out and followed the signs to Panjinka (the tip) first of all stopping at the  famous Croc Tent to pick up our free map and get all the info on the road conditions.

Leanne and her husband Dale run the Croc Tent after having taken over when her parents wanted to retire. Lovely people and so helpful with all sorts of info on all things Cape York. And plenty of souveniers too!

It is about 30 Km from Bamaga to ‘the tip’ and the track takes you through the Lockerbie Rainforest. This can get very muddy in the wet, a fact we found out a few days later when it rained, but today it was fairly dry.

Armed with our map we left here and continued up to Pajinka and joined the many other cars parked at Frangipani Beach. It was a lovely little beach and at low tide you could walk around to the tip but our timing was not quite right so it was up and over for us.

I had been told that it was a bit of a scramble over rocks to reach the actual ‘tip’ but I didn’t realise that I needed to be a mountain goat to get there.   It is a bit of a climb up and over a rocky hill but armed with my trusty trekking pole I managed it alright, though very slowly.  A chap coming along behind me fell and couldn’t go any further.  We met him later that day and he had 20 stitches in his leg.  Some young guys had helped him back to his car.

It certainly was a great sense of achievement and relief when I made it.  Of course we took the obligatory photos and some nice bloke took this one of us together.  After about 15 mins at the northernmost point on the Australian Continent it was time to retrace our steps up and over that hill again. It was very windy too which just added to the degree of difficulty.

We made it back to solid flat ground again and we were just about to get in the car when the couple next to us started to talk to Bill about the car.  Since travelling with the 76 series Landcruiser it seems to be a talking point at most places we stop.  Other Landcruiser drivers love to find out about all the modifications you have done and how well they perform.  And so we had a long chat to Liz and Carl about all things cars, roads and travel. They seem really nice people and I think we could be friends. We’ll see them again I’m sure.

Leaving them and their dog, Brock, to explore we made our way around to Punsand Bay and found a very nice resort/campground and another lovely little beach.

From here we made our way in to Seisia to talk to the people at the campground there.  We had been told that we should find Palm Cockatoos here and were asking if this was so.  The lovely girl told us yes, every morning and evening they could be found in the beach almond trees along the front. Also over at the wharf.  We came back that evening and Bill did get a photo or two but none that he was happy with so we enjoyed watching the sunset from the wharf and watching the locals fishing.

The next morning we had an early start as we had booked a trip to Thursday Island.  At the wharf we met Liz and Carl again and soon were chatting like old friends.  The trip across to the Island takes about 70 mins and once there we all caught the bus for the TI tour.  This tour takes about 90 mins and includes a visit to Green Hill Fort, the town centre and the Cemetery where we saw the Japanese Pearl Divers Memorial.

The history of Green Hill Fort was very interesting and the views from the hill just beautiful.  We learnt that Green Hill Fort was built between 1891-1893 as part of Australia's defence against a possible Russian invasion.  It was eventually decommissioned some time in 1927 and the buildings were demolished and the guns were spiked.  Green Hill is a small grassy hill about 58 metres above sea level at the western end of Thursday Island.

The underground bunkers are now full of memrobilia and some of the old photos are truly amazing when you think of the time and place they were taken.

Once the tour was over half of the bus returned to the wharf to catch a boat to Horn Island for another tour.  We had been too late for this so had some free time here.

We returned to the beautiful church we had passed and enjoyed taking some time to look at the beautiful stained glass windows.  All Souls and St Bartholomew's Cathedral Church, along with the Church Hall and the Bishops House was built as a memorial to the 134 lives lost in the shipwreck of the RMS Quetta on 28 February 1890.  The Church was designed in 1892-1893 by architect John H. Buckeridge.  Our tour guide told us it is the smallest Cathederal in the world.

We had lunch at the Gab Titiu cultural centre and enjoyed a look at the art gallery there.  Soon after we returned to the wharf to catch the ferry back to the mainland.  It was a wonderful day out and we had thoroughly enjoyed seeing this very different part of Australia.

The next morning Bill got up early and returned to the wharf and was rewarded with some wonderful pictures of the seven or eight Palm Cockatoos that came in.  I stayed home to wash and had my own encounter with one of the gorgeous birds as one walked around our campground.

Later that day we had a walk through the Lockerbie rainforest to see if we could find the Magnificent Rifle Bird. No luck today so drove back to Loyalty Beach to have a look there before returning home for a quite afternoon in.

We returned to the wharf that evening and met Liz and Carl again as they tried their luck fishing.  The locals gave them some tips but I hope they had left some meat out as fish was not on the menu that night.  We enjoyed the cool evening on the wharf and it was dark when we returned home for our dinner.

Our days here have been filled with amazing views, rainforest walks and friendly locals.  There is too much to tell here in one story so I’ll leave you now and be back tomorrow.

until next time.......