Bamaga - and "The Tip" - Qld Friday 12 Aug 2022 (2 nights)

 Bamaga - and "The Tip" - Qld Friday 12 Aug 2022 (2 nights)

Friday 

Left Moreton by 8am and headed up to Bramwell Junction. This is where you have to decide to either take the Old Telegraph track to Bamaga and run the very high risk of losing everything or at least doing major and very expensive damage, or the safe way, the south section bypass. We went with safe, although the road is so rough in places you wonder how the truck is going to stay in one piece. 

Bramwell Junction. Cape York Qld

Number Plate Tree. Bramwell Junction. Cape York Qld

Decide to walk the Old Telegraph Track? Probably better than driving.
Bramwell Junction. Cape York Qld

We stopped at Camp 84, the site where Kennedy left 3 of his expedition, after one accidentally shot himself, to wait for his return while he and Jacky Jacky made a break for the tip. Only Jacky Jacky, Kennedy’s native guide and tracker, made it to the tip where the good ship Areil was waiting to rescue them. None of the party at Camp 84 were ever seen again. Kennedy was speared by natives 20 miles from his destination, all but two of the other men left at the first camp also perished.

Camp 84 Kennedy expedition, 1848. Cape York Qld

In the clearing at Camp 84 is a wrecked 4x4. An old Holden Frontera. Who knows what it died of or when, but its one of probably 1000’s scattered along the track. I guess you get a lift home the best way you can and leave the vehicle to its fate, which is either being burnt by vandals and/or being stripped for parts. Nearby, hidden in the bush was what I can only assume was a caravan once. The number of vans being flogged up and down these horrible roads is just amazing. And I don't care if they are sold as "off-road", nothing can withstand this constant pounding.

After Camp 84 we stopped at one of the true highlights of any trip to the Cape, Fruit Bat Falls on the Eliot Creek. Eliot Creek is the runoff from a spring further up and is crystal clear and about 24º. Its wide and the depth varies on the season, this time of year it was at least a metre and a half to two and a half deep. You can go to the top, above the falls, shallow, lazy flowing part they call the baths or the proper waterfall pool area, which is where we (and many others) went. This is the first place you start to see and notice the amount of traffic, almost everyone a proper 4x4, with quite a few pulling camper-trailers and a surprising number of vans. The road is dirt of course and just a bus width wide. Makes for interesting passing of oncoming traffic. The place is really well set-up with areas for buses, tours, and public. They have change rooms and toilets and shelters with tables, which is where we had lunch. The lunches on the road have all be good, this one was chicken wraps made by the chef at Moreton and were delicious and filling.

Fruit Bat Falls. Cape York Qld

Next you come to the world famous Jardine Crossing. The Jardine river is the largest continuously flowing river in Australia. There is only one crossing point and only one way to get across; by vehicular ferry. At this time of year the river is about 40m wide and the trip takes about 20 seconds. Cost for the tour bus: $280, but what can you do?

Jardine River Crossing. Cape York Qld

Before we go into Bamaga proper, we take a detour toward the airport, created during WWII, where we view the remains of a DC3 that was on its final approach to land but hit the tree tops instead. Sadly, all onboard were killed.

DC3 Wreck 1944. Bamaga Qld

Finally we are at our hotel, the Cape York Peninsular Lodge. I suspect this is the only hotel in town. There are three tours lodged here at the moment. We hit the pool which was just lovely after a long day in a bumpy bus which seems to have developed some problems with its air-conditioning. 

Dinner was superb and the restaurant full, which was nice to see for a change. Refreshments in the form of wine come at a premium though, I look at it as a self regulating system - you can't afford more than two glasses!

Saturday

Early start today - onto the bus at 7:15am, but with good reason - we’re off to the tip! No not the dump, the tip of Australia or to be pedantic, the northern most point of mainland Australia.

It is  about a 45 minute drive from Bamaga to the Pajinka National Park, which is where you park and start your hike. I always thought the tip was a sign post stuck in the beach, but no, its a sign stuck in the rocks at the top of the cliff which drops into the Torres Strait. The climb is a little daunting, climbing over rocks all the way. It has a couple of steep ascents and descents but of you go carefully is reasonably doable. Some of our people dropped out as it got to hard, some didn't bother to start, and sat and waited for our return. Why pay this much money and come all this way if you're not going to buist-a-gut to get to the finish line? Anyhow, Judy surprised me with her steely determination to do this thing despite a dodgy knee and being out of her comfort zone. The least likely bloke in the tour group also stumbled and clawed his way to the tip, and they both have my respect,

But we made it and I have to say it was the buzz I had been looking for the whole trip. A sense of achievement and that the whole thing had been a great big adventure with this as the ultimate goal, Nobody wants to leave. We all duly lined up to pose with the sign, and you take a hundred snaps of the scenery, knowing that this is one place you are unlikely to ever get back to. And then you make the trek back to the bus. It started raining a typical tropical light warm shower, but who cared how long it took? None of us. Back at the bus we had morning tea and sat around admiring Frangipani Beach and getting wet in the rain. Rain, they said it might rain. But its like taking a warm shower knowing that in a few minutes it will stop and you will dry in the ensuing sun and heat.

Start of the climb. The Tip. Cape York, Qld

Frangipani Bay.  The Tip. Cape York, Qld

Looking due north to  The Tip. Cape York, Qld

Your first sighting of the sign that says you've made it
 The Tip. Cape York, Qld

It just has to be done.
 The Tip. Cape York, Qld

Looking back down south from  The Tip. Cape York, Qld

Making the climb back up from  The Tip. Cape York, Qld

Frangipani Bay.  The Tip. Cape York, Qld

Remains of path to the abandoned Resort. The Tip. Cape York, Qld

By now it started to get hot and even more humid and the car park is full to bursting, out into the overflow carpark and the overflow overflow carpark. There would have been at least a hundred 4x4 parked all over the place, and plenty more trying to come in as we squeezed our way out. First rule of the road up here, and in the outback in general - the right of the might - you get out of the way of larger vehicles or you get squashed.

As a bonus, we were also taken to Fly Point, which is where Jacky Jacky was rescued from by the waiting vessel, the good ship Ariel. Just how they got him off the rocks and against that enormous current flowing through Albany Strait is something to think about.

Fly Point. Cape York Qld

Fly Point. Cape York Qld

Then we are taken around to Somerset Bay which is where they tried to establish one of the first settlements in the north of Australia, along similar lines as Victoria Settlement over on the Coburg Peninsular. The Governor in Residence one Frank Jardine who proceeded to have his house built, the jungle between him and the beach cleared and turned into an English tiered garden. There were barracks for the marines and the police and even a group of nuns from London came and setup a mission, to save the ‘savages’.

Everywhere we go we run across "The missionaries" come to save the savages. Somerset Bay, Cape York Qld

Somerset Bay Cape York Qld

It all failed, as they all did, and the place was abandoned. The short story is that Jardine was a rogue who as a public servant, helped himself to whatever he wanted from government stores, labour and equipment. He was finally ousted and sailed away to start again, but when he heard that the settlement had folded, he was able to buy it all back! There is nothing except some sad looking graves on the beach and nothing else. There is no trace of the settlement, the jungle has claimed it all back. The house was where Jardine and family ran their huge cattle station, pearling, transport and trepang empire for many years. It was left derelict for a long time and finally was burnt down by local indigenous people who rose up and exacted a small revenge against the man they claimed was the devil. Certainly history shows that he was a ruthless murderer with perhaps a tally of 150 lives to his name. The locals even had his body exhumed from its grave in Townsville and reburied here, but with the head pointing down, as is the native custom for those that they consider to be devils.

The only relic left is a pair of canon, reputedly salvaged from a Spanish Galleon out on the reef. He admitted to also taking a few serie, Spanish silver coins, but it was also reported that a Jardine ship arrived a few years later in England with the equivalent of half-a-million pounds' worth on board.

The two 'Jardine ' canon, no mention what the third one was .
Somerset Bay, Cape York Qld

On the way back to Bamaga we mad an obligatory stop at the Croc Tent, the only place we saw on the Cape where they actually had souvenirs.

Croc Tent. Bamaga Cape York Qld

We weren't done yet, we had to visit the Punsand resort for an ice-cream, which was nice. Apparently Outback Spirit used to come here, as opposed to the hotel in town, when it was owned by Gary and Sue, the same as the ones out at Lotus Bird Lodge.

The new owners (must be at least 20 years ago) decided they didn't want the tours and cater for the hoards of 4x4 tourists.

Punsand Lodge Bamaga Cape York Qld

I thought it looked familiar - there's a copy of it out at Lotus Bird Lodge