Day 4 14/8/17
After a night of rain showers , we have our breakfast under the shelter shed beside us , then decide to move the tent under the shelter , what a good idea !!
Mick & Sue packed up a bit damp and headed off to Punsand Bay , about 30 klm further up toward the tip .
We found a nautilus shell beside our camp site -
After getting organised , we headed back into Bamaga and went toward the tip , the road from Bamaga to the Croc Tent Souvenir Shop was atrocious - huge corrugations , holes , ruts and more corrugations !!! This is some of the milder ones !!
The next part of the drive was awesome , through rainforest - awe inspiring !!!
The road here was narrow and winding , so it was slower going which was fine by us , before much further we’d gone past some old unused cabins , and then we were there - at the start of the walk to the tip of Australia . The walk up can be done a couple of ways , tides depending , we chose to go up the rocky headland and then down to the tip itself - a walk of about 1 klm , then back over the lower rocks and down onto the beach and back to the carpark .
The views of the bay as we climbed the headland were amazing , it shows how shallow the bay is for the tide to go out so far - some people drove along the beach from an entry point on the other end of the beach , there were also 6 motorbikes cruising around the place .
Higher up we climbed and got some better views of the surrounding islands and rocky coastline , contrasting with the colour of the water . At the top is the brass disc showing distances to towns & cities all around the place .
Descending the hill , we found out way to the famous sign and stopped for the obligatory photo’s . That done we made our way around the rocks and down to the beach , I was a bit concerned about tides and didn’t want to get caught out , so we probably rushed more than we should’ve . The tide was on it’s way back in , and it turns out we had plenty of time . There are many interesting rock formations here as well .
There’s also some rusting equipment on the beach that looks like part of a fishing boat - used to bring in the nets .
From here we headed back toward town , before turning out toward Somerset - some old ruins and some graves . There’s a campground and a nice beach - that you cant swim at - and Albany Island is 500m away .
About 2klms from Somerset is Fly Point , interesting contrast between the red dirt & the ocean . There’s another campsite down the beach , but would have been very windy the last few days .
With that done we headed back to the corrugations etc , and to a well earned drink . We ate dinner as the sun went down - another interesting sunset .
That’s your lot for today , here’s a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gIvqAr13HsWUz6ac4mbAPNcJhOA&usp=sharing
Day 5 15/8/17
Time for a cruisy day today , no rush to get anywhere or do too much of anything . After doing some washing we headed into Seisia - a 5 min drive - and checked out the village and wharf .
Across from the jetty is an island and several boats are moored , one more so than the others , and has been for some time judging by the rusted hull .
Next stop was some plane wreckage from WW2 - first is a Bristol Beaufort torpedo bomber that didn’t make it to the runway . Tail section , fuselage & wings & undercarriage lying there deteriorating in the scrub . A small lizard was calling it home though .
Next up is a DC3 that crashed in 1945 , airforce and army personnel were killed in the crash .
We then checked out some of Bamaga , then Imagico - down near the campground , a nice beach & view .
Back to the tent & a late lunch and a lazy afternoon . Here’s a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gSCqNhFBN9b9ZrXvdoqeuCS5H_g&usp=sharing
Day 6 16/8/17
Seems to be a bit of noise around the park this morning , so we were up early , which was helpful as our cruise leaves at 8:30am . Heading down to the jetty , we wanted to see Mick & Sue , but they beat us there and already had got on board Peddells Ferry - a catamaran that runs from Thursday Island to Seisia twice daily . This is the view off the jetty .
Our boat wasn’t even in the water yet , so we waited patiently . There was another boat from the same company , that was doing the same tour , so we headed down to it to find out what was going on . It was all sorted , our boat had arrived and was just getting put in the water - it was a 7 seater twin hull aluminium boat powered by 2 x150hp motors . Safety briefing done , we were off across to the little island 200m away - there was a 5m crocodile lying on the sand , reaffirming that you don’t go swimming !!
Everything was good untill we got further out in Torres Strait and the tidal current and wind were pushing the waves along , water sprayed up the sides and people were getting a little wet . That changed into a lot wet , fortunately it was warm , water temp was 25 degrees - very pleasant - but we all kept laughing about it !!
About an hour later we’d arrived at Horn Island , damp but happy . The museum was a 400m walk away , so off we went . Horn Island has an airport that is used for Thursday Island - TI isn’t big enough for an airport . The museum had a lot of war memorabilia & information , as well as some artworks .
There was a beautiful frangipani out in flower .
Finished at the museum , we headed back to our boat , the views over to Thursday Island (TI) were great - it’s only a kilometer or so away , and was our next destination .
There was also another ship at Horn Island dock , loaded with shipping containers filled with tiger prawns going to China - direct from the trawlers !!
The waters of Torres Strait come straight from an artists palette , the colours amazing !!
We arrive at TI without getting any wetter , and get dropped down to a coffee shop - we had a mango smoothy and blind melon juice ( watermelon , orange & passionfruit ) .
The cultural centre was a short walk away , and the only thing we could take photo’s of was a ceramic sculpture outside .
There was a stunning red hibiscus outside .
We walked around for a while , finding our way to The Torres Hotel where we are booked in for some lunch - meeting up with Mick & Sue as well .
Next was our turn at the taxi TI highlights tour , that showed us many things - this is the old Customs House - now Border Security !!
This is the view back to Horn Island .
Then there was the thong tree .
Around to the cemetery and were shown the monument to the 700 Japanese Pearl Divers that have died here in these waters , and some of their graves .
Ti is pretty much all government houses & buildings , with Federal Police , local police , Army & Navy & Border Security . There aren’t many freehold houses here , but there are over 3,000 residents . Teachers live beside the schools , doctors & nurses etc live beside the hospital , tradesmen are all in another area of the island - that’s the way they do it here in TI .
Our taxi driver / tour guide lives here , he showed us his house & crayfish boat - he does 2 weeks of crayfish diving , and when the tides aren’t right ( too much current ) he drives the taxi .
There’s very little crime here due to the high contingent of police & border security .
The tour took us past some new houses that cost over $1million each - they’d only just recently finished the 14th one - all government owned .
Off to Greenhill Fort , started being built in 1890 , it had 3 guns installed that have never been fired . The Japanese didn’t bomb TI , even though they’d bombed Horn Island many times . They did it out of respect for all the Japanese divers that died and are buried here .
This is the view toward the hospital , and one of the guns .
Next stop was the boat and off to Friday Island to Kazu Pearls - a Japanese Pearling Family with a shop front . Here’s some views from there .
We had a rough passage home to Seisia , but John , our skipper took us around a few islands to get away from the current & swell . He took us to another island and showed us an sea eagles nest up on the ridge , and the coral below the rocky ridge . This was our little boat .
Sunsets have been okay , but the clouds cleared away to create this sunset .
That was our day , here’s a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=14EX0VJt98pm-uT1U8ov1KFPSCyM&usp=sharing
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