The Tip and Somerset Beach (Cape York) 11th – 12th July 09
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
Today we got up with one thing on our minds – Reaching the Northern most point of the Australian mainland, affectionately referred to as ‘The Tip’.
It is a major achievement to complete the OTL and visit the Tip of Australia. It is inaccessible for 6 months of the year due to the ‘Big Wet’ (Rains) and the rest of the year it is a tough remote road that no family car could survive. We were full of high spirits and packed up camp and head off to the Supermarket for supplies. We also found some ice to get that broken fridge back up and cooling. We must have looked a bit strange as we emptied the fridge of water that had melted from the last lot - We were bailing it out with a plastic cup!
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
With supplies on board we headed off in search of The Tip… We took the dirt road that went passed Loyalty Beach. The road wasn’t bad just a couple of shallow water crossings. We then popped out main road to the tip of Cape York.
Along this road was the famous souvenir shop ‘The Croc Tent’ which has a very real looking croc outside surrounded by nothing more than a flimsy fence! It took me a while to figure out that it was a fake to be honest. We bought a few obligatory souvenirs including a ‘Gunshot’ stubby holder for Heidi and a Nolan’s Brook one for me.
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
After The Croc Tent it was a fairly easy if not a little narrow run up to the car park for The Tip. We grabbed our walking boots, cameras and a celebratory beer and set off into the dense undergrowth, not really knowing how far it was to The Tip.
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
After what must have been around 500 metres we could see the trees clearing and we were greeted with the most magnificent sight. A perfect flat beach leading away to gorgeous turquoise blue waters, it was truly a sight for sore eyes!
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
We took some photos and then headed onward and upward as the path took us over a rocky hill. Well if we thought the view from the beach was good then this was astounding. You could see paradise for miles around… These photos will do it justice.
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
After absorbing all we could of this view we pushed on a bit to the distance & direction monument. We knew at this point we were not far from reaching our goal as we could see islands in the background.
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
Over the top we went and climbed down to the famous sign which lets you know ‘You are standing at the northern most point of the Australian continent’
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
We had made it! Elliott was so happy – this was some where he has always wanted to go. We set the camera up, cracked the beers and took a picture of the 4 of us clinging onto the sign. The scenery over the Torres Straight was amazing and we had the place to ourselves for a good 20 minutes. We took loads of pics and even called Heidi’s sister back in Brisbane.
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
Happy, we set off back to the car and in search of a place to stay for the night.
(Sadly vandals have recently stolen the famous sign that had stood on that famous spot for 20 years – They even pushed the base of it into the ocean. Seems nothing is safe these days)
Somerset Beach was our pick for camping the night. There were a few people there but it wasn’t busy and a great place for a free night. We set up camp and went down to the beach for a spot of fishing.
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
Heidi and I are still novices and have never caught a fish before. Elliott led the way and was showing us how it was done. We all had a go but unfortunately nothing was biting, if anything was even there! We did watch some locals spear fishing a way further up the rocks and they seemed to be having more luck. I wouldn’t have been game enough to go in the water up here in the thick of croc country, but they looked like they knew what they were doing.
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
Having had enough of the fishing we went back to camp for a famous ‘Sandy burger’ - Basically it was one huge hamburger made from a huge mince meat patty and the usual burger fillings – It was Yummy and we were all stuffed!
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
That night we watched a perfect sunset and once again chatted about an ambition fulfilled and what an amazing place Cape York is.
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| From The Tip and Somerset Beach |
