A few weeks back we rolled out a large map of Australia on the back deck of the pub, grabbed a black texta/nicko/sharpie whatever you fancy, a few beers and sat down to mark out our trip. Most people would call it step one!

It was fun to traced our steps on the map of our journey over the past couple of years and drained our drinks in the FNQ night heat, we found a couple of gaps in the map far to large to ignore, north of cooktown was bare of a black line and the centre of our large dry land. We still had three months of our contract to run but after 4 months of tourist season (known as terrorist season to the Helenvale & Rossville locals) at the Lions Den Hotel we had managed to organise a week off thanks to owners Max & Faith.

Having started our year in the lands most southerly state Tasmania we had no option but to head north being so close, only 1000 kilometres of dirt road between us and the tip. We dusted off the Prado, now considered family after growing so close and having served us so well, organised a few repairs to the penthouse from a local canvas dude who just moved to Cooktown from the Kimberley and we were ready for another unplanned adventure.

Rob had arrived from Tannum Sands a few days prior to join us, like us he hadn’t ventured north of Cooktown but for one difference, he’d studied the history of our country and the people who’d sailed, rode, walked or crawled north from our starting point. From Cooktown we headed north/west to Laura on the Battle Camp Road a dirt road that would ultimaltey reach out north to the tip of our amazing land.

You could always take the road from Lakeland to Laura but its sealed, a black top why bother with a few ks of black top when you have a thousand of red dirt in front of you. The population north of Cooktown is only in the thousands so the services aren’t great we rolled north on the battle camp road through old Laura to join the developmental road only a few ks north of Laura a town best know around here for its annual rodeo that attracts thousands of large wallets and belt buckled cowboy hat wearing men and women.

As we were returning through Laura we didn’t bother heading back into town for a look, we made the right turn and headed north on the red dirt with one goal in mind – the tip was ours, we are coming like it or not…

Within 10 kilometres we had come across our first of many road trains heading south, it ripped past us without regard as it would, on it’s mission south to reload before heading north to do it all again.

WHOOOOOSH….. A RED DIRT explosion, our view had been undisturbed until now, clear window projecting a red dirt road back at me, a clear dividing range that ran from my home town in southern Victoria thousands of kilometres north to a sharp point that most Australians never visit.

The road may be dirt, dusty and little traveled but the people of the north rely on the supply trucks as much as the people in the south, maybe even more so, 1000 ks on the perfectly sealed roads of Victoria take 3 times as long to transverse when suppling the people of Saisie, Bamaga and Weipa.

When you think dirt road I guess you think impassable bog heap, the dirt roads of outback Australia are actually pretty amazing in parts, the Battle Camp Road was ok, winedy and plenty of acceding before descending but as it disappeared in the rear vision mirror a flat wide road appeared out the windscreen.

With little between Laura and Coen we didn’t make any stops before we rolled into Coen, a one street town with a pub a post office and a mechanic, the Coen pub began its life as the Exchange Hotel but somehow gained and extra letter. The letter S now stands in position one of the Exchange making it the Sexchange Hotel. The old pub had a few old local pictures on the wall and an old dog asleep at the bar, somehow Rob overlooked the mut and gave it a good old kick as he approached the well named Shellys Bar. The very pregnant barmaid served us a cold beer and decent burger for lunch before we continued our trip North.

Around 20k north of Coen we were pulled over by three police vehicles, after I passed a breath test a second officer approached the window and held out a small piece of plastic to drag down my tongue, we waited for ten minutes to find out I had passed my first ever drug test.

After 650 long dusty kilometres we were pointed west and looking into the sun setting over Weipa, the remote minning town reminded me a little of Port Headland, much smaller but similar in some ways. A quick drink in the local and we set up camp on the edge of the Gulf of Carpenteria.

With less than 400ks to Bamaga and Seisia we had and easy drive on some great roads mostly at 100ks an hours, we passed the entry to Bramwell Station that we were planning to stay at on our return trip and pulled in just up the road at Bramwell Roadhouse to check out the the beginning of the Old Telegraph Track, a tough 4WD track that atracts thousands every year to bump their way a couple of hundred ks north to the tip of Australia. We took two things, a picture of the sign then took the easy track to Fruit Bat falls, Rob had us all looking out for the Kennedy Memorial but like the explorer of all those years ago it was lost.

Fruit Bat falls was a pretty place, a great place for a swim in crystal clear water after Shell made us lunch in the car park. I had seen many pictures of the falls with a crowd as big as the Cairns pool in peak backpacker times but on this warm overcast day we had the place to ourselves. Shell as always tested the water to make sure is was ok for the boys to have a swim. We had the GoPro in the water so check out the video to see how clear it was.

After our refreshing dip we continued north and had to fight for space on the track as some dickheads tried to force us from road as they tore up the dirt at way over 100ks an hour, the same dickheads were terrorising the locals at the Jardine River Ferry. The ferry was the moving bridge that allows travellers to the north and the local Aboriginals have got a great thing going. The Jardine River is named after Frank Jardine who explored the area in the 1880s before setting up a cattle station. The river wouldn’t have spanned more than 30 meters but that didn’t stop the locals from charging us $129 for the short trip. With only a few kilometres to go we had a look around Bamaga then headed out to Seisia to set up camp only meters from the water at the Loyalty Beach camp ground.

Breakfast by the water is always a great way to start the day before you explore the northern most part of the country, the sign didn’t say to the top or the tip it said Pajinka 33ks another dirt road winds its way to the top. We figured Pajinka was a local name for the tip but it turns out someone built a luxury resort only a few hundred meters from the tip before walking away and leaving everything in tact from the business, its just a run down overgrown resort now standing in front of us.

Rob wanted to check out the ruins of a town known as Somerset we didn’t find much at Somerset, a few grave sites a few old rusty cannons and a plaque for Herbert Somerset Vigden, turns out this guy is the grandson of Frank Jardine and lived in Somerset representing the government.

With only a kilometre separating us from he beach we drove down the sandy track to check it out, the Prado didn’t handle a two hundred meter section of soft sand very well at all, we forced our way through and walked the littered but otherwise perfect beach before heading back to the road to the tip. I gave the Prado plenty of fuel to help force our way through the soft sand but as it turned out not enough, we could force no longer as we came to a stop before seemingly sinking. We tried a few things before realising we needed help if we were getting out of this remote part of Australia. Shelly and Rob set up the chairs under a tree offering shade from the midday heat and the burning sand under foot. I grabbed a bottle of water a hat and started the long walk back the turn off where we would have a better chance of finding help.

A few ks back along the road a car pulled over wondering why is was out walking in the heat, once I explained Tony and Jill had no problem dragging us out. It took a few attempts but we got out then sharing a few beers and stories before we headed to our main destination of the trip.

We passed the empty buildings of Pajinka and rolled into a carpark on possibly the best beach in Australia where Shell again made the lunches, we spent a bit of time enjoying the peaceful beach before taking off in search of the way to the tip, a couple of ks back down the road and we decided the carpark we had made lunch at must have been it? Back to the car park and great beach where we noticed a worn path over the rocks, no sign nothing!

The worn path was the track to the tip, a short walk over the rock past many rock piles, Rob stopping at each one to place a rock for reasons known to him like many others who had placed a rock. Half way on the journey we came across a large metal disk a bit like a sun dial bolted to the large rock it pointed off in all directions tell us the distance to each destination listed, Somerset 9 KM, Wellington 4630 KM, Melbourne 3020 KM, Honolulu 7410 KM. The track was all down from here, the end of the Great Dividing Range that stretches from Victoria to the Thursday Islands.

The final few meters revealed the sign that marks the tip of Australia, we did as all do and took a few snaps and I know we all felt pretty good with our selves standing out on the point that afternoon. We stopped in at the Bamaga Tavern for a beer to discus our eventful day, the Bamaga Tavern wasn’t Australia best in looks or smell.

Whilst enjoying a beer back at our camp ground we tried to book a boat to Thursday Island, the main ferry had cut down on days traveled now that main tourist season was behind them, the sad part of that for us was no ferry to TI on a Thursday. The private tour didn’t have enough going so they called it off unless we wanted to pay $1200 for the day trip.

We decided a rest day was in order so we headed to the Seisia Jetty said to be in the top two fishing jetty in Australia, we parked next a couple of locals, one carrying a spear the other a fishing rod and as well walked on the jetty together the girl dropped her line over and pulled up a bait fish, she turned and walked to deep side of the jetty and as the bait hit the deep blue water the tip of the rod near touched the ground as a Mackerel began its fight with the local, a shark joined the fight not long after as the excitement built on the jetty. The Mackerel did its best to avoid the shark hunting it, the local did her best to fight the fish. The Mackerel jumped high out of the water to avoid the shark and reveal its powerful shape to the few of us overseeing the fight.

The local with the spear helped as it neared the jetty but the fish was to large to just pull up, he held it close the large pole holding us up as the shark cruised by like a security guard on watch, we flagged down a boat and the boys pulled out a large gaff to help the local bring in the family feed.

Later in the day we enjoyed another fine lunch from Shell on a beach in a neighbouring town before checking out the plane wrecks in the area and the Jacky Jacky Airport. Jacky Jacky an explorer with Kennedy that we couldn’t find back down the track.

We sat in the dark that night only broken by the dim light of our camp fire, a large ship cruised in and tied up just off from us, by the time we woke it was tied to the Seisia Jetty and unloading supplies for the locals. MV Trinity Bay is an 80 meter cargo ship running weekly up the barrier reef from Cairns. We decided to check it out before we started our 1000 trip south, a local on the jetty explained the ship to us and that it was the only cargo ship in Australia that carried passengers 40 in all. The couple who had camped near us for a couple of night were boarding the ship as we talked and their broken down vehicle would be loaded on later.

A boat trip sounded great but we had good car and plenty of time to make it home in time so we headed out of Seisia towards Bamaga before I turned to Shell and said (as i have in the past) “lets turn around and catch the ship back” we discussed it for a bit before making the uturn to get us back to the Seisia Jetty. I pulled the car in at the Sea Swift office and we again discussed the options before we decided I would at least ask the question… “can we come and what would it cost” I held little hope when I noticed the sign behind the lady that read “No vehicle bookings after Thursdays No Exceptions”

She looked me up and down and left plenty of silence in the dusty room before answering “maybe, how many people and what type of car” putting hope back into my mind. She made a couple of calls and said your in luck today they have room for you and the car. I ran the price by the passengers waiting in the car and we decided we were cruising back to Cairns.

We quickly packed a bag, handed over all our food the lady in the office and found ourselves boarding the ship just in time for lunch and a beer. They feed us well and had the bar well stocked so we could sit up on the back deck enjoying the view as the ships crew loaded the ship with nine million dollars worth of prawns from the Gulf prawn boats. Sleeping wasn’t easy due to the loud roar of the ships engines for the 40 passengers most of whom had taken the week long round trip, but we did get our own room as did Rob.

The ship sailed down the east coast inside the reef so we got to see land most of the way we also got to spend time on the bridge with the captain and his first mate (a fellow Bomber) the wind blew 25 knots but the old former Korean ship handled it well. The Captain of the ship approached me after lunch and said we have met before, last time you told me you were going to manage the Lions Den. Neither of us could work it out both knew he was correct. I joined Captain Will on the bridge the next morning to let him know we had met when doing a government liquor managers course just prior to TC Ita.

We made a quick stop just off Lockhart River to tie up with a small barge that had come out to collect supplies for the locals before heading south through the reef past Cooktown and on to Cairns on Sunday afternoon.

The trip now completes the line we have draw on our map around Australia the only main area to draw on our map is Tennent Creek to Alice Springs so we can look forward to another adventure in the new year.