2009 Cape York 3 - Albany Island & The Tip

Cape York, Summerset and Albany Island

Sunday 9^th August 2009:

Leaving Cable Beach Camp we are on our quads once again driving an overgrown track to Rooga Point where we can look across the turquoise sea to Possession Island.  Returning to the main road we followed that as far as the Croc Tent. All of us were very dusty from the road travel and pleased at 1.7km past the tent to turn off and follow a track down to the mouth of Laradeenva Creek.

I knew the old telegraph line had to cross this track somewhere, and we were determined to find that. Just back from the fishing point on the river, there was an old World War II rest area, and here there is the slightest resemblance of a line through the trees. Following this hunch and 1 km in we found our first telegraph pole. The track is almost non-existent and would be impossible to drive in a normal vehicle. Even on the quads we had to use instinct to find the next telegraph pole. Remarkable here is the symbiotic Ant Orchards in the trees.

At a large bauxite hill, the line completely disappeared, and it was only the fact that a recent fire had gone through the area that allowed us to spread out and search. We were now all covered with ash and soot. By analysing the topography, where we would put a telegraph line, we found a shallow valley between two hills. We were indeed correct. From here on the line was more easily discernible, and after 8 kilometres, we emerged on the road back to Punsand Bay.

The afternoon was spent in the bar at Punsand Bay, where Lyn discovered Malibu was a refreshing and relaxing drink!

Returning to camp on the quads, Rob and Jan continued down the beach and found a small crocodile washed up. It hadn’t been dead for long as its skin and body was still soft and beautifully coloured. As much as we would like to have kept the skin for a souvenir rightfully we took it to the manager of Punsand. They were all suitably impressed as were the guests in the bar. Throwing the 1 m croc on the bar, I tried to swap it for a Rum & Coke. The bartender had no humour at all and walked away in disgust!

Monday 10^th August 2009:

We never get tired of view at the tip no matter how many times we have been here, it always remains impressive and the fabulous blue sea. Thinking back, we have seen our children grow from children to adults standing in the same place - at the sign saying “You are standing at the northernmost point of Australia”.

The abandoned Pajinka Lodge looks worse every visit. Once an upmarket tourist resort owned by Qantas, it was purchased by the Federal government and handed back to the local Injinoo aboriginal community. Soon after it has been reported that locals set fire to the generators and the desalination plant. The place was then ransacked and decay has set in. Today it is an eyesore and testimony to bad decisions.

We camped at Somerset beach. It is a tropical setting, if you ignore the red dust blowing in the wind. Close by there is a tree with lots of ornaments and bric-a-brac from past campers. During the afternoon, a couple of fellows arrived; they owned the barge that was moored on the beach. Michael went and chatted to them, and tomorrow they offered to taking us across to Albany Island. Nick and Leon purchased the lease in January and are going to run it as Pabaju Pearls and Wilderness Lodge. Originally, Albany Island was a pearling operation, this they will continue as well as running fishing trips and tours to the aboriginal paintings and gravesites. Next year, they will charge $50 head for what they are going to show us, but tomorrow we will just be a test run for them.

Tuesday 11^th August 2009:

The barge rolled in the blue swell as we crossed to Albany Island. Like the rest of Cape York the island is volcanic, surrounded by a fringing coral reef.

Our ‘tour’ led us to a large cove with some aboriginal rock art depicting what they believe are war canoes, and the remnants of a large rainbow serpent. We were then treated to a wonderful morning tea with muffins and lamingtons in the shade of the open kitchen area overlooking the passage towards Somerset.

Whilst walking to the highest point on the island and the old gravesites we learnt of local aboriginal botanical knowledge. Like crushing leaves of the spiky freshwater mangrove tree and put them in a billabong, where the fish would be stunned and float to the surface, and the

Soap tree that when you crushed the leaves and added water would produce a soapy mixture. The red and black Gidea Gidea Vine seeds were used for both decoration and as an abortion pill. The seeds are highly toxic, but by putting in water the less toxic ones floated. These were then taken to abort a pregnancy. The comment was that they worked 50% of the time, the other 50% were lethal...I guess it means they were 100% effective. Dangerous stuff!

Eight old graves were at the top of the hill, that of Wall and Nibblett from the Kennedy expedition. HMAS Freak bought the bodies here from Shelburne Bay, where they were killed by aborigines. Kennedy was killed nearby in the Escape River but his body was never found. From the top of the hill we could see Pioneer Bay and just beyond that, the rocks where HMAS Queta was wrecked.

We were not back at camp for long, before Nick returned in a small boat to pick up Paddy for a fishing expedition. He returned about an hour later with an 8 kilo Queen fish. Rob and Jan prepared it in alfoil and cooked in the coals. Delicious!

Wednesday 12^th August 2009:

Sunrise over the bay was beautiful, and just improved with the passing of the Young Endeavour sailing ship.

Today is another quad day; the plan is to follow the beaches south of Somerset to the mouth of the Escape River. The track is easy to follow from beach to beach, crossing the intermediate headlands. Continuing past the last inland track at Chandogoo Point we travelled behind the mangroves and across a small river. We had to move quickly now as not to get caught on the incoming tide at this point. It was then Saldegoo Beach and Cliffy Point before we could go no further on the quads. We then walked the next 2 km onto Kilbie Beach and marvelled at the wide mouth of the Escape River. Returning quickly, we crossed the river and the mangroves on an incoming tide and then back via the beautiful perched freshwater lakes of Wickeura and Bronto.

Thursday 13^th August 2009:

Following a further invitation from the boys of Albany Island, we loaded all of us and three quad bikes onto their barge. While the girls and Paddy went fishing around the island, Robert, Michael and myself were invited to push a track across to Pioneer Bay. With axe and machete we cut and pushed our way through thick scrub, vine scrub, down rocky escarpments and through the final rainforest fringe before we finally broke through to Pioneer Beach.

Pioneer Beach is fabulous pristine and isolated beach.

We met the barge and everyone else on the beach. Whilst we were enjoying our track making adventure Paddy had landed a 7Kg Trevalli for dinner.

2009 Cape York 2 -South From Vrilya Point

The Old Telegraph Track and Quading South from Vrilya Point

Monday 3^rd August 2009:
We were all up at 6.30 and another shower. Lyn has written the word “Bliss” in her logbook so obviously it was very welcome.

The road north has much improved over the years and there are still road crews working on it now. From Bramwell Junction we followed the Old Telegraph Track to the notorious Gunshot Creek. Scouting the many options we decided on the far left hand track, still steep and eroded but with careful wheel placement all vehicles successfully crossed. Talking to other travellers it would still seem that many people have problems here. Only recently vehicles have been towed out from rollovers, end over ends, or just broken. There is now a tree beside the creek which has become a collecting point for broken bits of truck.

We set camp at Cockatoo Creek early in the afternoon, and all welcomed a swim in the creek.

Tuesday 4^th August 2009

The track north of Cockatoo was corrugated and rough but nothing like the track after the turnoff to Vrilya Point. This piece of road was so bad that if you opened your mouth your teeth would fall out! Everything that had a chance to move did move. Normally with corrugations travelling about 80 km/h is the answer, however with the winding track this was impossible. Even as slow as 5 km/h it was torturous.

The only exciting part of the track to Vrilya was the old long bridge. It is about 6 m long and only 2 m wide with a very steep drop below into it into a crystal clear creek. Not a difficult crossing it just needs correct wheel placement of all four wheels on the logs and not between them.

We set camp on South Vrilya Beach amongst the Casuarinas. It is a pretty spot on the beach, with the blue water gently lapping on the oyster rocks out in front of us. The afternoon spent washing the quads down in a small freshwater creek about 2 km back from the beach and repacking and sorting the gear the next four days quading south.

Wednesday 5^th August 2009

We were away at 8am, four quads; eight people, two skipper boats, pontoon, and gear for four days. Heading south it was a beautiful drive with lots of interesting things. We came across quite a few turtle tracks along the beach and one spot where the female had laid her eggs. By one lagoon there were a number of crocodile slides, one very big. Amongst the debris we found a large 70cm light bulb and marked a GPS point to collect on a return.

13 km down the beach we come to our first big estuarine river. Our adventure starts here at the Cottrell River. It is almost full low tide and yet the river is still 200 metres wide and still flowing out to sea. We know the water is deep because the sand disappears under the dark blue colour. With the pontoon assembled Paddy and Michael were the first to cross with me on the outboard. With them successfully on the other side I returned for Greg and Sue, and then Rob with our bike. The final run was for Lyn and Jan. During all this the outboard motor was a little temperamental but nonetheless our crossing was successful and we are all proud of our successful crossing.

Another 5 km further south we came across a 5 metre canoe washed in from the Pacific. The beach is covered with everything plastic, and anything that can possibly float. Fishing ropes of all sizes, Chinese whiskey bottles, plastic fishing trays with Thai writing, even a carton of very strong cigars. The best part of beachcombing is finding the unusual.

At midday and 28 km from base camp we reached the Doughboy River. It now full low tide and we thought we'd be lucky enough to drive it, but suddenly reached a stretch of deep water about 250 m across. We pontooned crossed successfully and in better time, we were all on the other side within half an hour. Now it's just a matter of packing up and heading south once again. At 38 km we encountered our next river, it was 3pm and with an incoming tide already too wide to cross. Tomorrow we will cross at low tide. This was the MacDonald River.

We did find a fabulous ready-made campsite on the peninsula between the river and the sea. Amongst the casuarinas we have the ocean to be west; to the north and the east is the river as it wraps around the campsite. It's an old fisherman's camp complete with plastic table and the exact number of chairs to suit our group. This we just have to call Camp Oceanview.

We took the bait net down to the river and caught 20 or so bait fish, and then it was down to the serious job of fishing. I have two strikes in a matter of minutes; unfortunately the second strike took all my line and tackle. Paddy saved the day by adding fish to our evening’s menu.

At 7 PM the sun has set and the moon has risen, the sky is bathed in different colours. Everyone has enjoyed the day with lots to see and explore. We are 38 km from base camp.

Thursday 6^th August 2009

We are up early after a disturbed night. The blow-up mattress was uncomfortable and it was a hot night. Breakfast is porridge and dried fruit that had been soaked in water overnight, plus that early morning cup of coffee to get us all going.

The tide is on its way out and we were lucky enough to see a group of dolphins swimming out to sea. The longer we wait the more exposed sand we see, reducing the length of our crossing. At full low the MacDonald River is still 150 m wide and fast flowing. We are all constantly on crocodile watch. We load the first quad bike onto the pontoon and a large loggerhead turtle and her baby swim by. As operator of the outboard motor I am very close to the water's edge as we shuffle the quads back and forth. It's a little concerning because the noise of the outboard motor is reported to be a similar to that of a mating female crocodile.

Despite the outboard motor still playing up, in less than 30 minutes we are all across the MacDonald River and see a small number of fishing dinghies and mother ship. It is a paid 10 day fishing trip out from Bamaga, they fish the ocean gutters by day and the estuarine rivers at night when the tides permit.

In the 50 km we have travelled, we have found 14 dugout canoes. Jan was very fortunate to find not only a set of paddles, but also a child's toy canoe. It has obviously been lovingly carved and a treasured possession, it is now washed up on this isolated beach. It is now Jan’s treasured possession!

We reached the Jackson River at 56 km from base camp. Refuelling the quad bikes from our reserves we watch a Sea Eagle swoop in and catch fish to feed her young brood in the nest above us. Deciding not to cross because our fuel is getting low and that doubtful outboard motor, we return north to retrace our steps back to Oceanview Camp.

Back at the MacDonald River, the tide was on its way in and there was quite a bit of discussion whether to cross. With time being the essence, the pontoon was quickly assembled and we had the first quad across the river in less than eight minutes. The incoming tide is alive with activity, the crossing is smooth and we see a number of big stingrays and a shark chasing fish in the shallows. With each successive crossing the trip gets longer and longer as the river grows in width with the incoming tide. Where we had driven across sand in the morning, we are now pontooning across fast flowing water. By a third crossing we had to cover some 500 metres from one side to the other. Just before the last return trip the outboard motor spluttered to a stop and refused to restart. Paddy and Michael were still on the other side and no matter what we did it refuse to start.

Fortunately the mother ship of those fishing boats we had seen earlier in the morning was anchored for its overnight stay in the MacDonald River. They had been watching our situation unfold and fortunately lent us a hand by towing our pontoon across the river to collect Paddy, Michael and their quad bike. From the mother ship Michael borrowed the appropriate tools to dismantle the carburettor and fixed the fuel blockage problem.

With everybody now back on the same side of the river, camp is set and everyone is relaxed after a hard day with a fair degree of excitement.

Friday 7^th August 2009

Everybody slept well last night, despite the background noises from dingoes, pigs, and the splashes in the river, which could have been anything.

Heading north, we are first across the Doughboy River, and thanks to Michael's service the motor is working like a dream. The crossing is being done in less than five minutes, and all four vehicles were over in less than 14 minutes. We are becoming very proficient at this.

During morning tea stop on the beach, we collected coconuts for our pre-dinner snack. At the crossing of the Cottrell River, Lyn was waiting on the other side and spotted a large mud crab in the shallows. With a net that she had found on the beach earlier Lyn scooped up the crab and that also became a pre-dinner snack.

The run along the beach back to camp was easy-going, the sea was beautiful blue, the tide low, and the birds darted into the waves as fish jumped and scattered. Arriving back at camp, we had covered a total of 112 km.

Rob and Jan, both being ex-chefs, made an exquisite crab and coconut dip from our beach finds. We enjoyed this as the sun set over the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Saturday 8^th August 2009

This morning we took the quads, north of Vrilya Point 4 or 5 km to the old lighthouse ship. Not much is left now but it was appropriate for a group photograph.

With the trucks packed, we returned to the main northern road, crossed the Jardine River, and set camp at Cable Beach, a short quad drive from Punsand Bay. Cable Beach is where the Overland Telegraph Line crossed the sea to Thursday Island to connect with Singapore and the rest of the world. We use the quad bikes as a shuttle service for the facilities at Punsand Bay, and also to enjoy Saturday evening seafood buffet. At $60 a head, it is recommended with plentiful crabs, prawns, lobster, oysters, and more.