The Birthday Tip

That's not a termite mound....this is a termite mound!

Fruit Bat Falls

Oh Yeah!

A birthday tip? Rusty Nails in the fifth at Flemington? (sighs from the children) You can never have enough cushions? (louder sighs from the children). Oh the tip of Australia? Yes. 

How to have fun whilst folding the washing.

A Pitcher Plant

Night sky looking out from our campsite at Seisia

Birthday morning

We made it!

Looking west from the "Tip"

A Birthday picnic

Cape York is an amazing place. As we drove here over the sandy dirt track, with many deeply rutted creek crossings, we were constantly being subjected to a changing landscape. Open Savannah gave way to tropical rainforest, to stunning palm forests that had pandanus and grass trees in the under-stories, to high heath lands as we criss-crossed the tail end of the Great Dividing Range. Another river ferry at the Jardine River took us across to the final section of sandy track to the top of the Cape. We saw our first dingo on the road and snake number 10! The Cape is both beautiful and unusual, with several small “villages”, some predominantly Islander and some, local Murri people. Russ has learnt more about the history of the place so I’ll let him explain the why and wherefores. The stand out feature is the islands, which lie just off the coast. At least ten or more islands seem just a stones throw away. It is incredibly beautiful, with colourful sunsets, fish jumping, white sandy beaches fringed with coconut palms and strewn with shells. The water is an inviting azure colour and the temperature is hot…but no no no, can’t swim “ACHTUNG…Crocodiles!” Oh Pooh! We stayed on croc watch as Russ quickly jumped in near the pier. The water is very shallow everywhere else, so deep water is hard to find. Arieh and the girls have spent a few days fishing off the pier, catching several small bait fish (sardines), but nothing substantial. Saturday was Miss Maeve’s birthday and Arieh and I had managed to make a delicious chocolate cake. We had pancakes for breakfast and then headed off to the tip of the continent for lunch. The ‘tip’ is about a 45 minute drive from Seisia, the village we are camped in. The drive is through more stunning rainforest, along a sandy dirt track. Once at the beach there is a 20 minute walk over a rocky point to the famous marker. We lunched on the beach and headed home for an Indian meal that was beautifully prepared by Russ. The cutting of the cake and a game of Uno finished off a lovely day.  


Saw our second crocodile just off the beach from where we were camped. An interesting statistic....4 out of 5 visitors to the Cape require new thongs!