Tip of Australia

Day 91 – 14/8/2019 on a Midlife Adventure.

The plan this morning is a day trip to which I have been booked onto. As this departs from Siesia, Qld at 8am I am up very early to make the 45 minute drive into town.

After boarding the boat the captain does a count and realises they have oversold and 3 people need to get off for them to proceed. With no one else offering to leave and knowing I have some extra days available on my visit I agree to get onto the cruise the next day as do another couple. (Although we were bribed with a free lunch the next day!)

That left me with needing to reschedule my plans, and originally I had planned to go to the Tip of Australia tomorrow. So there’s no time like the present!

The road out to the tip is a bit rough and much tighter than the roads around most of the rest of Cape York.

There is a river crossing although there is a chicken track (bypass option) and I took that.

Arriving at the carpark I knew there was some rocks to go over to get to the tip, its a couple of 100m walk over a rocky hill in reality.

Along the path people have added Rock pyramids.

After adding a small rock to the pile I continued on the path.

It was a very windy day so my hat turned into a kite leaving me to carry it instead of wearing it.

The path is actually well warn so it is easy to work out where you need to go although there are no actual signs.

Then comes the sign that you’ve waited to see, the tip of Australia!

Waiting around you get your chance to stand alongside the sign and there is always someone happy to take your picture for you and your group.

It is difficult to describe the feeling of reaching this milestone, but you know that it is something special to be spending some time. The walk from the carpark is difficult and I think that adds to the impact of the sense of having done something great. In my case over 10,000km’s travelled since leaving Adelaide and countless experiences along the way and this tops them all.

After sitting back and watching others arrive and have their pictures I notice the signs on the wall for commemorating those who didn’t get to make the journey but who’s family and friends brought them with them in spirit. It’s quite stirring to have achieved something from my bucket list and seeing reminders of those who wanted to achieve the same thing but for various reasons didn’t.

Whilst I was watching the groups come and go there were 4 groups there with their dogs, how cool to be able to share the journey with you pet.

Then you start your journey back to the carpark and plan your next trip back to Cape York.

On the way out I noticed the old Pajinka Wilderness Lodge , once owned by Ansett then handed over to the locals to run who it is reported ate the food, drank the booze and walked out never to return. Leaving the tables still set.