From our camp at Sams Crossing we intended heading north on the Bamaga Bypass Road, over the Jardine Ferry and on to Punsand Bay. Total distance was only 113km, but again our navigation app was suggesting over 9 hours travelling. In the end we made it by lunch time - including breaks!
The rough plan - It took us three hours, not nine!
The Jardine Ferry cost $145 for the return journey - but includes all permits for the lands on 'The Tip'. It is a short crossing - and the river is reportedly full of crocodiles, but we didn't see any.
Crossing the Jardine River
Friends recommended Alau Beach near Umagico as a place to stay - so we checked it out on our way north. It looked simply amazing - and we decided we would come back and spend a night here on our way back south. Unfortunately our plans were to change in a big way and this was not to be, this time...
Umagico - we'll be back
We continued north, and before settling on Punsand Bay for the night, we checked out some possible campsites to the west. From these camp sites, we overlooked Posession Island, were in 1770 a young Lieutenant James Cook raised the Union Flag and claimed the east coast of New Holland for England - thus forever altering the history of this land.
History lesson - Posession Island
We continued exploring the area - skirting around the coast on some pretty dubious tracks. After some new pinstriping on both Rocky and Matilda - and a nice patch of soft sand ahead I called it quits to forward progress. If only turning around was so easy. Somehow we managed to get ourselves pointing back towards the road (itself not much better) and we continued on our way.
We were looking for a nice place for lunch, and just when all hope was fading fast, we chanced across this place just west of Punsand Bay. It met all of the required objectives of the passenger seat - and I breathed a sigh of relief as turning around was easy and there wasn't too much soft sand to get through to return to the main road.
Lunch Stop
Suitably fortified after lunch we drove the remaining 1.2km to Punsand Bay, and checked in for a beachfront camp site. We soon had a fire going, with the most urgent requirement being to cook a cake for The Little Fisherman's birthday the next day. We followed up by cooking dinner over the fire.
Dinner on!
Whist dinner was cooking, we took the opportunity for a walk down on the beach to watch the sun set. The water looked oh so inviting - but we again elected to stay well up on the sand!
Family Selfie @ Punsand Bay
Nothing beats a sunset in the tropics
The following morning there was much excitement as The Little Fisherman celebrated his birthday. Being so excited he wanted all of his family to share every minute of his day - from the moment he woke up a long time before 6am...
We polished off the remainder of the previous night's damper and made our way to the northern most point of the mainland. The rough 'scenic route' from Punsand Bay was popular with the tour directors in the back seat, but getting to 'The Tip' was what it was all about.
We made it!!
It was fantastic to make it here - and we spent quite a bit of time here savouring the moment. The birthday boy found a Queensland shaped piece of rock - and proudly showed off where we are 'on the map'.
"We are here"
After visiting the Tip, we headed to the eastern shore at Nararu Beach. Whilst beautiful, it was windswept with the South Easterly Tradewinds in full blow. As much as the kids loved the rough tracks we were driving on, there was something round and choclate flavoured back at camp they were keen to try out, so we headed back to camp.
Nararu Beach
Whilst the candles were impossible to get all lit, the choclate cake, cooked in the campoven was a resounding success. It was a great way to round off the day, before a treat of woodfired pizza at the bar for dinner. It had been a pretty good day all around.
The following day we departed Punsand Bay for Seisia, and then took a detour to check out some old aircraft wrecks. We had a bit of track clearing to do on our way there with a burning tree fallen over the road.
Our first stop was the wreck of a DC3 aircraft which crash landed here in 1945 killing all onboard. It was a sad place to spend a few moments contemplating the aircraft's final moments in this area during WWII.
Not far away we came across the wreck of a Bristol Beaufort Bomber. This aircraft crash landed at Bamaga and miraculously those onboard survived. Time has moved the wreckage - and the forest is slowly reclaiming what was a strategic airfield during the Second World War.
We retraced our steps and headed towards Umagico and our intended camp on the magnificent Alau beach. We topped up with fuel at Bamaga and here our plans changed...
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