The Northernmost point of the Australian Continent

Raman said to me this morning, “you realise it is likely we will reach the tip of our continent today”. The thought is hard to believe. Will we finally reach the top of Australia after all these months?

Riding on this morning we quickly reached the Jardine river, the biggest of the rivers on the OTT. This crossing is beyond our scope. There is no way we will be able to cross this river.

We have known this and, like many others, we must take a small side track back out to the Peninsula Development Road (PDR) and head around to the Jardine River Ferry. The ferry is $134 return for the two of us. A hefty price for a short ferry trip. Its about one quarter of the crossing of the Daintree river which cost $19 for a return for the two of us. But there you go, $134 it is, considering we can’t cross the river any other way.

The PDR is wide open, dusty, sandy and hard to enjoy compared to the smaller tracks like the OTT.

Reaching Bamaga was a mile stone, putting us within a stone’s throw of the tip. After picking up supplies we headed out for the last few miles to the tip of this great continent.

A map of our journey since Cooktown

With a little scouting around and a few distant words from Rob Turton I found a place to get our bikes in sight of the water.

And finally here we are.  Sunken Miles perched above the ocean, Cape York.

The steeds and their riders perched above the water at the end of the road on their journey to the top of the Australian continent. 13,850km over 132 days.

Someones attempt at a raft washed up on the rocks. Perhaps they were trying to get to one of the islands…

Taking it all in

Looking South West

The last few hundred meters over the rocky peninsula and we have the water lapping at our feet. This is it. The absolute northernmost point of the Australian Continent.

That bloody sign!

I sat for a good long while out there. Thinking about our journey.

Eventually I turned and headed south.

Just back from the tip there is an old abandoned resort and after a little scouting we found a few palm trees. In short order we climbed a few very tall ones and had over twenty coconuts. It took a lot more effort than the words convey! The tree was a good 8-9m high and it took all I had in me to reach the top. I was bruised and shaking when I got into the canopy. I watched the sun set from there while I recovered and then let the nuts fall to the ground after cutting them, free with my leatherman.

The shimmy down was easy.

Rum and coconuts on the beach tonight. I have been looking forward to this for a long while. Last time was in Cuba in 07.