Nearly at the top of Oz

New driver's window, all the way from Melbourne.

After six rather nice days in Weipa’s leafy campground we set out for points north. The new driver’s window had duly arrived by plane from Melbourne, via Cairns, and was fitted very efficiently.

After Weipa, we really did point our noses due north, spending a night at Bramwell Junction, a delightful basic campground that’s high on our list of favourites. Not only does it have trees and amenities but it also has enormous red anthills standing sentinel outside and scattered around the campground.

Quite a few campers intended leaving their camper-trailers and tents there and have a bash at the Old Telegraph Track. We preferred to drive the bypass route which got us to Seisia by lunchtime the next day, including a ferry crossing of the Jardine River. Even so, the corrugations were pretty vile in some places, while in others, the road was wonderful. There’s even a substantial bit of bitumen to give some respite.

Bamaga is the northernmost town on the cape but Seisia, a few km away on the western coast,  is incredibly popular and we’d heard it was difficult to get a place. Adding to the problem could be a Care For Kids rally which we’d already struck in Weipa, with about 40 vehicles, many of whom needed campsites.

Our beachfront site, complete with yellow sign,
warning of crocodiles.

However, we drove in, made inquiries at the holiday park, and a gorgeous islander with apparently only one tooth in his beaming smile, hopped on a quad bike and told us to follow him  . . . to a beachfront site with a big tree beside it. We thought we’d died and gone to heaven!

We have booked a tour of Thursday and Horn islands tomorrow and have to be at the jetty (about 2 minutes walk away) by 8.30am, returning around 4pm.

The next day, we’ll make the 30km drive north from Bamaga to actually stand at Cape York, so we know we’ve been to the most northerly point on the Australian mainland.

We’ve just discovered that there are 4 scrub turkeys running around the campground, even foraging at the top of the beach. And with a gecko chirping in the tree next to the motorhome, and a reputably 4-metre croc in the bay, we’ve got plenty of tropical wildlife at hand.