"We made it!" We have officially made it to the northern most tip of Australia.
We are camped at a place called Loyalty Beach, only 30km or so from the top of Cape York, a west facing beach with a beauitful outlook and plenty of water to wash off the red dust. The trek to the top was completed yesterday when we clambered over a rocky range, down to a little outcrop on the water that is the geographical tip. A small sign marked the official spot, stating the longtitude and latitude and reassuring us that we were in fact at the northern most point.
It was a great feeling, and after a gruelling second day on the Old Telegraph Track, it was a pleasure to see what we had come all this way for. The 4WDing was fantastic and non-stop. Our day was filled with river crossings and steep eroded banks, as well as washouts and incredible holes, both in and out of the water. We did two recoveries, one after our rear diff got hung up on a massive bank exiting a river, and the second from deep sand on the track to the Jardine River.
The car and trailer managed magnificently and some of the angles they were on was amazing. Big name crossings like Gunshot and Nolan's Brook were conquered with no worries, as well as the dodgey old log bridge crossing at Cypress Creek (that a car had put a wheel thru a week prior). The kids loved the whole episode and Ella spent a lot of her time sleeping on the roughest parts...bizarre!
All up, the trek up the Cape via the Old Telegraph Track was everything we had been hoping for and more. We will now hang about enjoying the gorgeous environment and perhaps move further south to another beach on the western side of the Cape tomorrow.
Three Tawny Frogmouths (owls) have been roosting in the tree next to our camp for the last two days, disappearing at night and appearing again in the morning. They're not as interested by our presence as we are by theirs. This morning the kids have been playing with a large but dead mud crab. I guess at the end of the day the world is a playground right?
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