14th June 2026: had a relaxed morning with time for breakfast, a coffee and to watch Insiders. We set off for the Tip of Cape York, stopping at the Croc Tent at the Pusand Bay turnover to purchase some Cape York Merch in the form of T-shirts and shirts. We then took the Pajinka Road to the tip of Cape York through the wonderful Lockerbie Forest- a mixture of dense tropical rain forest with areas where trees had been thinned out ? For cattle grazing in the past. We saw horses, 3 wild pigs and several scrub turkeys along the way. The Lockerbie Forest is special because it contains certain species of vegetation, butterflies and birds otherwise only found in New Guinea, whose antecedents must have come from Gondwana times when there was a land bridge between PNG and Australia.

From the car park there was a 700 meter walk over rocks to get to the very Tip of Cape York. On the left were extensive mudflats and mangroves when the tide was out and on the right rocky steep cliffs. It was very windy! At the Tip we saw turtles popping up their head to breathe, with a panoramic view of the Islands of Torres Strait.

We hitched the caravan  back up to the Prado for our early morning start- a 6.45 am taxi to Seisia to catch the ferry to Thursday Island.

We had pizzas for dinner at the Corrugation Restaurant at Punsend, washed down with beer (Nic) and ginger beer (me).










Turtle popping its head up to breathe











Comments

  1. NicJune 14, 2026 at 8:37 PM

    FUN FACT: On 22 August 1770, Captain Cook claimed all the east coast of Australia for King George III when he landed on Possession Island, which is just a little way to the west of our campsite at Punsand Bay. He didn’t name the claim at the time but assigned the name “New Wales” as the 'Endeavour' cruised to Batavia. Cook’s personal journal reveals that the South bit was added during the final leg of his circumnavigation from Batavia back to England.
    And why the name? Reportedly, certain sections of the coastline reminded Cook of the coast of Glamorganshire in South Wales. The ‘South was probably added to the original name to avoid confusion. Part of Canada had already been named “New Wales” by another British explorer, Thomas Button in 1612.

    PS I’ve just added more ‘facts’ for some earlier days.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JenniferJune 14, 2026 at 8:54 PM

    Beautiful sunsets! You got there!! 🥂

    ReplyDelete

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