Cape York is the large peninsula pointing north on the top right corner of Australia. It is remote and the population is sparse but geographically it marked a significant point for us on our way home. We rounded a corner both literally and metaphorically as we entered the Torres Straits and turned our back on the Pacific Ocean. Cape York was stunning and obviously a point of interest to visitors, like Land’s End, without the visitors centre, there were people walking along the ridge to reach the northern most point of Australia which is the land in the middle of the picture, actually between two islands.
We had spent a pleasant week in the marina at Cairns, with its good facilities and central position it was a great place to recover from a tough passage and to be a tourist. There are numerous restaurants along the extensive waterfront and many more in town, all cooking delicious food from all over the world. We also found an an extensive fresh produce market and spent a few hours browsing in the night market with its diverse food hall.
Whilst we were there we arranged a couple of brilliant days out. The first was a day trip to Kuranda, an old gold mining village in the rainforest 25km northwest of Cairns. The second was aboard the largest dive boat we have been on, which took us to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) 35 miles away, where we did three dives, an awesome experience.
Our visit to Kuranda National Park started with a short coach ride that delivered us to a cable car station. The Skyway is an engineering feat which gave us superb aerial views of the rain forest, and we were able to disembark twice at stations on the way up to explore the board walks through the forest and read the interpretive signs.
This was just a taster for a one hour trip through the ancient forest in an old WW2 amphibian craft or “Duck” at the Wildlife Park. Our guide for this gave a fascinating, in depth talk about the flora and fauna of this wonderful National Park and its ancient species. We also spent time in a butterfly house, which was lovely and allowed us to get photos of these large colourful beauties, so that further up the coast on various walks, we were able to enjoy them fluttering about us without trying to get a snap shot. In the wildlife park at Kuranda, we saw a strange bird called a Cassowarry with a blue head and huge talons, as well as the usual Koalas, Wombats, Dingos and Kangaroos.
The fearsome 5 metre Saltwater Crocodile we saw (first photo) gave me the heebie jeebies and I was so pleased it was behind a couple of fences, but the best part of the day was the Pamagirri Aboriginal Dancers who performed and explained some of their culture. We were even taught how to throw a boomerang and make a didgeridoo, and they demonstrated how they hunt with spears, but didn't trust the tourists with long sharp sticks!
After a full and exhausting day of tourism we travelled back downhill to Cairns on the Kuranda Scenic Railway which took over 2 hours, twice as long as the Sky Rail. The construction of this was a huge engineering accomplishment. Commenced in 1887 to take supplies into the almost impassable interior, built through the Barron Gorge and past Stoney Creek Falls it took 1500 men to hand carve tunnels and cuttings, many of who lost their lives from accidents and disease.
Back in Cairns we completed the chores, laundry, shopping and repairs, said farewell to Augustin and set off sailing again on Wednesday 10th August.
We were hot on the heels of our friends on Amazing Grace, who we met on our original world rally and who we had got to know well in lockdown, Papeete, 2020! Their daughter Kristen had also rejoined them for a two week holiday so it was like old times and sharing home made Sushi in our cockpit at Hope Island was a replay of Bora Bora in July 2020, just not as warm!
We sailed together along the Coastal waterways inside the Barrier Reef following the passage of Cook on the Endeavour in 1770. You could tell what sort of week Cook was having by the names he left behind; things obviously weren’t looking good at Point Tribulation, Mount Misery and Mount Sorrow, but we anchored at the more cheerful Hope Island for the night which was little more than a reef with a lighthouse, though close enough to the mainland coast for tourist boats to visit. They had obviously run out of ideas by the time they arrived at Low Wooded Island and Three Islands, Two Islands, and I expect there is a “Not another island to name “ island! Maybe, he didn’t realise that these Islands had already been named by the Aboriginal peoples and had great significance in their lives and way of living. After a couple of day sails the two boats arrived at Lizard island, which was so named because Cook reported he saw lots of lizards. At this point the Endeavour was trapped inside the GBR and he walked up to this peak to view the reefs and find a passage through, which is now called Cook’s Passage! Well, who would have guessed it?
This granite outcrop 390 metres high was a scramble and good walk through interesting terrain and fauna and flora. Sci fi Writers really don’t need to imagine alien life forms when there are plenty of odd species on earth. I saw weird cocoons, they could have been aliens in fact, strange shaped trees and odd sounding birds. It all felt slightly unnerving because of its unfamiliarity, but there were story boards explaining the different species, plus scary signs on the beach reminding us of the risk of crocodiles! We had both seen quite large snakes in the sea as well as big turtles and wonderful sightings of Humpback whales too. After a couple of nights anchored at Lizard I. Celtic Star set off between reefs and the coast to explore the Flinders Islands off Cape Melville. The coast line was astonishingly empty, dramatic in many ways, large white silica sand dunes stretched for miles, then turned into huge boulders which formed rocky mountains, as if a giant had shovelled up a pile of shingle. We anchored between Flinders and Stanley islands, which were stunning. Empty of humans, but with a rich history of the Yarraba people, and a mix of mangroves, rocky outcrops and beaches. We went ashore in our dinghy to Stanley island to explore and discover the Aboriginal rock paintings we had come to see.
I nervously hopped from the dinghy to the shore, constantly scanning mangrove and rocks for crocodiles, the coast was clear so we tied up and set off on the walk, my paranoia causing me to see crocodile shapes in logs and various rocks! It was worth the stress to experience the cultural history here going back 6000 years which was inspiring.
We were very grateful for the cleared path and markers and the interpretive boards which explained the culture and way of life surrounding the rock paintings so well.
As we returned back along the white sand beach , I saw a large, long dark shape in the water and a snout lifted out. “S**t, it’s a crocodile ! “ I screamed and ran away from the water, grabbed a stick and started to whimper. We hurried along to the point of return into the bush scanning the water and then I spotted it again. This time Richard saw it and decided it was just a turtle, but I wasn’t convinced and my adrenaline levels were sky high, so I was getting off that beach as quickly as possible. I calmed down as we walked back through the trees and beautiful spring flowers on the hot dry path.
Back at the dinghy, I scanned for crocs again, all clear to board so we motored across the channel to explore Flinders Island. We were approaching the island when a fish jumped several times in an effort to escape a predator, not an uncommon sight, but then a large white fin cut through the surface at high speed circled round and back before accelerating towards us. It must have succeeded in its meal because it disappeared but my adrenaline was overloaded again and I had to hand over the outboard tiller to Richard while I jibbered and shook in he bottom of the dinghy. Too much wildlife today and way too close for comfort! I had just about recovered enough to visit the next island for a short tour, where you were allowed to camp a short way inshore, beyond the beware of crocodiles sign!
The following day we sailed onwards delighting in the amazing landscape and sea scape around us and as we headed north the temperatures started to rise. Luckily it was still cool at night and the daily trade winds refreshed us in the cockpit. We flew both white sails and managed the spinnaker with just the two of us again. Over the 10 days it took us to reach the northern top of Cape York we had only managed to get a signal once so we were using daily satellite communication for weather and any pressing family matters. We felt like the first explorers, seeing nobody for miles, only the occasional huge cargo ship linked this ancient land to the modern world. The skies were expansive and the moon full then waning. The Sunsets and dawns we saw developed slowly, suffusing the sky beautifully with hues of mauve and pink. No striking bright orange or blatant red shepherd's warnings, instead subtle shades of colour tinged the atmosphere and seeped deeper into the sky as if it were blotting paper. As we left our anchorage at Portland Roads the sea started to turn brown and I was convinced we were heading for an uncharted reef, but on closer inspection it was an algal bloom, which stretched extensively for miles and miles, so we didn’t run the Water maker for a few days. We threaded our way through islands and reefs into various anchorages along the coast north. Gradually the coastal mountains and rainforests disappeared and the shoreline became flatter and we saw more scrubland as we approached our anchorage at Margaret Bay where we saw large flocks of birds and fish jumping about in great numbers. An early start meant we saw the early morning constellations and I was pleased to see my old mate Orion up and shining before he and his dog merged into the brightening sky. The next day we had a visit from four dolphins who played around our bows for an hour as we followed the slowly flattening coast until the snow white dunes and ochre red rock cliffs juxtaposed at the entrance to Turtle Head Island and our next anchorage at Escape river. We dropped our anchor near a white sandbank and watched through binoculars a magnificent crocodile sunning itself on the bank and occasionally moving to a higher point as the tide rose! I even saw it open it’s massive jaws wide apart, I presume to yawn, but I felt safe 200m away on board Celtic Star. Sadly, Richards big camera is broken so my phone wasn’t good enough to get the perfect photo, and I wasn’t happy to move our boat any closer. We were glad we had heeded the warning and certain that we didn’t want to swim off the boat or dare to snorkel in any of the anchorages, beautiful as they were.
We were back in tidal waters so a little bit of passage planning was necessary for the final push to round Cape York the next day. We went over the bar at Escape estuary with the shallowest point being 1.6m under the keel and 1 metre waves, a moment of breath holding and then it deepened again. Our next challenge was Albany channel which was directly down wind so we put away the main sail and went through with a knot of tide with just the head sail at over 6 knots. It was beautiful and felt like a passage into new waters.
We rounded Cape York had a glorious sail across the Endeavour Straits to Flinders Passage and around Horn island into the archipelago. As we approached our phones started to ping indicating we had a signal again after a week of solitude and 5 days without seeing another person! It was a Friday when we arrived at Thursday Island in the Torres Straits, we had sailed past Tuesday and Wednesday Islands, Friday was ahead of us but we never found the rest of the week, so perhaps they were Captain Cook’s day off! Here we met back up with Amazing Grace and had farewell drinks with Kristen who was flying back to the US from Thursday Island airport, which strangely is on Horn Island! What a fascinating and strange world it is “down under”! We ate at the Torres Hotel, which is the most northerly pub in Australia and visited Green Hill Fort. The Torres islands are scattered across the Straits to Papua New Guinea, we visited the cultural museum to learn about the Torres Straits Islanders and their struggle to reclaim their lands, which was interesting modern history, as they were finally successful in 1992!
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