COEN TO THE TIP!

The kids made some scones - yum

Coen to the Tip

Here are some Fast Facts……

We’ve travelled nearly 9000km

Put the camper trailer up and down approx 67 times (will have to confirm that one)

The kids have done 3 pages of their journal (the only school work they are required to do whilst away – who’s in charge here?)

Driven over a Pasquillion corrugations in the road.

Transferred about 6 different Ant species to different parts of QLD

Had the statement ‘Gee you’re a long way from home’ said to us about 41 times by different people we’ve met along the way.

Caught 2 Barramundi (still trying)

Paid at most $2.24 / litre for diesel at the most northern petrol station in Australia. (We’ve stopped looking at the price of Diesel now – it’s too scary)

Paid $12 for half a kilo of mince from the most northern supermarket in Australia. (Ya gotta eat)

All you people with DOCS on speed dial get your pen and paper ready….consumed approx 500 packets of 2 minute noodles!!!! (If you look closely at the nutritional value of a packet of 2 minute noodles you may be surprised)

We have taken nearly 2000 photo’s (no surprises there – can’t wait for the ‘slide night’ upon our return, I am going to make you sit through each and everyone one of the photo’s whilst I give a detailed description of each picture (questions will follow)

Leaving Lakefield NP and visiting all the ‘Laura’s’ There’s New Laura, Laura and Old Laura, and stocking up on a few supplies at the Laura Road House ( $3 for a packet of 2 minute noodles, $5 for a loaf of frozen bread we didn’t get too much– you get my meaning?) We headed for Coen and camped by the river and listened to the 2^nd State of Origin on the car radio, whilst sitting by the campfire eating pumpkin scones. Doesn’t get any better than that! 

fun fun fun

This is where the fun gets fun! We kissed the bitumen goodbye at Cooktown; we haven’t seen any sign of a paved road for some time, hold onto your hats. It’s dirt all the way now. Just a little note for the general traveller….make sure all loose items are securely stowed away inside your vehicle (that’s what glove boxes and centre consoles are for) if you require the assistance of a brassiere during the day, make sure you have your heavy duty sports bra on, don’t have that loose change or that pen for that list you need to write floating around in the car, because it’s all going to be rearranged once you get onto these roads up here. Also a trap for young players is the vehicle you see in the distance coming towards you is coming at speed and you need to time the winding up of all four windows in your own vehicle prior to the dust cloud that is going to be sucked into the car if you are not quick enough. Geoff and I have it down to a fine art. I’ll spot the car coming and he’ll put the windows up with just enough time to spare. (It’s interesting the things you find to amuse you whilst driving many kilometres in a day). One other tip for the traveller…..when your own vehicle comes to a stop, ensure all your own windows are up prior to stopping, because the dust that you have been kicking up whilst travelling along is going to catch up with eventually and it’s going to end up inside your car with you.

Twin falls

A trip to the ‘Tip’ wouldn’t be complete without stopping at ‘Twin Falls’ and ‘Elliot Falls’ An absolutely beautiful spot – nature is an amazing thing. It’s been quite a while since we’ve been able to have a swim (like about last summer) but with the heat and the humidity we are experiencing a dunk in a fresh water hole is something you can’t say no to. The falls has a great camping area and plenty of spots to cool down with a swim. Nothing like messing with your children’s minds though! It took a bit of convincing for them to hop in the water after we had drummed it into them that it wasn’t safe to swim in other places. Don’t worry I am a tad confused myself, what is the difference between swimming in a water hole at Twin Falls and not being able to swim in any other creek or beach? It’s all water and Crocs live in water. Was trying to channel my inner Steve Irwin with no luck.

The beach at 'The Tip' of OZ

The Smith's 'At the Tip'

You may be wondering why it is taking so long to get to ‘The Tip’. We were wondering the same thing also, seeing as though we’ve been away for about 8 weeks and thought we would have been up at The Cape by now. We’ve since figured it out….We get to a place to stay – say like Twin Falls thinking that we are going to do a snappy over nighter – then all of a sudden BAM you’re up to night number 3, contemplating night number four because you can’t bare to drag yourself away from some of these beautiful places. Even though we are fortunate enough to be away for such a huge amount of time we have to be careful we don’t find ourselves with 2 days to get home from Uluru. Wouldn’t want to miss the first shift back at work - no way!

$18 worth of SPAM - when only the best will do

So anyways…’On On’ we go still heading north, crossing the Jardine River via car ferry, a 150m wide river system far too deep to drive across at a bargain price of $99 return. Well we’ve made it. We set up camp at Punsand Bay, which is about 20km from ‘The Tip’ we were camped right on the beach front, the bay faced North and you could see ‘The Tip’ from our campsite. What a place to be! As I have mentioned we have met the most amazing and generous people along the way, which really restores your faith in human nature. Some people camping not far from us, who were up here for the Dry Season on a work contract and happened to have two U – Beaut quad bikes and very generously let us use them to explore the area anytime we wanted to use them. You can imagine Ben’s excitement with this activity. From the minute he opened his eyes he was campaigning for a ride of the bikes. It also happens to be QLD school holidays at the moment so there are plenty of kids around to keep our people company.

Our camp at Punsand Bay

Being at the top of Australia is really amazing and such an achievement for us, as it is something that we set out to do a long time ago. But reaching ‘The Tip’ is

bitter – sweet for us, as the day we arrived at Punsand Bay we found out that my dear Grandfather (Popsy) had passed away. Such a proud but quiet man who lived a full life of 87yrs. It was such a difficult time for everyone and we have never felt so far from home both physically and emotionally. I flew home for 4 days to be with my Nan and my family, such an emotional roller coaster going from one extreme of emotions to another. I am so grateful that I found out in time to say goodbye to Popsy. So our visit to the top was extra special but very hard. We were fortunate enough to have the place to us for nearly 2hrs (this was very fortunate as we had heard stories of people crowding the ‘tip’ and lining up for photo’s) we  spent the time remembering all the special things we remember about Popsy and how much we love him.

Give your family a hug and tell them you love them.