Day 12
Thursday 5 October
Pelican leaves after breakfast for Cooktown. It’s only the crew onboard as it’s again a hard punch against the prevailing winds the 30 or so nautical miles into the Endeavour River. Ini takes the boat on a starboard motor sailing tack, heading away from the coast towards the outer reef. He reckons there will be some protection behind the outer reef from the south easterly seas. It also allows him to give the crew a well deserved treat, anchored in the lee of the Mackay Reefs snorkelling on a couple of coral bombies.
Des, Garry and I head over to the second house further along the beach. This is another Dingaal house that is only three years old and in much better condition. We meet with Elaine, Dingaal Elder, her husband Tim and mother Mavis to discuss possible strategies of what they could set up at Cape Flattery. Again it’s about developing opportunities, which produce sustainable jobs for them and their children. It can only go ahead if all the Dingaal Elders agree to any plans they decide to act on.
Most of the Bama pack up their campsites today and haul out. It’s agreed that Andrew and Hong will stay behind and come round with Marty and Sam in their two tinnies tomorrow. The plan is to drive the boats round the Cape and down the ocean beach into the McIvor River. The two trailers will be driven round and will pick up the boats at a haul-out spot about 10 kms upstream called Morgan’s Landing.
By early afternoon we’re ready to go with about 6 vehicles in a second wave. We’re carefully watching the time as in a couple of hours, the rising sea will stop us driving along the 17 kilometre stretch of beach to the exit track over the sand dunes. One of the hardest parts is the very first climb up the soft sand out of Connie’s Beach. Early in the morning the first few 4WDs get the benefit of a little moisture from the dew but by now the sand is dry, soft and awkward. A couple of Utes and 4x4s return having failed to climb this first section. Garry and I climb out to the CDMA phone relay station and ring the mine asking for their loader to kindly come to our assistance.
Des’s troopy has no problems even towing a trailer the next day, but for the rest of us we wait for Anthony and the loader to appear. With one drive down he grades the soft sand to one side leaving us enough hard surface to work with. By now we have all lowered our tyre pressures to give extra traction on the sand and one by one each vehicle takes a long run-up, keeps the revs high and make it over the top. Thank you to Anthony and the mine for helping us all out.
The Cape Flattery sand mine Loader kindly comes to our assistance.
The 17 kilometres along the beach is not your average visit to the seaside. We hurtle along in spread out convoy at 100kph, slowing down to ease each vehicle through the fresh water streams that run-off into the sea. The waves are constantly crashing on our left with the tide rapidly rising while on our right the sand dunes flash by with an incredible amount of rubbish and bleached timber of all shapes and sizes. The rubbish is mainly plastic that has floated ashore but over decades there is hardly a single stretch where you can’t see skip loads of it, shewn above the high tide mark. In amongst it are thousands of coconuts some of which have grown into trees with their own little bevy of youngsters growing up underneath the mother tree.
We muse on what an army of people it would take to do an Australia Day Clean-up here. Eric stops next to a small up welling of spring water on the beach. I fill my bottle with this sweet rich tasting water before we continue to where you drive out over the dunes to join the road to Starke. Just past this turning is the head of a whale, tragically sliced in two, maybe by a ship’s propeller. We can see the blowhole and even though it must have been here in the tropical sun for quite a while, it hardly smells at all.
One of the 4x4s runs up the challenging sand dune exit
One by one vehicles back down towards the sea and take a run up for the final sand challenge. It’s a nail-biting journey of keeping the power on while wrestling your vehicle to keep it in the tracks weaving through the soft sand. Eric’s 4x4 has a shredded tyre and is stranded on the beach. We drive back in a couple of vehicles to discover that none of us have a brace for the wheel nuts. A stilson is found and we manage to change the tyre with about half an hour to spare before the
tide would have threatened to claim this vehicle.
Many cars go on to Hope Vale. We head north the short distance to Starke, Des’s tribal lands. He’s vastly improved his house over the previous year and we relax with teas and damper in the new open sided kitchen come living area. It’s a beautiful peaceful spot surrounded by rain forest on 3 sides, looking out over the cleared land of the old cattle station.
Estelle and I use the phone to organise the next couple of days including tracking down those organising the final two days of day-sails. I speak to Ini who brings Pelican in that evening to Cooktown alongside Cook’s Landing Kiosk. They’ve had a successful but hard day plying south, broken only by the joy of snorkelling on the stunning Mackay reef. The evening is spent with the Bowens and ourselves where we share the cooking. We have become extended family with the Bowens, and so we treasure these special moments together.
Pelican leaves after breakfast for Cooktown. It’s only the crew onboard as it’s again a hard punch against the prevailing winds the 30 or so nautical miles into the Endeavour River. Ini takes the boat on a starboard motor sailing tack, heading away from the coast towards the outer reef. He reckons there will be some protection behind the outer reef from the south easterly seas. It also allows him to give the crew a well deserved treat, anchored in the lee of the Mackay Reefs snorkelling on a couple of coral bombies.
Des, Garry and I head over to the second house further along the beach. This is another Dingaal house that is only three years old and in much better condition. We meet with Elaine, Dingaal Elder, her husband Tim and mother Mavis to discuss possible strategies of what they could set up at Cape Flattery. Again it’s about developing opportunities, which produce sustainable jobs for them and their children. It can only go ahead if all the Dingaal Elders agree to any plans they decide to act on.
Most of the Bama pack up their campsites today and haul out. It’s agreed that Andrew and Hong will stay behind and come round with Marty and Sam in their two tinnies tomorrow. The plan is to drive the boats round the Cape and down the ocean beach into the McIvor River. The two trailers will be driven round and will pick up the boats at a haul-out spot about 10 kms upstream called Morgan’s Landing.
By early afternoon we’re ready to go with about 6 vehicles in a second wave. We’re carefully watching the time as in a couple of hours, the rising sea will stop us driving along the 17 kilometre stretch of beach to the exit track over the sand dunes. One of the hardest parts is the very first climb up the soft sand out of Connie’s Beach. Early in the morning the first few 4WDs get the benefit of a little moisture from the dew but by now the sand is dry, soft and awkward. A couple of Utes and 4x4s return having failed to climb this first section. Garry and I climb out to the CDMA phone relay station and ring the mine asking for their loader to kindly come to our assistance.
Des’s troopy has no problems even towing a trailer the next day, but for the rest of us we wait for Anthony and the loader to appear. With one drive down he grades the soft sand to one side leaving us enough hard surface to work with. By now we have all lowered our tyre pressures to give extra traction on the sand and one by one each vehicle takes a long run-up, keeps the revs high and make it over the top. Thank you to Anthony and the mine for helping us all out.
The Cape Flattery sand mine Loader kindly comes to our assistance.
We muse on what an army of people it would take to do an Australia Day Clean-up here. Eric stops next to a small up welling of spring water on the beach. I fill my bottle with this sweet rich tasting water before we continue to where you drive out over the dunes to join the road to Starke. Just past this turning is the head of a whale, tragically sliced in two, maybe by a ship’s propeller. We can see the blowhole and even though it must have been here in the tropical sun for quite a while, it hardly smells at all.
One of the 4x4s runs up the challenging sand dune exit
tide would have threatened to claim this vehicle.
Many cars go on to Hope Vale. We head north the short distance to Starke, Des’s tribal lands. He’s vastly improved his house over the previous year and we relax with teas and damper in the new open sided kitchen come living area. It’s a beautiful peaceful spot surrounded by rain forest on 3 sides, looking out over the cleared land of the old cattle station.
Estelle and I use the phone to organise the next couple of days including tracking down those organising the final two days of day-sails. I speak to Ini who brings Pelican in that evening to Cooktown alongside Cook’s Landing Kiosk. They’ve had a successful but hard day plying south, broken only by the joy of snorkelling on the stunning Mackay reef. The evening is spent with the Bowens and ourselves where we share the cooking. We have become extended family with the Bowens, and so we treasure these special moments together.
