Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
What a week we've had up here at the tip!
First things first, the fishing. We organised a private charter with a local fishing guide, Prycey, who turned out to be a character and a half! When we first contacted him, he invited us over to his place for coffee, and then we all went fishing for the afternoon at a nearby river with a mate of his, just for a bit of fun. Lee caught an estuary cod on fly, and the other guys caught a few tarpon, also on fly. Lea caught her usual nothing, but was very brave and stayed fishing even after a 6 foot croc was spotted on the opposite bank. She took a very big step back from the water's edge though.
We went out for a day charter with Prycey on the Wednesday on the Jacky Jacky River, targetting barramundi. Apparently we have the dubious honour of being there on the worst fishing day of his guiding career. We caught sweet b***** all. Lea literally caught nothing, and Lee got a mangrove jack, a cod, a couple of small trevally, and an even smaller barra, but there was nothing doing. We did spy 3 crocs though, which was pretty exciting.
So enough about that fishing crap.
On the Tuesday, we were excited, and rather relieved, to see that Chris had cycled into town. He'd made it! He had a couple of busted ribs after coming a cropper at the notorious Gunshot Creek crossing, but otherwise, he was intact. That night we fed him a few well-deserved beers, cooked him dinner, and left him to sleep for Australia.
His wife Colleen flew up a couple of days later, and we spent a lovely day with them on Friday on a day trip to Thursday Island. We caught a ferry over, and all piled onto a bus to do a tour of the island. After that we checked out the Cultural Centre, and then had lunch at the northernmost pub in Australia.
Saturday was the big day though, as Chris had to cycle the final 36km leg to "the Tip", in order to complete his marathon journey. Colleen jumped in with us and we raced up to meet him where the road finished. We ran into a dozen people from a 4WD club who were milling around the carpark there, they had all heard about some crazy cyclist on his way north, and were excited to see him in action. Chris got the shock of his life when he rounded the final bend and saw 15 people cheering him on and taking photos! We even had a makeshift finish line of toilet paper for him to cross. After much congratulating, the 4 of us set off on foot for the 20 minute walk to the actual tip, where there was more congratulating, and congratulatory beers to match.
Chris and Colleen took us out for dinner that night to thank us for helping Chris get to the end, which was lovely of them, and greatly appreciated. The food was fantastic, and we had a great night, reliving the day's events and swapping stories. We noticed that all the locals we had met, Prycey the fishing guide included, were dining out at the same restaurant - it is obviously the place to be.
We have had a ball up here at the Tip, and have met so many lovely people, some we have seen before on our travels. Gail and Paul, who we met at the caravan park at Weipa, turned up here late in the week, and Paul has already outfished us! He kindly donated a fish he'd caught, he took pity on us I think. We shared our beach hut with another Gail, and Arthur, who were having as much luck as us in the fishing stakes. We shared our tales of fishing woe, and had a few laughs. They were heading back to Cairns on a ship, and Gail was planning to eat for the entire 3 day trip, as she'd heard the food was good onboard. She is a woman after Lea's heart.
There's a mass exodus out of town tomorrow, Chris & Colleen, Gail & Arthur, and us too. We're making our way back down to Cairns to get the Navvy serviced and all the bolts tightened up after the rattling corrugations, pot holes & creek crossings.
L & L
- comments