Cape York – You Gotta Love It!

Country: Australia by Lisette

21-11-2004

Five nights of bush camping, will I survive? Oh yeah, did I ever!

I went just before the rainy season started and Cape York, the northeast peninsula of Australia, gets cut off from the rest of the country for several months. Not many people live here due to its inhabitable history and the holy grounds of Aborigines.

Though the group of tourists is 40% Dutch, I had an amazing time. The guide knew a lot about the geographical area, its people and nature and tried to enthuse us for Aboriginal legends and myths. Since 1984 there is a road going up north through the Great Dividing Range and of course we were going off track into side-roads, driving through dried up riverbeds and so forth. Gotta make it fun for those tourists! And yes, crossing in a 4WD a wide river is quite exciting indeed.

Stunning scenery at Cape York.

The scenery was naturally amazing, the mountains, lakes and rainforests were gorgeous to see. And the three seas that get together on this most northern tip at Cape York make sure there are many tides, which the dolphins loved. We weren’t able to spend a lot of time anywhere as 6 days is just not enough time, but I loved to get a peek of this rich nature. My favourite pastime was bathing in a lake with tea tree leaves with some women and children. No need for fancy shampoos, my hair got so soft in this lake.

Frilled Neck Lizard.

Next to scenery, it was quite amazing to see many different animals. From small to larger I got to meet green and red ants, spiders, huge green frogs, gigantic grasshoppers, bats, geckos, birds, lizards, wombats, wallabies, wild bush turkey, and kangaroos.

The sunrise awoke me every morning at 5.30am. I would smile to the sun and just quietly sit still and enjoy the scenery without the noises of other tourists. It was amazing to fall asleep with the stars above you and just lay still in my swag. One night I parked my swag and ass next to an ‘ant highway’ as we got there in pitch black darkness. Oops!