Day 17 – Bramwell RH to Loyalty Beach Camping Ground (Thur May 10^th)

No one told us about the flies! Man they were bad this morning, we couldn’t wait to get in the car and away from the little buggers!  We stuck around till 9am again this morning to let the dew dry a little, so by then my arms were sore from flicking them away.

Morning light on Anthills, the road curves around them

Sienna in front of the Number plate tree at Bramwell Roadhouse

We took the southern bypass road north today, the road all the way to the top has been fantastic! It’s mostly graded now, although roads crews are still working every day.  We couldn’t get over how good they were, an old digger we spoke to who comes up every year said they are the best that he’s ever seen them.

There were some corrugations today, but nothing to worry about.  We can only imagine how bad they will be towards the end of the season, when it’s dry and every man and his dog has travelled up here.

We reckon this is the best time of year to travel up to the Cape, just like we have as soon as the road opens.  After just being graded the road is awesome, the country side is still so green, there is water in most creeks, and the best part is, it’s so nice and quiet!

The drive today was unreal, the landscape kept changing, one minute we were in the rainforest, then we felt like we were in WA, with the sand covered scrub that follows the coast. We've found that on most of the Cape, the landscape changes a lot, which makes the drive far from boring.

Our first stop today was at the breath taking Fruit Bat falls, we were here for an hour or so, and had the whole place to ourselves. We couldn’t get over how lucky we were, or at how beautiful this place is.

There was this perfect little hole to sit in up river!

Fun Times

We crossed the Jardine River on the ferry, this costs $99 return for a car and trailer, your ticket is also your permit for any bush camping north of the Dulhunty River to the Tip.

About 40km north of the Jardine River we drove into Bamaga, an Islander community, and the largest on the Northern Cape.  We had heard great reports about the Loyalty Beach Camping ground, which is only 6km out of Bamaga on the coast, so we went and checked it out.

Here is the link  http://www.loyaltybeach.com/

We loved the look of it here, so much so, that we decided to stay 7 nights. It’s beautiful, we have set up right on the beach, overlooking the ocean and islands on the horizon. 

They have an awesome beach bar and restaurant, which has such a laid back island feel. We’re looking forward to shouting ourselves dinner during our stay.

The kids found their own sandpit to paly in whilst we set up

Enjoying being a little feral

Our view

They have a resident crocodile that lives in a creek just north of here, apparently he cruises past each day on his way to Seisa, then cruises back past on his way home.  So we will have to keep an eye out for him.

Sienna spotted this one though!  She calls it Crocodile Island

After setting up, we kicked back with a rum and enjoyed our first cape sunset.

This is what we’ve come to see.