Day 8: Homeward bound.After a big night, it was difficult to get going for our 7:30 pick-up. Leaving Cape York via plane, can be an adventure in itself!
We awoke, showered and had our final breakfast with Leigh, Gal and Cookie. We were then bundled onto a bus, and taken to Seisia to catch our first ferry. The boys waved us off as we embarked en route to Thursday Island, where we would spend the bulk of the day.
The ferry ride took an hour and a half, as we passed by Price of Wales Is., Possession Is. And Horn Is. On arrival at T.I., we were met by Sandy (our tour guide), who drove us around this tiny island, telling us of some of its colourful history. With some 13 different practising religions, and governing councils for all of them, it seems to be one of the most beaurocratic places in the world! We visited the ruins of the Green Hill fort (built to protect T.I. from immanent invasion) and to the cemetery which houses the souls of many different religious beliefs.
After an hour or so, Sandy dropped us off ‘in town’, and we made our way to the Torres Pub, (the most northern hotel in Australia) where we had lunch and more beers.
After lunch we were collected (again), and taken to the ferry terminal (again) where we bordered a ferry (again) bound for Horn Island. This island houses the only airport that services this area, and from here we caught our flight for the 2 hour transit back to Cairns and the end of our journey.
Upon arrival, we were met by Renae and Roy (owners of Cape York Motorcycle Adventures), and taken to our various hotels. Some guys flew strait out to their respective home States, while the rest of us shared another evening together in Cairns before flying home.
Evaluation:Cape York Motorcycle Adventures did a great job. Excellent and informative guides, marvellous catering and great communication throughout the entire trip. I would recommend them to anyone that is considering this kind of trip. My only reservation is that we did more ‘road’ stints that I was expecting, but having said that, if there wasn’t a track where we were headed, then we couldn’t take one! Mind you, there were certainly times where I was grateful for a section of flat, straight tarmac.
The Suzuki DRZ 400’s were a terrific bike for this trip. Powerful enough to eat up the long kays, good and stable over the corrugations, yet nimble enough to punt through the tighter stuff. Coupled with the fact that they were well maintained and relatively ‘young’, they were the perfect bike for this trip, although long hours in the saddle did tend to give you a numb bum!
I’d be quite happy not to see any bull-dust for a while; I’m still finding it in odd places! I took two pair of gloves with me, but only wore one set. See if you can work out which is which!
Would I do it all again? Probably not. Not because I didn’t enjoy it (‘cos I did), but because I’ve been there and done that. One thing that this kind of trip does is whet your appetite to do other adventures, so Damian and I will soon be looking for something else....Laos, Mongolia...who knows? But I would like to go back to the tip again one day, it’s so special!
The End.
