Our next stop was Loyalty Beach, another planned stay to make sure that we were here on a Sunday night, their famous fish and chip night!

We can choose to set up wherever we like, so we select another beachfront position with just the white beach, turquoise sea and palm trees in front of us.

Also staying not far from us are a group of motorbike riders, (you see heaps of them on the road to the tip) and this one was an organized tour where the riders pay around $5,000 for a 6 day trip from Cairns to the tip. I must mention that most of the riders we see aren’t spending much time in the saddle, they stand and use their bodies as shock absorbers for all the corrugations!

Included in the cost of the tour is the bike to ride, all their food and drinks, swags, chairs, backup mechanical and medical support and then when the ride is over, they are taken by helicopter to nearby Horn Island then onto a fixed wing plane back to Cairns. The bikes are then loaded onto a truck and driven back to start the next tour. Sounds great if that’s your thing!

As the suns starts to get lower we wander over to the sunset bar for fish and chip night and it was terrific. $18 for two fish and chips, wrapped in paper and enjoyed with a beverage or two from the bar as the sun set into the sea.

The next day we move only a short way down the road to Seisia. Here we have booked a shelter hut which has power and a tiled kitchen bench area – Luxury. We set our tent up inside and have another wonderful ocean view.

We are warned about the local horses and dogs that roam through the campground and are told to be careful of the horses, they kick and bite. With that advice we come up with a brilliant idea, to rope off our hut with our tent inside, hopefully stopping any wandering horses from snooping around. It worked and we had no unwanted visitors.

Seisia also has security that patrols overnight from midnight to 6am and we’re told that if you see anyone wandering around not in high vis, chase them out. I think I’ll leave that up to security.

It’s from here at Seisia that we can catch a catamaran to take us over to Thursday Island, so we book to depart the next day. Overnight there is torrential rain, very unseasonal we’re told, but luckily our tent was under the cover of a shelter so we are dry and comfortable.

It’s a bit breezy and drizzly still the next day but we head off on the ferry to Thursday Island, TI as it’s known, at 8am. It’s a bit of a bumpy ride but we arrive and take off on foot to discover the island.

You can book tours that will take you to various points of interest but they were booked out when we tried to get one, so we opted to pick up a map and discover what we could for ourselves. One thing to tick off our list, was to have a drink at Australia’s northernmost hotel. They also serve up great food, and there are cafes and another hotel, The Grand, which has terrific views of the harbour.

We visited the cultural centre and found art and sculptures around town before heading back to the ferry which leaves at 2.30pm. By now the wind had become even stronger and it was a pretty nerve wracking 70 minute rough ride back to the mainland, through 3-4 foot swell.  I thought perhaps it was always like this but when an elderly TI lady commented that it was a rough ride, I took her word for it.

Back at our camp we have a happy hour with the lovely people sharing our hut, Penny and Peter from Wooli NSW, other neighbours Thomas and Yola from Taperoo SA and friends of friends from Port Elliot in SA, Naomi and Danny.

Before leaving Sesia the next day, I head into the little arts and craft shop near reception and buy some jewellery made by local aboriginal kids, a great enterprise where they receive money back for their efforts.

Our next destination is Alau Beach, another picturesque spot to pitch our tent on the beachfront. There is meant to be a resident crocodile here too, but we’ve heard that before and don’t expect to see it. How wrong we were.

Alau is known for terrific sunsets and it didn’t disappoint with colour that lasted for hours after the sun had dipped below the horizon. As were sitting enjoying the evening ambiance, a group of men fishing on the beach alerted everyone to the fact that a HUGE crocodile was swimming past the campground. Bystanders all agreed it was somewhere between 3 and 4 metres long. With a bright spotlight shining on it, we followed its path as it glided by, with fish jumping out of the water ahead of it to escape its jaws.

Luckily for us it continued travelling down the length of the beach, past the range of the spotlight and out of sight…we hoped. The tide was still coming in and we were on a beachfront site…so it was a bit of a disturbed sleep we had that night, listening out for any sounds during the night.

We woke up bright and early and it was time to move on again to our next destination.

To be continued…

Glenys