The following day I was invited to join a couple of G's fishing clients, H & M (father & son) for a drive to the tip of Cape York, which is the northernmost point on the Australian continent. G was quite busy that day prepping for the fishing trip the next day so I went solo.  H was a friendly older guy who had informed me the previous night in his thick Aussie accent that he is not "a fair dinkum Aussie" because he was born in Germany. Well, I had to grin, feeling quite proud of myself that I knew what he meant, thanks to the big painted mural in the Sydney airport explaining Aussie slang for newcomers... fair dinkum means "genuine" or "the real thing", et. al. Who knew airport art could be so educational? 

So I piled into the Land Cruiser with H & M and we set out for the tip. Even though I grew up with bumpy gravel roads in rural Iowa, my adult life has taken a more urban track and I've just taken nice paved roads for granted. So it hadn't occurred to me for some reason that there wouldn't be a "normal" road up to the tip of the Cape. What an adventurous trip!! We drove through rainforest & savannas across a washboard dirt road that had the occasional fallen tree laying across and the less occasional HUGE pothole that could swallow a small bus. M, the son, was driving, since he had taken this road before. Again, as an American, we often assume that if you are on a really really bumpy road, you go slower... not M. He was flying along this washboard at around 40-55 mph I think, which seemed so much faster because of the paint-shaker-style vibrations in the car. I had never appreciated seat belts so much as that day, as there were several mega-bumps that would have certainly catapulted one or more of us out the window. 

Once I accepted the thrill-ride nature of this, I really began to get into it and started shooting some one-handed photography, as the other hand was busy gripping the dashboard like one would grasp a saddle horn when riding a bucking horse. We spotted some of the groovier flora and fauna and features of the region - a dingo, several really large lizards and/or small dinosaurs (or so they seemed), as well as lots of interesting birds including kookaburra and wild turkeys, a kangaroo and those incredible termite mounds (below) that look like red other-worldly cityscapes dotted along the savannah.

 

We trekked through the lush canopy of rainforest for a little ways, climbed and descended a bit until we reached the tip. I was thrilled to find that there was an actual sign at the tip, making the photo opp complete, of course - the stuff postcards are made of, replete with the obvious tourist in the big hat, in my case. (below)

After exploring this rugged and beautiful spot on foot for awhile, we hopped back in the 4WD and explored a couple of other places along the coast, Somerset Beach and Punsand Bay. While walking along Somerset beach, we came across some fascinating tombstones in a small area just off the beach, about as remote as one could possibly imagine. My poor Canon Rebel XT was smokin' that day from being rapid-fired, as this place already qualified as a photo nirvana.

 
  

When we arrived back at the base in Seisia later in the day, G took me for a sunset drive, deftly coaxing his 4WD up a steep, rocky incline that mere mortals would think impossible to climb, but not this guy. I was beginning to realize just how wimpy I really was regarding vehicular manipulation of this nature, and how it didn't even phase guys like G or M. The sunset view from our elevated vantage point was simply beautiful, and I was almost feeling a moment of beauty-overload, as though I would explode. The entire day had been filled with the visually awesome and stunning and breathtaking, etc. Well, if I was going to explode from this, what a great way to go!