A Cape York adventure.

I have been travelling up to Weipa in far north Cape York, Queensland for 10 years, fishing, I have just returned from a week a little bit further north at Mapoon, staying at Camp Chivaree, The Turtle Research camp. It turned into much more than a fishing trip, my son and I met some of the wonderful Traditional owners of the area and some of the local boys who work as turtle rangers.

We fished every day and caught (and released) a huge number of fish. At night we joined the Turtle researchers in the nightly search for Green, Flatback, Hawks Bill and Olive Ridley Turtles either coming up on the beach, laying eggs or helping hatchlings make their way to the ocean. We also had some close encounters with a lot of Crocs including probably the biggest croc I have ever seen up there, it was on the beach that had the turtles on it.. The days were long but very satisfying.

The sunsets (with the help of some local fires) were spectacular. For bird watchers early mornings and evenings were amazing.

The accomodation is permanant tents with a central eating area, open air showers with plenty of cool, sweet water.

Getting there isn't really easy, we had a flight to Cairns from Brisbane ,then another from Cairns to Weipa and then a light plane to Mapoon before the hours drive to Camp Chivaree. But,we have already booked for next year.

If you make contact, say Gudday to Dick from Mark and Andrew. (Dick knows more about the Cape than anyone I've met !)

Heres a website, I think its a bit old,but will probably get you through to them.
http://capeyorkturtlerescue.com/index.htm