Tip of Cape York, Queensland
We make our way to the tip of Cape York Peninsula, stopping at the ruins of Somerset on the way, then celebrate with a catered fish feed at the camp.
Morning time was hanging out time. Chris had thought he'd be interested in seeing Seisia and Injinoo, two native communities near us, but decided not to. Reading the Cape York book by Ron and Viv Moon, we found that the Injinoo Aboriginal community forbids visitors, and Seisia didn't seem to have much there. Later we found out that Seisia would probably be interesting. Though it's on the mainland, it's an Islander community, and we've found Torres Strait Islanders to be quite friendly and welcoming.
After lunch, we wandered over to Somerset, the first European settlement here on the cape. It was established by Frank Jardine as an outpost and to offer assistance to sailors passing through. Not much there--some graves and the old homestead, surrounded by mango trees that had been cut down the week before to stop the spread of the red banded mango caterpillar. DB made some comment that the Injinoo Community, who now have native title over the area, couldn't give a shit about keeping it up as a historical site because Jardine was European. Of course they wouldn't: Frank Jardine liked to shoot Aborigines for sport, and placed Somerset right at their prime turtle catching grounds. Personally, I think he was more of a squatter than a settler, and he considered any black person on his land as vermin that needed to be exterminated.
Then to the tip! It's a short, 20 minute walk to the tip from the Panjika Lodge parking lot, through the rainforest, then up and over a rocky hill. The tip is somewhat curious, because while it's the northernmost point on Australia's mainland, there are two islands just offshore that tell you 'ha ha, it's kind of a technicality'. We got there a bit before the rest of the group, opened our champagne (which had a rotting cork, by the way, bloody Europeans that insist on cork), and walked back.
Chris poked around the Panjika Lodge a bit while waiting for the rest of the group to return. The lodge and shops were 'closed for renovations', though it looked like it was closed for good. It had an interesting story, rooted in Queensland's banana republic days of Joh Bjelke-Petersen, the premier who ran the state for dozens of years until the late 1980's or so. Seems like Sir Joh wanted to give some business to a mate's airline, so he basically gave them the go ahead to build Panjika Lodge as a luxury resort. They did, and it prospered, until the Injinoo put a native title claim on it in the early 1990s. And their claim succeeded. The management of the lodge reverted to the Injinoo community, and they mismanaged it into the ground. More likely, they just don't care for visitors.
It got me thinking... about all those misguided people (you might call them multiculturalists, or left-leaning liberals, or the urban bleeding heart elite) who yearn for a close understanding and direct personal acceptance of the Aboriginal experience. (Hey, I'd include all those naive backpackers in Airlie Beach in that group, all toting their bubble wrapped dijideroos, hoping somehow that a stick of wood that's likely never been touched by an Aborigine will impart some sense of authenticity to their holiday experience... but I digress). The thing I'm starting to realize is that a lot of Aborigines just don't care what you think about them, you will never be a part of their country, and you can never understand. It's a kind of passive xenophobia. Much of their culture is closed and there are no cultural methods for incorporating new ideas into it... It's almost as if the best thing that (white) Australia can do is just go away and let them be.
That evening, the Punsand Bay Resort had prepared us some absolutely yummy fish and chips and salads and all. It was delicious. We slept well that night!
Weird Wildlife Sighting
A pink flowering orchid, growing on the very tip of Cape York on a scrubby bush on a windswept, rocky hillside. Not somewhere you'd expect to see such a pretty orchid!