P36 - FISH & BOAT, April 2019 Fishing Our Time 520 I which recently came to an end a good six years downt’s funny sometimes how things end up.the time I was going to do a short 6-month workcontract in Cape York with my best mate, Suzie,at The Toprive on the barge. Forr a few weeks, every bit off down-By Talina O’Brientime had us exploring all the tracks, just to see wherethey would take us.LikeMost of these tracks led us to really spectacularbeaches, but that’s where they would stop. This wouldfrustrate us as we stood there and looked down the the track. My boss must have known us pretty well. kilometres of coastline, that unless we walked, we BLUEWATER It was February 2013 when we asked about the possi-bility of a short contract somewhere up in Cape York.could never get to. So at that point, we began to un-derstand why half of the locals owned quad bikes and We finished the meeting with our boss chuckling “you realised we had to purchase our own. WITH guys won’t be back” as we walked out the door. The quads opened up opportunities to explore some Four weeks later we had packed up our house and genuinely remote land-based destinations. We would relocated to Bamaga, which is the last community be- take every chance to go the extra distance and found 63(&,),,&$7,2166 fore you reach the tip of Australia. our way to rocky headland’s, flats fishing and creek P I have to admit I didn’t know a lot about Bamaga mouths. There are plenty of fish to be found, and you and wasn’t sure what to expect. I had done numerous will see some raw natural scenery that will take your P fishing trips into Pormpuraaw and Weipa but hadn’t breath away.If you have the opportunity to take a .* ventured any further north. About 3 years prior, quad with you, do it. If you have time restraints and PP Victorian-bred Suzie had just moved to Cairns and have the choice of taking a boat or a quad, I would PP jumped on a tour bus from Cairns to the very Tip. definitely recommend a quad. Little did she know, and never in her wildest dreams Continued next page when she was standing at the iconic ‘northernmost tip of Australia’ sign, did she think she would one day be ;/ living there. We were both pretty enthusiastic about the opportu- nity to explore and fish the magnificent area. Equally, we were also a little nervous as to how we would go living in a remote Community. We no longer had BCF and Tackleworld so we were a little unsure on how we would survive. As I sit here writing this, it is now February 2019, and we recently made the massive decision to leave Bamaga and relocate. To be honest, it was terribly difficult to leave a community of locals who welcomed us with open arms. We fell in love with the people, the culture and the magnificent land and sea which offered so many fish- ing opportunities and made the very best memories. Over the past 6 years, we explored as much as we possibly had time to explore, from the west coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria to the Torres Strait and the reefs and sand cays of the far northern Great Barrier With an improved Platetrix Reef. We fished every creek, river system and blue wa- ter areas we possibly could. The destination bucket hull design and massive fuel list we had made had officially been completed. Ulti- capacity, the 520 Bluewater mately it was the call of new terrain that finally moti- vated us to move on. provides a softer, more Over the time we were there, we took every opportu- comfortable ride to get you nity to share our fortunate doorway of the Tip of the Cape with our family and friends. Our backyard put to where the fish are. SCAN THE QR us in touch with past and present friends, friends of CODE FOR MORE friends and lots of new friends who were keen to get INFORMATION! a taste of Cape York. Ultimately, our address turned into a fabulous opportunity to connect or reconnect with like-minded fishing mates and it was a pleasure to share our knowledge. Over the years, there were always a lot of questions CALL YOUR LOCAL DEALER TODAY asked about visiting Cape York. Through this article I thought it would be a great opportunity to answer some of the more frequently asked questions we con- Rising Sun Townsville Holt Marine tinue to receive, provide some tips and share some of 35 Bowen Road, Mundingburra the most memorable moments to the Fish and Boat Phone: (07) 4759 3218 25 Queens Rd, Everton Hills readers in case you might be planning to travel to the Brisbane, Queensland Tip (which of course I reckon you should). marine@risingsuntownsville.com.au Phone: (07) 3353 1928 Our favourite land base spots Tropical Trailer Boats info@holtmarine.com.au We arrived in Bamaga in the middle of a pretty big 32 Gordon Street, Bowen wet season, and at that stage, our boats were yet to ar- Phone: (07) 4786 3899 Gold Coast Boating Centre tropicaltrailerboats@bigpond.com.au 64 Kortum Drive Fresh crayfish for dinner? 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