Conquering Cape Belford at Elim Beach.......

.....well attempting to conquer!
Our friend Joan has been obsessed with climbing North Cape Belford ever since she has been visiting Elim Beach.  One of the things that stopped her was actually getting to the base of the mountain as it entails traversing around about 10km of sand dunes.  That little problem was overcome by Philip and I offering to tow the buggy up to Elim Beach.
Elim Beach is an easy drive north of Cooktown and it started it's life as a Lutheran Mission in the early 1800's.  Now the mission is based in Hope Vale.  Elim Beach is well know for it's beautiful coloured sands and hundreds of tourists visit here each year to photograph (and climb) the sands.  The only camping ground is owned by one of the Aboriginal Elders - Eddie - and if you take the time to talk to him he will regale you with some incredible stories.
We arrived at Elim Beach mid afternoon on our first day and after setting up camp we made our way towards the beach and our first glimpse of the hulking Cape Bedford - elevation 300,000 metres - no, not really, but very high!

I had already decided that I would not do the climb at Cape Bedford with the other three.  I know my capabilities and this was way beyond mine!  So bright and early the next day the team set off....

They had packed lunch and said they would not be home until mid afternoon.  I wished them luck.  This is where I end the story and Philip begins...

"It took us about an hour to travel the 10km across the sand dunes before we reached a point at the bottom of the mountain where we stopped as I could not take the buggy any further as it was too steep.  Even at this point the drop off to the right was a sheer cliff drop to the waters edge. Cape Bedford is usually very windy but on this particular day it was dead calm and very hot.  This was not what we wanted.  Joan had mapped out our route on google maps (no tracks here) but it was clear right from the start that what Joan had thought was grass was actually scrub trees that were covered in green ants!  This was not good but we continued our upward journey.  The scrub deeply scratched our legs and the green ants bit continually. It was not comfortable but Joan was determined.  We eventually reached a point where we could not go any further.  There was a sheer rock face in front of us that, with our ability, could not be climbed.  By this stage we were all exhausted and we still had to face the downward journey that is probably more treacherous than the upward journey.  After three hours of climbing we eventually made it back to the vehicle.  Joan was disappointed but we all agreed that the only way we were ever going to reach the summit is via helicopter!"

If you follow the road in the middle of this photo you can "just" pick out the buggy as a tiny black dot.

I could see the disappointment on their faces when they arrived back at the camp but I could also see complete exhaustion.  It was extremely gruelling.

The next day Philip took me back to where they started there climb.  I am completely in awe of how far they got!

There are so many places to explore at Elim/Cape Belford.  We drove across many sandunes and along the shoreline.  I was absolutely disgusted at how much rubbish has been washed up onto these pristine beaches. Plastic.  So....much...plastic.  I don't know how we as a population are ever going to tackle this huge problem.

So much rubbish.  Someone had made a "thong tree" from ones that had been washed up

Everybody always had their cameras ready for a photo opportunity - and there were many.  It's just such a beautiful place but we were told by Eddy that they are planning to mine the sand dunes for silica in the not too distant future.  Bloody mining companies!

Gorgeous foliage contrasting with the sand dunes in the background.

Typical sand road.  They are looking for the tea tree orchids.

Some of the roads we traversed were quite difficult...

 We, of course explored the Coloured Sands.  They really are magnificent and quite different to the ones further south.  These are not huge mountains of colour, just nature at it's very best.  They are still forming and every time we come back to Elim Beach the sand hills have changed shape and colour.

Ah.......really??!!??

Can you spot Beryl on her climb across the coloured sands?

This as far as you can drive along the beach.  The sign says it all!

We took long walks along the beach looking for star fish and the very unusual black sea cucumber also known as the lollyfish.  

Black Sea Cucumber

This is fresh water pushing up through the sand. 

There are crocs in this area but we didn't see any.  We are always aware and careful to take our beach walks at low tide and certainly to keep away from any inland streams or lagoons.  This is a really spectacular unspoilt area of Australia and I know we will return here again and again.

The sun sets on a perfect day

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