Our 3-person odyssey continued north with another overnight sail, but sometime in the middle of the night instead of sailing north around Australia we turned to head west around Australia. We rounded Cape York in the middle of the night, with flashing buoys all around us marking shallow reefs and tiny islands, and currents attempting to spin the boat quite literally in circles, we motorsailed our way through and dropped anchor in Punsand Bay just as the sun was starting to peek out.

I didn’t get any pics of the place, but Punsand is a haven for not just cruisers along this coast, but also overlanders. A campground stood on the beach full of filthy red dirt covered trucks and trailers. Reaching this point is a big accomplishment for the 4×4 crowd, of which there are plenty here in Australia. Punsand Bay was a welcome stop for us, not just for the safe anchorage, but because the trailer park also had a lively bar and restaurant. Dare I say good pizza, and fish and chips were a respite for us after a few days of less than exciting home-cooked vegetarian fare.

The norhernmost point of the Australian continent was a worthy goal.

An accomplishment we reached along with dozens of others. It was a short five-minute hike from the parking lot to here, and we passed a tour-bus load of 80-something year old thrill seekers on our way in.