The MV Trinity Bay is a cargo vessel that operates between Cairns, Cape York Peninsula and the islands of the Torres Strait. It's principal purpose is to carry freight and is the only working cargo vessel in Australia that carries passengers.
Last Tuesday we had an early afternoon briefing then we all had to wear a high vis vest as we had to walk through a loading area to board our home for the next five nights. Once on board we were given an induction and safety drill from the purser ( Connal) then the cabins were allocated. We were all impatient to get underway but there was still 1000's of tons of freight to be loaded which meant we were still in the Port of Cairns for dinner, finally getting underway about 7.30pm. Reading, playing cards and sitting up on deck is the main way to pass the time and of course chatting with fellow passengers. The weather conditions were not ideal the first couple of days, there was a strong SE wind which was whipping up the sea and patchy misty rain which made visibility of the coast difficult. The first port of call would be into the Lockhart River which is a good 24 plus hours steaming, which meant they had to unload the freight in darkness onto a barge that came alongside our vessel. This was also hampered by the large swell and wind, which meant that the transfer of the freight took much longer than planned. It was very interesting being topside watching the freight being transferred and the crane operator and crew working in such trying conditions, it wasn't to about 4am before the engines fired up again and we were underway. Ear plugs were definitely a necessity.
Thursday we passed through Albany Passage which is the gateway to the Torres Strait it is a gap of water running between the mainland and Albany Island all the passengers were up on deck taking photos of the beautiful coastline. Finally we arrived at Horne Island by this time it was late afternoon, we were running a few hours behind schedule which meant that we would only have time to do the tour of Horne Island and would miss out on the Thursday Island tour as it would be nearly midnight before we would get there. We were a little disappointed in the tour as our expectations of what we would see of the WW11 history on the island was a lot higher but saying this the museum documents the area's history and has a good display of memorabilia. The island was the site of a large Australian and American army and air force base that was bombed by the Japanese.
We slept through the unloading of the freight on Thursday Island then once again we were underway for another 2.5 hours steaming to Seisia Wharf arriving at 7.30am, arrival and departure times here are depended on the tides. With our departure not expected to be until 7.30 that night (Friday) we were escorted off the vessel again in our high vis vests to board our tour that would take us from the wharf area through a couple of communities and the town of Bamaga and the 80klm return trip to the tip of Cape York. The tour operator must release that we have had very limited exercise since leaving Cairns, so we have the opportunity of walking along the track in the rain forest for a couple of klms. It did feel good to be able to walk off some of the calories that we have consumed over the last three days, certainly no complaints in regard to the food that is served to the crew and passengers.
Finally it was time to make our way the 1 klm from the carpark to the Tip, it was rocky terrain with Baz needing to give me a shoulder quiet often to help me over the uneven ground. We made it! along with the rest of our group and many young travellers. Some of who decided they would celebrate their accomplishment, the guys by dropping their dacks and the girls going topless and pointing their pointy bits toward Papua New Guinea, it made for a good photo shot. As the tide had receded we were able to take the easier way back around the headland wading through shallow water. I did feel a little uneasy in case there was a Crock about!
Located about 100m from the Tip's car park was an old, run down, neglected resort apparently it was the Cape York Wilderness Lodge opened in 1986 by Bush Pilot Airways, we went exploring the ruins and could only imagine it's splendour back in its day. Apparently is was given back to the traditional owners and renamed Pajinka Wilderness Lodge in 1992 it closed in 2002 when the generator broke down and the resort was left abandoned and now the rainforest is taking over the ruins.
We left Seisia on time Friday night but had to return to Horne Island to load more cargo as there had been insufficient time the previous day to finish, as we would have missed the tide to make it into Seisia. We were on our final leg back to Cairns with an improvement in the weather conditions we had uninterrupted views of pristine beaches, rugged coastline, and the many islands we passed. Once again we were running behind schedule arriving in Cairns Sunday night at 8.30pm. We could have stayed on board for another night to disembark at 6.30am the next morning, we opted to abandon ship and head back to our caravan. We had trouble going to sleep that night as we missed the motion and continual noise of the MV Trinity Bay, after first couple of days aboard we had even stopped using the ear plugs.
