Tales of 12ft Hammerheads!
05 May 2008 | Cape Upstart, Queensland
Cape Upstart was another of our little surprises. We expected to go into an isolated anchorage but as we approached we noticed a few houses. The further in we went the more houses we saw, it seems to be another of the isolated holiday home communities like we saw at Gloucester Island only bigger and without the resorts. Every house came with a tractor, to pull your boat up or drive around in. On one of our walks we spoke to a lady who was lucky enough to have retired there, she told us that they had to get in and out by boat and that a barge generally took them to the nearest town to buy supplies. She also warned us, as Loretta was contemplating having a swim, that a couple of the local men had caught a 12ft Hammerhead there the previous week and that she wouldn't recommend going swimming.
As we walked further up the beach we spoke to the gentleman who had caught the shark and tried to glean some information from him in relation to the fish in the area. He was more than happy to discuss the shark but when it came to finding out where to catch the Coral Trout he was less than forthcoming. I got the idea that he may have had more than a little bit of Island fever and was glad when we moved on to discover the fish on our own.
There was nice walking along the beaches there and the landscape was everchanging. Rocks with green and gold shrubbery, rock cliff faces and pure white sand. Getting into the tender and roaring further inland we saw more and more houses and finally mangroves and mud flats. We stayed for a couple of nights here and then moved on towards Townsville.