What's North of the Northernmost tip of Australia?

Why Thursday Island, of course! Did you know that there is actually a Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday Island too? I'd been intending to do a day trip out to Thursday Island from the next campground, but we were having so much fun with Dwayne and Anna and the kids, we decided to do it earlier. The ferry leaves from Seisia and costs $116 for an adult and $56 for a child, so it's not a cheap trip! It also leaves at 7.45am which meant leaving Punsand Bay at 7am. Eek. I had booked a tour of the island with a local guy named Dirk. He has a mini bus and meets you at the ferry and does tours for $25 an adult. He was really lovely, and our two families made a group of 9 which just about filled the bus. Another family we passed on the way up recommended him, and his cards were at  the campground.

The trip over was great - flat seas so Dunc felt fine. Our tour went for about an hour and a half and we saw all the sights including the museum. After the tour we popped into the Cultural Centre and Art Gallery and then headed to the pub for lunch.

We waited for the return ferry along the foreshore while the kids played on the rocks and hunted for crabs. 

It's interesting how different the islanders are from the aboriginal communities on the mainland. It's so close, yet culturally quite different, rather like the Tiwi Islands.  

I was amazed to learn that people on the mainland actually come over to TI to have their babies! The medical centre in Bamaga does not have a maternity ward, while the one on TI does. It caters to all the outlaying islands further out as well. Mothers from the 5 communities near Bamaga move over to TI for the last month of their pregnancies.  

It was a really interesting day, though I'm not entirely sure it was worth the $500 spent over the day. Nice to be able to say we have been there, though.

Having gone north of the tip by sea, we now got to go north of the tip by air! The campground did helicopter flights, and Angus was lucky enough to score a seat on one of the flights Dwayne booked. There are only 3 passenger seats, and Dwayne had 5 in his party, so he needed 2 flights. This resulted in a spare seat and rather than flip a coin for it, Lexie decided that Angus could go. Isn't she sweet?

Of course as soon as Dunc watched Angus fly up into the air, he wanted a go too, so the rest of us had our own flight a little later! It was rather bumpy up there, and Dunc had elected to go with "no doors" so for me, the best bit about the flight was when we had to weigh ourselves for the pilot. I got to have my 10kg weightloss since the flight over Wilpena Pound confirmed. Woo hoo! Dunc is down 12kg and looking very slim indeed!

Dunc and Lexie had a ball and I actually did enjoy myself. But we all forgot to take any photos of the tip itself. Whoops!