TAKING THE BEATTIE PATH
In February 1606, 164 years before James Cook ‘discovered’ Australia, a Dutch captain by the name of Willem Janszoonof, sailing on the Duyfken, recorded the first landing of a European on Australian soil. He went on to map about 300 kilometres of what is now known as Cape York and have what is believed to be the first contact between a European and the traditional peoples of the area —it did not go well for the explorers. Funnily enough, he named this strange land New Zealand and I can’t help but think that if the name had stood the test of time, we would now have a kick-arse rugby team and not the Wallabies.
Ultimately, exploration of the peninsula has brought calamity and death to many unable to subsist as the Aborigines did. There are so many different things that can kill you in Cape York. Unprepared and unaware, you’re basically going to war with nature, which is armed with teeth, claws, poison, heat and isolation. It’s safe to say that in those early days, the concept of a bunch of blokes exploring the place just for the pure fun of it was ridiculous. And yet here we are, for the fun of it, exploring admittedly worn paths, but well away from home on machines far more capable than a camel, and with a guarantee of cold beers come the end of the day. We are on a Daryl Beattie Adventure.
WELCOME TO THE TIP
When you get off the plane in Bamaga you enter the simplest airport imaginable, essentially a medium-sized shed on the side of a runway. There was a gaggle of blokes milling around all talking dirtbikes, a language we all instantly recognised. This was the group that preceded us, who did the ride from Cairns to the Tip, and they were clearly pumped from the experience. They shared tales of amazing tracks and a warning about one particularly diffi cult drop-off which, given we were heading in the opposite direction, would be a
