Steep Point and the Zuytdorp Cliffs

We didn’t manage to get to Steep Point, the western most point on the mainland, before heading over the Dirk Hartog Island because we camped and then caught the barge just a few kilometres short. So, being so close, we drove out there after getting off the barge from the island.

We’ve now been to three of the four mainland extremities having been to Cape Byron (east) and Cape York (north), but Steep Point is certainly the most remote of those. It was a little surprising though to find, in such an undeveloped area, a ‘Fotopol’, a solid pole complete with screw for the tripod socket on the bottom of your camera. I’ve never seen one before and I didn’t expect to come across my first one at Steep Point!

After taking the mandatory photos of us all, we decided to head back a different way to the way we had driven in a few days earlier. Instead we headed south along the coast from Steep Point towards Thunder Bay. We didn’t know anything about the track; it was marked on our map but otherwise nobody could tell us anything about it. It turned out to be one of the most enjoyable, and spectacular, drives we have done so far.

The track follows the rugged coast for about 45kms and alternates between sandy tracks where it moves away from the coast slightly and rocky where it approaches the cliffs again. The cliffs are the Zuytdrop Cliffs, which are apparently the longest fault scarp in Australia. It’s probably best to just show some photos rather than try to describe how spectacular the area was.

One highlight along the coast was a number of blow holes we found. Izzy even discovered what happens when you put your head over a blow hole!