Weipa

 We spent a day looking around Weipa.  It is certainly interesting to see a township owned by a commercial enterprise.  The required facilities are there and you could live in a comfortable but restricted lifestyle.  The beach is essentially mudflats at the edge of the mangroves.

The only reason to be in Weipa is to mine bauxite or service those who do.  The "mine" is a large flat open space where the top metre of soil and vegetation is removed, then the next 3-5 metres is high grade bauxite that is scraped up and shipped out.

The bauxite is pushed onto a long conveyor belt and about 80,000 tonnes dumped directly into ships. A new ship arriving on every high tide.  

Our evening entertainment was a sunset cruise in a barge to see the local environment and, if possible, local wildlife around the mangroves.

We saw crocodile and a range of birds including the rare black necked stork.  We also saw osprey chicks waiting for their dinner on top of a navigation beacon.

The next morning we had an early start for a long drive on the Old Telegraph Track to Bamaga and the tip of Cape York.