Bathurst Head
Bathurst
Head is a great spot to camp and fish.
It is on the northern coast of the area covered by Lakefield National Park, but it is not in the national park itself.
It is the headland between Princess Charlotte Bay and Lakefield National Park in the west, and Bathurst Bay and Cape Melville National Park in the east.
The headland, including all the way in, is on Aboriginal land.
It is a beautiful place, and the road in is less bumpy and more scenic than the road to nearby Cape Melville.
The road goes first through some open woodland and grassland with termite mounds and sometimes large flocks of brolgas; and later it passes some salt plains and tall eucalypt forest with some massive palm trees.
At one stage it passes by the old Bathurst Head Outstation.
Once you get to the beach, the first camping spot you come to is overlooking Princess Charlotte Bay. It is a beautiful spot, however the water can be too shallow for fishing unless you have a dinghy. UPDATE 2017 - the camping is being regulated and will no longer be FREE shortly - I will update here as well as in the Destination Guide.
There is a little track up to the hill called Conspicuous Peak, and once you get up there you get to another beautiful camp spot, great for fishing from the rocky headland as well as the beach. There is a river mouth good for mud crabbing too. UPDATE 2017 - this area is no longer available as the land has been given back to Aboriginal people.
There is a third beach (east of the previous one), which is longer, and shallower. All the camp spots have the downside of very little shade. You may find one but you're looking hard. UPDATE 2017 - this area is no longer available as the land has been given back to Aboriginal people.
An upside.. someone has been really smart and put a bath in here (reachable from a track near the easternmost beaches), with fresh water dropping in through a little pipe. What a great idea - we all know how a cool dip feels when you're camping with no showers in this hot climate!
Thanks for the bath, whoever it was :-)
UPDATE - as of 2020 the whole area is closed.
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