Teaching Torres Strait: Camping at Seisia, NPA

Camping at Seisia - Northern Peninsula Area (NPA)

Easter Holidays - April 2014

In off-peak season (October - May) Peddells runs it's Thursday Island to Seisia ferry service twice a day on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. In tourist season (June - September), they run twice a day everyday.

Thursday Island is the administrative hub of the Torres Strait & Seisia is a township on the Cape in the NPA. It is not far from the tip of mainland Australia.

We caught the 2.30pm ferry from T.I. on Monday 7th April & arrived on the mainland after a bumpy ride in the swell an hour later. We had taken out camping gear packed in a bike trailer and walked to the Seisia campground from the wharf. It is not signposted, but is only a 150m walk away. At the end of the wharf is a carpark with a bit of playground equipment to the right and a road curving off past the Seaswift freight terminal to the campground on the left.

Arriving at Seisia Wharf with our luggage!

We checked in to a lovely, shaded "powered hut site" that had a big undercover area with lights, power points, benches & 2 sinks as well as a communal amenities block housing 2 toilets & 2 excellent showers.

Powered Hut Site 13 was ours...

Although many of the villas & cabins were occupied, we were the only campers in the entire park! The beachfront camping sites had't opened yet as peak season hadn't begun, but we had lovely views of the ocean from our leafy site & much more shade than the beachfront sites offered. We thought villa 7 at the very Eastern end of the park looked perfect, only 1 neighbour, fantastic beachfront views & a great upstairs balcony - the pick of the bunch!

Villa 7 - our pick for next time!

View from villa 7...

We set up our tent then explored the beach at sunset - there were plenty of people fishing off the wharf & the girls loved finding hermit crabs & snails & digging in the sand. The weather was clear and a little windy & we slept under a dry sky of stars that night after a meal of camp food cooked in the hut.

Tuesday started with yoga on the beach, camp breaky & a beach play. After lunch we napped on our stretchers in the hut as it was too hot in the tent. We walked the 500m to the lovely little Seisia supermarket in the afternoon.

Seisia supermarket

The walk to the supermarket

We also explored the BP service station on the corner & the kiosk & restaurant at the campground. The kiosk sells souvenirs, clothing & tours, & the restaurant is open for breaky / lunch / dinner & is visited by many locals. There is also a little "art cafe" on the edge of the campground that faces the road - a donga with an air-con, a coffee vending machine, a collection of local crafts, a verandah & a cheerful shopkeeper.

Replica boat under thatched shelter in campground beside arts cafe.

The rain set in Tuesday evening & was persistent & heavy all night...so much so that our tent sprung a few leaks, so we decided to wake early & take the 8am ferry back rather than wait for the 4pm ferry as originally planned.

We still managed a campfire in the rain - had to make it under the hut!

Bailing early on Wednesday morning...

We were unable to take a 4WD tour to the tip during this stay because many of the roads are still damaged or closed after wet season & the tours don't re-start till May. The Punsand Bay campground (the closest to the tip) was open, but too hard to access without our own transport. The Loyalty Beach campground hadn't even opened for business after the wet season - they're the crew that run the 4WD tours, too. So Seisia was really our only choice...but we were very happy there for the few days!

Photos of accommodation and camping sites around the campground...