$2m to fund new life at derelict Cape York resort grounds
After 20 years of languishing in the jungle a private boardwalk attached to the abandoned Pajinka Wilderness Lodge will be rebuilt and campground installed at the Tip of Cape York.
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AFTER 20 years of languishing in the jungle a private boardwalk attached to the abandoned Pajinka Wilderness Lodge will be rebuilt and campground installed at the Tip of Cape York.
A budget allocation of $2m has paved the way for better services at the tip of Cape York pushed by native title holders since the handing back of Pajinka to the Gudang/Yadhaykenu Aboriginal Corporation in 2019.
A campground, car park and toilets are planned for an area within the grounds of the old resort that will connect the Tip walking track car park with the new camp ground via a rainforest boardwalk.
Gudang/Yadhaykenu Aboriginal Corporation deputy chair Michael Solomon said the funding agreement was signed with the Department of Tourism on Thursday.
“We have four stages, the first stage is the clean-up including boardwalk and establishing toilets and camping,” he said.
The luxury Pajinka Wilderness Resort closed for repair after a fire in 2002 but never reopened. In 2019 a plan to bring the resort back to life emerged and whispers of Chinese investment surfaced but to date nothing has been done at the site.
It has since fallen into disrepair and is slowly being reclaimed by the bush but still widely visited by nostalgic Cape travellers interested in the ruins just off Pajinka Rd.
Work is expected to begin this dry season and will be operational for travellers in 2023.
Mr Solomon said future visitors to the Northern Peninsula Area could enjoy displays of tradition dance and food tastings on the white sands of Punsand Bay in a move to activate first nation-operated tourism experiences. He said the recent acquisition of seven uninhabited islands by the corporation would provide places of interest for land and sea tours of the region to be hosted by indigenous guides.
“We have got our own plans for small business, tradition food and traditional dance and landowners will take the fees,” he said.
“We are all in this together to build this for our children and generations to come.
“And tourist generations that will follow in their footsteps travelling up to the Tip, that’s important so they can enjoy their journey.”
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Originally published as $2m to fund new life at derelict Cape York resort grounds
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