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Early on the 9th July, 1999, 5 brave (!) adventurers set out from Townsville towards Cardwell on the North Queensland coast to start The Thorsborne Trail on Hinchinbrook Island. Peter (I only tell these jokes when my wife isn't around), Ross (aka "Cap'n), Mike (great bloke aka me) Spike, Valen (thongs) tino and Buffy ("Conko") Bufton (he's behind the camera for this shot) were leaving behind the cares of the big metropolis (well, Townsville, anyway) to take on tropical nature with nothing more than their will to survive and as much Port as they could carry. Plenty of adventurers have had more daring, few as little ability...... |
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Dugong* |
Hinchinbrook Island Ferries (tel 07 4066 8270) took us from Cardwell to the boardwalk via Missionary Bay. The 9 am sailing was idyllic. Our captain, bearded as every captain shoud be (what does Ross think he's doing without facial hair?) pointed out the obligatory landmaks to us as we went through. We hoped to see Dugong coming up from their seaweed grazing on the shallow sea bed but had no joy. And so we headed through the ever narrowing waterway, hemmed in by mangroves, to the boardwalk. From here the most difficult thing in getting to Ramsay Bay was lifting our 20 kg packs off the boat. Not quite so difficult for the man in thongs, Valen, who had purchased a second hand one for $3 which could hold only his packed lunch for the day, any excess weight causing the structure of the pack to buckle and collapse much to the amusement of any onlookers. |
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We had a look for fossilised crabs on Ramsay Bay and actually found some. Like all good visitors to the island we put them back in their place. After lunch (cheese and dry crackers in my case) we started our walk. Jees' the packs were heavy! Luckily the walking was all pretty easy. The island was already captivating us. Even being used to the clean air in North Queensland, here the air felt like a "mineral" air, good enough to bottle. The Parks information leaflet and the plentiful orange triangle markers meant we could not get lost. At the saddle below Nina Peak we dropped our packs to scramble to the top for supposedly the best views of the whole trip. And they weren't a disappointment. See the pics opposite and below. |
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We struggled on to Little Ramsay Bay, and it took all our strength to find a camp site by the beautiful lagoon. The two Poms, Buffy and the author (pretentious wally), took their lives into their own hands, and were the only two amongst the 15 or so people camped here to brave the ocean. Which reminds me - don't expect coral off Hinchinbrook, there isn't any. Some of the islands to the North and East do have, however. Leave that snorkel at home. From dusk till late into the night we could be heard singing the lost songs of the ancient inhabitants of these parts of the world, like "American Pie" (3 line version) and "Good Vibrations", from the Beach People of the west coast.
< left, the proud author at (OK, very close to) the top of Nina Peak. |
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Sad to say, I was hung over for Day 2, but looking on the bright side I did have much less Port to carry. This is quite a big day, with a fair amount of climbing and descending into creek beds. The vegetation is mostly open eucalypt, but some mangrove (towards the end of the walk) and rainforest is also encountered. There were also some enormous stag horn ferns in the trees, and also many so big that they had broken their supporting branches and fallen to earth! We were lucky with the weather, although I guess winter should be fairly dry. I have since spoken to someone who did the trail in wet conditions and they did not have nearly as much fun as we did. Having said that, the nights were cool , and we were all pleased of good sleeping bags. Although we found water when we needed it, it could be 2 hours between flowing creeks. This is worth bearing in mind particularly if you are going to camp on Mulligan Bay or George Point for the last day, as there is no reliable water here. You should collect it from Mulligan Falls. Mt Bowen, the highest point on Hinchinbrook, from Zoe Bay > |
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Back to Day 2. We stopped for morning "smoko" at a creek, possibly Banksia Creek, and Ross braved a dip. A beautiful small water hole over a pinkish granite, tumbling over a few rapids. After several more creek crossings, some of which are not marked on the leaflet (I guess they can't mark them all), you reach Zoe Bay. But don't stop here! Drop your pack, and head a kilometre or so inland up South Zoe Creek at the South end of the beach for just the best swimming hole ever at the foot of Zoe Falls. Zoe Falls > |
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Ross at Zoe Falls |
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After a more sensible night, we had a morning dip back in Zoe Falls, and then climbed its impressive height. This day takes you to the trails highest point, but if you're going to camp at Mulligan Falls and not do the side trip to Sunken Reef Bay this is an easy day. We did do the side trip to SRB, and it is nice, but surrounded by all the other beauty here is probably not worth the effort( its a bloody long way down from the main trail, and, more importantly, a bloody long way back up!). After a morning going uphill (past lots of Grass trees as I remember), the last part of the day is downhill into Mulligan Falls. If you hadn't just come from Zoe Falls you would think they were perfect, and they certainly aren't bad. We made the decision that we'd prefer to camp under the sky, not a forest, so went on down a deceptively long way to Mulligan Bay, and camped here close to where some fishermen were camped. I guess this is probably where the locals from Lucinda and Ingham go to on the island for fishing and leisure |
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The night here under the stars was clear beyond belief. The Milky Way (which I thought was supposed to be better in the Northern Hemisphere) was better than I'd ever seen it, and the shooting stars and satellites came out in force. |
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Another bright cool dawn saw us rise from various positions on the beach. We had nearly cleared out our food the night before, and certainly out last alcohol, a plastic bottle full of Southern Comfort was gone. It was to be goodbye to undercooked rice, sardines in Thai sauce, dates, vitamin c tablets, surprise peas and soya protein, but also unfortunately, goodbye to Hinchinbrook. The Island had one more bit of fun up its sleeve for us though - Mulligan Creek, that we had to cross on the beach, and due to our very careful planning, we were going to cross it at high tide. Fortunately, our higher tides were the evening ones, and this one at 9.30 am was easy enough to ford, up to about thigh height. And then the boat back to Lucinda. |
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