Location: Queensland coast halfway between Cairns and Townsville.
Access – By boat from Cardwell or Lucinda.
Description Australia’s largest island National Park. Almost entirely wilderness area. One trail along the east coast and small wilderness/eco lodge at the northern tip.
We had an inauspicious start to our trip. The longterm parking at Tullamarine was almost full and the Jetstar personnel were crazy zealots who wanted us to confiscate our (empty, clean, aired, wrapped in cloth) fuel bottles and pump, contrary to their own regulations. I can’t be bothered to recount the story now, but, after some very tense moments, we boarded the plane with all equipment required to live on a wilderness island. Qantas will be getting a very stern letter.
We arrived in Cairns, mid morning and took a Greyhound bus 3 hours South to Cardwell, a small, one taxi town with stunning views out to the mountains of Hinchinbrook. The next morning we were taken South to the even smaller ‘town’ of Lucinda to catch the ferry to Hinchinbrook. Finally we arrived at George point at a fabulous wide beach fringed by rainforest with mountains peeking up behind them.
The first day was a two hour beach walk including the crossing of Mulligan creek followed by a turn into beautiful forest, thick with vines and palms, ferns and epiphytes. A very short ascent and we were at the first campsite, Mulligan Falls in time for lunch. We ate on some large granite boulders in site of the falls. We watched fish in the clear waters of the pool and ulysses butterflies in the treetops and spied orchids growing on the tops of boulders. We set up camp, swum in the pool, re-warmed ourselves on the warm rocks and deeply relaxed :)
Day two we walked from Mulligan Falls to Zoe Bay, a steep ascent and descent of about 300m over a saddle. There were spectacular views from the top of Zoe falls down to the Zoe bay but no actual view from the high point as the vegetation was too high. The trees on the hills were entirely different and it seemed as if we were truly in the mountains with the rainforest a long way down. We also took a side trip (in rain) to Sunken reef bay and I speared my calf with the exceedingly fine and sharp laywer’s vine spines, which took some time to remove with tweezers. The camp at Zoe bay was in lush, dark mangrove forest, that opened up onto the beach with a beautiful, crocodile inhabited, lagoon. We saw a couple wading back out to their boat with their poor dog leashed as what seemed to be decoy bait!
Day three was a beautiful walk around the back of a large swampy (crocodile infested) area. Apparently the walk used to stay close to the coast as crossed the creek near the beach but crocs were seen, hence the diversion. I think it is a great addition as we skirted through mangrave and swamp, crossed rives that only flow in the wet seasons and also passed through some grasslands where we found different orchid species high in the trees. Ross lost his water after some more pesky lawyer’s vine rent a large hole in his water-bladder. After another climb up to a saddle we were at yet another series of pools where we restocked our water and had a short swim to clean up. We then descended to Banksia Bay, a small ba fringed wth low mangroves and another tidal lagoon. As the tide came in we saw rays and a baby sharks in the shallow waters on the estury.
Day four we walked back up to the main track from Banksia Bay and continued North across Little Ramsay Bay and Boulder Bay. At the latter we spied turtles in the water and a beautiful sea eagle. We also got our first really good views of Mt Bowen, the island high-point that we had not managed to obtain permits to climb. The top was lost in cloud and the granite sides and steep ridges, not to mention lack of trail made it seem high and dangerous. Still, I vow to return with the damn permit one day! We set up camp at Nina Bay then progressed onwards to make an ascent of the smaller Nina peak. From here we had fabulous views over the mangroves on the north west of the island as well as the bays that we had passed that day. We also had an even closer look at the peaks of the island’s interior.
Day five we packed up our camp for the last time and walked to the pick up point on Ramsay Bay, a 10km perfect beach with gentle waves. I guess gentle enough that crocs might still be present! The strip of mangrove behine the beach is very shallow and a few minutes walk brings you to the ends of the waterways of the north east. Our boat pulled into one of these waterways and transported us through the maze of mangroves and across the bay to Hinchinbrook lodge. Arriving at the lodge, complete with bag-carrying staff, toilets and showers seemed like a cultre shock. But a brief lunch in our beach cabin later and we were ready to play with kayaks on Orchid beach. Orchid beach has the best boulders I’ve seen in ages and many many orchids. It was the location set for the recent Jodie Foster movie Nim’s Island. Best of all, though are the many many turtles that play in the waters. They emerged just metre from our kayak and we got better photos that I would have thought possible.
The last day on Hinchinbrook we did a short walk through some rainforest, which was different again to the rest of the island. We saw orchids and a lace monitor, butterflies and all kinds of different trees. After lunch we were lucky to get on a boat out to the Brook Islands, which have magnificent fringing reefs. We snorkled with giant calms, turtles, a remora and all kinds of tropical fish. No photos of these though as we didn’t take our camera housings on this trip. Later that day we transferred back to Cardwell and ate a ‘famous Barra burger’. The following morning we took the return bust trip to Cairns. Having some time before our flight we watched the mudskippers on the mud flats, drank our first coffee in a week, researched various boats for a Barrier Reef dive trip in the future and perused the waterfront markets. Virgin Blue presented no troubles for our return trip and we were back home in bed by 1am.