Hinchinbrook

Since leaving Cairns the weather has been fantastically kind to us with clear blue skies and puffs of breeze from the north pushing us in the right direction. What a change from the awful 4 days sail back from Lizard Island. The weather has in fact been so calm it has allowed us to visit the eastern side of Hinchinbrook Island. We had taken the more protected Hinchinbrook Channel on our journey north and had hoped to get the opportunity to visit the much talked about Zoe Bay on our return journey.

The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful, high sharp peaks of granite lifting skyward to form razor like ridges that ran the length of the island. Some of these edifices were enormous with sheer vertical drops plummeting down to the sea. In some ways the grandeur of the mountains reminded me of the Kintail Mountain range in Scotland that Roger and I had walked in our younger days. The valleys between green and clocked with giant trees. At night the view became surreal as some areas began having some selected burning off and the mountains glowed red against the starry night sky.

Taking our time we moored in Macushla Bay at Cape Richards and then Banksia Bay just north of Zoe Bay. We elected to spend the night here as Zoe Bay is prone to swells even in the calmest conditions which make sleep an impossibility. As the sun lifted over the horizon we weighed anchor and motored around to Zoe Bay for breakfast. Again the mountain scenery was beautiful with a magnificent beach and creek. We followed the creek and came to Zoe Bays famed waterfall and swimming pools. A well deserved plunge in the cooling water was had without the risk of the ever present crocs on Hinchinbrook!

Leaving Zoe Bay we were able to sail across to Fantome Island, the site of a leper colony come hospital up until the 1970s. The majority of the buildings had been destroyed though signs of the islands previous role were still evident amongst the grass. It was a lovely island with marvellous views but one couldn't help wonder at the pain and suffering that had been experienced by the people there. It is now managed by the local aboriginal community,surrounded by beautiful corals and it's waters visited by Dugongs which we were lucky enough to see.

From here we had a night stop over at Harold and Rattlesnake Islands checking they were not being used by the air force as a bombing range first. In the morning we headed for Townsville, each major town marks a significant step on our homeward journey and leaving Townsville would mean we were no longer in Far North Queensland. We re-provisioned in preparation for a visit from Roger's brother who was joining us in the Whitsunday's in a few days time.