More News on Sth Molle Island!

As we anchored back at South Molle the rain came, and came, and came... and out of the mist a huge MV with the flag of the Chinese Investment Company flying on the bow.  The crew were dressed in crisp uniforms and the Chinese delegates in suits.  A landing barge ferried them ashore to inspect the wrecked resort.  In a few hours they were ferried back and the MV motored away.  This could be a promising sign for the development!

A different dawn chorus on SMI:  orange-footed scrub fowl, pheasant coucal, torresian crow and sulphur-crested cockatoo – not so melodious together!

South Molle Island Walks

Just wonderful walks on South Molle, well maintained by National Parks – well, except for the weeds - but that would take a million volunteers! – with quite a steep climb to Balancing Rock, but worth it for the views to Shute Harbour and the mainland.  

It’s ironic that NP have to mention on their signs to take your rubbish with you, derr, but the resort owners thought it ok to leave rubbish strewn all over their beautiful beach, even the inevitable old glass Coke bottle. Despite that, the corals here have much more colour, with large purple and pink patches visible from the dinghy among the white and tan bommies.

The Eastern side of the island has totally different vegetation, as usual in the Whitsunday islands, with windswept grassland, very few trees and billions of grasstrees (xanthorea) looking like a battalion of lances off to battle; although there are always individuals, with strange curly shapes, just to buck the trend.

From the lookout at Spion Kop, the volcanic rock headland, you can see Dent and Hamilton Islands and the wild eddies that we sailed past on one side, with yet another derelict Daydream Island on the Western side. 

Goldsmith and Shaw Islands

Such a serene time spent at Goldsmith, with perfect weather, glassy seas, kayaking around all the beaches, then celebrating Mr Bojangles 6th birthday with Olaf and Annie on Kathamaria II.  It was hard to leave, but the winds arrived and we sailed off to Shaw Island, another top spot. 

fish galore!

glassy seas

loaf of the day!

Speaking of spots, “Spot On”, power cat and our neighbour from Tin Can Bay Marina, arrived and anchored next to us.  After Peter caught a nice queenie, his fastest troll ever – 5 minutes! - Stephanie put us on to making numas or pickled fish.  

Luckily we had all the key ingredients, which we also use for most of our recipes: chilli, garlic, ginger and onion.  It was fabulous!

After riding out the strong SE winds for a few days we sailed off to South Molle Island just as Tony Longhurst’s “Cato” was sailing in to Shaw.  What a stunning cat!

saddle tail snapper

Outer Newry Walk

It was pleasant enough kayaking into the mangroves to find the walking track to the eastern side.  

There’s a substantial fishing hut up at the campground, but I can’t imagine carting all the gear up to camp when you can’t have a campfire.

The pleasant forest walk to the eastern beach was very short – about 10 minutes – and while the view was amazing, the beach is all rocks as far as you can see and too treacherous to walk on.

Newry Islands

Sheltering from the southerlies for a few days at Outer Newry Island, we explored the tracks on Newry Island and the relics of the old resort, built in the 1940s and now maintained by QPWS. 

The inevitable coconut palms have not detracted too much from the native vegetation: flowering grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea) cover most of the island, with massive hoop pines and huge fig trees dotted around.  

The birds were surprisingly quiet, except for an osprey on a nest who began alarm calls as we passed by.  The nest was on the highest point and difficult to see.

Along the track views over the mainland and the surrounding islands were spectacular.

Brampton Island Walks

After riding out the southerlies at Mackay, we had a great sail on full main and screecher to Brampton Island.  A couple of delicious fish for lunch added to the charm of the island anchorage.

This year we walked the Brampton Peak Track, not for the faint hearted and still covered in weeds, but the orange-footed scrub fowls are working on those.  Lots of butterflies, who also seem to like the snake weed and cobblers peg flowers.  Among them tiger blues, common crows, grass-yellows and monarchs, others could have been jezebels and pearl whites, but there were masses of them. 

Rainbow skinks darted across the track and the melodic call of the local currawongs, so different from the mainland birds, were among the few other visible wildlife along the way. 

The vegetation on the eastern side of the island differs dramatically from the western side: casuarinas and hoop pines with an understorey of ferns, and still more weeds...

The views from the lookout made the effort worthwhile: islands dotted in the sparkling ocean for as far as we could see.  

On the short cut back along the beach the beach stone-curlews seemed reluctant to share their shore, calling and flying up and back to shoo us away.