Finska on the beach

Finska or Mölkky is a fun game from Finland that anyone can play, on the beach or in the park.  Fallen pins are put upright at the place where they fell, so as the game progresses tactics come into play...

www.finska.com.au/

How to play?

Beginning the game:
First player throws at the grouping and tries to knock over pins. Mölkky is always thrown underhand.

Fallen pin:
A pin is not considered fallen if it is leaning on another pin or on the Mölkky throwing skittle. After a throw, fallen pins are put upright at the place where they fell.

Scoring: 
If one pin falls, the score = the number on the pin. When more than one fall, the score = the number of fallen pins.

Ending the game: 
If a player misses (has no score) three times in a row, he/she is out of game and acts as the scorekeeper. The game ends when the first player reaches exactly 50 points. If one scores over 50, that players score is lowered to 25.

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Blue Lagoon and the Clam Gardens

The walk to Blue Lagoon is easy and flat: over the mangrove boardwalk, along the airstrip and down the dunes to the beach.  

On a calm day it would be magic, but with winds up to 30 knots there were white caps all over, even though the water in the eastern lagoon is still as clear as Watson’s Bay in the west. 

It looks like we will be here for another week or two as the winds are still gusting over 30 knots SE and forecast to continue.  (One yacht recorded 34 knots!)  It could be worse!  Lizard Island is so beautiful and Peter has seen the best corals here while snorkelling among the giant clams, schools of coral trout, golden trevally and friendly turtles.   

It’s still too windy for the kayaks, but the water is so clear that from the dinghy we can see all the fish and corals.  A couple of remoras and reef sharks have taken up residence under our boat and any crumb that lands in the water brings them zooming out to investigate. 

Our Northern Turn-Around: Lizard Island

Lizard Island is the place where Cook discovered a gap in the reef to allow the Endeavour out to the Coral Sea, only to end up buffeted against the reef again. The climb to Cook’s Look is not for the faint-hearted, scrambling over steep granite to reach the saddle, where wedge-tailed shearwaters have dug their nest holes in the gravel, the only slightly soft soil, then a further climb to the top with views all around the reef.  

Part of the climb to Cook's Look

Here you can see why it’s called the Great Barrier Reef.  With such clear water you can see the reef stretch out to the horizon.

View over Watson's Bay

As we arrived a couple of reef sharks came to greet us, then remoras which were bigger than the sharks!  The fish certainly know it’s a Green Zone because they don’t hide at all, big schools cruising all around Watson’s Bay.

A tour of the Australian Museum Research Station involved a climb up Chinaman’s Ridge, then a 3 km walk (each way) through a soft sandy track, but was definitely worth the trek.  Scientists and students from all over the world come to do a wide variety of studies on marine, coral, animals and plants.  The laboratories, aquaria and library are first class, in an amazing location.  Our photos will not show the real beauty here, it is hard to capture.

Cooktown to Lizard

After a week of strong southerlies, the wind finally eased enough to continue our journey north again.   Carefully avoiding all the sandbars in the Endeavour River, the first leg out was quite rough going, with waves a-beam and up to 22 knots SE.  We opted to rest in Cape Bedford anchorage with Ken and Bev on Charm. 

At first light we sailed out on calmer seas and as soon as our lines were out we caught two spotted mackerel, one on each line.  That’s enough fishing for the day!

Pied Imperial Pigeons continue their migration to their nesting sites, with thousands of flocks passing by, flying low to the water.  Crested terns, brown boobies and a few black noddies were the only other birds around.

We’ve decided to go straight to Lizard Island rather than stop at Cape Flattery as the winds should pick up again by tonight.  There won’t be much phone service there but with our large collection of aerials we should cope.

Low Islets

After a morning cycle around Port Douglas, a brekky stop at the Artisan Bakery, then back to wash the boat, fill the tanks and do a last load of washing, we were on our way for the gruelling one hour sail to The Low Islets.  They are so small they don’t even get to be “islands”.  As we moored a black-tipped reef shark, with a remora almost as big, and several huge batfish came up to our stern to greet us.

A family of ospreys are nesting in the mangrove on Woody Island and we could hear the three chicks begging before we saw the parents arrive to feed them.  They may be newly fledged as they flew from the nest with the parents shortly after their feed.

We paddled over to the Low Islet and found there is a (very short) walk, but with plenty of interpretive signs about the lighthouse history, built in 1878, the reef and the wildlife.  Another family of ospreys have taken advantage of the lighthouse and built their nest on the eastern side of the dome, giving them an afternoon shady spot with great views.  One juvenile emerged from the nest to join the parents on the railing as we passed by below.

Varied honeyeaters were dashing about the trees, calling to each other, and as we watched them a collared kingfisher landed.  Hundreds of pied imperial pigeons are starting to nest in the trees, calling their haunting “wooo-wooo” and bar-shouldered doves seemed to be flying back and forth between the islets, unable to decide.

Along the beach ruddy turnstones were playing with the waves: strolling to the water’s edge then scurrying back as the waves break.  They are hilarious! 

Double Island

Double Island is a good anchorage in light winds, especially if you like sleeping under the Cairns flight path ... "How's the Serenity?"

Russell Island - the Frankland Group

A popular spot for boat camping; campers told us they had to book 12 months ahead for the two sites.  An easy kayak in from the anchorage with only a few passing fishing boats.  White-gaped honeyeaters were calling and flitting through the melaleuca and casuarina forest and beach stone-curlews were trotting along the beach, as they do.

The most Beche de Mer (sea cucumbers) that we have ever seen were in a huge rockpool created by tonnes of coral on the eastern shore.