Island Head to Hexham Island

Island Head Creek – a great spot for fishing and crabbing, but the only place on Qld coast with no sunrise or sunset: it’s surrounded by mountains.

Our sail to Hexham Island was fast but exhilarating, with 15 – 20 knots SE and big seas.  At one point we had half a hull out of the water!  Alas no mackerel, no seabirds nor dolphins to amuse us along the way.  I suppose we can’t have them all the time.  Hexham is very pretty, with fruiting pandanus, hoop pines, and grasstrees amongst the heather, where silvereyes whistled away as they popped in and out of the heath and honeyeaters enjoyed the flowering shrubs.

Great Keppel Island

Peter testing his new ukelele with the band.

Lady Musgrave Island and Coral Cay

Anchor a-weigh at 4 am from Bundaberg, with the moon already set, it was dark and eerie motor-sailing out of the Burnett River.  Blue lights flashing on the leads and red and green lights flashing on the channel markers were the only breaks in the darkness.

Just as we left the channel a loud bang and our outhaul had broken again, so we reefed the main to keep sailing. 

Pods of dolphins entertained us as we sailed, leaping and cavorting all around the boat.  Up to 20 in the first group, it was hard to tell if they were the same pod reappearing every hour or a different pod.  Nonetheless, they all appeared to be having fun and we loved their company so far from land.

The entrance channel to the lagoon can be tricky, as one ketch found out, landing on a bommie then had to wait until high tide to move.  Inside the cay was very calm, the water so clear we could see fish and coral everywhere, turtles bobbing up to watch us.

Perfect for kayaking to the beach and walking through the forest track full of nesting black noddies, who took no notice of us.  On the ground shearwater tunnels are everywhere, while buff-banded rails stroll casually around the forest floor, unafraid of humans.

                                         

Lady Musgrave Island

The entrance was every bit as scary as we thought it would be, but we made it through into the coral cay - just amazing!  Phew!  Relaxing now - exploring tomorrow.

Bundy Dolphins

As we sailed off to Lady Musgrave Island a pod of 10 - 12 dolphins played in our bow wave, leaping right out of the water, swimming around the boat and generally showing off!

more shorebirds...

The afternoon count included around 100 whimbrels, 3 red capped plovers, 3 grey-tailed tattlers, 3 ruddy turnstones in handsome breeding plumage, 1 lonely bar-tailed godwit and 1 lonely great knot, neither had much colouring, maybe juveniles,  and a mystery sandpiper with not much colour (common?).  All having a good feed in the mud!

Shorebirds at Moon Point, Fraser Island

On high tide we took our binoculars and scope to the beach to see the shorebirds on the sand spit (at high tide the birds move up the beach and are easier to see together).

About 100 red-necked stints, 17 greater sand plovers, 3 grey-tailed tattlers and 2 pied oystercatchers were sharing the sand spit with 4 caspian terns, 7 crested terns with 2 juveniles, 1 silver gull (there's always one!) and about 20 gull-billed terns and one very small mystery tern, which we couldn't identify.  Not one leg flag among them.

We checked the outer beach via the lagoon but the birds were too far away to identify.  One sea-eagle in a tree having a good look around.