A week after our Hinchinbrook Island
trip the weather forecast started looking very stable for an extended
sea kayaking trip with light winds and clear skies forecast for the
next week. It didn't take us long to settle on a destination for the
trip - Cardwell to Wongaling Beach via the Family Group Islands. In
truth, we had planned our next sea kayaking trip while paddling back
to the mainland from our Hinchinbrook Island trip. Sea kayaking is a
lot like mountaineering: each trip while satisfying in itself, leaves
you with a dozen more trips you want to do.
Paddling from Cardwell to Wongaling
Beach we would have the wind behind us and getting back to Cardwell
from Wongaling Beach to retrieve a vehicle is easy as the Greyhound
Bus has multiple departures from Wongaling Beach heading south
through Cardwell.
Before I launch into the report of our
latest sea kayaking adventure, I want to insert a shameless
commercial plug for Palm Trees Caravan Park in Ingham. The owners –
Craig and xx are about the most helpful people who could meet. The
rates to stay at the park are very reasonable, as is the storage rate
for a caravan, the park is clean and well run, and, Craig has been
putting our caravan into storage for a week and then pulling it back
out onto a site when we return without any extra charge. Incredible
service.
Cardwell to Gould Island
We left Ingham at 5.20 am to catch
slack tide crossing Hinchinbrook Channel from Cardwell. Launching at
Cardwell anywhere off the beach north of the jetty is easy, but, best
at high tide as the water goes quite a way out at low tide and
reveals mud flats which would make packing and launching a kayak
difficult. Packing up was relatively quick and easy and we got away
about 7.20 am and paddled easily across to the north end of
Hinchinbrook Island. We found a little spot on the north end of
Hinchinbrook Island where a tiny bit of sand beach allowed us to get
out of the kayak for a few minutes before we crossed to Gould Island.
Paddling north to Gould Island the
water was almost glassy until we hit a stream of tidal current that
ran east to west about a kilometre off Garden Island. Of course,
there are no tidal currents marked on the map in this area! This
provided a kilometre or so of bumpy but easy paddling and we arrived
about an hour after leaving Hinchinbrook Island at a sand spit on
Garden Island. A couple of fishermen were off-shore in small boats.
We went ashore and found a very nice and unknown to us, Council
Campground behind the sand spit. There are four sites spaced apart
and each has a picnic bench. There is also a bore water pump
(standard admonishment to treat water first) and an outhouse.
Apparently, you can book through Cardwell Library.
After looking around we continued onto
Gould Island and the most popular west side campground near a spit of
sand. This was actually pretty over-run with a school group so we
ended camping up the beach a short distance where it was quiet and
deserted. There is water, picnic tables and an outhouse at the spit.
Before making camp we paddled north to Hayman Point and around to
the east side of the island. A reasonable swell 1 to 1.5 metres was
running but the winds were fairly light so it wasn't too rough on the
east side.
After paddling back to the west side
camping area we made camp, had lunch and pottered around on the beach
for the rest of the afternoon. Gould Island seems to be fairly
popular and is not as nice, probably because of its popularity as the
east side of Hinchinbrook Island. The water off the west side beach
is pretty shallow when the tide goes out and we didn't see any
promising looking areas to snorkle.
Gould Island to Coombe Island
We got a fair bit
of rain overnight which somehow leaked up through the floor of the
tent. When I awoke at 6.15 am it was still raining and I could
barely see across to Coombe Island when I crawled out of tent so we
stayed in for another half an hour when Doug crawled out and reported
a clearing trend. No sooner had we pulled the wet fly off the tent
than a heavy shower came over and soaked everything. But, we could
see Coombe Island 15 kilometres away so we packed up and were on the
water shortly after 8.15 am.
The crossing to
the Family Group is about 15 km (12 km from the Hayman Point on the
north end of Gould Island but you would be hard pressed to land a
kayak there) and the longest open ocean crossing either of us had
done for a long time, if not ever. Accordingly, I had some
trepidation about the paddle but mentally settled myself for a three
hour paddle to the next land fall. With light winds, we had an easy
time of it. There was a small swell (maybe 70 cm) beam on from the
east, and some small seas (perhaps 40 to 50 cm) coming from the
southwest, but, overall, conditions were very benign. Occasionally,
sea and swell would combine and we'd ride quickly up, but the
paddling was easy.
As we got within a
couple of kilometres of Coombe Island we hit tidal currents (not
marked on the map) running east, and ended up having to paddle
steadily west for the last half hour so as not to miss the island.
Coombe Island, like all of the Family Group is a rocky granite island
with a sandspit on the western side. The sand is coarsely ground up,
and not so ground up, coral and there is deep water and ocean
currents running between Coombe Island and Wheeler Island to the
north.
I really liked the
Coombe Island campsite on the west side of the island between big
granite boulder headlands with a picnic bench and a half dozen pawpaw
trees overladen with fruit tucked up in the trees. Doug, however,
wanted to see what the Wheeler Island campsite was like, so we
paddled over there before stopping. There are about three picnic
tables on Wheeler Island and an outhouse, and the campsites are on
the north and south sides of a sand spit. I didn't like this one
quite as much so we came back over to Coombe Island to camp.
It was noon by
then and we had no breakfast so we quickly unpacked and made some
bacon, eggs, and most importantly, coffee. It had taken us two hours
for the 15 km paddle from Gould Island so we must have had favourable
currents for most of that distance. Doug hung our tow-line up as a
clothes line and we got all our wet gear dry.
We spent the
afternoon snorkelling off-shore and wandering around on the big
granite boulders and slabs. Unfortunately, the water was a bit murky
for snorkelling, probably from the wave action due to the currents
around the islands.
Smith, Budg-Joo, and Hudson Islands
On this trip we
had planned two days – one from Coombe Island and one from Dunk
Island - when we didn't have to move camp. These “free” days, as
I think of them, always remind me of that feeling you have when you
wake up on Saturday morning knowing that you have two whole work free
days ahead full of endless possibilities. I always drift off to
sleep happily planning my “free day,” and, my free day usually
starts with a more leisurely morning than the usual race around and
pack up to get on the water.
Accordingly,
although I was up at my usual 6.15 am, I had time for a couple of
cups of coffee before we left for a day trip around “the triplet”
as the three islands clustered together about 1.5 kms east of Coombe
Island are known.
We paddled over to
Smith Island, and circumnavigated it, enjoying the amazingly calm
paddling on the east side by big granite boulders that drop steeply
into the clear green water. We continued past the east side of
Budg-Joo Island and onto Hudson Island where we pulled up on to a
steep coral sand beach. We spent a couple of hours snorkelling off
the reefs on the western and southern side of Hudson Island. The
best snorkelling was off a tiny palm fringed beach on the south side
of the island where there were lots of shallow coral bombies with
brightly coloured worm tubes, clams and tropical fish.
After lunch on
Hudson Island we continued around the south side in somewhat bouncy
seas and then cruised by the west side of Budg-Joo Island on our way
back to Coombe Island. Doug continued straight back to Coombe Island
but I paddled north and circumnavigated tiny Wheeler Island as
turtles swam by my boat.
Richards, Thorpe and Dunk Islands
A light southwest
wind was blowing in the morning so we paddled to Richards (also known
as Bedarra) Island via the east side of Wheeler Island. We pulled
into a tiny sheltered cove on the south side of Richards Island and
just had time to duck behind a few big boulders and take a leak
before a “handler” came down the beach to “advise” us that we
were on private property. The island is home to two expensive
resorts ($900 to $1,500/night) although only one is currently
operating. Happy that we had pissed on a $1,500 beach, we continued
on skirting Thorpe Island on the east side. Thorpe Island is also
private property but has no development.
From Thorpe
Island, it is only 2.5 km north to Kumboola Island on the southwest
side of Dunk Island. We had another brief leg stretch on Kumboola
before paddling north passing many turtles and rays to the sand spit
on the northwest end of Dunk Island. There is a campground on this
spit with hot showers(!), picnic tables, and barbeques. The
individual sites are lovely and lie on either side of the sand spit
with good access to either the south or north beach. We chose a site
on the south side so we had a bit of breeze blowing through camp.
Cyclone Yasi in
2011 (responsible for the closure of four resorts in a 50 km stretch
of coast-line between Cardwell and Mission Beach) did extensive
damage to the resort on Dunk Island and it is still closed. This
gives the island a wonderful deserted feel as only day visitors come
across and the campground is very quiet. There was only one other
camp site occupied during our stay and the day visitors leave early.
The afternoon
passed quickly (as usual). I walked along the beach and checked out
the cyclone damage to the resort (roofs ripped off, windows smashed,
balconies torn apart), then continued on to tiny Muggy Muggy Beach.
I also spent an hour or so practising eskimo rolls in my kayak. Some
were successful, some less so. Whenever I roll my big wide sea kayak
I think about how easy it would feel to roll a small whitewater boat.
Doug walked up to the look-out on Mount Kootaloo.
Dunk Island
Another free day!
In the morning, I paddled on calm clear waters southeast down Pallon
Beach to Coconut Beach. I saw many turtles and a half dozen big
black sting rays swimming by in the clear water. From Coconut Beach
I paddled out to Kumboola Island and circumnavigated it. Continuing
north I rounded the spit and paddled out to and around tiny Purtaboi
Island before ambling back to camp. After a cooling swim, I walked
up to the look-out on Mount Kootaloo where there are wonderful views
west and south, and continued down the trail to Coconut Beach. The
tide was out at Coconut Beach and the rocky reef was fully exposed so
I wandered around watching the fish trapped in pools by the falling
tide before continuing on the trail back to the campground. Doug had
spent the morning on the same walk and then gone out and done some
eskimo rolls in his boat. I spent a half an hour rolling the kayak
before coming in and warming up with a hot shower!
Around Dunk Island to Wongaling
Beach
We got up early,
packed up the kayaks and paddled around Dunk Island in a
counter-clockwise direction. This took us about three hours and was
a wonderful paddle. At Poie-Koo-Kee Point we paddled on the west
side of rocky Woln-Garin Island. I am pretty sure I saw a whale
breach off Woln-Garin Island, the second I saw on this trip.
Humpbacks migrate down this coastline in winter. The east side of
Dunk Island is all rocky granite headlands and bays. Just before
Toogan Toogan Point there are huge granite boulders in the water that
you can paddle between.
Back at the spit
on Dunk Island we had breakfast and then launched on the final one
hour paddle across to Wongaling Beach.
No comments:
Post a Comment