Cape Bedford - Lizard Island

We managed to get through the gas drama by stripping the boat bit by bit to find the culprit which was setting off the alarm.  It can be set off by almost anything including hairspray and other seemingly innocent items.  No Luck. Ian then located the sensor and found if he blew into it, the alarm stopped . . . . momentarily.  Hmmm, if blowing sort of works, maybe sucking is better. It was and we were on our merry way.

We enjoyed our solitude at Cape Bedford and woke to a glorious sunrise.















These startling white Silica sand dunes look like snow fields from a distance.  We followed this coastal scenery from Cape Bedford to Cape Flattery where we left the coast for Lizard Is.

IAN SAW ANOTHER WHALE!  And this time so did I!

A Humpback Breaching

WOW!!!!!!!

We had a great day sailing with 15 to 20 knot winds.  Wasted no time and grabbed our cameras, got the dinghy into the water and were climbing the hill on Lizard Is to Cook's Lookout which is 358m high.  This is where Cook climbed to find a passage out of the reef.  Apparently, when he did reach the outer reef, he couldn't get back in fast enough because the surf was horrendous there.  This is where the continental shelf drops off from around 300m deep to around 2000m.  








The view from up there is spectacular. 

Cook should have had a camera.

The plants on this island are amazing.  Early Golden Orchids were starting to bloom alongside mushrooms which didn't look edible but were very nice to look at.  The orchid plants 

themselves were higher than me (165cm).

At the top there were an odd combination of plants all growing from one rock. Bright orange and bright yellow lichen painted the rock from which grew a Golden Orchid festooned with miniature  Old Man's Beard.

The next day we took a walk past the area where Mary Watson had her cottage.  There is a large cleared area bordered by the beach on one side and mangroves on the other. Beyond the mangroves is a particularly beautiful pandanus grove which is a sacred area to the Dingaal people who were the traditional custodians to Jiigurru (Lizard Is).

You can just see the clearing on the left hand side of the picture with a border of trees and white sands of the beach.  It must have seemed an idyllic lifestyle before Mary met her tragic fate.  Google up Mary Watson/Lizard Is if you don't know the story.

 Back into the dinghy the following day we saw this blue Osprey fishing.  We had noticed some of the birds here look blue and put it down to the turquoise water reflecting off their white feathers.

A Reef Egret spear fishing.

It is now Sat 28 July and the wind is at it again.  We were going to head to Howick Is today, then on to Cape Melville or to Flinders Islands (Qld) the next day. We'll try that tomorrow.  

Will be out of reception for a while.