Heading South

Sunrise at Low Isles

I'm writing this blog on day 12 of our big trip south.  We are anchored off Normanby Island after finally leaving Fitzroy Island this morning.  

I can hear some of you think "Geez, they haven't got too far".  Well, we have good excuses.  

The Great White Hunter had to put his fishing reel in for repairs before we left, so we decided to sail to Fitzroy Island while the northerly winds were blowing and wait there for a few days till it was ready.

We should have known that things in for repair are never ready by the date they tell you. 

 Five days later, we sailed back to Cairns to collect the repaired reel, have a shower and return to the boat which we anchored in Cairns for the day.  

It was then back to Fitzroy Is to wait for the next northerly wind (or less strong south-easterly).  We had missed our good weather window while waiting for the reel.  

That evening, Ian decided to try out the repaired reel.  He remarked on how easy it was to pull in a fish while we were at anchor, rather than under sail.  I remarked it was much easier since he had no fish to pull in.  He went quiet for a while.  I stuck my head up to see what he was doing.

A CORAL TROUT!

It was beautiful.  Almost too beautiful to eat.  

Lucky it looked just as good on the plate.

It tasted every bit as good as it looked.

Just to prove that it wasn't just luck, Ian caught another one the following evening.


During this time, my brother, Perrie, was visiting from Tasmania.  He decided to pay us a visit and jumped on the Fitzroy Island Ferry.

Perrie looking for Coral Trout

By now, we had been at Fitzroy for over a week.

Being quiet people, we tend to keep to ourselves mostly.  

Perrie isn't a quiet person. Extrovert is not a strong enough word to describe him.  By the end of the day, he had talked to most of the population of Fitzroy Island and introduced us to our anchoring neighbours.

The days drew on.  We walked to the summit of Fitzroy again.

Photo by Ian

Ian managed to get an action shot of this skink catching a March Fly.  Good on you Skink.

Photo by Ian

Among the many lizards on this island is the Yellow-spotted monitor.  We found this rotund fellow several times scrounging around the camping area.

Photo by Ian

Me getting interesting photos

We had covered all the accessible parts of the island by now.  The wind hadn't changed yet so we had to be inventive.  Ian photographed me taking photos of froth and pumice floating through this tidal rock pool.  (He had some very similar photos to mine)

froth

pumice

Some of the island residents came out to see what on earth I was doing.

A trawler heads off to work while we sit and enjoy the sunset                             photo by Ian

Finally, the weather report gave us the good news that the strong south-easterlies would ease off.  We left early the next morning to find they hadn't.

Well, we're at Normanby Island now.  The Frankland Islands tour boat has left with its weary but happy passengers. 

It's time for me to finish my beer, chips and this blog.

Cheers