can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Misto - August 7-16 2018: Last of the Whitsundays and To Cairns



Nara inlet is a deep, almost fjord-like inlet, on the south of Hook Island. The attraction is an Aboriginal site with rock art. We dinghied to the rocky beach and walked up the stone steps to the site which is well presented with interpretive information. The art is not the best we have seen but it again illustrates the long history of aboriginal residence here.

Next stop was Cape Gloucester. We had a quick passage over and took a mooring ball off the Cape Gloucester eco resort. It was windy here with what locals call bullets coming down off the hills and across the anchorage. “Bullets” are accelerated gusts of wind funnelled through gaps in the surrounding hills. Here we ate the best meal ashore that we have enjoyed for a long time in the resort’s simple outdoor restaurant. It was a really unexpected and pleasant surprise.

The following morning we departed at sunrise for the passage to Magnetic Island. We arrived in the big sheltered Horseshoe Bay there at midnight. Magnetic island is a lovely tourist holiday destination. One day we took the ferry over to Townsville on the mainland where the sprawling town exhibits many pretty Victorian buildings. On Magnetic we rented a motorbike for a day and enjoyed walks to the fort and the sight of a few koalas sleeping in the trees, as well as rock wallabies on the rocky shores. We stayed three nights just enjoying the relaxing atmosphere.

After an overnight passage we arrived in Cairns and got a spot in the large marina. There are many tours from Cairns to the Great Barrier Reef but we decided that our own trip to Bait Reef was sufficient and gave the commercial tours a miss. However Ros went on a lovely horse ride up in the hills, through the rain forest and in rivers. Cairns was a good place to re-provision for the next section of our trip to Darwin.

Previous | Next