Hinchinbrook Island

After our relaxing few days at Dunk Island, we decided it was time to move on. From here we made our way 20 miles to the Worlds’ Largest Island National Park, the famous Hinchinbrook Island via a picturesque lunch anchorage on a tropical sand-spit at Garden Island. Hinchinbrook is renowned for its intricate mangrove forests, mountainous landscapes and a diverse array of marine creatures including the ancient saltwater crocodile.

Our first night in a mangrove creek was amazing, we had the perfect sunset, calm conditions and wildlife was everywhere, fish were jumping, noises were all around us, and a pair of red eyes (yes, a croc) was casually cruising by before it participated in some wild thrashing as we tried to relax safely onboard! Here we also had our first encounter with the legendary sandflies, that are repelled by nothing and attack at any chance. For the first night they seemed to mainly focus on Anna. After scolding Anna to stop itching her bites, “it will only make them worse”, a few days later, I am now a contortionist scratcher, reaching everywhere to satisfy my scratching needs! Needless to say, Anna has no sympathy towards me...

We spent 4 nights around Hinchinbrook, trying different creeks and anchorages, while we fished, relaxed and did some more serious beachcombing! A particularly good forage on a secluded little beach turned up a mint lifejacket, a paddle, fishing reel and some fishing lures! It almost turned disastrous however when I took the lead (eager to find more treasures), only to almost find a very poisonous and very deadly, aptly named Death Adder close to my unprotected right foot. After a manly scream and a step back from the snake, I cautiously took a few photos (to identify later) and left him in peace. Oh how I love the Australian wildlife, only a close encounter with a shark to go... (although we did watch a shark for a few minutes successfully chase and capture a leaping stringray right next to us!)

As for our sailing, its getting better, we have been able to sail up and down the creeks (without relying on our trusty motor, “Mr Johnson”) and have even successfully sailed onto and off our anchor a few times! Hinchinbrook is an incredible place, that we could spend a lot of time exploring and marvelling at. We saw heaps of wildlife including pods of dolphins, feeding turtles, (the count stands at Rob 7, Anna 5) a pair of Osprey and hopefully a Dugong to come as we next head down the channel towards Lucinda, and our next group of islands the Palm Islands.