Fitzroy Island

 Hello everyone,

We’ve had a wonderful day. We started by having breakfast at the same cafe as yesterday, and then heading to Fitzroy Island. Named after a duke by Captain Cook, the island was once inhabited on and off by indigenous people who originally named the island ‘Koba’.

Captain Cook was the first European to sail past, but he never set foot on the island. No one European did until 1819. Over the years, the island has since served a few purposes. Adventurers and explorers appreciated its easy anchorage and fresh supply of water. It was also used as a quarantine station when many flocked to this area to pan for gold (probably more effective than our country’s current hotel quarantine program!!!).

During World War II, the Royal Australian Air Force and Navy were based here and carried cement and steel by hand to the site of the lighthouse. The lighthouse was a point at which they could survey the ocean and the skies for enemy invasion, and guide ships through the passage.

We caught the ferry across which took about 45 minutes. The weather for the first two days we were here showed rain - and it wasn’t lying. The boat ride over was fairly rough and it rained a fair amount as it had whilst we ate breakfast. But then we had some luck, the rain cleared for a while as we set off for our hike to the lighthouse and the summit. It was so humid, but the rainforest was beautiful. I loved all the plants growing out of trees, and the trail reminded me a lot of Borneo. We got to the summit hot and sweaty, but came just in time. It hadn’t rained the whole walk but as we stood at the top soaking in the beautiful views, a cloud swept through and it began to rain. In the space of a few minutes the view was completely obscured. We got a bit wet, but even when it didn’t rain today the 85% humidity meant it felt very damp!

The hike took about two hours all up, and afterwards we treated ourselves to a drink and some chips at Foxy’s Bar. The view here despite the grey clouds was beautiful.

Afterwards, we headed to the Turtle Rehabilitation Clinic. Rob will tell you I booked a tour here because it featured on ‘The Amazing Race Australia’, but I booked it because it sounded interesting and remembered later!! On the tour, we saw Sonny, a green turtle, who was sent to the clinic two weeks ago from Cairns. The original Rehabilitation Centre was started in Cairns at the aquarium in 2004, but after Cyclone Yasi in early 2011, there were so many turtles being rescued that a second clinic was needed. Nowadays, the Cairns portion is like the ICU and the Fitzroy Island portion is the next step after that towards rehabilitation. Sonny was found in 2018, hatching and getting stuck in the sand. The keeper told us that they are still unsure of Sonny’s gender, as it’s impossible to tell with a turtle until they are at least 15 years old! It was so nice to see Sonny swimming around the pool at the centre in between hiding in the little cave placed in the pool!

Sadly, I was again reminded as I was in Malaysia two years ago of the troubles facing turtles such as Sonny. Turtles have their gender determined by the temperature when their egg is nesting. Due to climate change, there are now 116 females for every 1 male turtle because of rising temperatures. Also, the spikes inside turtles’ throats mean plastic easily gets stuck if they ingest it.

Our final stop for the day was Nudey Beach (not a nudist beach!). In between downpours we hired a locker and walked to the beach. Rob went snorkelling and I enjoyed a swim. It was voted the world’s best beach in 2017. It was beautiful so we could see why, but the rocks on the beach instead of sand hurt our feet!!

We caught the ferry back at 4pm. Again it was raining once we got back, so I walked to the hotel and got the car and picked Rob up, as his knee was playing up.

After a quick shower, we had a takeaway burrito at Zambrero and then enjoyed some cocktails at the underground bar ‘Flamingos Tiki Bar’ (which oddly was underneath a quarantine hotel!). The bartender’s name was Chris. He was French, and you could tell he loved his job. He made our cocktails and had a lot of fun at the same time. He even set one on fire!!

Tomorrow we are off to Kuranda and then moving to Port Douglas. We’ve enjoyed our time in Cairns!

Love to all
Claire
Xoxox