Without any doubt Lizard Island is the highlight of our 2015 sailing season. It is a wild, wonderful place with incredibly beautiful scenery in which ever direction you look. When we left Albany two and a half years ago (16 sailing months ago) one of our goals was to sail as far as Lizard Island. Back then this destination was so far in the future that we didn't give it too much thought. Now we have achieved one of our main goals, so some thought will have to be given as to what we intend to do next. In the meantime this is our Lizard Island.
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| Mrs Watson's Bay |
As we left Cape Flattery Lizard Island was just visible in the haze to the north east. It was a quick sail in 15 - 20 knot SE winds and we arrived in Mrs Watson's Bay at 11.30am. The stark granite mountain scenery dominated the eastern side of the island and huge slabs of granite rock lined parts of the bay. It reminded me a little of the rocks in Ataturk Channel as you enter Albany Harbour. This is a beautiful, secure bay to anchor in. The water is crystal clear and the reef easy to see as we motored in to claim our little piece of paradise. With 13 boats in the bay there was plenty of room and we managed to find a spot close to the beach. Lizard has a wide valley that funnels the wind into Mrs Watson's Bay from the SE and magnifies it into strong bullets at times so we wanted to get in close to make the dinghy trip ashore was less splashy and more comfortable. I discovered the art of standing in the dinghy holding onto the painter in order to avoid most of the spray as we took Lily ashore.
After lunch we decided to go ashore and investigate the possibilities for walking and exploring the island. In the next bay we could see the refurbished resort, but we knew that only residents were welcome there. At $2000 per night I guess the guests have a right to have the place to themselves. We discovered that several walk tracks left Mrs Watsons Bay taking hikers to various destinations on the island. The first afternoon we took the track beside the airport runway to the Blue Lagoon on the southern side about 2kms from our anchorage. The track took us up the valley and it became obvious that this island is quite different to any we have seen in Queensland so far. There is a huge swampy area that is green and lush and set between the rocky hills you can't help but think this is an ancient scene. There is a lot of history here.
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| Chinaman's Hill Lookout Walk |
A Visit to the Research Station
We met some of the other boaties on the beach in the evening and they informed us that the Research Station conducts tours of their facility on Monday mornings at 10am. Six of us met on the beach ready to walk the 3kms along the sandy track in the warm morning sunshine. As we walked along, Doreen and Neil, Robyn and Mark and Peter and I got talking and couldn't believe it when we discovered that we had all spent time in WA. Doreen and Neil had worked in shearing sheds around Esperance and Robyn and Mark had lived at Grass Patch (near Esperance). We had lived not far away in Lake Grace and here we were with 13 other boats at Lizard Island and we had all spent a part of our lives within a couple of hundred kms of each other. It is a small world!!
At the Research Station a young man conducted the tour which began with an introductory video. He then showed us the experiments being conducted and explained his own research project which was to do with the ability of corals to recover from bleaching episodes caused by warming water. It was a very interesting morning and well worth the effort expended to get there. We found that we had mobile coverage there and access to the weather forecast is available as well.
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| Everyone was interested in the Crown of Thorns Starfish |
Cook's Lookout Walk
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| On top of the world. The view from Cook's Lookout |
An early start on a beautiful, still, sunny morning saw us on the beach ready for the Cook's Lookout walk. It was obviously going to be strenuous and the first third of the walk lived up to expectations. Clambering up and over steep rocks and narrow rocky paths kept the heart rate up and soon rest breaks gave us magnificent views over the island and anchorage. The second third of the walk lead along the ridge top and through thicker vegetation and cyclone damaged forest. Two category four cyclones within two years have reeked havoc on the landscape and the buildings of the resort. People have told us that before the cyclones the forested parts of the island were thick and shady and that the resort buildings could not be seen amongst the trees. Ragged, broken trees now dominate the landscape.
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| This is supposed to help......just don't look down! |
The final third of the walk took us up the grassy slopes to the highest part of Cook's Lookout. What a view when you get to the top. Incredible! We appreciated the views, added a rock to the cairn, rested a while and boosted the energy levels with a snack and drink. A small wooden box was located next to the rock cairn so we opened it and found a visitors book which we signed. This one was brand new and the navy had left it there only two days before. A blurb at the front of the book informed us that the previous one is located within the resort. Kapok trees were in full flower as were many small plants growing among the rocks which added colour to the pretty walk. This is a great walk.
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| My contribution to the cairn |
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| Discovering the visitor's book |
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| The navy blurb |
Several boaties had told us that you could get mobile phone reception on a large flat rock about a third of the way up Cook's Lookout. We found that this was indeed the case and we made some phone calls to family and friends while up there. We even walked up on another occasion. It's not often you meet your daily exercise requirements making a phone call.
Devonshire Tea in Mrs Watson's Bay
Every second or third day as the sun sinks towards the horizon dinghies begin the trip ashore for sundowners on the beach. On one of these occasions we met Annie and Ronnie from Siri. Annie paints tropical scenes on driftwood and her paintings were beautiful. I particularly liked the sea turtles. Annie invited us to homemade scones, jam and cream on Siri the next day. So on a windy afternoon we made our way out the back of the anchorage to Siri and had a lovely time yarning and enjoying the best Devonshire Tea on Annies and Ronnies beautiful boat.
Later in the week we visited Robyn and Mark on Gallivant for morning tea where we enjoyed very yummy pumpkin muffins. I'm afraid I haven't yet mastered the vagaries of our gas oven so when friends come to Rene Mrs Arnott is called upon to supply the goodies. Very slack I know, but with only one small gas bottle we have to be careful how we use it. That's my excuse anyway!!
Water At Lizard
One of the best things about Lizard Island is the fact that you can get access to fresh water to replenish supplies. It comes via a hand pump that pumps water straight out of the ground. The water is fresh and clear and we found it very drinkable. The pump is about 250m along a short walk behind the beach. On Saturday we made our way to the pump with our assortment of buckets and bottles to collect water for our trip back to Cooktown. Seven other people were collecting water and I wished I had brought the camera as everyone filled their containers and did the washing. Sheets hanging in the trees, people waiting their turn at the pump and others using the pump would have made a wonderful picture. It is a great place to wash the hair as well.
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| Peter perfects the knack of priming the pump and ..............water! |
The walks are well maintained and invite exploration. Having spent the week keeping our eyes peeled for a glimpse of a lizard we had almost given up by the second last day. There was plenty of evidence of them in the lizard tracks observed on the sandy bush tracks. Our last walk up to the lookout on Chinaman's Hill we finally spotted one and got a good photo. Lizard Island is a beautiful, unique place. Aboriginal cultural history and European history make this an interesting destination. We loved it.
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| The Lizard |
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