An Exciting Conclusion to Our 2015 Sailing Season

Last week Peter and I were sitting on Rene, drinks and nibblies in hand, when he asked me when I was going to finish off the blog. I was finding it difficult to find motivation as I'd written extensively about Magnetic Island on our previous visits. Well he must have taken my musings to heart as the next day he provided me with an exciting conclusion (a bit too exciting actually!!!) to our 2015 sailing season. In the process he learnt a very compelling lesson.

Snake Bite!!

We decided to take our last walk over to Picnic Bay then to a little bay beyond known as Cockle Bay.
A coffee on the waterfront back in Picnic Bay would complete a lovely walk. A bush track takes you through the bush near the houses on the way out of Picnic Bay. We had just reached the last of the houses when Peter jumped and I noticed what I thought was a stick flung up in the air. No. It wasn't a stick. That was a snake, about 70cm long, skinny and light brown. Originally when he felt a jab on his foot he thought it was just a stick too, but no, when he inspected the wound site there were two little fang marks oozing two little blood dots. The snake was still hanging about, not too concerned, so we managed to get a good description for the medical staff at the Medical Centre.




This snake was on Dunk Island but we thought it was the same as the one that bit Peter



Luckily a man was renovating his house over the road so we hurried (trying not to hurry, keep the patient calm and still etc) over and asked him if he could take us to the Medical Centre. I think he was more alarmed than we were. His wife bound Peter's leg in a tablecloth she had nearby and he got in the ute and off they went. I stayed behind as the ute only had two seats. Later the man met me walking along the road and took me to the Medical Centre. Thank you Cynthia and husband, who helped us out in a tricky situation.

We spent the next two hours there, Peter's leg bound securely with bandages from toes to thigh. He briefly felt a bit of a sting in his foot, much like a bee sting, but then back to normal. There was talk of two days in a Townsville hospital for observation, which meant an ambulance coming over on the ferry to pick him up. The snake was definitely not an Adder, Magnetic Islands only really deadly snake, but probably a Tree Snake or a Whip Snake. These are described as mildly venomous, so Peter decided to discharge himself out of the Medical Centre (after signing a form exonerating the staff of any wrong doing) and retire to Rene for a quiet day resting. We had informed them that we would be back in a flash if he started frothing at the mouth or going numb or any other weird symptoms occurred. They didn't. The only other thing that happened was that his foot was a bit swollen and itchy for a few days.

Snake bite and a kicked toe! I think he has learnt his lesson!

The moral of this story is: Wear shoes in the bush - not thongs!!!!

This is my last day in Townsville. Today I fly to Sydney for five days with Greg, Leisha and Jessica, then on to Perth for a few days with Karin, Paul and Isabelle before taking the bus to Albany. Peter is going to stay in Townsville for three weeks to do some maintenance on Rene and put her in her holiday berth in the Breakwater Marina for summer. It will give him the chance to spend a bit more time with his family as well. My only problem now is how to squash two bags worth of gear into one for the flight home.

Goodbye 2015 sailing season. Looking forward to more sailing and heading south again in the second half of next year.



Goodbye Rene. See you next year