On a wing and a prayer (Fitzroy Island)

Friday October 3 - Fitzroy Island to Sydney 

Work is so close now I can sense it – not that we both haven’t been answering phone calls, texts and clearing email when we can get a solid shot at a network.  Ah, the 24/7 life.  Put your hand up if you remember work prior to mobile phones and email?  What was that like?

The bats! The bats! They drove me mad last night.  They had commenced before we arrived home and welcomed us to the verandah by dropping some bombs on the roof and in the garden.  This kept up intermittently until dawn.  Yes, I was a tad tired when the footfall from next door sounded the alarm to rise and shine.

An unusual sight - the pontoon is empty.

Breakfast was, well you know.  We are both looking forward to a decent coffee in Cairns after our long lunch on the pier.  Back to the cabin to pack our bags and wait.  Promises from staff to pick up our bags proved to be like so many promises on Fitzroy – hollow.  We waited until 9:45 and then I set out to check out. 

What did I expect I hear you ask?  Well, I expected a long queue and a disputed bill.  Sadly, I was not disappointed.  The queue was reasonably long and slow because one couple were in dispute over their bill and this was taking a long time to resolve.  There was of course, only one other person on the desk dealing with everyone else.

When I finally made the counter I thought there would be issues with our bill too.  There were, but not in the way I anticipated.  They had not charged us for our pathetic attempt at diving.  Off to the dive shop goes the desky leaving no-one being served at all.  I could feel the eyes behind me boring holes in the back of my head.  Well, I had to tell them we’d been undercharged.

Back to the desk.  No charge for the dive.  Wow.  Thank you very much.  She rings up the total plus credit card surcharge (rip off) and overcharges me $90.  Can’t be rectified without the supervisor who can’t be found.  We agree that she email me when the problem is sorted so that she can deal with the ever lengthening queue.  The other people are just finalising their bill now.

It’s now 10:15 and Jayne is still at the cabin with the bags waiting for their collection.  She has started a conversation with the people next door who express their dismay at the discrepancy between the brochure and the reality of Fitzroy Island.  I decide that it’s like a boy trying to be a man.  The physique might be there after some gym work and the voice, whiskers and beard might give the allusion of masculinity, but the experience and wisdom aren’t there.  Or, to paraphrase Clueless, it’s a Monet – great from a distance, but close up it’s a mess.

In the end we take our bags to reception and head up to Foxy’s to where it all began.  We end as we commenced, with a bottle of white overlooking the most sublime scenery with a light breeze to keep us cool.

The other advantage of Foxy’s is that it gives you a vantage point to see when the ferry is in proximity.  No need to move before it’s time.  We forget we are on island time however and the 12:15pm ferry appears on the horizon and docks close to the nominated time but departure is another half hour away – the 12:15 ferry in fact is the 12:45 ferry.

From the ferry as we leave

The trip is uneventful and upon disembarking we head straight for Dundee’s Restaurant and a lovely relaxing meal before the terror of airline food.  An excellent antipasto plate followed by a variety of seafood accompanied by the pinot grigio from Tasmania that I tried to order last Sunday – a delightful way to finish the day before we go hunting for a taxi.

What was that dear reader? Snowy Phelps? Oh, I had my nights confused, he is on tonight but by then we'll back home.

Until January and Lord Howe Island ... take care.

Every step you take (Fitzroy Island)

Thursday October 2 - Fitzroy Island

So far I haven’t commented on night-time activities.  Settle people, this is a family blog.  At the end of all of this there will be a blog pointing out what could be done better on Fitzroy Island.  This falls into that category, sort of.

Looking from our cabin to the jetty

There is a large tree outside our cabin.  At this time of year it is naked of leaves and covered in small fruit.  There have been obvious attempts, down through the years to remove branches overhanging the cabin, but like a lot of things on Fitzroy, this has proven too much.  Branches, laden with fruit, hang over the metal roof of our sleeping quarters.  Bats like the fruit.  Each evening just past dusk the bats fly in, eat the fruit and discard the nut.  It hits the tin roof and bounces before settling.  Sometimes a small branch is still attached.  The sound is like metal ball bearings being bounced on the roof.  Intermittent are the explosions from the night-time bombardiers, enough to let you drift back to sleep, before pummelling your roof again, like Berlin in a 1945 air-raid.  (Don’t mention the war Fawlty).  Conducive to sleep it is not, nor is the screaming of the bats communicating to each other.  Now, if I could speak bat …

Despite the lack of sleep (Brad not Jayne) courtesy of the bats and the threat of the weather closing in, the day dawned probably the best we’ve seen on the island.  Light cloud, little breeze and the promise of 30 degrees.  Our alarm clock, next door’s children bounding out of bed and running into their parents’ room, sounded at 8am.  A little later than usual, but that was the signal to head for breakfast.

A post-breakfast change of footwear indicated another morning walk.  We grabbed our water bottles and camera and strolled off to Nudey Beach.  Swimming costumes required.  “Public nudity is an offence in Queensland”.  No surprises there.  Apparently the beach was named after the proliferation of nudi branches under the water according to one source.  They had a different story on the boat on the way over but the PA was a little dodgy and I couldn’t get the full story, but it was about someone named Nudey.  Makes sense.

Nudey Beach

Anyway, it was a lovely walk (Brad’s opinion) through the rain forest, generally on bitumen track, for about 20 minutes down to the beach.  It was a beautiful spot, but rather exposed to the dominant wind of the day.  We sat to soak up the scenery for a little while, helped a lone traveller with her photos because she couldn’t get the selfie to happen and wandered back to Foxy’s where the track to the Secret Garden commenced.

The Secret Garden was a 45-minute return walk through rainforest.  Not a lot different from the walk to Nudey’s except there were information points along the way about the vegetation and the animals.  The main inhabitant appeared to be Major’s skink, a brown version of the blue tongue in looks, not sure about the tongue colour.  As we were walking back out I asked Jayne was she wearing her sunglasses.  She replied yes, I laughed and said that anyone coming the other way would think I was leading a blind person down the track because she was wearing dark glasses and had her hand on my shoulder for balance.  Every step you take, every move you make … (very unkind).

Heading for the secret garden

A Major's skink

Back to the cabin for a relax on the verandah before visiting the turtle rescue centre at 1pm.  It wasn’t that fascinating.  They had a couple of green seat turtles, Barney and Betty, both apparently female?, recuperating in a tank.  The guide, a passionate volunteer, threw them lettuce leaves while we heard the story.  A few people asked questions, but it wasn’t something I would worry about doing again.  That activity complete, it was back to the undersea world and an hour of snorkelling.

Barney chasing some lettuce

The sun stayed out, the coral stayed colourful and I saw a wider variety of fish than I’d seen before.  Some of them were huge.  There is a beautiful coral outcrop near the jetty, which is also where they feed the fish so it was like swimming in an aquarium.

As 3pm approaches we are both showered and relaxed and heading for the verandah.  I’m going to walk up to the shop to buy some nibblies and then drop into Foxy’s for a take-away bottle of white.  And that’s the afternoon sorted.

If you are wondering about the rest of the day, the previous entries should provide you with sufficient information.  Although Snowy is the live entertainment this evening.  Now that could be worth waiting for …