After a spectacular breakfast, with ham, eggs, fruit and bread, Jamie and Eric set about fixing the boat winch so that we could take a tip out to the Palm Islands on Eric’s boat. Penny and I entertained Toby and hung out the nappies to dry. With the winch successfully fixed, and a lovely picnic prepared by Penny, we set off for the boat launch in Lucinda. Toby napped peacefully in the car.
The boat was launched and we headed out of the estuary into open water. Eric navigated towards the islands and stopped enroute to watched a couple of dolphins. Eric told us about the history of the islands as we went along. Captain Cook landed on one of the islands apparently and one of the islands has an aboriginal settlement on it. There were some people enjoying a camping holiday on an island – what a thing to be able to do!
We stopped at a jetty called Yanks Wharf, which been completely destroyed in a cyclone, but under pressure from the locals, was rebuilt quite recently. People were swimming in the sea, with all sorts of fish, and others were eating their lunch with a compulsory beer! There was also a group from a local private school who were doing a camp on the island.
After lunch, we headed back towards home because the tide was going out leaving only a narrow channel which was navigable back to the launch. On the way in we saw a boat that hadn’t followed the markers and was stuck; they wouldn’t get off there until the sea came back in that evening. We were nearly back into the launch when randomly the engine stopped and we had to get a tow back to the pontoon by a passing friendly boat. The boat later started again, so nothing seriously wrong.
Back to farm for dinner, wine and great conversations.
