After a good day we are now in a marina at Port Hinchinbrook not far from Cardwell. As ‘flash’ as things are, this is a place that has obviously been conceived in the mind of an architect and sadly, it doesn’t work! The marina is half empty, it is ridiculously shallow (we had 400 mm at high tide) and most of the ‘condos like’ houses are up for sale. But there is more!!
Needing some groceries, I was advised to walk to Cardwell via the coast walk, also designed by an architect. This is a narrow, low walkway that treks right through the mangroves, between the marshes and the shore. Obviously crocodile territory to anyone but the architect that designed it!. I don’t know if they have lost any tourist but I was most certainly on high alert as the sun was low and ( I felt) the threat level was approaching extreme. Don’t you love the idealist arty type who haven’t got a clue? But lets go back to the start if the day.
After a calm and still evening as discussed in the last blog, I woke around 03:00 with the wind building rapidly. This was in the forecast but I did not expect either the time or the rapidity of the onset. The outcome of this change found us tugging at the anchor with what sounded like ‘dragging anchor chain’ running across and over coral mounds. The ride in Pilgrim was very turbulent with sever rolling when we were driven across the swell and noisy pitching when facing into the blow. Now none of this was in any way dangerous or threatening, just bloody uncomfortable. But, with that said, while forward checking the anchor security, I all but fell over board on a particularly bad roll. Image that; falling into the dark mid night water in 25 kts of wind in my PJ shorts.
Because of tides we delayed our departure to 10:00 as we needed depth into Hinchinbrook entrance and the speed advantage of a flood tide was worth waiting for. On arrival the first thing of note was the ‘Sugar Wharf’ at Lucinda. This is an amazing sight at 5 km in length. In fact this thing is so big ,one struggles to get the perspective right. (see left)
On entering the Hinchinbrook Passage, both Paul and I were amazed by the spectacle. This is a unique place where a person can sail in amongst the great dividing range. Hills to almost 1000m and channels as wide as Sydney Harbour give you an idea of the scale of this place. The passage up the channel was really special with views that just wouldn’t quite.
Another plus is that the passage is well marked as shown at left. Even so, we did think the port marker in amongst the trees was just a tad redundant given that to go the wrong side of it would probably require a land drover. And that brings me back to the crocodiles!ack to the crocodiles!
Tomorrow is and early departure as we simply will not get out on much less than a high tide – This, I am told , is not the architects fault but is a result of some Government Environmental git exerting their authority. Save me!
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