Back to Old Haunts 22nd to 25th July

Airlie Beach to South Molle Island

A poor sad victim of Cyclone Debbie, Airlie Beach

We spent the morning at the laundry. Julie's laundry at Airlie Beach has to be one of the cleanest and best run we have come across in all our travels. We are laundry experts now and you don't get hot water very often or the huge machines on offer there. Best of all 24 minutes of drying actually gets the washing perfectly dry. I'm beginning to sound like an advertisement!!

Having cleaned everything cleanable we pulled the anchor and made our way over to South Molle Island. Six other boats were anchored in Moonlight Bay for the night with us. An inspection of the resort through the binoculars revealed a very sorry sight indeed. The former resort buildings lay tangled and torn where natures destructive power, in the form of cyclone Debbie, deposited them several months ago. Total devastation! The jetty is badly damaged and the whole site resembles a rubbish tip.



The wreckage at South Molle Island

The next morning we motored Lily ashore and took the walk trail to Sandy Bay, quite a long walk and a steep climb at either end over the high centre of the island. The tracks were in very good walking condition, well maintained and freshly mowed. At Sandy Bay we enjoyed the view across to Daydream Island (also very cyclone damaged and no longer taking guests) and over to Shute Harbour.


When caught out - Bluff. It's just a pile of sticks. (They did not move a muscle)

The walk to Sandy Bay, South Molle Island

 

Cid Harbour

After our strenuous walk back from Sandy Bay we decided to sail the 6nm to Cid Harbour, which is a favourite anchorage for us and almost everyone else in the Whitsunday Islands. Many of the charter boats end up here for the night. It is such a beautiful place with the added bonus of a challenging walk to the top of Whitsunday Peak (437m). It is also a great spot for boat watching, Huge sailing yachts and motor boats anchor there along with the charter fleet and a selection of private craft of all descriptions.

Another thing I love about Cid Harbour is the birdsong at dawn. Birds chirp, tweet and sing here. None of the honking, hooting, hissing, squawking, screeching raucous racket of many of the birds in North Queensland. Here you get the beautiful dawn chorus with hundreds of small birds trying to out sing each other. It's amazing just how many small birds must be living in the bush here.

We decided to walk up Whitsunday Peak for a bit of exercise and also to observe the cyclone damage for ourselves. Many of the trees are still leafless or just beginning to sprout some new shoots. The path has been cleared of debris which would have been a major task for the Parks and Wildlife people. Hundreds of trees had been sawn and shifted off the track, some of them huge. From the top, looking over the landscape, it was easy to see that the damage to the forest was severe. Many of the hills are now covered by matchstick trees.

Going

Gone!
Summit, Whitsunday Peak

While we were at Cid Harbour Peter decided to change the engine oil on the main motor. Having hunted around the boat for the necessary equipment to carry out this task Peter discovered that there was no oil pump to get the old oil out. After much 'umming' and 'ahhring' I suggested we go back to Airlie Beach and buy a pump and do the job properly. This we have now done and with great success. Having booked in to the Abel Point Marina for a night we have been able to dump the old oil, refill the water tanks and buy a few provisions we had previously forgotten. We are now ready for journey south.... MKII.

A Survivor. Cycads haven't been here for millions of years for nothing.
South Molle Island