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We left Hinchinbrook at 4:30pm after walking to the bottom of the waterfall and climbing up to the top through tropical rainforest. The pools were crystal clear with fish swimming around catching the March flies when they got too close to the water. The views from the top of the waterfall were amazing (but we still couldn’t see Camelot who was tucked aroundf the corner). 

Alan came and picked us up from the beach and it was quite rough getting back to and then on the boat. Alan got swamped by a couple of breaking waves on the way back from dropping us off and we were lucky not to cop a few on the way back to the boat.

Once under way, we again made good progress hitting speeds up to 10 knots with the wind behind us. We were about hald an hour out of Hinchinbrook in a no fish zone when we looked out the back and saw a huge fin stick itself out of the water right behind us. It was very pale, almost white and very big!!!

Hinchinbrook is a large mountainous island and it took some time to pass it – so we got to enjoy the effect of the clouds hanging half way down the mountain as day turned to night.

Our speed meant we got to Cairns quite a bit ahead of time, entering down the shipping channel at 5.30pm, just in time to see Russel and Clive’s plane fly into Cairns airport. 

After filling up with fuel (including four jerry cans) we made our way to our pen for the day and set about doing a bit of shopping and a little bit of Cairns sightseeing. It was a little bit of a shock to get back to civilization again – its surprising how quickly you get used to it nopt being their. We caught up with Clive and Russell and filled them in on our adventures to date over a few cold beers and some lunch. Then it was time for Martin and I to disappear to the airport – our adventure over for the time being.        

5.30am arrival

Russell and Clive