I do the last watch of the night, 5 to 8 am and watch the sun rise. Although it is a rougher and definitely noisier night than we have had so far since leaving Mackay, it is still fine.
We arrive at Lizard Island just before lunch and notice that Wild Tigris already in. When he comes over to say hello to Mike and I, Sean gets a shock when he sees Heidi and Casey on board with them as he thought they would be flying in.
We ask him about the island hike – Cook’s Look track – and he says he is worth the effort and takes about an hour. What you have to remember is that he is a fit, healthy male, and half my age, but I decide to do it anyway as it will he fun (?) and interesting to look out over the Great Barrier Reef. Apparently in 1770, Captain Cook (or Lieutenant Cook as he was at that point) used the island as a vantage point to seek a way through the reef for his ship, Endeavour.
We get lunch ready, and find the remains of yesterday’s bread and that of the day before, in a very interesting state. It has grown a rather pretty, foamy pink mould which matches my tee-shirt exactly. I know I like to keep colour co-ordinated, but this really is taking to the extreme. Anyway, one goes overboard and the other gets a de-fuzzing before Heidi pronounces it edible.
Mike decides to take the opportunity of a nap instead as he had very broken sleep last night, and drops the three of us off in the dinghy. As we jump out and into the water, we keep a sharp lookout for box jelly fish and crocodiles but see nothing ominous.
Photo: Lizard Island beach
We walk to the edge of the beach where a sign warns of a “steep, at times, extremely difficult, track”, 358 metres high and 2.25 kilometres round trip. Oh, goody! I can’t back out now.
We start the climb. The first bit is quite tough and the narrow ‘path’ is steep and covered in loose rocks with nothing to grab on to except for pathetic little clumps of grass. Onwards and upwards we go, quickly reaching a point where the views start to make it seem like a good idea.
Photos: Views after ten minutes of climbing
We meet a guy coming back down by himself, He says he didn’t get to the lookout, just as far as the ridge and he was too tired to go any further. At this point we decide that when it gets to 4.30 pm we will turn around regardless of how far we have got as we want to give ourselves plenty of time to get back down in good light and the descent is often harder work than the ascent. It’s at this point that I remember my buggered left knee which gives me no problem climbing but hurts and burns like hell when I come down anything.
I then notice the difference between Heidi and myself. Heidi is dressed appropriately in socks, trainers, shorts, and vest with a long sleeved shirt in her rucksack. I, on the other hand, show no evidence of having been in the Girl Guides, and have started out in deck shoes, a bikini and tee-shirt which doesn’t cover my bottom. Given the look of the granite slabs we have climbed and the grip that my deck shoes don’t have, my bottom will have a whole lot of exfoliation going on when I have to slither down the rocks on it.
We pose for pictures on the granite slab and I seriously consider the wisdom of continuing but then continue anyway.
Photos: Posing, but what a backdrop
Eventually we get to the ridge. There’s just five minutes left before our turnaround time but Heidi informs me she told Mike we would turn around at 5 pm and that he was happy with that. Casey wimps out leaving Heidi and I to carry on alone. We leave him in the shade of the tree with a bottle of water and tell him we are just going around the next corner.
Photo: Me, a natural wonder, but perhaps not in that hat!
Along the rim, the track goes through some dense scrub but for a while at least is flat. My knee is very tired and very grateful for the respite but that doesn’t last for long. After a couple of hundred yards we start to climb. The going is easier now but it just keeps going and we are unable to see where it will end.
Suddenly Heidi screams as something large scuttles in the undergrowth – a huge lizard. And it’s not the last although Heidi doesn’t scream quite as loud when the second one shoots across our path and away.
We pass trees that have been struck with lightning and signs that other creatures are around and gradually the trees open up and there in front of us … is another bloody hill. We can see a pile of rocks on it (there is a pile of rocks and a visitors’ book at the top) but when we reach it we can see that it is not the one we are looking for at all. There’s no sign to say we have arrived and there have been others at previous places.
We are both dripping with sweat and panting and my knee is so tired that although I am not jet in pain, I know I will pay for this on the way down. Heidi volunteers to climb the next bit along to tell me if the next hill is IT so that I don’t have to waste my energy if it isn’t (she is, after all, ten years younger than me) and off she goes.
Photos: Are we nearly there yet?
After a couple of minutes though and before she reaches the top, I go up anyway, only to find that we still are not at the top. We look at the next hill. Surely that has to be it.
We trudge forward, get to the top and bingo, we’ve made it. There is the huge pile of rocks and the visitors’ book in a box (well it’s also inside two plastic containers inside the box along with a supply of pens).
Photo: Cooks’ lookout point
Photo: Signing the visitors’ book
The breeze at this height and with no shelter is very welcome and the 360 degree views are indeed spectacular, although a slight haze is on the horizon making it difficult to see the passage that Cook spotted in the reef.
Photos: Views all around
Mindful of my knee, the time (now just gone 5 pm) and the fact that Casey is still waiting for us to return, we decide to head back, but first I turn American for a moment, whoop and do a high five with Heidi before having a hug. Then we start what will be a pretty tortuous journey back down.
Heidi gives me a shirt to wrap around my bum in case I have to slide down on it when we get to the huge granite slabs (in case my stupid shoes don’t find any traction). It’s fine at first but by the time we find Casey (who had started to call out to us – we had been gone for ages) it is definitely starting to make itself felt.
I take pictures on the way down but nothing shows how steep nor how treacherous the path actually is, especially the last bit down to the beach, which is practically vertical.
Photos: This is the easy bit
By the time we find Casey my knee on fire so we stop for a moment, but the light will fail fast and we have to get going.
Photo: Heidi and I at the ridge – now the really hard descent starts
Photo: Huge grasshopper watches us from a branch
When we get to the first granite slab I can’t decide whether to get straight down on my bum or give it a try. I don’t want to destroy Heidi’s shirt for no reason so I try it, doing my tippy-toe walk as Mike would call it and find my shoes grip just enough. Signs warn us of how dangerous these areas are which is strange as we didn’t notice them on the way up – not that it would have made any difference.
Photo: Sound advice, seen too late
Towards the bottom, we watch the sun slip below the horizon and wait for the green flash, but I don’t see it.
Photos: Sunset from Lizard Island
Back on the beach, Casey is looking all around for crocodiles. There are bushes down here which make good cover for something stealthy and opportunist. We call Mike and he comes over in the dinghy to pick us up. Back on Jeannius, Heidi and I wonder if we will be able to move tomorrow at all! I can’t believe how close I came to giving up and am so glad I didn’t.
We drink a load of water, I make a quick spaghetti bolognaise, have a very hot shower then we introduce two unsuspecting Americans from Maine to the delights of Essex and Wales via the British TV series, Gavin and Stacy.
Suddenly the VHF leaps into life. A broad Aussie voice comes over asking for advice on where to anchor. The reply, in the broadest, most droll Aussie voice ever, replies “well you’ve just come in straight over the reef, so I wouldn’t anchor just there if I were you”. Priceless.
Our position is: 14 deg 39 min S, 145 deg 27 min E
Distance so far: 11068 nautical miles
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