Hinchinbrook Island

[wello]

Lots of great contributions to the forum latesly showing Tassie's winter in full swing with lots of snow and ice. Well here's the other end of the spectrum. A couple of us went north to get away from a particualrly cold and wet Adelaide winter and did a four day walk on Hinchinbrook Island. It's off the coast between Townsville and Cairns. The weather was magnificent, apart from a bit of rain overnight on the last night.

Hinchinbrook Island from the ferry on the way over.

Nina Pk from Ramsay Bay

Looking south from Nina Pk

[tasadam]

Any leeches up there?
Sunburn? C'mon, there's got to be at least ONE negative...

[wello]

Little Ramsay Bay

Mt Bowen from Zoe Bay

This walk is a little bit like the South Coast Track, in that you follow the coast along each beach, then climb over a ridge and down to the next beach. The mountainous backdrop is quite incredible with Mt Bowen over 1000m, although the highest the track gets to is under 300m I think. Climbing the mountains requires additional permit, not to mention a fair amount of fitness as there are no tracks.

South Zoe Creek and Zoe Bay

[wello]

There's also some brilliant waterfalls, most of which are quite close to the campsites. The swimming holes are deep and clear, and the water is a reasonable temperature.

Zoe Falls

Mulligan Falls

Fan Palms

[wello]

No leeches, just crocs! There were a couple of campsites with big warning signs, but we didn't see any.

[stepbystep]

Droooooollll......thanks Wello, I was there for a good 2 mins but now I'm back and Hobart 'aint a pretty place today

[eggs]

Nice one wello

Great photos of a great place.
I have flown over it a few times and thought it would be great to do the walk.

I thought you had to protect yourselves from insects - or does that vary with the seasons?
And do you carry much water?
What was the ferry cost and is there any charge for the walk?

Did you go swimming at all? This time of year would be clear of the killer jelly fish.

cheers
Brian

[wello]

Hey Brian,

Yeah, I should have mentioned the insects as well. I looked like I had measels from all the sandfly bites. I wore long trousers around camp and used repellant, but they were persistant.

There was plenty of water along the way, maybe an hour between creeks would be about the most. I tend to carry a litre or so regardless.

We didn't swim in the ocean, although the stingers are supposed to be gone by June. There are great freshwater swimming holes at all the camps, so there's no great need to get in the sea.

The north end ferry is $85 per person
Three nights camping fee was $29.10
South end ferry is $46 per person

Assuming you leave a car at Cardwell (nth end), you've also got a bit over an hours shuttle bus to get back at the end. We used Greyhound busses to get to and from Townsville, so the whole thing did take a bit to organise.

Cheers
Wello