29th Aug Dunk Island

After breakfast we went ashore for our big walk to climb to the lookout at Mount Kootaloo. The track up to the lookout was in much better repair than 2 years ago. The rainforest canopy was starting to grow back and the ground plants that thrive in shade were growing again.

 The rainforest is growing back. Almost 3 years since Cyclone Yasi

 It was a hot steamy walk to the top but the view was worth it.

At the top of Mount Kootaloo

We never saw any of the brilliant blue Papilio Ulysses butterflies that the island is famous for.

Back down the hill to the bottom we made use of the camping facilities and had a great BBQ lunch of sausages. Made a change from the fish!!

 We may have eaten a few too many sausages!!

The girls did some washing while the boys sat and had an afternoon of relaxing conversation and a beer or two and we were entertained by the water taxi captain who told us a lot about the island, the cyclone and Mission Beach. It is all interesting local knowledge that we can use on future cruises.

It truly is a great tropical Island and with the walks and the facilities available it is a boaties paradise. You can use the power to recharge computers and pay bills!!

Graham of Echo Beach at "the office"

We really don’t want to go but our decision to leave tomorrow is the right one. The strong prevailing south east winds are set to blow for a week and we cannot see beyond 7 days on the forecast which means we could get stuck here for 2 weeks which will delay our plan to get back to the Whitsunday’s.

 The sand spit at Dunk offers good protection from South East or North East Winds

We retrieved the dinghy from the water and placed it onto the foredeck and readied the yacht for a 6am departure.