Day 52 – Thursday 9 September 2021 –? Km

Our last walk this morning along Horseshoe Bay was very pleasant, but sad that our few days on this beautiful island was ending.  We returned to our apartment & packed the car for departure. We drove down to the hamlet of Arcadia & turned down the road besides Geoffrey Bay towards the old ferry terminal. The carpark looks over Geoffrey Bay & there were a few people hand feeding the population of tame & small Allied rock wallabies that live in the rocks there. We enjoyed watching for a while before turning to walk out the old road to the old wharf under a huge boulder hanging over the roadway. I felt a bit of nostalgia because around 40 years ago I was here & parked my car under this arch. The roadway has been too badly damaged by some cyclones to be able to replicate that. The old wharf is no longer there, only a few remnants of concrete & steel.

We chat to a few people then drive to the other end of Geoffrey Bay & park at the start of the walkway over the cliff towards Nelly Bay. The walkway has been built really well, with a nice even planking plus it is wide, they have even taken into account the needs of wheelchairs. The views are spectacular & get even better as we climb higher. At the end of the 750 metre walkway we turn & head back, downhill is a lot easier and the views just as good. At the start of the walkway there is a senior’ s exercise station & we give it a tryout, it is hard work – they must have put it there to entice oldies to keep fit or die trying. There is also a beautiful curtain fig tree we have a closer look at.

Next is a short drive to Picnic bay where we stay in our car, it is very windy. We have a slow drive around the hamlet & have a look at the difference in all the houses here, from the very old to the modern, it could be suburbia anywhere, just the vegetation is lush & jungle like.

Back to Nelly Bay & Stuffed-on-Seafood for lunch again. We tried a different selection of seafood today, with garlic prawn skewers, scallops, Moreton Bay bugs, calamari & grilled fish, with a garden salad, plus barramundi & chips. Again it did not disappoint, the seafood was delicious. The restaurant doesn’t look flash, people may pass it by, but their seafood is the best. Very close by we came across a small art shop. It had some locally made pottery, jewellery & some photographs mounted on canvas, the photographer is an artist, capturing some local scenery & birds.

We then drove out to Bright Point on Nelly Bay, the entrance to Nelly Bay boat harbour. It is a nice walk, though very windy and we come across a large beautiful & interesting bird sculpture made from stainless steel. A little further on is the bow section of an old sailing ship that was sunk near here, a ship called the “Presto”, built in Holland. There is a very interesting storyboard on the history of the ship & how it came to be sunk here. Across from this little park is the ferry terminal, reminding us that we have to start heading back there for our departure.

As we were walking back I noticed a dark shape floating in the water & zoomed the camera in on it. The dark shape was a seabird that looked very weak, but had its head up looking around. Next a large sea eagle swooped down & plucked the bird out of the water. The sea eagle flew around 10 metres into the air before dropping the bird back into the water. A second sea eagle came along to see what the fuss was about.  I zoomed in on the seabird again & this time its head was laying on the water. Next thing, the sea eagle plucked the bird out of the water again & I was lucky enough to get some photos of this happening, amazing. A little further along a few Allied rock wallabies were peeking their heads out of their rock hideaways along the break wall, they are very cute little wallabies.

We drove out & a little further along Nelly Bay stopped near a fig tree that had some chairs in the shade. These chairs & seats were handmade from driftwood & some were very good to sit on. We then walked along the beach for a little, looking at the large pieces of coral that had been washed up. Today our drives & walks were a farewell to the island where we had a lovely few days.

Back to the ferry terminal as it was time to leave. The wind was very strong & the waves large as we headed out to sea. About half-way across to Townsville the waves moderated a little & it was less rough and as we moved into the harbour everything was smooth again. Back out to Bushland Beach & our friends again. We had a delicious dinner that Marlene cooked & chatted with some boating friends of theirs that had travelled up from Brisbane. These friends will come back to help with painting & repairing the house. Another great day.