Year 2 –7 May 2025 -Sawmill Bay (Whitsunday Island)-trek to Whitsunday Cairn (427m)

The night was calm although it rained heavily and the dinghy on the davits in the morning had quite a lot of water in it. We had banana pancakes for breakfast (using the last of our bananas) which was good and we then prepared to go ashore. We were not going to swim due to the warnings about sharks. There were some walks off Sawmill Beach so we got ready for this. As we went ashore there was steam/smoke coming from the trees I guess due to the dampness and the sun coming through and warming them up.

We got to the beach and hauled the dinghy up and tied it a tree on the shoreline. We changed our shoes and noticed a sign on the beach saying Dangerous -Sharks inhabit CID Harbour – Do not swim here!! Clearly we were not going to take the risk. There was a walkway behind the beach and a sign which referred to the walks. This also referred to the fact that in the early 1890’s John Withnall built a sawmill here which was steam operated. Hoop Pines were felled by hand and sawn by blade and shipped to Bowen or Mackay. Once the wood ran out he had to move his sawmill to Townsville.

There were two walks -one to Dugong Beach – which was about an hour one way and the other to the Whitsunday Cairn the highest peak – 437m which was about 2.5 hours one way.  We decided initially to do the hour walk to Dugong Beach and started on the track and assumed the track would separate at some point and make clear which was which. We walked along the track and it started to go up but we assumed we had to go up to come down to the beach. We came across another sign about Stinging Trees which warned us about a number of trees which sting and if touched can cause pain for days if not months. Australia is certainly a country with lots to be concerned about in terms of dangerous animals and flora and fauna.

We walked on and we were now in a tropical rain forest and I can almost here David Belamy saying “We are in a tropical rain forest” with his voice. The trees were wet and everything was damp with rotting branches, leaves and tree trunks which had fallen and were now being returned to mud and dust again and replenishing the forest floor for new growth. There were lots of cobwebs and at one point I looked carefully at a large cobweb and saw a large spider with yellow fangs and was about 2 inches long and I am sure would have given a nasty bite. The path was reasonably defined and someone had cut and put stones into the path to assist the walker. We had to cross some fast-flowing streams with small waterfalls and for about a kilometre we followed the water and the noise it made gushing down the valley.

We continued and the path gradually went up and zig zagged up the hill and after about an hour we realised that we were not going to Dugong Beach but on the walk to the Cairn. We thought we would go a little further and see if we got to a crossroads. We carried on this wet moist path which gradually was going up and we could see some sky every now and then. However, we saw no crossroads and so stopped to have an apple and some water. Paul got his phone out and managed to get some signal and from google maps we only had about 500m to go to the top. We therefore decided to carry on and every now and then we came across a post with a red triangle on it pointing to the direction we should go. There had been quite a lot of bird noise which was nice. We trudged on and up and eventually after about 1hour and 45 minutes came to the rock at the top of the cairn and we walked on up this rock and came to the very top which gave great views across the west side of Whitsunday Island and across toward Hook Island. We could not see Stormbird which was in the bay below and too close to land for us to see it from here.

We walked across the top to the other side and could look over the east of Whitsunday Island and across to Hamilton Island and you could see it was well developed. It was a fantastic viewing platform and very satisfying that we had made it to the top even though this was unintentional. Once we had had our fill of the views we began our descent which sometimes can be trickier than the ascent. We carefully picked our way down and John who had slipped on the way up began to feel that his calk muscle ached so he slowed down a little. It probably took us about an hour and 45 minutes to descend to the beach where we found the dinghy. It had been a challenging but rewarding walk and we felt quite good about it.

We returned to Stormbird to have some lunch and then we rested and read. Peter and I made a loaf of bread which seemed to turn out ok and we will try it tomorrow. We enjoyed sitting on the aft deck and there was the odd rain shower and they seem to come randomly. We thought about moving on but thought that we were well sheltered here and we would stay another night.

We had chicken schnitzels for supper with mash and courgettes which went down well. We will move on tomorrow and need to make sure we are in a sheltered spot for the strong winds of the 9-10th May. There are any boats in our anchorage tonight.

The picture of the day is of the guys at the top with the view behind of Hamilton Island.     

Need/Opportunity Year Three

In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK.  I am looking for crew from Reunion to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com