North West Island - GBR

Another free camp outside Gladstone and we began to feel like we were just hanging around biding our time until the reef.  By 11am we were booked into Boyne Island Caravan park, and washing and sorting ready for our big pack.  Justin arrived early evening and set up sent beside us, was great to see a face from home – made us feel like we had only left yesterday.  An extra surprise was the bags of gifts he came with – presents from Uncle Jon and Gran and Col for all!   It felt like Christmas.  The kids did not put them down for the entire next two days!  It proved to be a wonderful distraction while we sat and planned out the small details of our menus, and gear.  The following day Mum and Dad drove in with our boat.  Another fantastic reunion and excitement filled the air.  It was like we were all talking at once trying to get 4 months of new in.

Our last day in Gladstone to pull all the loose threads together before we loaded on the barge was a mighty one.  Armed with 3 shopping trollies, Justin, Mum and I tackled Coles for a few hours, counting out 150 pieces of fruit, dozens of litres of milk, eggs, and kilos of rice and flour – not to mention all the blocks of chocolate!  Who wants to get stuck on an island and run out of chocolate?  Meanwhile, Ben and Dad worked on preparing and packing the boat.  Packing and repacking to get it right, we are already sick of the sight of all our gear.  And this is just the beginning.  Tired, we all retired to the luxury of a cabin for the night – appreciating the beds and bathroom.

Ok here goes – I will attempt to explain our trip and arrival to the island, but even after a year of blogging practice I am unsure how to clearly describe our experience.

It began with a leisurely breakfast. (and the lucky realisation that our underwear had not been packed in the boat… close call!)  We stopped in at Woolies to pick up our dozen loaves of bread and extras that we missed, before making our way to the barge loading dock at 9.30am on the dot.  Once there, we loaded all our gear into boxes in a fairly orderly fashion, and watched them and the boat be forklifted onto the barge.  And taking our seats, and travel calm we were finally off! 

Sam quickly made friends on the barge and easily entertained himself for the 6 hours with games of Uno, while Larina and Nick sat on our laps for the full 6 hours – battling against queasy stomachs and feeling the chill off the water.  Where did we pack those jumpers??? Hmmm.  Larina managed to feel a little better after vomiting all over herself and me (whose idea to give her chips?).  Yuk.  Nick leant over the bin for a while, as we didn’t want to sacrifice any more of our clothes.  To paint a bit of a picture, the sky was dark, it was raining heavily and the waves were crashing over the side of the boat endlessly.   

Justin watching the boat get hammered...mentally preparing for the unload

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As we finally pulled up to North West Island, much later than expected, we began to doubt ourselves, and a nervous energy filled all the passengers on the barge.  Should we face the weather outside the boat? Or just stay on it and return to mainland???  Never.

By now it was 7pm, dark, pouring with rain, and here we were trying to get our camping gear off the barge onto the beach before it retreated back to Gladstone.  This was the all-time worst set up conditions EVER!  (even Shane Spicer agreed – and he would know…20+ years of trips)To put it bluntly it was mayhem.  People’s gear was going everywhere.  But with the tide reaching high soon and the barge needing to go we unloaded her and the search was on for a camp site.  Bob, Justin & Ben wondered off down the track under the Posonia trees ready to set the big tarp up and drag all the gear off the beach. The kids, by the way were having a great time playing in the sand under the beach brolly – it was way past their bed time and having not had much to eat, they were making the most of a crazy situation, building sand castles and digging tunnels in the dark.  With the rain still bucketing down we managed to erect the tarp and began bringing our gear off the beach.  We then shuffled gear around again to make room to set one tent up under the tarp and then called it quits for the night, laying our wet sandy heads down on the wet pillows.  Poor Mum and Dad didn’t even want to sleep in a tent – exhausted, they just laid their beds out on the ground and let the mice run over their toes.  The older generation are sooo tough!  Oh well, things will improve tomorrow…

With the new day came a little more sunshine! Yay – pillows, mattresses and sleeping bags dried out and camp was set up properly.  By now we were feeling a million dollars.  No time for fishing, so lucky we had a good supply of meat with us.  The children all entered into a game with neighbouring kids, (Aiden, Akira and John) building a fort under the Posonia trees.  As it turned out, this game developed into a very involved storyline with incredible infrastructure and weaponry.  It continued for the entire 2 weeks we lived on the Island, and each day we had to drag the children away to go and play on the beach.   Fortunately this left us with plenty of time for hot cups of tea, chats and reading on the beach.

waiting for the tide to come in

watching the turtles pass us by was also thrilling

Day 2, and the beautiful Weimer family arrived in the morning sunshine to set up camp close by.  It was a lovely feeling to be on a gorgeous island surrounded by familiar faces.  A funny part of the day was seeing the barge get stuck on shore – for a good 7 hours waiting for the tide to return!

The big boys took every opportunity the tide gave them to explore fishing spots, returning home with different species for the dinner plate on different days.  And we had lots of yummy ways to help digest the seafood.  In fact, I should acknowledge our appreciation for the food prepared by Justin and Mum.  We were never in short of scrumptious deserts and tasty dinners.  Thanks guys!

Over the two weeks Sam and Nick had the opportunity to spear their first fish.  Sam pulled in the first 2 slatey bream, then Nick, unable to miss out on all the fun, decided to jump in the water and shoot one for himself.  It was a proud moment for both Dad and Grandpa, as they congratulated the boys on their efforts.  Sam and Nick were as proud as punch, feeding the family for dinner, and decided how their fish would be cooked.  I have never seen them eat so much fish!

menu: crumbed fish and chips.  Thanks for dinner Nick and Sam

My favourite memory would have to be snorkelling in a rock pool with Larina, where we discovered that we could talk to each other underwater.  Larina is like a little fish – always scooting around looking at everything and the last to be dragged out of the water when it’s time to go.  It’s a little scary how confident she is in the water – with no fear of depth or distance at all.

Enjoy the photos of our 2 weeks of relaxing on the picture perfect island –

our camp all set up

digging for treasure after finding a message in a bottle...

To top off the holiday, we were to be picked up by the barge again at 4:30am  - so we packed up the night before and slept on the beach under the stars. What a way to end the trip.  Pancakes on the beach for dinner, under the stars with friends, and a great game of Euchre, in which the girls won! (Yay for team Mandy and Merryn!)

Back to Gladstone again…

bye bye North West!