Hinchinbrook Channel

The Hinchinbrook Channel is supposed to be one the prettiest channels with good fishing, crabbing and crocodiles. There aren’t many places to get ashore and no walking trails except at the northern end of the channel. We dropped anchor at Haycock Island a very small island in the river. We took a dingy ride to try and get ashore and have a look at the island but no where to get up with no oysters. Then we decided to take a fishing rod and do a bit of trolling and try our luck. Ian was saying what we should do if a croc attacked the dingy (not that they would) and scared the kids so we didn’t troll for long. There were heaps of mangroves around but not too many sand flies.

We then moved another few miles up the channel to a creek we dropped anchor Ian suggested to Warenta that we raft up as it is really calm. The creek isn’t very wide and all the boats are almost in a line going down the length of it. One of the boats here is Kalida a boat we had met on Magnetic Island they have 2 children and the kids were glad to see their boat.


We spent a few days here doing nothing at all but sitting around and relaxing. We had a BBQ with Kalida aboard Warenta which was great fun, we also met up with a couple who have two boys off Stardancer. The kids had a great time playing with each other. They are both heading up to Cairns which is where we will clear customs to go to PNG.







Moving further north we stopped for a night a Dunk Island where we went for a bit of a walk and collected some shells before going onto Fitzroy Island where we planned on staying but it didn’t look like it was going to be comfortable so we moved on to Cairns it was a big day’s sail over 80 miles further than we have gone yet in one day. We did see a humpback whale when we were around Fitzroy Island for a couple of minutes but I wasn’t quick enough to get a photo.

We are now in Cairns and are getting everything ready for the passage to PNG. We have had a few things to sort out and we have to stock up on supplies as well as things to trade while we are over there. We plan on leaving here around the weekend or Monday

Trying to get Palm nuts on Dunk Island.