Pioneer Bay, Orpheus Island (trip #13)

The 33 C and extreme ultra-violet of the day was on the wane by about 4 pm, so kitted up and headed toward Pioneer Bays beach in the kayak, about 150 m from the Teria   The fringing reef flat corals were a foot or two under the kayak. The tide was low so tied the kayak to a strong looking  rock on the exposed reef - sand flat.

Low tide Pioneer Bay

Beach meets reef flat at low tide

National Park camp ground sign

View from the picnic table - Pioneer Bay camp ground

The camp ground area is small but well shaded in all directions by trees at all times. It is high up on the beach front next to the granite outcrops and hill of the island. Facilities are simple -  a good composting toilet hut and picnic table. There are about 4-5 dome tent sites. Its a self sufficient site - bring own water, food and everything and take away rubbish. Usual park rules apply, no dogs or pets the main one.  Explore Australia - Pioneer Bay is a good website for camping info here (and all around Australia).

Long ago ( mid 1990's) a group of young friends and i landed on Orpheus Island to camp. We travelled across in my Hartley TS16 and Colton's 5 m half cabin speed boat. We walked across a narrow neck of the Island to the sea cliffs. A nostalgic place and it was time to refresh the memory.

There are no official National park tracks on the Island, this makes it a relatively pristine environment. There was an unofficial  trail leading SE away from the camp ground so set off to explore along that. A small compass in hand to navigate by.

About 100 m along up on a hill overlooking the bay are the ruins of the Pioneers House. Only some stone walls and bits of the wood stove remained. It was a haunting reminder of early European settlement, a goat herder once lived and worked here, perhaps 100 years ago. It would be interesting to learn more of the history of this hut and occupants.

Ruins of goat herders house

I had looked at the chart before leaving and it indicated that the island was narrow at this point, about 1 km wide and not too high so possible in the remaining hours of daylight.

The trail is pretty vague and the woodland trees about 8 -12 m tall and nearly closed canopy, so kept the compass out and noted the general direction of travel (and remember the 180 degree return bearing). The trail went up and then down into a dry creek bed before ascending again. The forest suddenly gave way  to an open grassy ridge zone near the exposed sea cliffs.

Hard to see trail -  compass

There were some small rock cairns made by previous hikers which marked the feint trail that few had ever walked on. I took note of these for the return trip.

Trail marker - to avoid losing the trail on the return trip

Near the top granite boulders protruded from the grassy windswept slopes, some standing like sentinels watching out to seaward.

Looking back toward Pioneer bay - The Teria is a small speck on the right side, which is also where the camp ground is. So the trail went through there somewhere.

The seaward side of the Island is quiet steep and very windswept, the vegetation is stunted by this. Low tussock, grasses and scrubs. Lichens clinged to exposed rocks. The varied hues of blue and green marked the fringe reef and drop off into deeper waters.

Looking south towards Curacao and Greater Palm Islands

The breeze blew in from the NNE, from the direction off Pelorus Island. A majestic looking, sea eagle soared along the ridge line from the south. It somehow glided almost straight into the wind direction without a beat, riding the up-draft, surely a master of the air.

View to the North, Pelorus Island.

Fringing reef from the cliff top

The lookout was steep and rocky enough to be a cliff face, the saddle would be about 50 - 60 m high. So moved carefully.

Allot of blue out there to contemplate.

Earth rise - from Apollo 8 gives a bigger picture of our place

Whew must've been nearly heat stroked! Bloody super el ninos, what on earth could be causing it?! The thermos full of iced water was very refreshing after the climb up. Humid 32 c breezes can only just cool you down a bit. After about 20 -30 minutes it was time to reluctantly make the descent and return to the boat. The tide was rising and the kayak was now moored about 50 m out in the bay, glad the mooring knot to the rock was well tied.

The kayak was in about a foot deep of water, so slowly waded out wearing sandals but also looking out for potential stone-fish. They look exactly like an underwater rock, have venomous spines that could quickly lead to a medical emergency.  The best thing to do was don't step on any rocks if possible, there was plenty of flat ground.

The reason for this awareness is that i have experienced the pain of stone fish venom myself. It was long ago on a beautiful South Pacific Island called Manihiki. Excruciating is the only way to describe the pain, and the foot swelled to double size. luckily it  happened about 50 m away from the Island doctor's residence and surgery so quick treatment (immerse in the hottest water you can stand) helped.

The kayak trip downwind was easier, having the backpack act as a backrest made for far less effort too.

Set up the solar panel hanging below the boom to catch more sun light and to give a bit more shade in the cockpit from the western sun. The solar regulator's LED glowed green too, a full battery charge.

Only 5 Litres of water was needed for a bucket bath, good to get the salt and sweat off. The cockpit seat cushions made good side shades too.

Once dusk fell,   set up the LED anchor light under the boom for dinner time. Heated up a pre-cooked meal with the Trangia stove on the cockpit floor. One burner full of fuel did that plus boiled water for tea and the litre thermos. Bought the big esky with many frozen ice bottles in it, these kept the cold drinking water going. A bit of toe cramp set in but the rehydration salts fixed it.

Went around and silenced all the persistently sleep-depriving noises such as slapping halyards and creaking rudder before turning in. But there was a new persistent noise - splash, sploosh, spalsh it went on an on..ok what is this one?! . The torch revealed scores of 10 - 15 cm long fish hunting down small thin 10 cm fish, the light attracted them and made for a surface breaking feeding frenzy..  So had to turn the LED light off and the fish immediately quietened down.

Cloaked in the new moon's darkness it was good to watch the electrical storm on the ranges about 20 km away. Lightning flashed across the western sky in huge arcs, a great spectacle. The yellow light glow from coastal towns was also visible. Ingham, Taylor's Beach and even Townsville's locations were marked by eerie glows in the sky.